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 Limited to 
 250 Copies 
 
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A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 BEING A SEQUEL TO LETTERS OF 
 CAPTAIN ENGELBERT LUTYENS, ORDERLY 
 OFFICER AT LONGWOOD, SAINT HELENA, 
 FEB. 1820 TO NOV. 1823 : : EDITED BY 
 
 SIR LEES KNOWLES 
 
 BARONET, C.V.O., O.B.E., T.D., D.L., M.A., LL.M. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON—JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD 
 NEW YORK— JOHN LANE COMPANY, MCMXXI 
 
.' si i'^ » if ' • >' ••'•-• - 
 
 
 Printed by Tillotsons (Bolton), Ltd., 
 Mealhouse Lane, Bolton. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Not all the water in the rough, rude sea 
 Can wash the balm off an anointed king ; 
 The breath of worldly men cannot depose 
 The deputy elected by the Lord " : 
 
 Shakespeare. — Richard II. Act Hi. Scene 2. 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO 
 
 THE XX. REGIMENT OF FOOT, NOW THE LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS, 
 
 AND TO ALL STUDENTS OF NAPOLEONIC HISTORY ! 
 
 Napoleon the First died on May 5th, 1821, aged 51 years, and 
 Eugenie, the widow of Napoleon the Third, died on July 12th, 1920, 
 aged 95 years, the former a prisoner, the latter a guest, of Great Britain : 
 and thus, the connection between the First and Second Napoleonic 
 Empires has come to an end within a period of one hundred years, 
 and it seems fitting that there should be reference to the history, and of 
 its makers, touching that period. That is some excuse for the production 
 of this book, with a preface and an index, the former introducing the 
 reader to the subject, like an avenue with its vista, and the latter 
 pointing out the entrances, the exits, and the objects of interest, or the 
 reverse. Except for these few lines, I would ask my readers to accept 
 as the substantial preface the " Letters of Captain Engelbert Lutyens "^, 
 a book which has been well received. 
 
 It has been said that a compiler is liable to a hard fate, and that his 
 labours are not infrequently used without adequate acknowledgment : 
 yet, in recognising him, his authorities themselves may not be recognised. 
 I would not willingly do injustice to anyone : so, I have tried to make 
 due acknowledgments in my text. A critic, too, may do injustice by 
 fault-finding, in order to parade his own knowledge, or, by withholding 
 due praise, lest he should appear to be obtuse : thus, it happens, that a 
 
 * " Letters of Captain Engelbert Lutyens", Orderly Officer at Longwood, St. Helena, 
 February, 1820 to November, 1823. Published by John Lane, The Bodley Head, London, 
 and John Lane Company, New York. 
 
 4957 35 
 
PREFACE 
 
 pin-prick, or, to use an old phrase, a privy nip, may counterbalance 
 all that is of value. I ask for kind consideration. I know that this book 
 is of little literary importance : but, I offer it on the centenary of his 
 death, in homage to the memory of a great man, and with the intention 
 of filling up a gap, however small, in the history of his life — a trifling 
 addition to the immense mass of the literature of Napoleon, who 
 maintains his hold, even now, upon British imagination. 
 
 Hitherto, there has been little known of Marchand and St. Denis, 
 two of the so-called lesser exiles of St. Helena. Here, I have given an 
 outline of their lives, their portraits, and specimens of their hand- 
 writing. At the same time, I hope that I have proved, inter alia, that the 
 lists from the will of Napoleon, etc., deposited in the British Museum, 
 are in the handwriting of St. Denis, and that it was St. Denis who 
 inscribed " L'Empereur Napoleon ", with its far-reaching consequences, 
 in the three volumes of Coxe's Life of Marlborough, a gift of Napoleon, 
 an unique gift, from his death-bed, to the officers of the XX. Regiment, 
 now the Lancashire Fusiliers. 
 
 As regards the portraits, I have had reproductions made from the 
 group of exiles in the well-known picture of " the death of Napoleon " 
 by Steuben. Marchand on the left, and St. Denis on the right, are 
 gazing upon their dying master : and, on the wall, hangs a portrait of 
 Napoleon's only son. Napoleon the Second, created King of Rome, and 
 best known by his Austrian title of Due de Reichstadt. 
 
 There is a portrait of Marchand in " Apr^s la mort de I'Empereur ", 
 by Alb^ric Cahuet, facing page 60, and, as stated, another of him, with 
 St. Denis, in the Steuben picture. I possess a beautiful oleograph copy 
 of that picture, which is reproduced by Fr^d^ric Masson in " Napoleon st 
 Sainte-H^l^ne ", Volume II, facing page 222, and by Norwood Young 
 in " Napoleon in Exile ", volume II, facing page 220. It was reproduced 
 also in the Connoisseur for May, 1915, page 46 : and, there is an 
 engraving of it by Henry Wolf, in the fourth volume of Sloane's Life of 
 Napoleon Bonaparte (New York, Century Co., 1906). The dimensions 
 of my copy, inside the frame, are 3 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 7 inches. 
 On the key, written in pencil, apparently in foreign handwriting, is the 
 statement " Le tableau appartenu a la Princesse Murat d^c6d6e k 
 Londres, puis elle I'a donn6 k Lady Norfolk": and, printed in French, 
 " The night of 4th and 5th of May had been very disturbed, by an almost 
 continuous delirium. The last articulate words that we could dis- 
 tinguish were * France, Arm^e ' : the Emperor became silent. At 
 four o'clock in the morning, calm followed this state of restlessness: the 
 calm of courage and of resignation. The eye of the Emperor is fixed, 
 
PREFACE 
 
 his mouth compressed : some drops of sugar and water are inserted. 
 Little by little the pulse slows down, a sigh escapes from the noble 
 breast, hope revives in us. At eight o'clock, the French employed in 
 the service of the Emperor enter the room, restraining their grief which 
 is overbearing. Their feelings chilled by the silence of death, they 
 arranged themselves near the bed which already we were surrounding. 
 Our eyes fixed on the noble head of the Emperor turn away only to 
 try to read in the eyes of Dr. Antommarchi, if any hope at all remained. 
 It is in vain : pitiless death is there. 
 
 " At half -past five in the evening the gun for retreat sounds. The 
 sun, sinking in floods of light, ceases to shine the moment the brilliant 
 star which dominated the world begins to surround itself in immortal 
 glory. The anxiety of the doctor redoubles. The hand which led to 
 victory, and of which he takes the beats, is becoming chilled by death. 
 Dr. Arnott counts the intervals between one breath and another : 
 
 fifteen seconds, then thirty seconds, then sixty seconds, pass the 
 
 Emperor is gone. 
 
 " His lips are discoloured, the mouth is slightly contracted, the eye- 
 lids are rigid, the eyes are turned down, the expression is calm and 
 suggestive of peace. At once, our sobs burst forth, with all the more 
 force on account of their long suppression. The children of Madame 
 Bertrand had come in at ten o'clock : they were recalled by their mother, 
 who wished them to kiss the cold hand, which for six years had lavished 
 caresses upon them. The scene of bereavement, which appeared before 
 them, prevented them from bearing such dreadful agitation for any 
 length of time. The eldest boy fainted, and it was necessary to remove 
 him from this scene of sorrow. During this interval. Captain Crokat, 
 with Dr. Arnott, entered, to verify the time of the death of the Emperor, 
 this proceeding affecting his feelings. He withdraws with respect, and 
 appears to offer excuses for having disturbed us in our grief. Shortly 
 afterwards, two English doctors follow him, place their hands on the 
 heart of the victim, and depart coldly, to certify the evidence of the 
 officer. 
 
 " Thus, the Emperor Napoleon passed away, surrounded by his 
 faithful servants, but not by those natural objects of affection which a 
 man would look for in his last moments, a mother, a wife, a son." 
 (Extract from the unpublished souvenirs of M. Marchand, Ist Valet 
 de chambre of the Emperor.) 
 
 Fr^d^ric Masson states that the original picture was painted with the 
 approval of the companions of the Emperor, and that their portraits 
 in it are from life. The face of Napoleon was reproduced probably 
 
PREFACE 
 
 from the celebrated death-mask, as I can find no trace of an ear. 
 According to Petit Larousse illustr^, Charles Baron de Steuben 
 was a German historical-painter, born at Bauerbach, Baden, 
 in 1788, and he died in 1856. In answer to my inquiries about him, 
 correspondents of " Notes & Queries " for September 4th and 25th, 
 1920, kindly supplied the further information, that he was the son of a 
 lieutenant-colonel in the Russian army, and that, after studying at the 
 St. Petersburg Academy, he went to Paris, where he became a pupil of 
 Gerard, Robert Lefevre, and Prud'hon. First brought into the public 
 eye by his painting of " Peter the Great on the Lake of Ladoga during 
 a tempest ", he subsequently obtained the cross of the Legion of Honour, 
 and a Barony. He revisited Russia during his declining years, but 
 returned to Paris where he died. Other Napoleonic subjects painted 
 by him were, " The Return from Elba ", " Napoleon at Waterloo ", 
 and " Napoleon dictating his Memoirs to General Gourgaud " : and, 
 he painted many portraits of the Emperor's nobility. Moreover, 
 he was an assiduous antiquary. In " Napoleon in Exile ", mentioned 
 above, volume I., facing page 18, is a picture entitled " Napoleon's 
 reception by the 7th Regiment at Grenoble " from a print by Jazet, 
 after Steuben. 
 
 Mr. Andrew de Ternant, whose family dropped, after the French 
 Revolution, the titles of Baron et Comte de Ternant et de la Motte, 
 informs me, that Charles Baron de Steuben was a protege of Stephanie 
 de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden, and that he went to Paris 
 about the year 1807. His title of Baron was a Napoleonic creation. 
 He left Paris after Napoleon's first abdication, and did not return until 
 1831. His picture of the " Death of Napoleon " was frequently engraved 
 in Paris from 1831 to 1835, and it was given in a " supplement " 
 in some French journals of the period. He was in Florence from 1823-25, 
 during which time he was patronised by Madame Mere (Napoleon's 
 mother). This is probably the period of the picture, for it was executed 
 in Italy at the expense of Madame M^re. The original was on view at 
 a Parisian picture-dealer's exhibition during the Spring of 1835, and it 
 may be now in some collection in France. Mr. de Ternant says that his 
 maternal grandmother, who passed away in her sleep in the winter of 
 1914 just a few weeks before reaching her 100th birthday, had a framed 
 copy of the oleograph" in her bedroom : it was presented by Baron de 
 Steuben to her father, the brother of the great-grandfather of the 
 victorious General Weygand. The first impression was limited to 
 twenty copies, and all, with the exception of three for the artist, were 
 
PREFACE 
 
 reserved strictly for relatives and connections by marriage of the dead 
 Emperor. 
 
 I was unable to obtain help from the posthumous memoirs 
 of Princess Caroline Murat as to the French inscription, to the 
 effect that a Princess Murat on her death had given my picture 
 to a member of the Norfolk family. Mr. de Ternant, however, 
 has sent me the following note : " The Princess Murat — Caroline — you 
 are in search of, according to the Almanach de Gotha, 1883, page 301-2, 
 was a Scottish lady, n^e Fraser, born April 13th, 1810, died February 
 10th, 1879. She was the daughter-in-law of Napoleon's sister. The 
 " Lady Norfolk " was probably a former Duchess of Norfolk — Augusta, 
 daughter of the first Lord Lyons — and mother of the late Duke. Miss 
 Fraser, if not originally a Roman Catholic, must have become one to have 
 married into the Murat family, of which the first Lord Lyons was a great 
 friend ". 
 
 My copy of the picture was presented, according to Messrs. Christie, 
 Manson & Woods, by Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, to their Red 
 Cross Sale of April 16th, 1915 : but, it has escaped her memory. It was 
 bought by Mr. James McLean, re-presented and sold, and I bought it 
 at the Red Cross Sale held by the same Auctioneers on April 15th, 1916. 
 I think, now, that I have discovered the Princess Murat who died in 
 London, and the member of the Norfolk family to whom she gave the 
 copy. It is probably safe to say that Comte Bertrand first suggested the 
 original painting to Baron de Steuben, and that he and Dr. O'Meara 
 corrected the grouping of the figures in the first rough sketch. 
 
 LEES KNOWLES. 
 
 Westwood, Pendlebury, 
 
 and 
 
 Turton Tower, Bolton, 
 
 Lancashire, 
 
 1921. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Chapter I. A Gift of Napoleon 1 
 
 Chapter II. Inscription of the Gift ... 10 
 
 Chapter III. Correspondence 19 
 
 Chapter IV. Marchand and St. Denis ... 34 
 
 Chapter V. Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre 45 
 
 Chapter VI. Marshal Soult 54 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 Mabchand and St. Denis Frontispiece 
 
 The three volumes op the Life op John, Duke op 
 
 Marlborough, by William Coxe 4 
 
 Title Page with the Inscription "l'Empereur Napoleon" .. .. 8 
 
 Lists Nos. 2 and 3, British Museum, Foreign Letters, Vol. 15,729, 
 
 Folio 132, in the handwriting of St. Denis 18 
 
 Bibliotheque Nationale — Letter op Marchand 22 
 
 Book inscribed by Marchand 23 
 
 Book inscribed by St. Denis 24 
 
 Autograph of St. Denis 26 
 
 A Page prom the Will op St. Denis 30 
 
 The last Page with the Signature 32 
 
 Letter op Marchand to a Brother of Napoleon 38 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NAPOLEON was the most powerful man of his time ; but, from 
 the day that he set foot upon St. Helena, his power was rapidly 
 on the wane. Disease had marked him — worn out in mind 
 and body — for her own. He had been deserted by his friends, not only by 
 those who had sat with him at his table and partaken of his munificence, 
 but also by those who had gathered up even the crumbs. The keen 
 tooth of ingratitude had entered into his soul, like the cancer which was 
 gnawing at his body. The human rats had left the sinking ship — a sign 
 of the abandonment of hope — and showed no sign of an intention to 
 return. His wife was living apart from him, forgetful, and more than 
 forgetful, of the love of her husband, and of their child, his son and heir, 
 who was at a strange court, kept there in ignorance so far as possible, 
 even of his parentage, and of his proper place in the world. Only one 
 woman stayed till the bitter end, and she was by birth not a French, but 
 a British, subject. Yet, in the little group of exiles, there were those who 
 were faithful, and in those few, two of the humblest — call them two of 
 the lesser exiles, if you will — were faithful to the end. Better to have 
 no friends than false friends, better no friend than one who fawns upon 
 you in prosperity, and turns his back upon you in adversity ! So, in the 
 life of Napoleon. Marchand and St. Denis stand out as conspicuous 
 illustrations of fidelity. 
 
 Marchand was the first valet, and St. Denis was the second valet 
 and custodian of the library. It was Marchand who received the last 
 instructions of Napoleon : it was he who was the chosen bearer of his 
 keepsakes. In his hands were placed the keys, to his keeping was entrusted 
 the will : and Marchand, the first valet of the exile, was appointed 
 one of the executors of the Emperor. 
 
 Hear the last story, as told, in effect, by Monsieur Frederic Masson ! 
 No one had informed Napoleon that the doctors in consultation had decided 
 to give him calomel, a preparation of mercury, because everyone knew his 
 
A OrFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 aversion *c f^U attempted remedies, and it was agreed not to tell him. 
 Marchand strove with them, not willing to deceive his master : but, 
 at last, he yielded, and then only on account of the remark of Count 
 Bertrand, the Grand Marshal, " it is this, either the trial of a last possible 
 resource, or the loss of the Emperor. We must not leave it as a 
 reproach to ourselves that we have not done everything that, humanly 
 speaking, could have been done to save him". So, dissolving the powder 
 in water and sugar (eau sucr^e), Marchand presents the glass to the 
 Emperor, who swallows the contents with difl&culty, tries to throw up the 
 mouthful which he has taken, and, then, turning toward Marchand, he 
 says, in a reproachful voice, full of affection impossible to describe, and 
 addressing him in the French second person singular, the " thou " of 
 friendship next to the " I " of self, so difficult to translate into English, 
 " and thou too, deceivest me ! " How vividly this recalls the recorded 
 dying words of Caesar, when stabbed by Marcus Brutus, his own familiar 
 friend, " et tu Brute ! " Marchand, beside himself, goes out, and he does 
 not return for a time, and then, only when, half an hour later, the Emperor 
 asks again for something to drink, and, taking with trust a little water 
 and sugar, he says, " It is good, it is very good ". 
 
