LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 97 



" Prince Canino (Charles Bonaparte) had come passenger in the 

 Monjibello from Leghorn ; and his exertions to save us were beyond 

 all praise. The fatal collision had taken place some five miles from 

 the Island of Elba. The prince immediately offered his services to 

 go to Portolongoni, in order to obtain permission for us to land 

 there. Indeed, under Heaven, we already owed our lives to Prince 

 Canino, for when the Moniibello had backed out from the wreck of 

 the Pollux, and was in the act of sheering off from alongside of us, 

 he, with the characteristic judgment of his uncle Napoleon in the 

 hour of need, ran to the helm, and, knocking the steersman aside, 

 took hold of it himself, and placed the Monjibelio in a situation to 

 enable us to pass on board of her from the sinking Pollux. Had 

 the prince not done this, the loss of life would have been terrible, 

 for we had been deprived of our boat, three people having made off 

 with it to save their own lives, at the time when all was in confu- 

 sion. 



" The prince having reached Portolongoni in one of the Monji- 

 bellds boats, he begged permission of the officer in command that 

 he might be allowed to land. But all his entreaties were of no avail. 

 Nothing could mollify the man's iron heart. He peremptorily refused 

 the favour which the prince had asked, adding, by way of excuse for 

 his diabolical conduct, that he was bound to obey the law, which did 

 not allow of our landing under existing circumstances. Finding all 

 remonstrance of no avail, and seeing that the heart of this savage 

 was too obdurate to be worked upon by any further recital of the 

 horrors of our situation, Prince Canino left Portolongoni in disgust, 

 and returned to the Monjibello, where he announced to us, in terms 

 of high indignation, the utter failure of his mission. 



" We lay-to during the remainder of the night, got up our steam 

 at early dawn, and reached the port of Leghorn, where we came to 

 an anchor. Here, again, Prince Canino was a real benefactor to us. 

 The wise men of Leghorn met in consultation, and gravely decreed 

 that we must perform a quarantine of twenty days, because we had 

 no bill of health to show. Now, these Solons knew full well that the 

 Monjibello had left their own harbour, in due form, only the evening 

 before ; and they were told that the people whom the Monjibello had 

 received on board, had equally left Civita Vecchia in due form ; but 



G 



