Belle of Baltimore.

Born in 1785, Elizabeth Patterson may have been the most beautiful girl in Baltimore; she certainly was the most ambitious. "Nature never intended me for obscurity," she wrote. She dreamed of one day being a great lady, not in the small and relatively tranquil world of Baltimore, but on the grand stage of Europe. Elizabeth's father, William Patterson, had come to America from Ireland in the 1760s and through hard work and fortunate opportunities had established himself as one of the country's leading merchants. He had helped finance the American Revolution, and though he shunned political life, which would have taken too much time from his family, Patterson knew the country's political leaders well. He was content to be one of Maryland's wealthiest and most successful men; his daughter was not.

French Officer.

Jerome Bonaparte, one year older than Elizabeth, was...