 That man is the nobler who accepts misfortune, rather than fortune, 
 with a smile : one who does not repine, although injustice may allow 
 no chance of defence. Nothing is harder to bear than a sense of injustice 
 that finds no vent for expression ! There is no doubt that Napoleon 
 suffered in silence, and that his pain was greater in mind than in body : 
 but, he refused to show his emotion in public. A brave man never 
 proclaims the misery of his soul, his honour and his dignity forbid it. 
 The body can be crushed, but not the soul : and, it is in that fact that 
 the superman feels his strength. The fallen mighty, the lion at bay, 
 surrounded by a pack of snarling, snapping, cowardly curs, maintains 
 his dignity, and, in his death. Napoleon showed the dignity of dying 
 greatness to the puny littleness of a staring and a gaping world. 
 
 Since the Letters of Captain Engelbert Lutyens, Orderly Officer at 
 Longwood, St. Helena, were published, I have been able to obtain some 
 further information of interest in connection with them. Those letters 
 were official reports in which it was the duty of their writer to detail 
 all events, however trivial, which came under his notice ; and, although 
 they may contain little, or nothing, of historical importance, yet by their 
 homeliness, they enable the reader to form a good idea of the life of 
 Napoleon, and they show, like the proverbial straw, the way the wind 
 blew at Longwood, in portraying the daily routine during the last few 
 months of the Emperor's life. Their historical sidelights may be mere 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 flickers, but they have afforded some illumination for appreciative readers. 
 Lutyens received his appointment as Orderly Officer at Longwood on 
 February 10th, 1820, and he resigned it on April 15th, 1821, about three 
 weeks before the death of Napoleon, which occurred on Saturday, May 
 5th, 1821. His work as Orderly Officer was much more onerous than 
 that of any of his predecessors, for, at that time, illness induced Napoleon 
 to live in greater seclusion, the chief reasons for it being largely the 
 resentment of Napoleon due to the harsh restrictions with which he was 
 hedged about by the pedantry and stupidity of the Governor, Sir 
 Hudson Lowe, and to the refusal of the British Government to accede 
 to his claim that it was his right to use, and to be addressed by, the 
 title of Emperor. The episode in the life of Captain Lutyens of especial 
 importance was his removal by the Governor on account of two 
 differences, which might easily have been adjusted, namely, a dispute 
 with a superior officer, and the acceptance from Napoleon of books 
 inscribed with the title of Emperor. The books contained the dedication 
 " L'Empereur Napoleon", but not in Napoleon's handwriting, and 
 Lowe ordered Lutyens to return them, and to pretend that he did not 
 know how, or why, they came into his possession. The consequences 
 of the gift, related fully in the " Letters of Captain Engelbert Lutyens", 
 is a sad story, and Sir Hudson Lowe comes out of it badly, for, as a 
 writer in the " Athenaeum " justly remarked, he appears as a mean 
 and suspicious martinet, who behaved to Lutyens, his victim, with 
 great want of candour. It was cruel fortune for Lutyens that, by his 
 dismissal, he lost promotion, a trip to England, and the reward of £500 
 for carrying the dispatches announcing the Emperor's death, which duty 
 devolved upon Captain William Crokat, also of the XX. Regiment of 
 Foot, who succeeded Lutyens for about three weeks, from April 15th 
 to May 7th, 1821, including the final week of Napoleon's life. 
 
 At the time that the " Letters of Captain Engelbert Lutyens " were 
 published, the volumes of Coxe's " Life of Marlborough " were not 
 available. The plate, and other objects of value, of the Officers' Mess 
 of the 1st Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, formerly the XX. Regiment 
 of Foot, had been placed in storage, in view of active service in the 
 great war ; and, it was only when some of the surviving officers returned 
 home on leave that the books could be found. Thanks to their kindness, 
 and my thanks are especially due to Air-Commodore L. E. 0. Charlton, 
 C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., Lt.-Colonel S. F. McI. Lomer, O.B.E., Lt.-Colonel 
 H. V. S. Ormond, Lt.-Colonel C. de Putron, Major B. Smyth, O.B.E., 
 M.V.O., and Major R. R. Willis, V.C., I have been permitted to examine 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 again those books thoroughly, and I am able to give further information 
 about them. 
 
 For the sake of clearness, there are quoted here the following 
 letters, written by the Orderly Officer at Longwood to Major Gideon 
 Gorrequer (1781-1841), the Aide-de-Camp and Acting Military- 
 Secretary to Sir Hudson Lowe, the Governor, telling how the book, 
 Coxe's " Life of Marlborough ", was given to the XX Regiment. 
 
 , Longwood, 15th April, 1821. 
 Sir, 
 
 Yesterday evening, during the time I was with the Governor, 
 a servant of the Establishment left in my apartments Coxe's "Life of the 
 Duke of Marlborough ", the meaning of which I did not und^stand 
 until I saw Doctor Arnott, after he came from visiting General Bonaparte, 
 who informed me General Bonaparte had been talking about English 
 soldiers, and all of a sudden he said he would make the Library of the 
 20th Regiment a present of the History of the Duke of Marlborough, 
 one of the best English Generals, and immediately ordered Marchand 
 to get it, and then ordered it to be brought to me^. 
 
 Doctor Arnott has just come from General Bonaparte, who, he 
 thinks, is a little better this morning. 
 
 I remain, Sir, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 E. Lutyens. 
 To Major Gorrequer, etc., etc., etc. 
 
 P.S. — I shall keep the books until I hear from you. The subject 
 of the books is only known to Arnott and myself. 
 
 E. L. 
 
 Pencil note. — Mem : in the margin. 
 
 Doctor Arnott, who brought the above note from Captain Lutyens, 
 was desired to tell him to send the books to Plantation House, for the 
 Governor to look at. 
 
 ' The result of the presentation of Coxe's "Life of Marlborough", by Napoleon to 
 the officers of the 20th Regiment, was the removal from duty at Longwood of Captain 
 Engelbert Lutyens. 
 
u 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Longwood, 15th April, 1821. 
 Sir, 
 
 Countess Bertrand * * * * mentioned she had heard that 
 General Bonaparte had given to the 20th Library the " Life of the Duke 
 of Marlborough", the whole of which the General now had translated 
 into French^ by Count Bertrand. 
 
 Doctor Arnott was with General Bonaparte last evening. He 
 found him much the same as in the morning. He asked the Doctor 
 how the Officers liked the books; but, something occurred in the room, 
 by which means he did not answer^. 
 
 E. Lutyens. 
 
 To Major Gorrequer, etc., etc., etc. 
 P.S. — I have forwarded the books^. 
 
 Forsyth, referring to the three volumes, acknowledges that 
 " Napoleon's kindly-meant present might, in the circumstances, have 
 been accepted. He did not send them as coming from ' the Emperor', 
 nor write the objectionable title in them ; nor was there much likelihood 
 of a British Regiment being seduced from its allegiance by adding to its 
 library a few books, the gift of Napoleon", and, the late Mr. R. C. Seaton 
 wrote that one must agree with the remarks of Forsyth, adding " it does 
 not appear that he — Napoleon — ever heard of the fate of his present ; 
 but, if he had, there is no doubt that he would have felt what had 
 happened as a deliberate insult ". 
 
 Norwood Young, in " Napoleon in Exile at St. Helena (1815- 
 -1821)", Vol. II., page 215, referring to the circumstances of the gift, 
 says," he (Napoleon) then began to praise British soldiers, and finally 
 said he would present to the oflnicers of the 20th, Coxe's " Life of 
 Marlborough ", which had been given him by the Hon. Robert Spencer, 
 in the previous October. Spencer had touched at St. Helena on the 
 
 way home from the East Napoleon had always admired 
 
 Marlborough He was much interested in the biography, 
 
 and made Madame Bertrand translate the greater part of the two* 
 volumes into French, for his reading. 
 
 * Where is this French translation ? Perhaps it was viva voce. 
 ® This would appear to be an evasion. 
 
 ^ Coxe's Life of Marlborough, in three volumes, 
 
 * Two is an error for three. 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Spencer wrote in the first volume : — 
 
 Hunc de Proavi rebus gestis librum 
 
 Napoleoni mittit 
 Ducis Marlburiensis Pronepos 
 
 Robertus Spencer 
 
 A.D. 1817^ 
 
 Somebody had added the words ' I'Empereur Napoleon*. Perhaps 
 this was done by Bertrand, or Montholon". 
 
 This Latin inscription may be translated — 
 
 Robert Spencer, a great-grandson of the Duke of Marlborough, 
 sends this book, narrating the deeds of his ancestor, to Napoleon, A.D. 
 1817^. It is to be found in the British Museum, Additional 
 Manuscripts, Volume 20,128, folio 509. 
 
 The lines are written in a studied, clerk-like, hand, and, they have 
 been copied by someone not well-versed in Latin : for, in the last 
 line, Ducis appears to be written Ducio, the last syllable is separated 
 from the other syllables of the next word, and Robertus Spencer appears 
 to be written as Tholertus Spenen. Apparently, the copyist had before 
 him the original inscription, and its writing was somewhat illegible. 
 A writer, quoting from memory, would not have made these mistakes. 
 Where is the original fly-leaf ? What authority is there for saying that 
 it was torn out of Volume I. of Coxe's "Life of Marlborough " ? Binders 
 say that there is no page missing from that volume. And, why does 
 Norwood Young, Vol. II., page 215, when quoting this document, give 
 its date as " A.D. 1817 ", instead of " 1819 ", which is the date given 
 in the inscription ? 
 
 The Honourable Robert Spencer, commanding H.M.S. Owen 
 Glendower, arrived at S. Helena on October 25th, 1820. Mr. Charles 
 Harold Athill, Clarenceux King of Arms, has been so kind as to 
 supply me with a pedigree showing his connection with the Marlborough 
 family : — 
 
 » 1817 is ftn error for 1819. 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, = Sarah Jennings, 
 born 1650, died 1722. | 
 
 1 
 
 Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, = Anne, 2nd dau., marr. 
 died 1722^ ^| 1699, died 1716. 
 
 I 
 John Spencer, 3rd Son, =Georgiana Carolina, dau. 
 
 born 1708, died 1746. 
 
 of Earl Granville, marr. 
 1733. 
 
 John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, = Margaret Georgiana, dau. 
 
 born 1734, died 1783 
 
 of the Right Hon. Stephen 
 Poyntz, marr. 1755, died 
 1814. 
 
 George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, =Lavinia, dau. of Charles 
 
 born 1758 
 
 1st Earl of Lucan, marr. 
 1781, died 1831. 
 
 Hon. Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer, K.C.H., Captain 
 Royal Navy, 2nd Son, born 24th October, 1791, died 
 unmarried 4th November, 1830, on board H.M.S. 
 " Madagascar", off Alexandria : Private Secretary and 
 Groom of the Bedchamber to H.R.H. the Duke of 
 Clarence, Lord High Admiral, August, 1827, to September, 
 1828. 
 
 The three volumes of Coxe's " Life of Marlborough", I have submitted 
 to Mr. Francis Edwards, the well-known bookseller, and also to Mr. 
 G. F. Ayling, the well-known bookbinder, and, after careful examination, 
 they describe them as follows : — Demi-quarto, full diced-calf, gilt backs, 
 and gilt borders. They point out that the title-page of Volume I. has 
 been damaged and mounted, and a paper-guard has been fastened in, 
 to carry letters. No fly-leaf has been removed, such as might have 
 borne the above-mentioned Latin inscription : in fact, such inscription 
 was never on an original fly-leaf of the volumes. 
 
 With regard to the handwriting of Napoleon, the following extract 
 from the " Foreign Reminiscences " of Henry Richard Lord Holland, 
 edited by his son, Henry Edward Lord Holland, dated 1850, page 291, 
 is worth notice : — 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 His proficiency in literature has been variously stated. He had 
 read much, but had written little. In the mechanical part he was 
 certainly no adept ; his handwriting was nearly illegible. Some would 
 fain persuade me that that fault was intentional, and merely an artifice 
 to conceal his bad spelling ; that he could form his letters well if he 
 chose, but was unwilling to let his readers know too exactly the use 
 he made of them. His orthography was certainly not correct ; that of 
 few Frenchmen, not professed authors, was so thirty years ago : but, 
 his brothers Lucien and Lewis, both literary men, and both correct 
 in their orthography, write a similar hand, and nearly as bad a one as 
 he did, probably for the same reason, namely, that they cannot write 
 a better without great pains and loss of time. 
 
 Napoleon, when Consul and Emperor, seldom wrote, but he dictated 
 much. It was difficult to follow him, and he often objected to any 
 revision of what he had dictated. When a word had escaped 
 his amanuensis, and he was asked what it was, he would answer somewhat 
 pettishly, " Je ne r^p^terai pas le mot. R^fl^chissez, rappelez vous du 
 mot que j'ai dict^, et ^crivez-le, car pour moi je ne le r^p^terai pas^ ". 
 Talleyrand, interested possibly in discrediting an}'- posthumous writings, 
 was very earnest, soon after the news of his death arrived, in inculcating 
 on me and others the persuasion that Napoleon never did and never 
 could dictate. " II disait, il ne dictait pas ; on ne pouvait ^crire sous sa 
 
 dict^e. II ne sgavait ni dieter ni ^crire^ " But, excepting Talleyrand 
 
 and Charles IV. of Spain, I never heard anyone express a doubt of his 
 powers of composition, or his habits of dictating. It was, indeed, difficult 
 to follow and yet more difficult to satisfy him in the discharge of that 
 office ; but M. Bignon and others — Cambac^res, Barb^-Marbois, Daru, 
 Las Cases, Bertrand, and many more — inured themselves to his manner. 
 In matters of importance he would look over and correct what had been 
 written from his dictation, and would afterwards repeat word for word 
 the sentences he had composed and revised. His style was clear. " Soyez 
 clair, tout le reste viendra^", was a maxim of his. In matters of business, 
 he very justly ridiculed and defied that absurd canon of French criticism 
 which forbids the recurrence of a word twice in the same sentence, or 
 even page. 
 
 ' Translation : " I will not repeat the word. Think, and recall the word that 
 I dictated, and write it down ', for, I tell you, I will not repeat it". 
 
 ' Translation : " he said he did not dictate ; his dictation could not be taken 
 down in writing. He knew neither how to dictate, nor how to write". 
 
 'Translation : "be clear, and all the rest will follow". 
 
<7i- / 
 
 Ct>-I 
 
 M E M () I R S 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN DUKE OF M \RLB()ROll(;H, 
 
 ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE . 
 
 FROM THE FAMILY RECORDS AT BLENHEIM 
 
 OTHRIl AUTHENTIC .SOVKCE.S. 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS, MAPS. AND MILITARY FLANS 
 
 BY V/ILLIAM COXE, M.A. F.R.S. F S.A 
 
 ARCHDEACON OF WILTS 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED FOIl LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME and BROWN, 
 1819. 
 
 Title Page with the inscnj)tion " rEmpeieur Napoleon 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 It is obvious that the inscription " L'Empereur Napoleon " was not 
 written by the Emperor. Many fac-similes of his handwriting may be 
 seen in the beautiful Napoleonic volume printed by the collector, John 
 Sainsbury entitled, " The Napoleon Museum, the History of France 
 illustrated, from Louis XIV. to the end of the Reign and Death of the 
 Emperor ", which I searched in vain for fac-similes of the handwriting 
 of Marchand and St. Denis. In this connection, it may be of interest 
 to state that my copy bears the date 1845. The figure five (V) has been 
 added both on the back, as well as on the title-page of the book, as I 
 understand that the volume was ready for publication in 1840 
 (MDCCCXL), but not issued actually until five years later 
 (MDCCCXLV). On the fly-leaf, in the handwriting of the author, 
 is the statement, in allusion to Napoleon, " the eagle and the bee are 
 emblematical of soaring and of industry ". 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 INSCRIPTION OF THE GIFT. 
 
