NAPOLEON. 243 



lesson to posterity of the uncertainty which 

 hangs over human affairs ; 



" it will teach 



To after warriors more 

 Than high philosophy can preach, 

 And vainly preached before." 



The whole island may be viewed as the gi- 

 gantic mausoleum of him, whose ambition raised 

 him from a humble station to a palace, and, 

 at last consigned him to a miserable rock, laved 

 by the boisterous waves of the Atlantic, and 

 which now contains all that remains of his former 

 splendour and greatness. 



" The desolator desolate ! 

 The victor overthrown ! 

 The arbiter of others' fate 

 A suppliant for his own." 



The number of French vessels that arrive 

 every year at this island, almost solely for the 

 purpose of visiting and weeping over the grave 

 of him who formerly ruled France, and at one 

 time almost held the destiny of the world in his 

 grasp, is considerable. At this period of our 

 visit, several French vessels, consisting of a brig 

 of war, and others, w^ere lying in the anchorage; 

 and on the road to Longwood, parties of the 

 crews of the several vessels were seen, and ve- 



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