LEAVES THEY HAVE TOUCHED. 497 



I here close my account of historical autographs and other literary- 

 remains, which I have classed as British, reserving for review by 

 themselves those connected with the two ancient universities of 

 England. The specimens which I have to show of such objects, to 

 be styled European or Continental, as distinguished from British, 

 are few, and I shall be brief in my notices of them. 



My first is a sign-manual of Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul. 

 Although the document which contains it shows no words beyond 

 the signature in the handwriting of Napoleon, it is an instrument 

 characteristic of the period denoted by its date. It is a military 

 Brevet on parchment, promoting the Citizen Mazula from the grade 

 of Lieutenant in the 8th regiment of Hussars, to the rank of 

 Adjutant-Major- Lieutenant. Mazula's previous positions in the 

 army are enumerated with date of each step ; also his campaigns : 

 in La Yendee in 1793, on the Bhine in the year 5, in " Helvetic " in 

 the years 6 and 7, in " Batavie " in the year 8, again on the Bhine 

 in the year 9. It bears a large seal showmg Liberty holding in the 

 right hand the Phrygian cajD on a spear, while with the left she strongly 

 grasps the fasces and axe : the legend round the seal is Au nom du 

 Peuple Frangais. Bonaparte, ler Consul. At the top" of the parch- 

 ment is an engraved figure of France, grandly designed, seated, 

 wearing a helmet, on which stands the Gallic Cock with the wings 

 raised, evidently in the act of crowing ; in the right hand of the 

 seated figure is a heavy naked sword, its point inclmed downwards ; 

 in the left hand are garlands ; the left arm rests on a plain solid 

 block, on which the words Au nom du peujde Frangais are engraved. 

 Along the outer edge or thickness of the plain rectangular slab on 

 which France is seated, the following inscription appears : Bonaparte, 

 ler Consul de la Repuhlique. The date of the document is given 

 thus : " Domie ^ Paris le trente fructidor de V an Onze de la Bepub- 

 lique." To the right of the seal above described appears the auto- 

 graph signature, Bonaparte. Difiicult to decipher, looking as it 

 does like two words, did we not already know the name, but legible 

 enough, when we know. The first Consul chose to dash off his chiro- 

 graph slantingly upwards, disregarding the parallelism observed in 

 the other lines of the document. Below are the autographs of 

 Maret, Secretary of State ; and Berthier, Minister of War. Here, 

 then — whatever may be the value of the fact — here, without doubt, 

 on this parchment which we see, once rested for a moment the right 

 hand, now turning to dust under the dome of the Invalides. 



