I. Joseph, the eldest son, born on the 7th January 1768. He was placed, along with his younger brother Napoleon, at the school of Autun, from which the latter was soon afterwards withdrawn. On completing his education he contemplated a military career, but, on the death of his father, devoted himself to the cave of his family. He studied law at the University of Pisa, and was received as an advocate in Corsica. He and his brother eagerly embraced the revolutionary side; and in 1793 the whole family wero compelled to emigrate to Marseilles. In the following year he married Mlle, Clary, daughter of a rich merchant, whose younger sister afterwards became the wife of Bernadotte. Two years later, when Napoleon was made general of the army of Italy, Joseph accompanied him as commissary-general. In 1797 he was elected to the Council of Five Hundred, and sent as ambassador to the Pope. On the establishment of the consulate he was made councillor of state, and by his suave and courteous manners rendered good diplomatic service. He conducted the negotiations with the United States in 1800, concluded the Treaty of Luneville in 1801, and was similarly engaged at the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. In 1805, after refusing various posts offered by his brother, he was left in charge of the Government during the war in Germany. In the following year, however, he was compelled to take command of the army of Naples, and soon after he set out it was announced to him that he must assume the throne of that kingdom. With considerable reluctance he accepted the post, and soon found that, though nominally king, he was really but the viceroy of his brother. He introduced many reforms, most of which were well conceived, but which did not at all meet the wishes of Napoleon, who looked upon Naples merely as a province of France, and thought it useful only in so far as it contributed to the support of his own power. The Neapolitans soon discovered that their king was but a mouth-piece, and learned to despise him; and his rule was disturbed by constant insurrections. In the beginning of 1808 Napoleon began to communicate with his brother regarding the affairs of Spain; and finally, on the 10th May, wrote to him that the Spanish throne was vacant, and that he had destined it for him. Joseph, with many forebodings, was obliged to accept; and for a short time matters seemed sufficiently smooth. But the smouldering discontent soon broke out into open flame over the land, and the Spaniards, assisted by the British and Portuguese, made a struggle for freedom. Joseph’s influence in the kingdom was a nullity; the people had never accepted him, and Napoleon, by giving absolute command to his various marshals, robbed his brother of all real power. Thrice the new king was compelled to fly from Madrid, and it was with difficulty that he escaped after the final battle of Vittoria. During the great struggle of 1814 Joseph acted as lieutenant-general of the empire, and as adviser-in-chief to the empress-regent. Under his brother’s orders he sent off Maria Louisa and her son to Blois when the allied army approached Paris; and it was on his authority that Marmont treated for the capitulation of the city. For these acts he has sometimes been blamed, but with scant justice. While Napoleon was in Elba Joseph took up his residence in Switzerland; but he rejoined his brother in Paris during the Hundred Days. After the abdication he had an interview with the fallen emperor at the Isle of Aix, and generously offered to give up to him his cwn means of escape. The proposal not being accepted, he sailed for America and settled near Philadelphia, at Point-Breeze, on the banks of the Delaware. Here he lived for some years under the title of Comte de Survilliers, endeared to the inhabitants by his liberality and gracious manners. After the July revolution of 1830 he wrote a long and eloquent letter, advocating the claims of his nephew, the duke of Reichstadt, to the French throne. Two years later he visited England, where he resided for some years, and to which he paid a second visit in 1839 In 1841 he was permitted to enter Genoa and Florence where his wife resided. In the latter city he died on the 28th July 1844. Joseph Bonaparte was of a handsome figure and commanding presence; his manners were peculiarly suave and courteous. Of all the brothers he seems to have been the only one personally loved by Napoleon. His wife, the daughter of a Marseilles merchant, died on the 7th April 1845. The elder of his two daughters, Zenaide Charlotte Julie (born 1801, died 1854), was married to her cousin Charles Bonaparte, son of Lucien; the younger, Charlotte (born 1802, died 1839), was married to Napoleon Louis, second son of Louis Bonaparte.