 IF it must be admitted that the handwriting of the inscription in 
 the three volumes is not that of Napoleon, a fact obvious to any 
 Napoleonic student, then, whose is it ? I have in my possession 
 a copy of the Catalogue of the books of the late Mr. A. M. Broadley. 
 There was no handwriting, however, in that volume which seemed to 
 be of help. And so, I placed myself into communication with some 
 of the Napoleonic specialists, whose opinions were likely to be of value. 
 These included Dr. Arnold Chaplin, the late Mr. Birney Fickling, 
 Rev. E. Brook Jackson, the Hon. J. W. Fortescue, Dr. J. Holland Rose 
 and Mr. Norwood Young. 
 
 I wrote, also, to Mr. John Lane, sending him a copy of the photo- 
 graph of the inscription in the volumes, which he forwarded 
 with my letter to his friend Monsieur Pierre Am^d^e Pichot, from 
 whom he received a letter of which the following is an extract : — 
 
 132 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, April 20th, 1916. 
 Dear Mr. Lane, 
 
 I thank you very much indeed for sending a copy of Sir Lees 
 Knowles's volume*, so beautifully got up, and I daresay Masson will 
 like it too. In bringing before him the object of your letter, I found he 
 was well acquainted with the work and he believes that the inscription 
 on the volumes^ presented to the XX. Regiment is by the hand of 
 Marchand, or may be of Saint Denis, another of Napoleon's officials. 
 Both writings are so very much alike that it is difficult to say which is 
 which. The inscription " I'Empereur Napoleon " used to be put on all 
 the books of the library, and it is from that library that the dying 
 Emperor caused the three volumes he placed in Arnott's hands to be 
 
 ^ The Letters of Captain Engelbert Lutyena. 
 ^Coxe's "Life of Marlborough". 
 
 10 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 drawn. The whole particulars of the fact have been related by Fr^d^ric 
 Masson in his history of Napoleon k Ste H^l^ne (OUendorf, edition in 
 8vo, 1912, page 459), by which it appears that the work sent to the 
 English Regiment was the French translation, printed by order of the 
 Emperor at the Imperial Printing Office in the year 1806. Thus Sir 
 Lees Knowles's statement that the book had been given to Napoleon 
 in October, 1820 by the Honourable Robert Spencer (page 109 of the 
 Letters of Captain Engelbert Lutyens), and the query in the note, page 
 110, "where is the translation", should not be correct. Masson has two 
 copies, and it is not at all a scarce book^ ". 
 
 It would appear that Monsieur Fr^d^ric Masson, and other 
 writers have confused two works relating to Marlborough, one printed 
 about 1806 in France, and the other printed about 1819 in England, 
 the former in French, the latter in English. The following observations, 
 relating to the former, will help to explain the probable cause of con- 
 fusion. 
 
 In the John Rylands Library, Manchester, is a copy of the History 
 of " Jean Churchill ". It is in three volumes inscribed Histoire de Jean 
 Churchill, Due de Marlborough : imprim^ par les soins de J. J. Marcel, 
 Directeur g^n^ral de I'lmprimerie imp^riale, Membre de la Legion 
 d'honneur. In the first volume, the Duke is described as " Due de 
 Marlborough, Prince du Saint Empire Romain et de Mindelheim, 
 Capitaine G6n6ral des Forces Angloises et HoUandoises sous la Reine 
 Anne, Grand-mattre de I'Artillerie, etc., etc.". : and in the second and 
 third volumes as " Due de Marlborough, Prince du Saint Empire 
 Romain et de Mindelheim, Capitaine G^n^ral des troupes Angloises 
 sous la Reine Anne, Grand-maitre de I'Artillerie, Commandant en 
 Chef de I'Arm^e des Allies, etc., etc.". On the fly-leaf of the first volume 
 is a note in Lord Spencer's handwriting, " This book was sent as a present 
 to my Father about the year 1809, or 1810, by the Emperor Napoleon : 
 another copy was sent at the same time to the Prince Regent, and a 
 third to the then Duke of Marlborough ". (Signed) Spencer. 
 
 The first volume is dated as follows : " Tome Premier. A Paris, 
 de rimprimerie Imp^riale. An XIII. = 1805". The other volumes : 
 " Tome Second. 1806 ", and " Tome Troisidme. 1806 ". 
 
 Each title-page bears a quotation from Horace. Below is the 
 Latin, with a translation taken from " The Odes and Epodes of Horace, 
 
 * There is evidently a confusion between two works. The three volumes of Coxe's 
 "Life of Marlborough" bear the date 1819. 
 
 11 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 selected by S. A. Courtauld", Book I., Ode VI., To Agrippa (M. Vipsanius 
 Agrippa, the foremost war-minister of Augustus : commanded at the 
 battle of Actium). 
 
 Quis Martem tunicd tectum adamantine digne scripserit . . ? 
 
 Whose harp the warlike Mars in mail arrayed .... hath 
 hymned aright ? 
 
 (Author) G. J. Whyte-Melville. 
 
 Or, from the works of Horace translated literally by C. Smart, " who with 
 sufficient dignity will describe Mars covered with adamantine coat 
 of mail, . . . . ? " 
 
 In the first volume is a portrait of Jean Churchill, Due de Marl- 
 borough, with his arms, and his autograph : and, it is stated " cette 
 signature a H6 calqu^e sur la signature originale du Duc"^ The Avant- 
 propos, or Introduction, begins, " Un grand homme appartient k tous 
 les peuples, et a tous les siecles " ^. 
 
 Upon inquiry as to the authority for the statement at the British 
 Museum that the Histoire de Jean Churchill, Due de Marlborough, 
 3 tom. Paris, 1806., 8°. 10,817. bbb3., was " composed principally by 
 Madgett, edited and enlarged by the Abb6 J. F. H. Dutems", I received 
 the following reply : " the authority for the statement respecting the 
 authorship of ' Histoire de Jean Churchill ' is Barbier : ' Dictionnaire 
 des ouvrages anonymes', tom. 2. p. 674. ' Histoire de Jean ' Churchill, 
 Due de Marlborough (compos^e principalement par Madgett, interpr^te 
 au Minist^re de la Marine, r^digee et augment^e par I'abb^ H. Dutems)". 
 
 I received much kind help from Mr. J. P. Gilson, the Keeper of the 
 Manuscripts and Egerton Librarian, and from Messrs. A. Hughes-Hughes 
 and D. T. Baird Wood of his Department. Mr. Wood has an inti- 
 mate connection with St. Helena, being a grandson of Major Thomas 
 Montgomery Hunter of the St. Helena Artillery — Commission as 
 Lieutenant 1810, Town-Major 1827— , who died about 1860, having 
 spent the end of his life at Portishead, near Clevedon, Somersetshire, 
 where he had the small brass saluting-cannons from Longwood, and 
 other Napoleonic relics. Mr. Wood wrote, " We do not seem 
 to have any autograph of St. Denis, though there are copies 
 of two of his letters in the Lowe papers ", and he expressed his opinion 
 that the inscription in the books was in the handwriting of St. Denis. 
 Moreover, he showed the photographs to Mr. Gilson, who agreed that 
 
 ' Translation : A tracing from an original signature of the Duke. 
 -' Translation : A hero belongs to all nations, and all ages. 
 
 12 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 all the inscriptions in the books — " TEmpereur Napoleon " — were by 
 one hand, and that not the hand of Marchand. Dr. J. Holland Rose 
 said that he did not know the handwriting, and feared, therefore, that 
 he could not help me. Mr. Norwood Young wrote, " There are 
 signatures of all the Longwood inmates among the Lowe papers at the 
 British Museum, and also at the Record Office. An examination of 
 these would lead to the identification of the handwriting you name. If 
 you have already made these searches, I can offer no further suggestion". 
 I had searched without success. 
 
 There were no autographs of Marchand and St. Denis in the 
 " Collectanea Napoleonica ", a Catalogue of the collection of autographs, 
 historical documents, etc., relating to Napoleon I. and his times 
 (1769-1821), formed by the late Mr. A. M. Broadley, now, I believe, 
 in the possession of the Earl Curzon of Kedleston. In the preface, Mr. 
 Broadley himself states that, taking the " Life " of Mr. Rose, and the 
 " Last Phase " of Lord Rosebery as a basis, he had devoted the spare 
 moments of four years, and a certain amount of constitutional energy, 
 to extending the original three octavo volumes into twenty-eight folios. 
 Moreover, Mr. Broadley adds, " as far as letters, state-documents, and 
 other forms of MSS. are concerned, there is scarcely a single man or 
 woman who played a part of the smallest importance in the great 
 Napoleonic drama, whose calligraphy is not to be found in one or other 
 of these twenty-eight volumes". 
 
 Among the Foreign Letters in the British Museum, relating to 
 Sir Hudson Lowe, volume 15,729, folios 132-134, are two lists of the 
 contents of boxes which Napoleon desired Marchand to hand to his 
 son, the King of Rome. These are set out at length, with the contents 
 of another box, in " La Captivity de Saint-H^ldne d'apres les rapports 
 in^dits du Marquis de Montchenu, Commissaire du Gouvernement du Roi 
 Louis XVIII. dans L'lle, par Georges Firmin-Didot, Secretaire 
 D'Ambassade", printed in Paris in 1894. In a note, the Author gives as his 
 authority Archives Affaires etrangeres, volume 1,805, folio 181, etsuiv: . An 
 examination of the handwriting of those lists proves, I think, con- 
 clusively that they are written by the same hand as that which wrote the 
 inscription " L'Empereur Napoleon " in the three Volumes of Coxe. 
 The two lists which are to be found in the British Museum are reproduced 
 in this book, and the letter " N " of the name Napoleon should be 
 particularly noticed. 
 
 The following extract is taken from "La Captivite de Sainte-H^ldne", 
 page 320 :— 
 
 13 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 " Etat des bottes que Marchand doit remettre k mons fils. 
 
 II consiste en trois boltes acajou, Nos 1, 2, 3. 
 
 La premiere bolte No 1 est k double fond, a 15 pouces de long et 
 contient : 
 
 Le premier fond 19 tabatidres 19 
 
 Le second „ 14 „ 14 
 
 Total des tabatidres 33 
 
 No. 
 
 1. La sagesse de Scipion, donn^e par le pape Pie VII. k I'Empereur lors 
 du couronnement. 
 
 2. Le roi de Rome enfant, tabati^re dont I'Empereur a fait usage 
 pendant plusieurs ann^es. 
 
 3. Portrait de I'imp^ratrice Josephine, premiere femme de I'Empereur 
 Napoleon. 
 
 4. Tabati^re ovale longue, contenant 4 m6dailles du se trouve Jules 
 C6sar. L'Empereur s'est souvent servi de cette tabati6re. 
 
 5. Tabatilre orn^e du portrait du roi et de la reine de Westphalia. 
 
 6. Petite boite k cure-dents, orn^e du portrait de Madame. 
 
 7. Tabatidre quarr6e, orn6e de 5 m^dailles du moyen dge. 
 
 8. Tabati^re quarr^e, orn^e d'un cam6e ; portrait de Madame fort 
 ressemblant. 
 
 9. Botte k odeur. 
 
 9^. Bonbonnidre, orn^e du portrait de la reine de Naples, soeur de 
 I'Empereur. 
 
 10. TabatiSre ronde ; 4 portraits : I'imp^ratrice Josephine, le prince 
 Eugene, la reine Hortense, le roi de Hollande. 
 
 11. Tabati^re ovale, orn^e de 3 m^dailles, parmi lesquelles se trouve 
 celle de Cdsar. L'Empereur s'est souvent servi de cette tabati^re. 
 
 12. F6d6ration de Milan ou creation de la R6publique Cisalpine, en 
 1797. 
 
 12^. Tabati^re quarr^e, orn6e d'une agate. 
 
 13. T6te d'AlieKandre, cam6e antique. 
 
 14. Auguste et Livie : cam^e antique, le seul qui existe. 
 
 15. Tabati^re orn^e d'un cam6e : portrait de I'Empereur. 
 
 16. Portrait de Turenne. 
 
 17. Tabati^re oru6e de perles, offrant une vue de Laeken. 
 
 14 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Second fond. 
 
 18. Pierre I", empereur de Russie. 
 
 19. Plan de Vienne. 
 
 20. Deux portraits des deux nieces de I'Empereur, filles du roi Joseph. 
 
 21. Paysage en mosaique. 
 
 22. Charlemagne. 
 
 23. Bataille de Marengo, donn^e par la ville de Dieppe. 
 
 24. Bonbonni^re, orn^e du portrait de Madame. 
 
 25. Portrait du roi Joseph, frdre ain6 de I'Empereur. 
 
 26. Bolte d'or enrichie de diamants, donn^e k I'Empereur par I'empereur 
 de Perse. 
 
 27. Fr^d^ric le Grand k Potsdam. 
 
 28. Une t^te d' Alexandre. 
 
 29. Une bolte, pierre de lave, avec 3 m^dailles. 
 
 30. Le roi de Rome, priant Dieu pour la France et pour son p6re. 
 
 31. Portrait de l'imp6ratrice Marie-Louise, tabati6re que portait 
 souvent I'Empereur. 
 
 Nota. — Dans plusieurs de ces boltes, il existe des decorations de la 
 
 Legion d'honneur, de la Couronne de Fer et de la Reunion que 
 
 " portait I'Empereur, et une grande croix de la Legion d'honneur." 
 
 [translation.] 
 
 " Contents of the boxes which Marchand is to hand to my son. 
 They are enclosed in three mahogany boxes, Nos. 1, 2, 3. 
 The first box, No. 1, with two recesses, is 15 inches in length, and 
 contains : 
 
 the first recess, 19 snuff-boxes 19 
 
 the second „ 14 „ 14 
 
 Total number „ 33 
 
 1. The wisdom of Scipio, given by Pope Pius VIL to the Emperor at 
 his coronation. 
 
 2. The King of Rome as a child, a snuff-box which the Emperor used 
 for many years. 
 
 3. Portrait of the Empress Josephine, the first wife of the Emperor 
 Napoleon. 
 
 4. A long oval snuff-box, containing four medallions, including Julius 
 Caesar. The Emperor used this snuff-box often. 
 
 5. A snuff-box ornamented with portraits of the King and Queen 
 of Westphalia. 
 
 16 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 6. A small tooth-pick box, ornamented with the portrait of Madame. 
 
 7. A square snuff-box, ornamented with five mediaeval medallions. 
 
 8. A square snuff-box, ornamented with a cameo ; portrait, a striking 
 likeness of Madame. 
 
 9. A perfume-box. 
 
 9^. A sweet-meat box, ornamented with a portrait of the Queen of 
 Naples, sister of the Emperor. 
 
 10. A round snuff-box ; four portraits : the Empress Josephine, 
 Prince Eugene, Queen Hortense, the King of Holland. 
 
 11. An oval snuff-box, ornamented with three medallions, among 
 them one of Csesar. The Emperor used this snuff-box often. 
 
 12. The Federation of Milan or the creation of the Cisalpine Republic, 
 1797. 
 
 12^. A square snuff-box ornamented with an agate. 
 
 13. Head of Alexander, antique cameo. 
 
 14. Augustus and Livy : antique cameo, the only one in existence. 
 
 15. A snuff-box ornamented with a cameo : portrait of the Emperor. 
 
 16. Portrait of Turenne. 
 
 17. Snuff-box ornamented with pearls, showing a view of Laeken. 
 
 Second recess. 
 
 18. Peter the First, Emperor of Russia. 
 
 19. Plan of Vienna. 
 
 20. Two portraits of the two nieces of the Emperor, daughters of 
 King Joseph. 
 
 J^l. Landscape in mosaic. 
 
 22. Charlemagne. 
 
 23. The Battle of Marengo, presented by the town of Dieppe. 
 
 24. Sweet-meat box, ornamented with a portrait of Madame. 
 
 25. Portrait of King Joseph, elder brother of the Emperor. 
 
 26. A gold box embellished with diamonds, given to the Emperor by the 
 Emperor of Persia. 
 
 27. Frederick the Great at Potsdam. 
 
 28. A head of Alexander. 
 
 29. A box made of lava, with three medallions. 
 
 30. The King of Rome, praying to God for France and for his father. 
 
 31. A portrait of the Empress Marie-Louise, a snuff-box which the 
 Emperor carried often. 
 
 Note. — In several of these boxes, there are decorations of the Legion 
 d'honneur, of the Couronne de Fer and of the Reunion which the 
 Emperor wore, and a grand cross of the Legion d'honneur ". 
 
