ST. HELENA 247 



inhabited a pavilion with the Count Las Casas and his son. It is 

 placed in the same vaMey as James' Town, but we fear its proximity 

 to that town was the cause of the Emperor's removal to Longwood; 



We hurried on to reach the tomb. We descended into the valley 

 by a road which had been newly made. 



Cypresses and weeping willows, sufficiently mournful, with an 

 iron railing round three large slabs, formed the tomb of the hero 

 around which all is veneration. 



Not a word, not an inscription is upon the three slabs. The eyes 

 cannot distinguish a character, but the heart divines it, and you 

 say, Here it is ! Bow down ye children of ag^s yet to come, at 

 the approach of this holy place — pray, pray for him ! ! ! 



This simplicity, the silence of the valley, the verdure at our feet, 

 the rocks above us, the two old willows under which the Emperor 

 lies, the one standing, the other on the ground dead from old age ; 

 there too, in the crevice of the rock, that spring where he was wont 

 to drink, the contrast of such nothingness and grandeur, gave rise 

 to impressions of unspeakable sadness. Near this tomb, so silent, 

 our emotions were profound. We could not speak, we could but 

 pray, and soon the tears rolled from the eyes of all those who knelt 

 at the feet of the greatest man of modem days. His body is there, 

 deep in the earth, decayed by time and death, but his spirit watches 

 from heaven and protects La France. 



Within the circuit of the tomb all has been religiously preserved. 

 The willov/s are yet green, the cypress shelters the narrow home 

 in eternal sleep of him who filled the universe with his name. 



We remained an hour in the valley. I have gathered up several 

 branches and flowers of those geraniums which my good mother 

 had planted before quitting the island round the borders of the 

 tomb of the benefactor of her family, and the heroes of her country. 



The guardian of the place had the goodness to look after and 

 transplant these flowers, many of which we carried to France. 



After having remained a little less than an hour at the Tomb, 

 the Prince remounted his horse for the purpose of visiting Longwood. 

 Each of the travellers said farewell to the tomb, and promised to 

 revisit it again. 



We had nearly forgotten Hutt's Gate, a villa situate in the sum- 

 mit of the valley, and which my father had inhabited during the 

 first months of his sojourn at Longwood, while waiting to occupy 

 the lodgings destined for him. As his family was numerous. Admiral 

 Cockburn had built for him a commodious little house at the end of 

 the lawn, about 50 yards perhaps from the Emperor's residence. 

 Napoleon had the goodness to visit Hutt's Gate several times. In 

 descending into the valley he observed a little spring under the 

 shade of some willows ; he drank the water from the hollow of his 

 hand and found it good, and from that time two Chinese came every 

 day to fetch it for his house. There, under the shade of the willows, 

 he sometimes sought repose ; there he doubtless thought of France, 

 of his son, the brilliant past, melancholy present, and sombre 

 future. A few days before his death he sent for my father and ex- 



