The opera Nina, which Napoleon loved to watch, told this story: Nina, the daughter of a duke, fell in love with a poor young man. At first, the duke approved, but later he arranged for Nina to marry the son of a wealthy and powerful family. The two young men agreed to duel in the woods. The poor young man narrowly survived, but Nina did not know that. She believed her lover was dead and went mad. The duke arranged for a female nurse to care for her.
He still loved his daughter, but she had already lost her mind. The duke was filled with regret. Later, he learned that the poor young man had not died, and overjoyed, he brought the young man to his home and let the two meet.
The poor young man told Nina many sweet words known only to the two of them. Only then did Nina gradually regain her senses, and the two happily ended up together.
Two people clearly loved each other, yet could not be together because of poverty or other reasons. Nothing spurred young men to strive harder than that. The Ségur family's circumstances, however, were different. If not for the French Revolution, the Ségur family would once have been extraordinarily eminent. Marquis Philippe Henri de Ségur had participated in the Seven Years' War and served as Minister of War. He lost an arm during the attack on Prussia and retired from the army in 1787.
During the Reign of Terror, he was imprisoned in La Force and was not released until 1800. Napoleon gave him a post in the Conservative Senate, but he died after serving only one year.
He had two sons, though only one was his biological child: his eldest, Louis-Philippe de Ségur, and his adopted son, Joseph