II. Naγoleon, born 1769. See Napoleon I.

III. Lucien, Prince of Canino, was born at Ajaccio, 21st March 1775. He was educated at Autun, Brienne’ and Aix, and rejoined his family in Corsica in 1792. Already imbued with the principles of the Revolution he turned against Paoli when the latter declared against France, and was spokesman of the deputation sent to Marseilles to solicit aid from the republic. He did not ι eturn to Corsica, as the whole Bonaparte family soon afterwards emigrated to France, and he obtained employment in the commissariat at Saint Maximin. Here he married Mlle. Christine Boyer, of poor but good family, and began to take the leading part in the popular meetings of the place. He was elected president of the Republican committee of the town, and, by his moderation and firmness, prevented excesses such as occurred in other parts of the country. After the fall of Robespierre he was in danger of being taken for one of his partisans, but resolutely maintained his ground, and declined to take refuge in flight. In 1795 he left Saint Maximin for Saint Chamans, where he had been appointed inspector of military stores, and where he was arrested and confined for six months. His release was obtained through his brother’s influence with Barras, and he retired for a time to Marseilles. In 1795 he was made commissary to the army of the north, and spent some time at Brussels and in Holland; but his heart was in the political warfare of Paris, and in 1796 he obtained permission to resign. He had a short interview with Napoleon in Italy, and spent the two succeeding years in Corsica. In 1798 he was elected deputy to the Council of Five Hundred, and at once set off for Paris. He was an ardent adherent of the constitution of 1795 (the year HI.), and sympathized rather with the Abbé Sieyès than with the extreme party. His abilities were soon recognized: he was an able and powerful speaker, with a calm courage that defied all popular tumult. His house, also, was the resort of the best literary society of Paris. It gradually became clear to him that the power of tlιe Directory was divided and broken, and that a couj) d’etat was required to prevent another sanguinary revolution. There was but one man in a position to effect this change—his brother Napoleon, whose unexpected arrival on the 10th October 1799 was received with the utmost joy. A week after, Lucien was elected president of the Council of Five Hundred. Careful preparations were made, and on the 19th Brumaire the principles of the Revolution ceased to have a living power. On that day the coolness, promptitude, and courage of Lucien alone preserved Napoleon from destruction. He took part in preparing the new scheme of government, and was appointed to succeed La Place as minister of the interior. His competency for the post was undoubted, but differences with his brother had already begun, and these were fomented by the treacherous Fouché; so that, in little more than a year, he gave up office, and was sent as ambassador to Spain. He succeeded in his negotiations, though not entirely to Napoleon’s satisfaction, and after his return to Paris took an active part in the arrangement of the Concordat and the establishment of a legion of honour. After the consulate had been settled on Napoleon for life Lucien was made a senator, and received the estate of Seppelsdorf. But his marriage in 1803 with the beautiful Mme. Jouberthon w as displeasing to the First Consul, who already contemplated royal alliances for his brothers. Lucien, who did not approve the project of making the consulate hereditary, thought it advisable to leave France, and settled first at Milan, but finally at Rome. He lived in great magnificence, indulging his literary tastes, and apparently indifferent to the growth of the imperial power. After the peace