Note 13 — MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE, EXILE, AND CONVERSATIONS, OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. (continued 5)

A noble Venetian lady of great beauty, whose adventures form a truly romantic and dramatic history. She eloped from her father’s house to follow a young Florentine pedlar, and was reduced to the greatest wretchedness. She subsequently became Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and she closed her career by coolly poisoning herself at table, in a fit of vexation at seeing the Grand Duke, her husband, partake of a poisoned dish, which she had prepared for her brother-in-law, Cardinal de Medicis, who, on his part, obstinately abstained from tasting it.