 16 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 In the British Museum, among " Foreign letters", Volume 15,729, 
 Folio 132, are two lists Nos. 2 and 3, list No. 1 being missing. There 
 is no doubt that they are by the same hand that wrote " I'Empereur 
 NapoMon " in Coxe's "Life of Marlborough", the initial capital letter 
 * N ' in the lists, and in the name Napoleon, being noticeably alike. 
 There is also, in the Additional Manuscripts at the British Museum, 
 Volume 30,142, Folios 63-67, a beautifully- written document by the 
 same hand. See " A Polish Exile with Napoleon", by G. L. de St. M. 
 Watson, page 101. Herewith are copies of lists No. 2 and No. 3, with 
 translations, which, with list No. 1, will be of use for collectors. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 fitat des boltes que Marchand doit remettre k mon fils. 
 
 1. Douze boites aux armes Imp^riales. 
 
 2. Deux petites lunettes, dont se servait TEmpereur k I'arm^e. 
 
 3. Une boite No 1, en pierre de Russie, orn6e d'un portrait. 
 
 4. Une boite en ivoire. 
 
 5. Une chasse k Fontainebleau. 
 
 6. Une boite d'or, avec un paysage en ivoire. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 Etat d'une boite que Marchand doit remettre k mon fils. 
 
 Trois tabati^res, dont se servait I'Empereur k St. H616ne, savoir : 
 
 1. Une tabati^re orn^e de quatre m^dailles d'argent. 
 
 2. Une tabatidre orn^e de deux m^dailles d'argent. 
 
 3. Une tabati^re orn^e de trois m^dailles d'argent. 
 
 4. Deux cordons de la Legion d'honneur. 
 
 5. Une paire de boucles d'or a souliers, dont se servait I'Empereur 
 k Ste H^l^ne. 
 
 6. Une boucle de col, ditto. 
 
 7. Une paire de boucles k jarreti^res. 
 
 8. Une bonbonnidre en 4caille. 
 
 9. Une grosse montre d'argent. Cette montre se mettait dans la volture 
 de I'Empereur en campagne. 
 
 10. Une petite lorgnette, du nombre de celles dont se servait I'Empereur 
 a I'arm^e. 
 
 11. Un petit cachet aux armes de France. 
 
 17 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 No. % 
 
 Contents of a box which Marchand is to hand to my son. 
 
 1. Twelve boxes with the Imperial arms. 
 
 2. Two small telescopes which the Emperor used in the field. 
 
 3. A box No. 1, of Russian marble, ornamented with a portrait. 
 
 4. An ivory box. 
 
 5. A Fontainebleau hunting-scene. 
 
 6. A gold box with a landscape in ivory. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 Contents of a box which Marchand is to hand to my son. 
 
 Three snuff-boxes, which the Emperor used at St. Helena, namely : — 
 
 1. A snuff-box ornamented with four silver medallions. 
 
 2. A snuff-box ornamented with two silver medallions. 
 
 3. A snuff-box ornamented with three silver medallions. 
 
 4. Two cordons of the Legion of Honour. 
 
 5. A pair of gold shoe-buckles, which the Emperor wore at St. Helena. 
 
 6. A collar-buckle, ditto. 
 
 7. A pair of garter-buckles. 
 
 8. A mother-of-pearl sweet-meat box. 
 
 9. A large silver watch. This watch was carried in the Emperor's 
 carriage during his campaigns. 
 
 10. A small telescope, one of a number of those used by the Emperor 
 with the Army. 
 
 11. A small seal with the French arms. 
 
 It has been alleged that the Imperial waistcoat pockets were stained 
 with snuff : but, this has been contradicted by Mademoiselle Bertrand, 
 the daughter of Count Bertrand, who states that the stains were the 
 result of a mixture of liquorice-powder and brown sugar, which Napoleon 
 carried in his pockets, as a remedy for chronic indigestion, pretending 
 to take it like snuff, but really slipping it into his mouth. The Emperor, 
 although possessing many snuff-boxes, detested tobacco in any form. 
 
 18 
 
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 Lists Nos. 2 and 3, British Museum, Foreign Letters, Vol. 15,729, 
 Folio 132, in the handwriting of St. Denis. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 The following correspondence, is in itself sufficiently explicit, 
 leading to the proof that the inscription in the three volumes of Coxa's 
 " Life of Marlborough " is in the handwriting of St. Denis. 
 
 Bibliothdque Nationale, 
 
 Paris, le 19 Octobre, 1916. 
 Cher Monsieur, .... 
 Je n'ai rien pu trouver pour Saint-Denis, k moins que Tinscription 
 " TEmpereur Napoleon ", qui se trouve sur les volumes dont je vais 
 vous parler ne soit de sa main. Mais, pour Marchand, il y a au 
 D^partement des Imprimis, non seulement une note de lui sur le faux- 
 titre du T. T® de la " Correspondance in^dite officielle et confidentielle 
 de Napoleon I"" (Paris, 1809, 8°), mais encore, jointe au volume, une 
 lettre de Marchand k Thiers. 
 
 L'inscription " I'Empereur Napoleon ", et le timbre de la biblioth^que 
 de I'Empereur sont plus nets en t^te du second volume du m^me ouvrage. 
 Je vous propose done de vous faire photographier. 
 1* La lettre, ou partie de la lettre, de Marchand (dans le T. I""®.) 
 
 2° L'inscription, et le timbre, d'apr^s le Tome IL 
 
 * * * * 
 
 JAon Dorez. 
 
 [translation]. 
 Dear Sir, .... 
 
 I have not been able to find anything of St. Denis, unless the 
 inscription " the Emperor Napoleon ", to be found in the volumes of 
 which I shall speak, is in his writing. But, with regard to Marchand, 
 there is, in the Department of Printed Matter, not only a note by him on 
 the fly-leaf of the 1st volume of the " Unpublished OSicial and Confiden- 
 tial Correspondence of Napoleon 1st " (Paris, 1809, 8°), but also, attached 
 to the volume, a letter from Marchand to Thiers. 
 
 The inscription " the Emperor Napoleon", and the stamp of the 
 Emperor's library, are clearer at the beginning of the second volume of 
 
 19 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 the above work. I propose, therefore, to have photographed for you 
 
 1. The letter, or part of the letter, by Marchand, in the first volume. 
 
 2. The inscription, and the stamp, from the second volume. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 lAon Dorez. 
 
 Direction des Archives, 
 Archives Nationales, 
 
 Paris, le 2 Mars, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 
 En r^ponse k votre lettre du 17 f^vrier, j'ai le regret de vous fairs 
 connaltre, apr^s recherche, que les Archives nationales ne paraissent pas 
 posseder d'autographe de Saint Denis, biblioth^caire de Napoleon P', 
 et que nous n'avons pas par suite le moyen de vous aider k identifier 
 I'auteur de I'inscription que portent les volumes de la biblioth^que de 
 Sainte-H^l^ne. Peut-6tre M. Frederic Masson, membre de I'Academie 
 frangaise, serait-il en mesure de vous mieux renseigner. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Le Directeur des Archives, 
 
 (Signed) Charles V. Langlois. 
 
 [translation.] 
 
 Direction des Archives, 
 
 Archives Nationales, 
 
 Paris, March 2nd, 1917. 
 Sir, 
 
 In reply to your letter of February 17th, I regret to inform you, after 
 a search, that the National Archives do not appear to possess the 
 autograph of Saint Denis, librarian of Napoleon I., and that, consequently, 
 we have no means of assisting you in identifying the author of the 
 inscription contained in the volumes from the library of St. Helena. 
 Perhaps M. Fr^d^ric Masson, member of the Academie frangaise, 
 would be in a position to give you better information. 
 
 (Signed) Charles V. Langlois. 
 
 To D. T. B. Wood, Esq., M.A., 
 Manuscript Department, 
 British Museum. 
 
 20 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 4, Park Street, 
 
 London, W.I., 
 
 April 2nd, 1917. 
 
 To Monsieur Fr^d^ric Masson, etc., etc., etc. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Will you permit me to address you, as a great authority on the 
 
 history of Napoleon, to ask if you will have the kindness to assist in a 
 
 research that I am making, which relates to him. 
 
 I have in my possession a book which belonged to the Emperor 
 
 when he was at St. Helena. On the title-page is the following manuscript 
 
 inscription, " L'Empereur NapoMon ". It is my desire to find out the 
 
 name of the person who wrote it. I believe it to have been written by 
 
 St. Denis. 
 
 It is possible that you may be able to see, or to obtain, an authentic 
 
 specimen of the handwriting of St. Denis, so that I can compare it with 
 
 the inscription. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Lees Knowle?. 
 
 15 Rue de la Baume, 
 Paris, 
 le 4 Avril, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 Je poss^de moi-m^me des livres provenant de Sainte H^l^ne, et 
 portant cette inscription en dessus du Cachet a cire frappe k I'encre. 
 
 Je pense qu'elle est de la main de St. Denis ; mais il y a quasi identity 
 entre son ^criture et celle de Marchand, seulement un peu plus pointue. 
 Tons deux s'^taient exerc^s a ^crire extremement fin. J'ai beaucoup vu 
 r^criture de Marchand, dont j'ai en mains les M^moires. J'ai vu 
 r^criture de St. Denis, mais il nem'a6t^ permis que de lire ses souvenirs 
 sans les copier. 
 
 Autant qu'on pent se prononcer sur un specimen aussi bref, je crois 
 que rinscription est de St. Denis. 
 
 Croyez, Monsieur, k mes sentiments de haute consideration. 
 
 (Signed) Fr6d6ric Masson. 
 k Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 21 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 [translation]. 
 Sir, 
 
 I myself possess some books which came from St. Helena, and 
 bearing this inscription above the seal stamped in ink. 
 
 I think that it is by the hand of St. Denis ; but, his writing is almost 
 identical with that of Marchand, only a little more pointed. Both were 
 accustomed to write very acutely. I have seen frequently the writing 
 of Marchand, whose Memoirs I have by me. I have seen the writing of 
 St. Denis ; but, I was allowed only to read his memoranda, without 
 copying them. 
 
 So far as one can give an opinion upon so short a specimen, I believe 
 the inscription to be by St. Denis. 
 
 ilf 4f 4: He 
 
 (Signed) Fr6d4ric Masson. 
 To Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 R6publique Fran5aise 
 
 Libert^, figalit^, Fraternity 
 Ville de Sens, 
 
 D^partement de TYonne. 
 Mairie, 
 
 Sens, le 21 Avril, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 J'ai I'honneur de vous accuser reception de votre lettre du 2 Avril, 
 tendant k obtenir un specimen de T^criture de M. Saint-Denis, qui fut 
 garde des livres de I'Empereur Napoleon k Ste H^l^ne. 
 
 Dans le but de faciliter vos recherches, je vous adresse, sous ce pli, 
 un caique de la signature de Saint-Denis, relev^e sur un registre de I'Etat 
 Civil de Sens. 
 
 Je crois devoir vous donner, en meme temps, quelques autres 
 indications. 
 
 Sur tons les livres ayant fait partie de la Bibliotheque 
 personelle de I'Empereur Napoleon, k Ste H616ne, existe un ex-libris, 
 en ^criture fine, ainsi congu (imitation of the inscription " L'Empereur 
 Napoleon") : k cote figure un cachet aux armes implriales. 
 
 Vous pourriez utilement consulter I'ouvrage suivant : " M6moires 
 de Fleury de Chaboulon, Ex-Secr^taire de I'Empereur Napoleon et 
 son cabinet, avec annotations manuscrites de Napoleon 1" ", publics 
 par Lucien Cornet, D6put6, Maire de Sens, 6dit^ en 1901 par M. Edouard 
 Rouveyre, 76, rue de Seine, k Paris (3 volumes, dont 2 volumes des 
 m^moires, et 1 des annotations k relier avec les 2 autres). 
 
 22 
 
y^j^ -<•« /4? z-~ --/K/iii 
 
 //rj^.a^ 9^ a...^. 
 
 
 /f . K / ■ y ^ . 17s ^- ^ y 
 
 /^A./.,^.,.. /^^ y^yyfy^^,y,^j , 
 
 "i. /. ...... a /'^_^ - ^ 
 
 J',..*J. /<,it: a^'^r ^*«.er e-t'-V* 
 
 '.r-y,' fe4>-si^««t/ i;* 
 
 
 „,y^::pe^*^' 
 
 Bibliotheque Nationale.— Letter of Marehand. 
 
Book inscribed by Marchand. 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Dans cet ouvrage se trouve public le catalogue num^rot^ de la 
 Biblioth^que personelle de NapoMon k Ste H^l^ne. 
 
 La maison d'^dition Rouveyre n'existe plus et je n'ai, personellement, 
 aucun volume disponible, mais si vous vous adressiez k des libraires- 
 bouquinistes, il vous serait possible, je crois, de vous procurer cet ouvrage. 
 Dans I'espoir que ces renseignments pourront vous donner satis- 
 faction, veuillez agr^er, Monsieur, I'expression de mes sentiment les 
 plus distingu^s. 
 
 Le Maire, 
 
 S^nateur de I'Yonne, 
 
 (Signed) Lucien Cornet. 
 k Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of April 
 2nd, expressing a desire to obtain a specimen of the writing of M. 
 Saint-Denis, who was librarian to the Emperor Napoleon at St. Helena. 
 
 With the object of assisting you in your inquiries, I send you, in 
 this envelope, a tracing of the signature of Saint-Denis taken from an 
 official document in Sens. 
 
 I think I can at the same time give you some other information. 
 Upon all the books, which constituted the personal library of the 
 Emperor Napoleon at St. Helena, there is an ex-libris in small writing, 
 like this : (imitation of the inscription " L'Empereur Napoleon ") : and, 
 at the side, there appears a seal with the imperial arms. 
 
 You could with advantage consult the following work : " Memoires 
 of Fleury de Chaboulon, ex-Secretary to the Emperor Napoleon and his 
 cabinet, with manuscript notes by Napoleon I.", compiled by Lucien 
 Cornet, D6put€, Mayor of Sens, and published in 1901, by M. Edouard 
 Rouveyre, 76 Rue de Seine, Paris (3 volumes, of which 2 volumes are 
 of the memoirs, and 1 of notes to bind with the 2 others). 
 
 In this work is published the detailed catalogue of the personal 
 library of Napoleon at St. Helena. 
 
 The publishing-house of Rouveyre no longer exists and I, personally, 
 
 have no spare copy ; but, if you inquire at the old book-shops, it would, 
 
 I think, be possible for you to procure the work. 
 
 In the hope that this information may be of service to you, 
 * * * * 
 
 (Signed) The Mayor, Senator of I'Yonne, 
 
 Lucien Cornet. 
 To Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 23 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Mairie, 
 
 Ville de Sens, 
 
 le 25 Juillet, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 J'ai I'honneur de vous accuser reception de votre lettre du 18 
 Juillet par laquelle vous me demandez I'autorisation de faire photo- 
 graphier le document entier sur lequel se trouve la signature de St Denis. 
 Ce document 6tant un acte de I'Etat Civil, j'ai le regret de ne pouvoir 
 vous donner satisfaction, attendu que la loi fran^aise ne permet pas la 
 reproduction que vous sollicitez. 
 
 Toutefois, M. St. Denis ayant 6t6 Conseiller Municipal de Sens, sa 
 signature figure sur d'autres documents publics et susceptibles d'ltre 
 photographies. Au cas oil cette solution vous conviendrait, je vous 
 prie de bien vouloir m'en aviser, et je ferai le n^cessaire pour que M. 
 Provost puisse vous donner toute satisfaction a ce sujet. 
 
 Veuillez agr^er, Monsieur, I'expression de mes sentiments les plus 
 distingu^s. 
 
 Le Maire, 
 
 (Signed) Lucien Cornet. 
 k Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of July 
 18th, in which you ask for my authority to have photographed in its 
 entirety the document on which the signature of St, Denis appears. 
 
