Ill': K\()\\iJ-i)(;i{ ()!• Till- ij\"i\r; \.\i'()li:o\ 



DiKlXC. TIM': LAST I'llASi: (iM^-icSiiJ. 



liy A. M. HKUADLLV, 

 Author 1}/ " Wtpolcoii in Caricature." 



SlNci-: the bef,'iniiiii}i of the present \ear two Ixioks 

 have been publislied which oiij^ht to throw some new 

 lifjht on tlie iiersonality of Napoleon during the last 

 five years of his eventful life. If the student is 

 somew hat disappointed at the paucit\- of information 

 of this particular kind contained in the superblv- 

 printtd paj^es of Monsieur Frederic Massoii's 

 monumental work " Xajioleon a St. Ui'lrin'."' he 

 will find some consola- 

 tion in the livelv pages 

 of Mr. G. L. de' St. M. 

 Watson's ".-V Polish Exile 

 with Napoleon'" — a work 

 based mainly on pains- 

 taking research in his- 

 torical ground w hich max 

 fairly he described as 

 unbroken. 



In the concluding; 

 volume of his great bio- 

 graphy of the younger 

 Pitt, entitled " Pitt and 

 Napoleon Miscellanies." 

 will be found a very 

 interesting account of an 

 interview with Napoleon 

 which took place at Elba 

 on the evening of Janu- 

 ary 26th, 1815. Four 

 days previouslv two 

 English travellers, Major 

 I. H. \'ivianand his com- 

 panion, Mr. W'ildman. 

 had arrived at Porto 

 Ferrajo from Leghorn. 

 The interview they 

 sought for was arranged 

 through Count Bertrand 

 and at the ajjpointet 

 time they were, " with- 

 out any form or ceremony whatever,"' ushered 

 into the presence of the Great Man. Twentv-four 

 years later Major \'ivian printed, for private circula- 

 tion only, the narrative now republished by Dr. 

 Rose. We are told the room of modest dimensions 

 in which Napoleon received his English guests was 

 fitted up with old yellow furniture brought from the 

 palace of his sister at Piombino. The conversation 

 lasted from 8.30 to 9.45 p.m., and .Major \'ivian had 

 a unique ojjportunity of studying the personal 

 appearance of Napoleon as it was five months 

 before Waterloo. He w rites : — 



"We stood, during the whole time, I in.-iy say almost 



a N.Lpoi. 



luph 

 IS 



nez a iicz. for I had my back against the table, and he had 



advanced close to me, looking full in my face He 



had on a f,'reen coat, cut off in front, faced with the same 

 colour and trimmed with red at the skirts, and wore the stars 

 of two orders. Under his left arm he held his hat, and in his 

 hand a plain snuff-box. from which he every now and then 

 took a pinch ; but as he occasionally sneezed, it appeared 

 to me that he was not addicted to suufT-taking. His hair 

 was without powder and quite straight ; his shape, inclined 

 to corpulence." 



We have no jiresent 

 concern with the return 

 from Elba, the Reign of 

 a Hundred Days, or 

 Waterloo. Suffice it to 

 say that at sunrise on 

 Saturday, July 15th 

 I only eleven days short 

 of six months since the 

 interview with \'ivian 

 and Wildman in the 

 '■ yellow "" drawing-room 

 of the Imperial Resi- 

 dence at ElbaK Napoleon, 

 wearing the uniform of 

 a colonel of the Chasseurs 

 lie la Garde, went on 

 board the" Bellerophon."' 

 Exactlv a week later the 

 ship arrived at Plymouth. 

 On the following day 

 (.Sunday, July 23rd). the 

 ship mo\ed to Torbay. 

 w here she remained until 

 the follow ing \\"ednesday 

 (July 26thK On that day 

 the " Bellerophon '" re- 

 turned to Plvmouth. and 

 there on July 31st Na- 

 poleon learned his fate. 

 Early in the afternoon 

 '' of August 7th (Monday), 



the Emperor went on board the " Northumber- 

 land " at Starpoint. The same day she set sail 

 for St. Helena. During the days spent at Torbay 

 and Plymouth, Napoleon was seen by man\- 

 thousands of persons. It is only quite 

 that the last of those who looked on " 

 Boney " face to face from the crowded 

 cruising round the " Bellerophon "" in Jidy. 

 expired. Twentv vears ago a score of surviving 

 witnesses were still able to testify to the approximate 

 correctness of the familiar picture by Sir t". L. 

 Eastlake. P.K..\., now reproduced as the first of the 

 series of last phase portraits. (See Figure 157.) 



^ihikc 



picturt 



lately 

 Little 

 boats 

 1815, 