of Tilsit Napoleon had an interview with him, and offered him a kingdom provided he would look upon it as in all respects a province of the empire. Lucien refused, and his brother then gave him to understand that he must quit the Continent. He withdrew from Rome, and settled on the estate of Canino, whence he took his title of prince, but soon came to the resolution of sailing for America. He embarked on the 1st August 1810, was captured by an English cruiser, and was carried to England, where for some time he was kept under surveillance in Ludlow Castle. He afterwards purchased a house near London, in which he resided till 1814, when he returned to Rome. In two letters to Elba he offered assistance to his brother; and during the Hundred Days he sat in the Chamber of Peers as a French prince. After Waterloo he advised Napoleon to dissolve the assemblies and proclaim himself dictator, and it was on his recommendation that the second abdication was made in favour of Napoleon’s son. All his efforts to obtain a regency were unavailing, and soon after parting from his brother on the 29th June, he left France. Arrested at Turin he was kept for three months in confinement before he was suffered to settle again at Rome. He passed the remainder of his life in Italy, surrounded by his family and busily engaged in literary and antiquarian labours. The grounds around Canino proved unusually rich in gems and Etruscan curiosities, of which a valuable cabinet was formed. He died at Viterbo, 29th June 1840 Lucien was a man of high abilities, resolute to his purpose, and of great courage and presence of mind He was throughout his whole life a moderate or constitutional republican. As a literary man he enjoys considerable distinction, though his great epic, Charlemagne (2 vols. 4to, London, 1814), was a failure. His Mémoires, unfortunately, have not been completed He was twice married. By his first wife he had two daughters; by his second, four daughters and four sons. Of the sons the eldest, Charles Lucien Jules Laurent (born 1803, died 1857), prince of Canino, is distinguished as a naturalist, and takes rank along with Wilson and Audubon. In 1822 he married his cousin, Zenaide, daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, whom he joined in America. He remained there till 1828, and gained high reputation by his works on American ornithology. After his return to Italy he began the publication of a magnificent work, Iconografia della Fauna Italica, 3 vols., 1833-41. On his father’s death in 1840 he succeeded to the title, and in 1847 began to interest himself in politics. He was ordered to leave the Austrian territories for having introduced political matter into a scientific congress, and in 1848-49 he took part on the Radical side in the disturbances at Rome. Driven from that city by the arrival of French troops he landed at Marseilles, but received an order to quit French territory. Not having paid any attention to this he was seized and conducted under escort to Havre, whence he was compelled to take ship for England. He returned once more to Paris, but did not again interfere in politics. Of the other sons of Lucien, Louis Lucien (born in 1813) has distinguished himself as a philologist, and is known by his writings on the Basque language as well as on the dialects of Italy and England; and Pierre Napoleon, commonly called Prince Pierre (born 1815), has lived a troubled life of adventure in Italy, America, and France. In January 1870 he shot and mortally wounded the journalist Victor Noir, who had called upon him to arrange preliminaries for a duel with Μ. Paschal Grousset. This unfortunate affair did inconceivable harm to the Napoleonic cause. The prince was found not guilty, but was ordered to indemnify the family of Noir. From that time he took up his residence in London.