 This being an official document, I regret that I am unable to grant 
 your request, as the French law does not permit the reproduction 
 which you desire. 
 
 But, Monsieur St. Denis, having been a Municipal Councillor of 
 Sens, his signature appears on other documents which are public, and 
 available for photography. If this solution be agreeable to you, I 
 would ask you be so kind as to inform me, and I will make the necessary 
 arrangements, so that Monsieur Prevost may give you every satisfaction 
 in the matter. 
 
 * Hf * * * 
 
 The Mayor, 
 
 (Signed) Lucien Cornet. 
 To Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 34 
 
X ^ h'l ^. J\f»-fi4A*^ 
 
 CORRESPONDA' 
 
 ET CONFIDENT! 
 
 ,fiON BONAPA. 
 
 US eOimS ferRANOfeRES , LES princes , LES MINISTR 
 J ET LES GfeNERAUX FRANCAIS ET feTRANGERS , 
 
 X: \ t» ITAIIE , IS AILEMAGSE E» EIT EGTOTE. 
 
 Stripta mantnt- 
 
 ITALIE, 
 
 TOME DEUXIEME, 
 
 ' PARIS 
 
 C. L. F. PANCROUCRE 
 
 L MDCCCXn. 1 
 
 Book inscribed by St. Denis. 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 M' Alexandre Corot, 
 
 Notaire, 
 
 51, Rue de la R^publique, 
 
 Sens (Yonne), 
 Succ'' de M^ FotU et Mercier. 
 Sens, 
 
 le 10 Aotit, 1917. 
 Monsieur le S^nateur, 
 Je m'empresse de r^pondre k votre lettre d'hier, que je regois seule- 
 ment ce soir. 
 
 Je ne vols, pour ma part, aucun inconvenient k accorder ^ M. le 
 Baronnet Lees Knowles ee qu'il demande, mais je ne puis le faire sans 
 I'autorisation de Tun des repr^sentants de la famille, le testament 
 contenant un certain nombre de dispositions confidentielles. 
 
 J'^cris done par ce m^me courrier a M. Fauche, petit fils de M. St. 
 Denis, pour lui demander de m'autoriser k laisser photographier le 
 testament, tout au moins en ce qui concerne le legs fait k la Ville de 
 Sens de divers objets ayant appartenu k Napoleon, la date, et la 
 signature. 
 
 Aussitdt que j'aurai sa r^ponse, je vous en ferai part. 
 Veuillez agr^er, Monsieur le S^nateur, I'assurance de mes sentiments 
 distingu^s et devours, 
 
 (Signed) Alexandre Corot. 
 Monsieur le S^nateur Cornet. 
 
 [tiunslation]. 
 
 I hasten to reply to your letter of yesterday which I received only 
 this evening. 
 
 For my part I see no objection to agreeing to what Sir Lees Knowles 
 asks ; but, I cannot act without the authority of one of the representa- 
 tives of the family, as the will contains a certain number of confidential 
 dispositions. 
 
 I am writing, therefore, by this post to M. Fauche, grand-son of 
 M. St. Denis, asking his permission to photograph the will, or at least 
 so much of it as concerns the legacy made to the town of Sens of the 
 various articles which belonged to Napoleon, the date, and the signature. 
 
 As soon as I have his answer, I will acquaint you with it. 
 
 (Signed) Alexandre Corot. 
 To Monsieur the Senator Cornet. 
 
 26 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Mairie, 
 
 Ville de Sens, 
 
 le 13 Aotit, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 
 En r^ponse a votre lettre, j'ai Phonneur de vous faire connaitre 
 que, dans le but de vous donner satisfaction, j'ai pens6 k faire photo- 
 graphier le testament olographe de M. Saint-Denis. 
 
 A cet effet, j'ai consults le notaire de I'^tude otl le testament a6t6 
 d^pos^, Je vous communique sous ce pli la r^ponse que m'a faite M® 
 Corot. 
 
 Veuillez agr^er, Monsieur, I'expression de mes sentiments les plus 
 distingu6es. 
 
 Le Maire, 
 
 (Signed) Lucien Cornet. 
 k Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 In answer to your letter, I have the honour to inform you that, with 
 the object of assisting you, I have thought of having a photograph taken 
 of the holograph will of Monsieur St. Denis. 
 
 With this object in view, I have consulted the Solicitor, in whose 
 
 office the will is deposited. Under this cover, I communicate the answer 
 
 which Maltre Corot has sent to me. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 The Mayor, 
 
 (Signed) Lucien Cornet. 
 To Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 Copie d'une lettre adress^e par 
 
 M. Rollet a M* Corot, Notaire, 
 
 Fontainebleau, 
 
 le 17 AoAt, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 
 Je re9ois k I'instant par Tinterm^diaire du notaire d'H^ricy, une 
 lettre que vous avez adress6e le 10 de ce mois k Monsieur Fauche relative- 
 ment au testament St. Denis. 
 
 26 
 

 ^^f^^ ^ryy^y^^y^ ^y^j^^y z?-;^ V/-^^v/y, 
 
 /\uyy!yO 91 . 
 
 Autograph of St. Denis. 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 M® Fauche est d^c^d^ au mois de Novembre dernier, laissant ses 
 deux soeurs, dont ma femme, pour seules h^riti^res, et en autre l^gataires 
 k titre particulier, des papiers et souvenirs St. Denis. 
 
 On precede actuellement k la liquidation de la communaut6, 
 operation que Ton esp^re terminer trds prochainement, et, bien que 
 cette communaut^ n'ait rien k voir avec le document dont vous parlez, 
 nous desirous reporter k ce moment la r^ponse qui sera donn^e k votre 
 lettre apr^s entente avec Monsieur Michaut, mon gendre, Maitre de 
 Conferences k la Sorbonne qui habite Sceaux, et d^tenteur actuel des 
 papiers 16gu4s, 
 
 Je n'ai pas besoin de dire, Monsieur, que la demande de Sir Lees 
 Knowles sera examinee avec toute la bienveillance possible. 
 
 Je vous prie d'agr^er, Monsieur, I'assurance de mes sentiments 
 distingu4s. 
 
 (Sign4) RoUet. 
 
 M® Rollet, 6 rue Herschel k Paris (actuellement k Fontainebleau). 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 I have just received, at the hands of Monsieur d'H^ricy, Notary, 
 a letter which you addressed on the 10th of this month to Monsieur 
 Fauche, relating to the St. Denis will. 
 
 Maitre Fauche died in November last, leaving his two sisters, of 
 whom one is my wife, as sole heiresses with, amongst other things, a 
 special title to the St. Denis papers and souvenirs. 
 
 We are now proceeding with the liquidation of the estate, 
 an operation which we hope to finish shortly ; but, as the estate has 
 nothing to do with the document of which you speak, we wish to consider 
 at this moment the answer which will be given to your letter after 
 agreement with Monsieur Michaut, my son-in-law, Maitre de Conferences 
 at the Sorbonne, who lives at Sceaux, and the actual holder of the 
 bequeathed papers. 
 
 I need not say, Sir, that the request of Sir Lees Knowles will be 
 considered with all possible good-will. 
 
 (Signed) Rollet 
 
 M. Rollet to Maitre Corot, Notary. 
 
 27 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Sens, 
 le 21 Ao6t, 1917. 
 Monsieur le S^nateur, 
 
 Comme suite h ma lettre du 10 eourant relative au testament de 
 M. St. Denis, je vous envoie sous ce pli copie de ma lettre que je viens de 
 recevoir de M. RoUet, I'un de ses repr6sentants. 
 
 D6s que j'aurai du nouveau, je vous en aviserai. 
 Veuillez agr^er, Monsieur, le S6nateur, I'assurance de mes sentiment 
 distingu^s et d^vou^s, 
 
 (Signed) Alexandre Corot, 
 k Monsieur le S^nateur Cornet. 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 Following my letter of the 10th instant, relative to the will of 
 Monsieur St. Denis, I send you under this cover a copy of a letter which 
 I have just received from Monsieur RoUet, one of the representatives 
 of the family. 
 
 When I have anything new, I will advise you. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 (Signed) Alexandre Corot. 
 To Monsieur the Senator Cornet. 
 
 Mairie, 
 
 Ville de Sens, 
 
 le 24 Aotlt, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 
 Comme suite k votre demande, j'ai I'honneur de vous transmettre 
 sous ce pli, une lettre de M^ Corot ainsi que la copie de celle qui lui 
 k 6t6 envoy^e par I'un des membres de la famille Saint-Denis relative- 
 ment au testament dont vous soUicitez la reproduction photographique. 
 Veuillez agr^er, Monsieur, I'expression de mes sentiments les plus 
 distingu^s. 
 
 Le Maire, 
 
 (Signed) Lucien Cornet. 
 k Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 28 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 As a sequel to your request, I have the honour to send you, under 
 this cover, a letter from Mattre Corot, as well as a copy of one which 
 has been sent to him by one of the members of the Saint-Denis family, 
 relating to the will of which you desire the photographic reproduction. 
 
 The Mayor, 
 
 (Signed) Lucien Cornet. 
 To Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 Mairie, 
 
 Villa de Sens, 
 
 le 9 Septembre, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 
 M® Corot, notaire k Sens, vient de m'informer que M. Michaut, 
 Maitre de Conferences a la Sorbonne, qui habite Sceaux (Seine), rue des 
 Imberg^res, 35, lui a fait connaitre, au nom de la famUle Saint-Denis, 
 qu'il autorise h laisser photographier le testament de M. Saint-Denis, 
 pour tout ce qui n'a pas un caract^re familial et confidentiel, c'est-^-dire 
 notamment I'^num^ration d^taill^e des objets ayant appartenu k 
 Napoleon, la date du testament et la signature. 
 
 M® Corot se tient a votre disposition pour cette operation. 
 M. Michaut a prie M® Corot de vous faire savoir que M. Saint- 
 Denis a laiss^ " des m^moires " que sa famille se propose de publier 
 apr^s la guerre, et il serait reconnaissant, si vous aviez d^couvert 
 quelque detail touchant M. Saint-Denis, de les lui communiquer. 
 
 Je vous engage done a entrer en rapporte avec M® Corot, notaire 
 k Sens, rue de la R6publique, 51. 
 
 Veuillez agr^er, Monsieur, I'expression de mes sentiments les plus 
 distingu^s. 
 
 Le Maire de Sens, 
 
 S^nateur de I'Yonne, 
 
 (Signed) Lucien Cornet. 
 k Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 29 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 Maitre Corot, notary, of Sens, has just informed me that Monsieur 
 Michaut, Maitre de Conferences at the Sorbonne, who lives at 35 Rue 
 des Imberg^res, Sceaux (Seine), has instructed him, in the name of the 
 Saint-Denis family, to allow the will of Monsieur Saint-Denis to be 
 photographed, so far as it has no family and confidential character, 
 that is to say, in particular, the detailed list of the articles which belonged 
 to Napoleon, the date of the will and the signature. Mattre Corot is 
 at your service for this operation. 
 
 Monsieur Michaut has asked Mattre Corot to tell you that Monsieur 
 Saint-Denis left some memoirs which the family propose to publish 
 after the war, and he would be very grateful if you would communicate 
 to him any details that you may have discovered touching M. Saint- 
 Denis. 
 
 I suggest that you enter into communication with Maitre Corot, 
 notary, 51 Rue de la R6publique, Sens. 
 
 The Mayor of Sens, Senator of I'Yonne, 
 (Signed) Lucien Cornet. 
 
 To Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 Photographie Alsacienne, 
 Ancienne Maison E. Baudoin, 
 
 M. Provost successeur, 
 6, rue du Palais-de-Justice, 
 
 Sens (Yonne), 
 
 le 2 Octobre, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 
 Par suite k I'entretien que j'ai eu avec M® Corot au sujet du 
 travail que vous m'avez demand^, je ne suis autoris6 a reproduire que 
 deux documents. 
 
 Je me suis permis de faire deux cliches, car M® Corot ne peut se 
 dessaisir du testament, et devant assister a la reproduction n'^tait libre 
 qu'aujourdhui. 
 
 Je pense arriver a un bon resultat, et j'esp^re vous donner 
 satisfaction. 
 
 (Signed) P. M. Provost. 
 F. Provost. 
 To Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 30 
 
/ 
 
 >*'V<*'»-i*_ ■> «.«A».;**ac:::> 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 (U-*^. 
 
 ^ 
 
 •/' 
 
 «*^ 'V«V'«C»»1.-W>- ^^ M^. tf'^f**.*^' ^L^ tJyl^^^./,-, (^ ♦^'^ i,..»xt.i*^,.^j 
 
 
 ^k— iSV«»<: t-*-*t.»-4„'«^/E^.;%— , -v^*- -■ 
 
 i/^ i 
 
 
 
 
 -/^•.t^ -i>^ 4.,^^9^*^tA^ -4^-*^^. '«->7^' ^^^-A*.*^ • T>* 
 
 A Pao;e from the Will of St. Denis. 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 As the result of the conversation which I have had with Maitre 
 Corot on the subject of the work which you have asked of me, I am 
 authorized to reproduce only two documents. 
 
 I have taken upon myself to make two negatives : Maitre Corot, 
 not being able to give up possession of the will, and being obliged to be 
 present at the reproduction, was not free until to-day. 
 
 I expect to arrive at a good result, and I hope to give you satisfaction. 
 
 (Signed) P. M. Provost. 
 F. Provost. 
 
 To Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 Sens, 
 
 le 3 Octobre, 1917. 
 Monsieur, 
 
 J'ai I'honneur de vous aviser que j'ai mis a la disposition de M. 
 Provost, photographe, hier, le testament de Monsieur Saint-Denis, et 
 que la photographie de la partie autorisee de ce testament a 6t6 faite. 
 J'esp^re qu'elle vous donnera satisfaction. 
 Veuillez agr^er, Monsieur, I'assurance de mes sentiments distingu^s. 
 
 (Signed) Alexandre Corot. 
 
 k Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 I have the honour to inform you that yesterday I placed the will 
 of Monsieur Saint-Denis at the service of Monsieur Provost, photographer, 
 and that the negative of the part of the will authorized has been made. 
 
 I hope this will give you satisfaction. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 (Signed) Alexandre Corot. 
 To Sir Lees Knowles, Bart. 
 
 31 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 The following is a transcript, with a translation, from the will of 
 St. Denis : — 
 
 Les objets ci-apr^s seront offerts a la ville de Sens : 
 
 1" L'habit de I'Empereur garni des epaulettes et de la plaque de la 
 Legion d'honneur, mes enfants feront f aire une montre vitree pour la 
 soutenir. 
 
 2° La cocarde de I'un des chapeaux de I'Empereur, celle-ci sera mise 
 sous verre dans un petit cadre. 
 
 3° Les deux volumes de M. Fleuri de Chaboulon (cet ouvrage dont les 
 marges sont couvertes de notes au crayon de la main de I'Empereur 
 avait appartenu a Sir Hudson Lowe), et celui de la bataille de Waterloo. 
 Cet exemplaire fut envoys k I'Empereur par le docteur O'Meara. Sa 
 Majesty en avait donn6 la manuscrit au docteur lors du depart de 
 celui-ci pour I'Europe et I'avait charg^ de le faire imprimer. Les 
 quelques changements ou corrections toutes au crayon sont de la 
 main de I'Empereur. 
 
 4° Les deux atlas sur les cartes desquels il-y-a des traces ou calculs, etc., 
 au crayon qui sont de la main de I'Empereur. Pour faire ses dictees 
 sur les campagnes d'ltalie il s'est fr^quemment servi de I'atlas d'ltalie. 
 
 5° Le volume in folio des campagnes d'ltalie, cet ouvrage fut envoy^ 
 a I'Empereur par Lady Holland. 
 
 6° et enfin, le morceau du Cercueil de I'Empereur, et le morceau du 
 tronc de I'un des saules qui ombrageaient la tombe en 1840. 
 
 Je prie M. Murin de se charger d'offrir ces differ ents objets pour 
 qu'ils prennent place dans la biblioth^que-mus^e de la ville. 
 
 Mes filles devront toujours se rappeler que I'Empereur fut mon 
 bienfaiteur et par consequent le leur : la plus grande partie de ce que 
 je possdde je le dois k ses bont^s. 
 
