CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



473 



scribbling, and its general appearance is dirty and neglected. The 

 next apartment is about fourteen by seventeen feet, said to have been 

 used as a dining-room, and in which Napoleon died; it is now occupied 

 by a patent thrashing and winnowing machine, and was strewed with 

 chaff and straw. The adjoining room had been used as a library ; its 

 present state was disgusting, and it seemed as if appropriated to the 

 hatching of chickens. The bath, bed, and dressing-rooms, which he 

 occupied at the commencement of his illness, are now in part used as 

 a stable. The place in which his body lay in state, contains eight 

 stalls, five of which were occupied by horses and cattle. 



If the design had been to desecrate as much as possible the habita- 

 tion that had been occupied by the fallen Emperor, it could not have 

 been more effectually accomplished ; but whatever may be the 

 motive, whether intentional or otherwise, it certainly redounds little 

 to the credit of the British nation. The miserable condition of Long- 

 wood when we visited it was a subject of general animadversion. 

 The money derived from the lease of the property is paid into the 

 Queen's treasury, no part of this small sum being retained to keep 

 the building in repair ; nor are there any conditions in the lease that 

 compel the lessee to do it. It is with regret I am compelled to state 

 that the lessee is a military man, and an officer in the British army. 



VOL. v. 119 