IV Marie Anne Elisa, born at Ajaccio on the 3d January 1777. She married in 1797 Felix Bacciochi, captain of infantry, who was poor but of good family. In 1805 Lucca and Piombino were erected into a principality for her, and she gave such proofs of administrative ability as to be named the Semiramis of Lucca. After the fall of Napoleon she lived for some time at Brunn, and latterly at Santo Andrea near Trieste, where she died in 1820.

V. Louis, the father of Napoleon III., was born at Ajaccio in 1778. He received the greater part of his military education at the school of Chalons, and accompanied his brother throughout the famous Italian campaigns. He distinguished himself in various engagements, particularly at the battle of Arcola, but manifested little enthusiasm for a military career. He took part in the Egyptian expedition, and was sent back from Cairo to report the state of affairs and solicit reinforcements. In 1802, with the greatest reluctance, for ho was enamoured of another, he was prevailed on to marry Hortense Beauharnais. J osephine’s daughter. The forced marriage proved exceedingly unhappy. After the consulate he became geueral, and in 1804 was raised to the dignity of prince. He was commissioned to organize the army of the north in 1805, and performed his task to the complete satisfaction of Napoleon. Soon afterwards the States-general of Holland sent a deputation to the emperor praying that one of his brothers might be made their king. Louis, who was selected for this dignity, consented with considerable reluctance, and was proclaimed on the 6th June 1806. But when he had assumed the reins of government he manifested the warmest interest in his new subjects. He procured the withdrawal of the French troops from Holland, and formed a cabinet consisting almost entire! y of Dutch notables. The decree blockading the British Isles was extremely offensive to him in his new position, and he evaded it so far as possible. In 1807 the death of his eldest son caused him to withdraw for a time to the south of France, and on his return Hortense did not accompany him. The relations of the king with Napoleon were anything but satisfactory. The emperor complained of not receiving due assistance from Holland, and in 1809 sent Bernadotte to take command of the army in that country. At the meeting of the two brothers in December 1809 there was a bitter quarrel; and Louis, who felt that his country was looked on as merely a province of the empire, was detained as a prisoner, while Holland was overrun with French troops. Before obtaining his release he was compelled to sign a new treaty with the emperor, which greatly curtailed his power. Matters were not improved after his return to Amsterdam, and on the 1st July 1810 he abdicated at Haarlem in favour of his elder son Napoleon Louis. He then set out for Töplitz, where he resided with the assumed title of Comte de St Leu. His kingdom was soon united to the empire, and no attention was paid to the arrangement he had made. After the Russian campaign he offered his services to his brother, and tried again, but in vain, to resume his power in Holland. In 1815 he instituted proceedings against his wife to obtain from her the custody of his elder son, and gained his cause. He refused to take any part in the Hundred Days, and settled in Rome, where he passed most of the remainder of his life. His wife was reunited to him, but the death of his elder son, in 1831, was a blow from which he never recovered. The unfortunate attempts of Louis Napoleon at Strasburg and Boulogne also affected him deeply; and he in vain attempted to procure his son’s liberation from the prison of Ham. After the escape of the prince his father earnestly desired to see him, but passports for Italy could not be granted. The disappointlnent was too much for Louis, who was seized with apoplexy, and died on the 25th July 1846. His remains were conveyed to Saint Leu in 1847. Louis was of a somewhat retiring and philosophic disposition, inclined to rule well had he been permitted, and of decided literary tastes. He published several works— Marie, ou les Hollandaises, a novel; Odes; Mémoire sur la versification; Histoire du Parlement Anglais; Documents historiques et réflexions sur la Gouvernement de la Hollande; Réponse à Sir Walter Scott; Nouveau recueil des poésies. He had three sons—Napoleon Charles, born 1802, died 1807; Napoleon Louis, born 1804, died 1831; Charles Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III., q.v.), born 1808, died 1873.

VI. Marie Pauline, born at Ajaccio 1780. In 1801 she was married to General Leclerc, whom she accompanied in the same year to St Domingo. Her husband died there of yellow fever in 1802, and she returned to France. On the 28th August 1803 she was married, through her brother’s influence, to Camillo, Prince Borghese, a wealthy Italian nobleman. It was not long before they separated; and Pauline, with the rank of duchess of Guastalla, lived in a style of easy magnificence. She was good tempered, fond of art, and liberal In 1810 Napoleon, although he had a great affection for her, banished her from court for her insulting behaviour to Maria Louisa, Yet she joined him in the Isle of Elba in 1814, and would fain have accompanied him in his exile at St Helena. She was reconciled to her husband shortly before her death on 9th June 1825 Pauline was Napoleon’s favourite sister. She was extremely beautiful, and her statue as Venus Victrix, by Canova, is a well-known work of art.

VII. Marie Annonciade Caroline, born at Ajaccio 1782. In 1800 she was married to Murat; in 180G she became grand-duchess of Berg and of Cleves, and in 1808 queen of Naples. In 1815, after the flight of her husband, she was compelled to leave the capital, and surrendered to the Austrians. She was for a short time imprisoned at Trieste, and was then permitted to reside at Haimburg near Vienna. She afterwards obtained leave to take up her abode at Trieste with her sister Elisa. In 1838 she obtained a pension from the French Government, but did not enjoy it long. She died on 18th May 1839.

VIII. Jérôme, the youngest brother of Napoleon, was born at Ajaccio in 1784. In 1800 he entered the navy, and served in the Mediterranean, and under Villaret Joyeuse in the West Indies. In 1802-3 he was recalled; but tne port in which his vessel lay being blockaded by the English cruisers, he made his way to Boston, whence he intended to take a passage to France. He was well received in the United States, and fell violently in love with a beautiful young American, Miss Elizabeth Paterson, daughter of a Baltimore merchant, whom he married on...