 Je prie M. Murin, mon gendre, d'accepter les fonctions d'Ex^cuteur 
 testamentaire. 
 
 Fait k Sens le six Juillet mil huit cent cinquante-cinq. 
 
 St. Denis. 
 
 Sign6 et paraph^ par nous President du Tribunal civil de Sens, et par 
 le greffier, au desir de notre proems verbal de ce jour. 
 
 Sens, le quatre mai mil huit cent cinquante six. 
 
 Coubard. 
 Cornethier. 
 Enregistr^ k Sens le huit Mai, 1856. 
 
 82 
 

 
 -/■■ 
 
 ■- -> 
 
 
 u>>*y-i. 
 
 
 "V' 
 
 
 / 1 .1.. /^ 6i f^-^'l"^- f^/^'- /"' 
 
 . // 
 
 7.^ 
 
 The last page with the Signature. 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 The following articles are to be offered to the town of Sens : — 
 
 Ist. The Emperor's coat ornamented with the epaulettes and the star of 
 the Legion of Honour. My children should have a glass case 
 made to contain it. 
 
 2nd. The cockade of one of the Emperor's hats, this to be put under 
 glass in a small frame. 
 
 3rd. The two books by M. Fleuri de Chaboulon (this work, the margins 
 of which are covered with pencil-notes in the Emperor's handwriting, 
 formerly belonged to Sir Hudson Lowe), and the one of the Battle 
 of Waterloo, this copy having been sent to the Emperor by Doctor 
 O'Meara. His Majesty had given the manuscript of this work to 
 the Doctor before his departure for Europe, and had commanded 
 him to have it printed. The various alterations and corrections 
 in pencil are in the Emperor's hand. 
 
 4th. The two atlases, on the maps of which there are marks and calcula- 
 tions, etc., in pencil which are in the Emperor's hand. In his dicta- 
 tions about the campaigns in Italy, he availed himself frequently 
 of the map of Italy. 
 
 5th. The folio volume of the campaigns in Italy : this work was sent to 
 the Emperor by Lady Holland. 
 
 6th and last, a piece of the Emperor's coffin, and a piece of the trunk 
 of one of the willow-trees which shaded the grave in 1840. 
 
 I beg M. Murin to accept the duty of offering these several articles, 
 in order that they may find a resting-place in the Library-museum of the 
 town. 
 
 My daughters must ever remember that the Emperor was my 
 benefactor, and consequently theirs, also : the greater part of what I 
 possess, I owe to his generosity. 
 
 I beg M. Murin, my son-in-law, to accept the executorship of my will. 
 
 Made at Sens the 6th July, 1856. 
 
 St. Denis. 
 
 Signed and initialled by us : the President of the Civil Court of 
 Sens, and by the Clerk in accordance with our proceedings of this day. 
 
 Sens, the 4th May, 1856. 
 
 Coubard. 
 Cornethier. 
 Registered at Sens the 8th May, 1856. - 
 
 33 
 
CHAPTER IV, 
 MARCHAND AND ST. DENIS. 
 
 The following sketch is drawn mainly from two well-known books, 
 " Napoleon a Sainte-H^l^ne ", by Fr^d^ric Masson, and " Apr^s la mort 
 de I'Empereur ", by Alb^ric Cahuet. 
 
 Napoleon, at the age of forty-five, escaped from the Isle of Elba 
 on February 20th, 1815, and, about a month later, he entered Paris. 
 Then began a third period of imperialism, known as the Hundred Days, 
 which lasted from March 13th to June 22nd. During those days, 
 the servants of Elba retained their positions at the Tuileries, and at the 
 Elys^e. Later, when Napoleon embarked for St. Helena, the English 
 allowed only fifteen servants to embark with him, and more than half 
 of them had been with the Emperor in the Isle. At St. Helena, his 
 household was under the chief direction of Count Bertrand, who held the 
 appointment of Grand Marshal which he had held previously, and two 
 of its humblest members were Marchand and St. Denis : to write of 
 one of them would be impossible without alluding to his intimate 
 connection with the other, and of their intimate connection with Count 
 Bertrand. 
 
 The name of Marchand has fixed itself in history as part of the legend 
 of St. Helena ; but, Bertrand and Marchand do not represent at all the 
 same personalities. Bertrand was always the military aristocrat, the 
 high personage, whereas Marchand, of much humbler position, raised 
 himself by his assiduity above his station : for the Emperor, a prisoner 
 and sick, Marchand was a confidant, and it is in the name of a friend, 
 more glorious than a title of nobility, that Napoleon hands him down 
 to history in his will. Napoleon bore towards Marchand such a 
 friendship as Queen Victoria bore towards her faithful servant, John 
 Brown. One day. Napoleon, before whom Bertrand himself could not 
 hide his weariness in exile, said to Marchand, " They will all go. You 
 alone will stay with me and close my eyes ". 
 
 The wind and wet weather of St. Helena were almost proverbial : 
 the silk stuffs, the uniforms, the gloves, things in general, although 
 
 34 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 placed in well-fitting boxes, were eaten quickly with reddish spots which 
 could not be removed, leather was covered over in a few days with a 
 mass of mouldiness. It was hard work protecting the wardrobe of the 
 Emperor from these injuries, and, had it not been for the religious care of 
 Marchand, the red velvet-dress of the consul, used for grand ceremonies, 
 and the cloak of Marengo, etc., would have become soon a lamentable 
 mass of rags. 
 
 Napoleon died at St. Helena on Saturday, May 5th, and he was 
 buried on Wednesday, May 9th, 1821 — one hundred years ago. Seventeen 
 days after the burial of the Emperor, the French colony was in a state 
 of departure. Under the direction of Count Montholon, and the 
 immediate care of Marchand, a commencement was made, the day after 
 the funeral, of packing the transportable furniture, the valuable plate, 
 a great part of the books, all the wardrobe of the exile, the faded uniforms, 
 and the eagle-liveries, which would no longer be of use. Piously, and 
 with a thousand attentions, had been shut up in their travelling-shrines, 
 the body-linen and the arms of the great dead, his Austerlitz-sword, his 
 pistols, his spurs, intended for his son, the lace to be delivered to his wife, 
 and the other keepsakes to be distributed among the Imperial family. 
 
 On August 23rd, 1821, Louis-Joseph-Narcisse Marchand, ex-valet 
 of the Emperor, presented himself at the office of the police-authorities 
 in Paris, and asked for a passport to Auxerre. Marchand was then thirty 
 years of age, intelligent, handsome, and courteous. In Paris, he was 
 anxious to avoid all compromising curiosity, at the same time, during the 
 whole of his stay there, he was never, for a single step, left by the police. 
 The first care of Marchand, after joining his mother at Auxerre, was to 
 acquire near that town a country-house with a little land, the Verger 
 estate, in the Commune of Perrigny : he was not without means. 
 Napoleon, on his death-bed, had authorised him to dispose of the 
 necklace, which the Queen Hortense had handed to her stepfather at 
 the time of his departure from Malmaison, and, according to the estimate 
 of the Emperor, it was worth 200,000 francs, or £8,000. " Hide it on your 
 person ", the dying man charged him : " I give it to you. I do not know 
 in what state my affairs are in Europe : it is the only thing of value of 
 which I am able to dispose. It will enable you to wait for the provision 
 that I am making for you in my will and codicil ". But, already by his 
 own economies, Louis Marchand was able to set himself up in the country, 
 without waiting for the probate of the Imperial will, which assured to 
 him a fortune of 500,000 francs, or £20,000. Auxerre is only 175 kilo- 
 metres, or about 105 miles, from the capital. 
 
 35 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 He took care not to join any secret society. A note of the Prefecture 
 states that, during his visits to Paris, he did not see anyone except the 
 Generals Bertrand and Montholon, executors like himself of the will 
 of Napoleon. However, he had to make the acquaintance of an old 
 soldier of the Empire — General Brayer — to whose house Montholon 
 one day took him, and the returning of this visit had a decisive effect 
 upon the destiny of the former valet of the Emperor. Montholon might 
 well show some kindness to the servant whom Napoleon himself, in his 
 will, deigned to call his friend, and to whom he had been willing to 
 transfer, as a truly Imperial evidence of his gratitude, the necklace of 
 Queen Hortense, charging him, under the same title as Bertrand, and 
 Montholon himself, with the execution of his last wishes. " Marry 
 honourably ", he had said to him, towards the end, " make your choice 
 among the daughters of the officers, or soldiers, of my Old Guard : there 
 are many of these good fellows who are not happy ". Brayer was one. 
 In short, the valet was well-received by the General : marriage was 
 discussed, and Marchand, on November 15th, 1823, married the young 
 Michelle-Mathilde Brayer who, in the month of September in the 
 following year, presented him with a daughter. 
 
 And now we see Marchand, thanks to his marriage, admitted 
 into one of the families of the Imperial aristocracy. But, in reality, 
 it was only in the reign of Napoleon III. that he received the 
 right to appear among the Imperial arms-bearers : till then, the will of 
 St. Helena had been executed only in part ; for, it needed no less than 
 three changes of Government for the execution of the Emperor's last 
 wishes. So, the " Count " Marchand, son-in-law of the General of 
 Division Count Brayer, peer of France of the Hundred Days, took rank, 
 in consequence of his marriage, in the world of Imperial aristocracy. 
 But, his mission to execute the will of Napoleon, in conjunction with 
 Counts Bertrand and Montholon, helped to make him a still more 
 notable personage of this Society. 
 
 To the King of Rome, Napoleon left only some personal keepsakes, 
 and it was Marchand who was the custodian of the largest number of 
 them. At the end of May, 1822, the executors were informed that they 
 would not be permitted to see again their former royal mistress, Marie- 
 Louise the ex-Empress, who was in Austria. In May, 1827, Marchand, 
 who desired most strongly to fulfil the mission which was assigned to 
 him, showed an intention of going to Vienna to transmit to the hands of 
 the Duke of Reichstadt the different keepsakes which had been entrusted 
 to him ; but, the Austrian cabinet did not think it desirable to give him 
 permission to go there. On March 18th, 1832, Marchand determined 
 
 36 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 to write direct to the Duke of Reichstadt : but, he received no satisfaction, 
 and so the King of Rome did not receive any of the pious keepsakes 
 intended for him by the august victim. 
 
 The revolution of July, 1830, in sweeping away the throne of the 
 Bourbons, must have changed again considerably Marchand's life, as well 
 as that of his family-in-law. Louis-Philippe, made King, collected all those 
 who had served with so much glory under the Emperor. The command 
 of the Polytechnic School was offered to General Bertrand. General 
 Brayer was re-instated in the active duties of his rank, as General of 
 Division, and given a command at Strasbourg, whither he took his family 
 and his son-in-law. The Government of Louis PhUippe, on the initiative 
 of Monsieur Thiers, negotiated with England for the return to France 
 of the ashes of the prisoner of St, Helena. Lord Palmerston brought the 
 proposal before Parliament in June, 1840, and it was adopted with 
 enthusiasm. The translation of the body moved the heart of France, 
 and everybody wanted to go to St. Helena. In what capacity could 
 Marchand accompany the expedition? That was a knotty question. 
 
 By the desire of the Emperor, his social position had been changed, 
 and there was a difficulty in adjusting matters. " Marchand agrees to 
 accompany the mission ", writes in her diary the Duchess de Dino, 
 " on condition that he eats at the table of the Prince de Joinville : 
 to satisfy him, he has been appointed captain of the staff of the national 
 guard, and he is going, and he will eat at the table of the prince ". It 
 was nevertheless not quite so, and the servant of Napoleon was not, as a 
 fact, one of the regular messmates of the son of Louis Philippe. It was 
 arranged that Marchand should embark not on the frigate Belle-Poule, 
 but on the convoy-corvette La Favorite, and, as he had been given an 
 epaulette of lieutenant in the national guard, his rank allowed him to 
 sit at the table of the commander, and on occasions at that of the leader 
 of the expedition. Marchand took part in the last sad scene, more 
 profoundly impressed than all the others. 
 
 The Journal des D^bats, on November 29th, 1840, announced the 
 death on the previous evening in Paris of Lieutenant-General the Count 
 de Brayer. He had not been able to kneel before the coffin of Napoleon, 
 with all the other generals, and Marshal Soult at their head. Moreover, 
 if the good old man had lived a few weeks longer, he would have had the 
 pleasure of hearing that his son-in-law, Marchand, had received from 
 King Louis-PhUippe the cross of the Legion of Honour. 
 
 Marchand was treated justly. Napoleon III. bestowed upon him 
 the title of Count, which, with a coat of arms, was confirmed by letters 
 patent on AprU 7th, 1869. In 1853, a commission was appointed specially 
 
 37 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 to examine questions relating to the execution of the will of St. Helena, 
 when Marchand received 213,980 francs, or upwards of £8,500, the heir 
 of Brayer, 32,218 francs, or about £1,300. 
 
 On April 2nd, 1861, on the occasion of the removal of the remains 
 of the Emperor to the new crypt in the dome of Les Invalides, Count 
 Marchand, the sole survivor of the executors of the will of Napoleon, 
 was made an officer of the Legion of Honour. As he had no male descen- 
 dant, his son-in-law, M. Edouard Desmazieres, who had married his 
 only daughter in 1845, was authorised by Napoleon III. to take up 
 the arms and the title of his father-in-law. 
 
 The first valet of St. Helena survived to the second Empire, and knew 
 of the disaster at Sedan, after having been present at that of Waterloo. 
 On June 21st, 1876, a short obituary notice in the Figaro announced, 
 without comment, that the obsequies of " Monsieur the Count Marchand, 
 late executor of the will of the Emperor Napoleon I.", would take place 
 the following Thursday punctually at noon in the Church of Sainte- 
 Clotilde. Countess Marchand, daughter of General Brayer, who was 
 fourteen years younger than her husband, saw the Ministry of Gambetta, 
 and died in 1881. 
 
 The father of Louis-Etienne Saint-Denis was employed in the stables 
 of Louis XVI., whose livery he wore. He saw the reign come to an end, 
 but his insignificance spared him from the revolutionary reprisals against 
 all those who had supported the King, and, when new masters were 
 installed at the Tuileries, old Saint-Denis approached the new powers 
 and had the good fortune to be re-appointed as outrider (piqueur). At 
 the same time, he succeeded in obtaining a promise from the Grand 
 Coachman, Coulaincourt, that his son should be engaged, and, when 
 young Saint-Denis was admitted as a pupil in the stables, in 1806, he was 
 just 18 years of age. This was a great change for him, as from the age of 
 thirteen or fourteen he had been learning the duties of a junior clerk 
 in a notary's office. 
 
 The apprentice-outrider was a fine youth, tall, well-made, of pleasant 
 appearance, and he adapted himself quickly to his modest duties in 
 connection with the care of horses. He made journeys to Germany, 
 Spain, Holland, etc. : he was with all the escorts, and then, on returning 
 to Paris, he learned that he was to be attached to the person of Napoleon. 
 
