JUNOT

junot, laure, duchess of abrantes (1783-1834), wife of the preceding, was born at montpellier. she was the daughter of mme. permon, to whom during her widowhood the young bonaparte made an offer of marriage--such at least is the version presented by the daughter in her celebrated _memoirs_. the permon family, after various vicissitudes, settled at paris, and bonaparte certainly frequented their house a good deal after the downfall of the jacobin party in thermidor 1794. mlle. permon was married to junot early in the consulate, and at once entered eagerly into all the gaieties of paris, and became noted for her beauty, her caustic wit, and her extravagance. the first consul nicknamed her _petite peste_, but treated her and junot with the utmost generosity, a fact which did not restrain her sarcasms and slanders in her portrayal of him in her _memoirs_. during junot's diplomatic mission to lisbon, his wife displayed her prodigality so that on his return to paris in 1806 he was burdened with debts, which his own intrigues did not lessen. she joined him again at lisbon after he had entered that city as conqueror at the close of 1807; but even the presents and spoils won at lisbon did not satisfy her demands; she accompanied junot through part of the peninsular war. on her return to france she displeased the emperor by her vivacious remarks and by receiving guests whom he disliked. the mental malady of junot thereafter threatened her with ruin; this perhaps explains why she took some part in the intrigues for bringing back the bourbons in 1814. she did not side with napoleon during the hundred days. after 1815 she spent most of her time at rome amidst artistic society, which she enlivened with her sprightly converse. she also compiled her spirited but somewhat spiteful _memoirs_, which were published at paris in 1831-1834 in 18 volumes. many editions have since appeared. of her other books the most noteworthy are _histoires contemporaines_ (2 vols., 1835); _scenes de la vie espagnole_ (2 vols., 1836); _histoire des salons de paris_ (6 vols., 1837-1838); _souvenirs d'une ambassade et d'un sejour en espagne et en portugal, de 1808 a 1811_ (2 vols., 1837). (j. hl. r.) junta (from _juntar_, to join), a spanish word meaning (1) any meeting for a common purpose; (2) a committee; (3) an administrative council or board. the original meaning is now rather lost in the two derivative significations. the spaniards have even begun to make use of the barbarism _metin_, corrupted from the english "meeting." the word _junta_ has always been and still is used in the other senses. some of the boards by which the spanish administration was conducted under the habsburg and the earlier bourbon kings were styled _juntas_. the superior governing body of the inquisition was the _junta suprema_. the provincial committees formed to organize resistance to napoleon's invasion in 1808 were so called, and so was the general committee chosen from among them to represent the nation. in the war of independence (1808-1814), and in all subsequent civil wars or revolutionary disturbances in spain or spanish america, the local executive bodies, elected, or in some cases self-chosen, to appoint officers, raise money and soldiers, look after the wounded, and discharge the functions of an administration, have been known as juntas. the form "junto," a corruption due to other spanish words ending in -_o_, came into use in english in the 17th century, often in a disparaging sense, of a party united for a political purpose, a faction or cabal; it was particularly applied to the advisers of charles i., to the rump under cromwell, and to the leading members of the great whig houses who controlled the government in the reigns of william iii. and anne.