 It was in December of 1811 that the Emperor wished to add to the 
 famous Roustan, a second mameluke, and, on the advice of the Grand 
 Coachman, who had continued his interest in young St. Denis, he 
 transformed his outrider to mameluke, changing his name from 
 Saint-Denis to the more oriental one of Ali, which had been borne by an 
 
 38 
 

 'V 
 
 
 
 Letter of Marchand tl 
 
9^ .X2 0^ /^ 
 
 
 
 'brother of Napoleon. 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Egyptian, an ugly man of quick temper, formerly in the service of the 
 Emperor. This was truly good fortune to become mameluke to the 
 Emperor, armour-bearer of the hero, and guardian of his sleep, with the 
 right of spending the night lying across his threshold. During the next 
 three years, until 1814, St. Denis M^as in the background, acquitting 
 himself, however, very correctly in his new service. He followed his 
 master to the war, slept at his feet in the tent, galloped behind him among 
 the troops carrying his field-telescope, and a silver flask filled with spirit, 
 which was intended for the wounded met on the way, the Emperor 
 never using it himself. When Napoleon wished to watch some particular 
 movement in the course of a battle, Ali placedhimself before him with the 
 large end of the telescope on his shoulder. He took part in the terrible 
 campaign in Russia, and in the retreat. After the passage of the Rhine, 
 he was obliged to stay at Mayence, and he was unable to leave that 
 town until after the entry of the Allies into Paris, and the abdication of 
 the Emperor. Then, there were many desertions from the household, 
 and that of Roustan enabled the second mameluke to advance a step. 
 Ali missed the departure of Napoleon from Fontainebleau. 
 Proceeding, however, by some days the departure of Countess Bertrand, 
 he disembarked at Porto-Ferrajo in the Island of Elba, one month after 
 the Imperial establishment, when he was able to take up again his duties 
 for his Sovereign. The Imperial equipage was constantly on the move, 
 as Napoleon tried to dissipate the force of his terrible activity by continual 
 movement : he was not yet the idle recluse of St. Helena : he opened 
 seldom the books which he had brought in his baggage from Fontainebleau. 
 St. Denis, during the journeys across the island, sat constantly 
 by the side of the coachman, when the first valet, Marchand, was not 
 of the party. He saw nothing of books upon the Island of Elba. After 
 the disembarkation in the Gulf of Joiian, in 1815, St. Denis was near 
 Napoleon in all the historic scenes, he heard the delirious acclamations of 
 the peasantry, and of the soldiers, and he entered Paris with Napoleon 
 on the evening of March 20th. He resumed office first at the Tuileries, 
 and then at the Elys^e, during the Hundred Days, while the constitutional 
 Empire lasted. The former household was re-established in all its 
 grandeur, and many were the solicitations to be granted former appoint- 
 ments. In June, St. Denis rejoined the army, with the baggage. He was 
 constantly near the Emperor at the Battles of Ligny and Waterloo, and 
 he returned with his fallen master to the filys^e. He accompanied 
 Napoleon then to Malmaison, where the servants, under the feverish 
 orders of the Grand-Marshal Bertrand, and the supervision of the first 
 valet Marchand, were preparing hastily the Imperial baggage for an 
 
 39 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 unknown destination. The Emperor, who foresaw and dreaded the cruel 
 inactivity of a far-off exile, desired to take with him books, many books, 
 a whole library of works. There were works collected at the Imperial 
 libraries of the Tuileries, the Trianon, Rambouillet, and Compi^gne, 
 and his field-library. From these the Emperor drew largely, and in 
 1814, he had taken a portion of the Fontainebleau books to Elba, where 
 they are preserved in the Communal library, at the town-hall of Porto- 
 Ferrajo, at the present time, and are treasured by the people of the island. 
 Bliicher, when he knew the intention of Napoleon, sent a party of horse- 
 men to oppose the transfer of the books, which he desired doubtless to 
 keep for Louis XVIII. These soldiers did not arrive until after the 
 departure of the first carriage : so that, out of 1,920 volumes, 550 
 followed in Napoleon's baggage, and were taken on board the 
 " Northumberland ", as the foundation of the exile's library. 
 
 The memorialists of St. Helena have told us of the tedium of 
 Longwood, where the restrained and supervised existence of the prisoners 
 was terribly monotonous. In the morning, the Emperor hardly ever 
 went out. In the afternoon, about 2 o'clock, he took, fairly regularly 
 in the early days, an English lesson with Las Cases : afterwards, he 
 walked in the poor garden, where sometimes, but very rarely, presenta- 
 tions were made to him : then, he drove for a short distance in a carriage, 
 with great state, and with Ali, in green and gold, as outrider at the head 
 of the team of six horses. Before the evening meal, the Emperor either 
 dictated, or revised, at first with Las Cases, the campaigns in Italy or 
 Egypt. It was necessary to follow him word for word : so, Las Cases 
 was obliged to invent, for his own use, a sort of hieroglyphic writing, a 
 kind of shorthand, and later, he himself dictated what he had noted to 
 his son, Emmanuel, who was obliged soon to replace his father 
 in Napoleon's service, when the bad state of the eyes of Las Cases 
 rendered the work too difiicult. Another gratuitous copyist did not 
 delay in offering himself, and in making himself useful, one who having 
 passed from the stable to the house, passed from the house to the 
 archives. At first, St. Denis began by putting in order the pages of the 
 memoirs which Las Cases had written out from day to day. Every time, 
 says Las Cases, that the Emperor entered my room, he saw there the 
 faithful Ali in his spare moments recopying this journal. Each day, 
 unless he was required for carriage-work, or in the Emperor's bedroom, 
 he occupied himself in classifying and arranging the books, the returns 
 and the withdrawals, and he made, without doubt by Montholon's 
 suggestion, a systematic catalogue ; so that, although the library was not 
 a large one, the duties of librarian were no sinecure. First, he had to 
 
 40 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 wait upon the Emperor, who wanted always a considerable number of 
 books to be brought to him at the same time. If one of these works 
 interested him especially, he covered its margins with notes. Everything 
 which offered any degree of utility was, even after being read carefully, 
 put aside. The Emperor would allow no volume to be mislaid. At 
 Malmaison, at Fontainebleau, and at the Trianon, a book, after being 
 entered in the catalogue, was marked with a stamp bearing the words 
 " Cabinet of the Emperor ". At Longwood, this stamp was replaced 
 by a seal daubed with ink, or by a wax-impression, in which the Imperial 
 arms might be faintly distinguished. In the classification of the book- 
 cases, the Emperor insisted upon absolute methodical order. M. 
 Frederic Masson says, "A book, which he had once seen and read, never 
 went out of his memor3^ If the librarian could not find it at once, 
 Napoleon would describe minutely the binding, the colour of the back 
 and sides, point out the position where the book should have been, 
 and on which shelf it should be found. To the green library, St. Denis 
 had to welcome also all the Emperor's companions, each one of the 
 captivity in search of a book to read. Gourgaud asked for books on 
 military history, Bertrand chose novels for his wife, Montholon, especially, 
 paid frequent visits to St. Denis, " I am the despair of Ali ", he wrote 
 to his Countess, on August 11th, 1819 : "he pretends that I have 
 out more than a hundred volumes, and that I never bring back a book. 
 This is true ; but, I pay no attention to him ". This carelessness, 
 however, did not always make the good fellow laugh, for he took his 
 responsibility as custodian of the books very seriously, and he tried above 
 all to avoid the Emperor's greatly-dreaded fits of impatience. To tell 
 the truth, this library, commencing with 600 volumes collected hastily, 
 in which materials for study appeared in very small numbers was quite 
 insufficient to occupy the leisure of the exile. So, during the voyage 
 of the " Northumberland " from Portsmouth to St. Helena, Napoleon 
 took advantage of a call at Madeira to make out a carefully prepared 
 list, and to request the English Government to order the books to be sent 
 to him, payable on delivery. But, these volumes did not arrive at 
 Longwood until June, 1816. Until then, he contented himself with what 
 he had. After dinner, when he did not play cards, he read. Truly 
 monotonous were those evenings at St. Helena, in the wretched light 
 of a few candles — for the Government was parsimonious about wax 
 and candles — in the wretched room, covered with a yellow paper with 
 a terrible pattern of green flowers ! There, however, the men wore 
 uniform or Court-dress, and the Countesses Bertrand and Montholon 
 made an effort at dressing, very difficult of success in this isolation. 
 
 41 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 On May 21st, 1816, Napoleon received an English publication, 
 reproducing the official notes found in the portfolio, which had been taken 
 with the Imperial carriage by the English at Waterloo. After this, 
 the parcels were more regular, frequent, and complete. Every three or 
 four weeks, he received a large packet of European journals, and you may 
 judge with what energy they were perused ! At the end of June, 1816, 
 the books ordered in Madeira arrived. The wishes of the Emperor had 
 not been very carefully followed : there were missing a good number of 
 recent works that the Emperor would have liked to possess. The parcels, 
 rare at first, numerous at the end of the captivity, arrived without order, 
 or method. Such as it was, however, the Longwood library answered 
 to the needs of the little colony. The Emperor was not the only 
 one to use it. Everyone came to borrow from it. Useless books certainly 
 had poured in ; but, the variety of the volumes sent to Napoleon 
 had the great advantage of offering to each of his companions 
 reading-matter in accordance with his tastes and temperament : for, in 
 this library of the exile, there was something of everything, science and 
 literature, almanacs, histories, newspapers, maps, and novels. 
 
 The collection of memoirs and historical books occupied a large 
 space in the domain of St. Denis. From it, the Emperor usually drew 
 for his favourite reading, besides which he wanted it for his personal work. 
 Among the number who made contributions to the Longwood library 
 were two English people of illustrious name. Lord and Lady Holland, 
 courageous admirers of the unhappy genius, who sent in 1817 a precious 
 parcel of books, which they renewed each year until the death of the 
 Emperor. Other boxes of books and pamphlets were sent from 1818 to 
 1821 by the English ministry, and by various other donors. And, when 
 the Emperor was obliged to give up all work, when he was confined to 
 bed, when he was dying, the number of friendly parcels increased. On 
 March 14th, Napoleon, during a rally in his illness, opened for the last 
 time a box of books, which Lord Bathurst had ordered to be sent to St. 
 Helena. 
 
 Napoleon, being dead, books still continued to arrive. The last 
 boxes, which were received at St. Helena, fifteen days after the death of 
 the consignee, seem to have been sent by Lady Holland on March 16th, 
 1821. From 1818 to 1821, during the last phase, a relative abundance 
 of newspapers succeeded to the what was at first nearly a complete 
 scarcity, and, on the eve of his death, the Emperor was almost as well 
 informed of that which went on in Europe as Sir Hudson Lowe. 
 
 Without neglecting any of his duties about the Emperor, or in the 
 ordering of his library, St. Denis did not escape the matrimonial epidemic 
 
 42 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 which raged at Longwood. He had discovered in Betsy Hall, a pretty- 
 girl, sent to St. Helena as a governess by Lady Jerningham, the aunt of 
 Madam Bertrand, the fulfilment of his dream of exile, and he was able, 
 with the Emperor's approval, to set up a home. Coming from England, 
 the fiancee, who was called Mary, or Marie, in the family of St. Denis, 
 was apparently a good and simple girl, whom Napoleon saw, without 
 inconvenience to himself, entering more intimately into the little colony. 
 She presented her husband with a baby-girl to whom the Emperor deigned 
 to stand god-father, and on whom he bestowed, on her christening-day, a 
 gold chain which is religiously preserved by her descendants. This was 
 one more French subject at Longwood, and the prisoner cheered himself 
 by caressing her, when she was being carried in his direction. But, the 
 end of the exile was approaching : the Emperor discontinued going out. 
 His malady made rapid progress, and was soon a torture. From this time, 
 the library ceased to give anxiety to the custodian of the books. No one 
 read at Longwood. A day was preparing itself in history, in which each 
 one sacrificed himself in a last exaltation of devotion, praying or weeping 
 for the illustrious dying. 
 
 After his master had been taken to the valley of death, St. Denis 
 with his wife and little daughter, reached Europe on board the wretched 
 transport " Camel ", on which all the exiles had taken their passage. 
 
 In his will, the Emperor had not forgotten the faithful 
 mameluke, who had become the guardian of the books in his exile. In 
 different codicils he left him a total sum of 135,000 francs, or £5,400, and 
 he charged him with the care of " 400 books selected from his library 
 from amongst those which he had himself used ", and, " to hand them 
 over to his son, when he was 16 years of age ". This first selection being 
 made, the exiles, on leaving Longwood, took away with their baggage 
 the best of the library, especially the books from the Trianon, which were 
 bound with the Imperial arms. It is known that those chosen for the 
 King of Rome did not arrive at their destination. Of the books given 
 into the charge of St. Denis, some reached the Imperial family, others 
 were presented by their holder to the town of Sens, whither he retired, and 
 where he died. 
 
 In 1840, the former librarian at Longwood asked to be allowed to 
 join the mission which went with all solemnity to St. Helena to bring home 
 the Emperor's remains, and he participated in the glory of the return. 
 Afterwards, he retired to his peaceful home at Sens, with his wife and three 
 daughters, and there he found pleasure in reading and in the study of 
 history and mathematics. Some years later, he busied himself in editing 
 carefuUy his recollections, either from the contemporary notes of the 
 
 43 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 captivity, or from his memory, which, however, he admitted in 1847 was 
 very bad : but, it appears that he was careful to have it checked by his 
 former comrades. 
 
 The Council of State on May 17th, 1853, considered a petition 
 addressed to it by St. Denis, asking for the cross of the Legion of Honour. 
 On May 19th, the Chancellory of the Order, being consulted, replied that 
 the great number of requests did not permit it for the time to add the 
 name of the old Imperial servant. In spite of this, shortly afterwards, 
 on February 23rd, 1854, St. Denis was decorated. The reception into 
 the Order of Ali, now a citizen of Sens, took place on June 10th, 1854, in 
 the office of the sub-prefect himself, Gustave Lap^rouse, who gave him 
 the accolade in the course of an impressive little ceremony, at which some 
 old soldiers were present. On May 3rd, 1856, less than two years after, 
 the former Imperial mameluke, and the custodian of the books of 
 Napoleon, died, at the age of 68 years. In his holograph will of July 6th, 
 1855, he showed his gratitude to the town which had welcomed him, 
 where he had lived as a peaceful citizen waiting for the end of his life, by 
 leaving to the Museum of Sens, besides certain works from the library of 
 St. Helena, some precious relics, more fully described elsewhere, 
 including, a uniform coat of the Emperor with the Epaulettes and the 
 badge of the Legion of Honour, a cockade of one of the traditional hats, 
 a piece of the coffin in which the Emperor had been buried, and a piece 
 of the trunk of one of the willow-trees which had shaded his tomb. 
 
 His three daughters were married. The eldest and her children 
 died without successors : and so did the third. The second daughter is 
 dead, leaving a son married without children, an unmarried daughter, 
 and a second daughter who had an only daughter married to a lecturer 
 of the Faculty of letters in Paris. The child of this union is the great- 
 grandson of St. Denis. 
 
 44 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 MARLBROUGH S'EN VA-T-EN GUERRE. 
 
 rS this song epic, or lyric, poetry ? According to the Imperial 
 Dictionary, an epic poem, otherwise called heroic, is a poem which 
 narrates a story, real or fictitious, or partly both, representing 
 usually the achievements of some distinguished hero : a lyric poem 
 is poetry composed for musical recitation, delineating the poet's own 
 thoughts and feelings. It would seem, therefore, that it is an epic poem. 
 But, perhaps, it may be described most accurately as a ballad, or narrative 
 poem, adapted for singing. In any case, as it was sung commonly by 
 the people, it is certainly a folk-song. 
 
 The song is assigned by Brewer's " Reader's Handbook ", and 
 " Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ", to the period of the Crusades. The 
 former work notes that the name appears in a Basque Pastorale, and also 
 in Chansons de Geste, and from the latter it appears that the air was 
 known to the Egyptians, and to the Australian aborigines in the 
 eighteenth century. See Notes and Queries, November 30th, 1907, 
 page 435. It has no reference to the first Duke of Marlborough (1650- 
 1722), although it is considered usually to have been sung about the time 
 of the Battle of Malplaquet (September 11th, 1709), and to have come 
 generally into vogue soon after the birth of the elder son of Louis XVI. 
 (1715-1774), when the young Dauphin's nurse used to sing it to her 
 charge. According to King's " Classical and Foreign Quotations ", 
 page 191, the song refers to Charles, third Duke of Marlborough (1708- 
 1758), and his abortive expedition against Cherbourg in 1758. 
 
 In the " Illustrated Book of French Songs ", by the dramatic author 
 John Oxenford (1812-1877), published in 1855, page 187, is this statement : 
 " the following note, from their collection of songs, is attached by MM. 
 Dumersan & Noel S<^gur to this song, the tune of which is familiar to 
 many an Englishman who has never heard or read a line of the words : — 
 The famous Duke of Marlborough had been dead sixty years, when in 
 1781 the nurse of the Dauphin, son of Louis XVI., sang, as she rocked 
 her Royal charge, this ballad, the naive and pleasing air of which made 
 
 46 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 a considerable sensation. M. de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), who heard 
 the air sung in the East, was of opinion that it was carried thither in 
 the time of the crusades. The burlesque words were probably spread 
 about various provinces after the Battle of Malplaquet by some of the 
 soldiers of Villars and Boufflers ". 
 
 As early as 1706, verses were composed on Marlborough, which were 
 to be found in the manuscript collection of historical songs, in forty- 
 four volumes, made by M. Maurepas, and deposited in the Royal Library. 
 The nurse's song became all the rage at Versailles, whence it reached 
 Paris, and was soon spread over the whole of France. For four or five 
 years nothing was heard but the burthen, " Mironton, Mironton, 
 Mirontaine". The song was printed upon fans and screens, with an 
 engraving representing the funeral-procession of Marlborough, the lady 
 on her tower, and the page dressed in black, and so on. This engraving 
 was imitated in all shapes and sizes. It circulated through the streets 
 and villages, and gave the Duke of Marlborough a more popular celebrity 
 than all his victories. 
 
 It is a fact worth recording, that the song of the page in Beaumarchais' 
 Comedy, Le Mariage de Figaro, was written for this air. The dramatic 
 situation in which it occurs has since been illustrated by the music of 
 Mozart. 
 
 On the cover of one of several versions of the song, in my possession, 
 is the inscription, " A new invention for one performer, or two performers, 
 on the same harpsichord, or pianoforte, or may be sung by two voices. 
 La Chanson de mi Lord Malbrough : from the original copy sung by the 
 nurse of his Royal Highness the Dauphin of France, with the proper 
 French words, and translation into English, and some variations never 
 before printed, by Thomas Carter ". 
 
 The old tune to which the song was sung bears a resemblance to the 
 airs of the well-known refrains, " For he's a jolly good fellow ", and 
 " We won't go home till morning " : but, not of such a character as to 
 suggest that they are the same. 
 
 Everybody knows : — 
 
 " For he's a jolly good fellow, (three times) 
 Which nobody can deny ". 
 
 Then come variations such as the following ; — 
 " If he docs he tells a lie, (twice) 
 It's a way we have in the navy, 
 It's a way we have in the army. 
 It's a way we have at (the 'Varsity), 
 Which nobody can deny ". (or, "and so say all of us"). 
 
 40 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 And also : — 
 
 " We won't go home till morning, (twice) 
 We won't go home till mor-or-ning, 
 Till daylight doth appear ". 
 
 Elson in his " Shakespeare in Music ", page 233, after stating that 
 many of the ballads which are well known in England to-day have great 
 antiquity, says ' For he's a jolly good fellow ', for example, known in 
 America as * We won't go home till morning ', can be traced through 
 the French ' Marlbrooke ' to the old crusader * Mambron ', and its 
 melody was heard in Palestine in the twelfth century. Oddly enough 
 the tune took root in the East, and can be heard to-day in many an 
 Oriental city. The fellaheen of Egypt claim the tune as their own, and, 
 so it is, if eight centuries of possession can make it so. See Notes and 
 Queries, February 22nd, 1908, page 158. 
 
 In the third volume of " Chants et Chansons populaires de la France, 
 Nouvelle Edition .... Librairie Garnier fr^res, 1848 ", 
 the first song is " Mort et Convoi de I'invincible Malbrough ". Preceding 
 it is a notice by P. L. Jacob, Bibliophile — " Paul Lacroix, I believe ", 
 writes Mr. Robert Pierpoint. He says that "Marlborough" was composed 
 after the Battle of Malplaquet, in 1709, and not after the death of John 
 Churchill, Duke of Marlborough in 1722. Jacob cites, " the ancient 
 legend in prose which accompanies the song, in which it is said that 
 Malbrough was killed at the battle of Malplaquet." He says that the 
 Duke of Marlborough in this battle almost shared the fate of five of his 
 lieutenants-general, who were killed in the m^l^e, and that a report of 
 his death having been spread about, some waggish songster made this 
 song as his funeral-oration at Le Quesnoy on the evening of the battle, 
 adding that the Duke's name was the terror and the admiration of the 
 soldier. The song was preserved by tradition only in some provinces, 
 brought there probably by the soldiers of Villars and Boufflers, till in 
 1791 Madame Poitrine, the peasant-nurse of the Dauphin, used to sing 
 it by the royal cradle. The Queen, the King, the Court, and the servants 
 at Versailles sang it. It spread all over France, and became popular in 
 England. 
 
 Beaumarchais, in his ' Mariage de Figaro ', made Ch^rubin sing 
 the air of * Marlbrough ', substituting for the old refrain ' Mironton, 
 mironton, mirontaine ', this verse, " Que mon coeur, que mon coeur, a 
 de peine ! " In London, a French gentleman wanting his driver to take 
 him to Marlborough Street, and having forgotten the name, sang the air 
 of " Marlbrough ", and the driver understood what he wanted. 
 
 47 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 In April, 1920, the Russian General Denikin, then in London, was asked 
 to write, in Roman characters, the name of the British warship which 
 had brought him part of his journey. It was the Super-Dreadnought 
 Marlborough, of the Battle of Jutland fame, and he wrote — on French 
 lines — Malbarouch. 
 
 In France, the name was given to fashions, dress-materials, styles 
 of hair-dressing, etc. It was printed on screens and on fans, embroidered 
 on tapestry, and furniture, etc. Nothing but the fall of the Bastille 
 could stifle the echo of the song. Later, Napoleon, notwithstanding 
 his antipathy to music, used to hum or sing it whenever he mounted 
 his horse at the beginning of a campaign. 
 
 Jacob is inclined to believe, with Chateaubriand, that the air was 
 probably sung by the Crusaders of Godfrey de Bouillon under the walls 
 of Jerusalem. He says that " the Arabs sing it, saying that their ancestors 
 learned it at the Battle of Massoure (query, Mansurah, April 5th, 1250), 
 where the Sire de Joinville's companions-in-arms repeated it as they 
 clashed their shields, and raised the national war-cry " Montjoie 
 Saint-Denis ". 
 
 The spelling of the name in the song, and its title, is " Marlbrough ". 
 Jacob uses that spelling when referring to it, though, when naming the 
 Duke, or the street, he has " Marlborough ". See Notes and Queries, 
 February 22nd, 1908, page 158. And, as Le Petit Larousse illustr^ 
 states, son nom est devenu l^gendaire, grace k la chanson burlesque 
 dont il est le h^ros, sous le nom d^natur^ de Marlbrough, thanks to the 
 song, the name has become legendary. 
 
 Gustave Masson, in his anthology " La Lyre Fran^aise ", who gives 
 the date of the Marlbrough-song as 1709, prints a historical song, 
 " La Mort du Due de Guise ", referring probably to that Duke who was 
 assassinated by Poltrot de M6t6 in 1563, beginning : — 
 
 Qui veut oir chanson ? 
 C'est du grand due de Guise, 
 
 Et bon, bon, bon, bon, 
 
 Di, dan, di dan, don, 
 C'est du grand due de Guise. 
 
 And the following note is appended ; — 
 
 " This curious song, which we transcribe from M. Charles Nisard's 
 ' Chansons populaires ' (Vol. I., pages 303, 304), was originally published 
 in the * Recueil des Pieces interessantes ' of La Place (Vol. II. page 247). 
 It is remarkably like the famous dirge on Marlborough ". See Notes 
 and Queries, November 30th, 1907, page 435. 
 
 48 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 The following version of the Marlbrough-song is copied from " La 
 Lyre Francaise " of Gustave Masson. For the sake of brevity, only the 
 first and last stanzas are given in their entirety, the second line in each 
 stanza being " Mironton, mironton, mirontaine ", which is an imitation 
 of the sound of a clarion, made with a hand placed before the mouth, 
 and the third line being a repetition of the first : — 
 
 MORT ET CONVOI DE L'INVINCIBLE MARLBROUGH. 
 
 Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, 
 Mironton, mironton, mirontaine, 
 Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, 
 Ne sait quand reviendra.' 
 
 II reviendra z-^ Paques, 
 Ou h la Trinite. 
 
 La Trinity se passe, 
 Marlbrough ne revient pas. 
 
 Madame k sa tour monte, 
 Si haut qu'eir pent monter. 
 
 Elle apergoit son page. 
 Tout de noir habille. 
 
 Beau page, ah ! mon beau page. 
 Quell' nouvelle apportez ? 
 
 Aux nouvell's que j'aporte, 
 Vos beaux yeux vont pleurer. 
 
 Quittez vos habits roses, 
 Et vos satins broch^s. 
 
 Monsieur Marlbrough est mort. 
 Est mort et enterr^. 
 
 J'l'ai vu porter en terra, 
 Par quatre z-officiers. 
 
 L'un portait sa cuirasse, 
 L'autre son bouclier. 
 
 L'un portait son grand sabre, 
 L'autre ne portait rien. 
 
 A I'entour de sa tombe, 
 Romarins I'on planta. 
 
 Sur la plus haute branche, 
 Le rossignol chanta. 
 
 49 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 On vit voler son dme, 
 Au travers des lauriers. 
 
 Chacun mit ventre k terre, 
 Et puis se releva. 
 
 Pour chanter les victoires, 
 Que Marlbrough remporta. 
 
 La c^r^monie faite, 
 Mironton, mironton, mirontaine, 
 La c^r^monie faite, 
 Chacun s'en fut coucher. 
 
 The song is given by Monsieur Gustave Masson as anonymous, 
 and dated 1709. 
 
 There are various editions, and that in " Chants et Chansons 
 Populaires de la France", published by Garnier fr^res, contains the 
 following four additional stanzas. No doubt, stanzas were added from 
 time to time, temporarily, after the style of our verses called Limericks. 
 
 Les uns avec leurs femmes, 
 Et les autres tout seuls. 
 
 Ce n'est pas qu'il en manque, 
 Car j'en connais beaucoup. 
 
 Des blondes et des brunes, 
 Et des chataign's aussi. 
 
 J'n'en dis pas davantage, 
 Car en voila z-assez. 
 
 In the " Songs of France ", by the late Father Prout, Parish Priest 
 of Watergrashill, in the County of Cork, a short version of the French 
 song is given, with a very free English translation, and it is described 
 as " of the lamentable death of the illustrious John Churchill, which did 
 not take place, by some mistake, but was nevertheless celebrated ". 
 It is, however, scarcely worth a reference. 
 
 I submit the following translation of the recognised eighteen stanzas, 
 already quoted : — 
 
 MARLBROUGH. 
 
 Gone to the war is Marlbrough, 
 Mironton, mironton, mirontaine, 
 Gone to the war is Marlbrough, 
 Knows not when he will return. 
 
 50 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 He will return at Easter, 
 Or else at Trinity. 
 
 But, Trinity is over. 
 
 And yet he's not come back. 
 
 Madame has climbed her turret, 
 As high as she can climb. 
 
 And thence she sees her page-boy, 
 In clothes of black he's clad. 
 My page, my page, so handsome, 
 What tidings dost thou bring ? 
 
 Ah ! Lady ! At my tidings. 
 Your lovely eyes will weep. 
 
 Put off those coloured garments, 
 And also your brocades. 
 
 Dead is my Lord of Marlbrough, 
 He's dead, and in his grave. 
 
 Four officers, I saw them. 
 Did lay him in the ground. 
 
 His breastplate bore the first one, 
 The second bore his shield. 
 
 His great sword bore the third one. 
 The fourth bore naught at all. 
 
 His tomb they have surrounded, 
 With plants of rose-maree. 
 
 The nightingale was singing. 
 Upon the topmost bough. 
 
 And through the laurel-branches. 
 We saw his soaring soul. 
 
 Each one to earth fell prostrate, 
 And then stood up again. 
 
 To sing about the battles. 
 Which Marlbrough had won. 
 
 The ceremony ended, 
 Mironton, mironton, mirontaine. 
 The ceremony ended. 
 They all went off to bed. 
 
 51 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 The Breton peasants believe that the soul rises to heaven in the form 
 of a bird. See " Songs of old France ", by Percy Allen, page 21. There 
 are many references to the song in " Notes and Queries ". Perhaps the 
 most useful are those by Mr. Robert Pierpoint, one of my colleagues 
 in the House of Commons, the Member of Parliament for 
 Warrington from 1892 to 1906. He alludes to the alleged Oriental 
 origin of both the words and the tune in a letter signed Louis Creswicke, 
 which appeared in the " Sunday Times " of July 1st, 1894, in which the 
 writer gave the ' ' original Arabic words written for me by an Arab ", 
 or rather the first stanza : — 
 
 Mabrook saffur lei harbi 
 
 Ya lail-ya lail-ya laila 
 Mabrook saffur lei harbi 
 
 Woo-ela metta yerjaa 
 Woo-ela metta yerja-ya lail 
 
 Woo-ela metta yerjaa. 
 
 In the " Sunday Times " of August 5th, 1894, is a letter signed 
 H. Droop Richmond, giving this translation of it : — 
 
 Mabrook journeys to the war, 
 Ya lail-ya lail-ya laila, 
 Mabrook journeys to the war. 
 Who knows when he'll return ? 
 etc., etc. 
 
 As to the second line, Mr. Richmond says that it " does not appear 
 to have any definite meaning ". These Arabic words, however, prove 
 nothing about an Oriental origin, as they were supplied to Mr. Creswicke 
 some time in the nineteenth century. See Notes and Queries, December, 
 1917, page 515 et seq. : 
 
 Fr^d^ric Masson, in " Napoleon k Sainte-Hel^ne ", published in 1912, 
 of which I am the happy possessor of No. 78 of the 300 copies which 
 were printed, in the account of the last few days of Napoleon makes 
 the following statement, pages 198-200, relating to April 15th, shortly 
 before the death of Napoleon, which occurred on Saturday, May 5th, 
 1821 :— 
 
 " Ce jour-1^, lorsque le docteur Arnott vient le voir, il lui parle 
 des g^n^raux qui ont command^ les armies anglaises, et il fait I'eloge de 
 Marborough, dont il a eu I'intention de commenter les campagnes. 
 II demande au docteur Arnott si la bibliotheque du 20® 
 regiment poss^de I'histoire de ce g^n^ral. Arnott ayant r^pondu qu'il 
 n'en est pas sAr, I'Empereur envoie Marchand prendre I'ouvrage k sa 
 
 52 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 bibliothSque. C'est un exemplaire, reli6 avec luxe, de cette Histoire de 
 Jean Churchill, due de Marlborough, etc., etc., imprim^e par ordre de Sa 
 Majesty Imp^riale (a Paris, de I'lmprimerie imp6riale, I'ann^e 1806). 
 La remise de ce livre provoqua d'autres histoires. 
 Antommarchi avait ri, et I'Empereur I'avait regard^ d'un ceil s6v6re ; 
 il lui adressa le lendemain de vifs reproches sur la l^geret^ de son caract^re. 
 Le docteur chercha k s'excuser sur le souvenir qu'avait fait naitre en 
 lui une chanson avec laquelleil avait et6berc6. Sur le moment Napoleon 
 n'insista pas. Pourtant, il 4tait peu vraisemblable qu'on chantdt en 
 patois corse Malbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre ". 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 That day, April 15th, 1821, when Dr. Arnott came to see him, he 
 spoke about the Generals who had commanded the English Armies, and 
 he praised Marlborough upon whose campaigns he had had the intention 
 of writing a commentary. He asked Dr. Arnott if the library of the 20th 
 Regiment contained a history of that General. Arnott having replied 
 that he was not certain, the Emperor sent Marchand to get the work 
 from his library. It was a copy, specially bound, of the History of John 
 ChurchUl, Duke of Marlborough, etc., etc., etc., printed by order of His 
 Imperial Majesty at the Imperial Press, Paris, in the year 1806. . 
 From the handing over of that book hangs a tale. Dr. Antommarchi had 
 smiled : the Emperor had looked at him severely, and the next day he took 
 him to task for his levity. The Doctor tried to excuse himself by pleading 
 that the gift had reminded him of a song he had heard in his cradle. 
 Napoleon did not press the point. It is somewhat probable, however 
 that the song was in Corsican patois " Malbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre " 
 
 The gift was, as a matter of fact, Coxe's " Life of Marlborough ", 
 published in 1819, and the three volumes of it are now in the possession 
 of the 1st Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. Francesco Antommarchi, 
 born in Corsica, was physician to Napoleon, and Archibald Arnott was 
 the surgeon to the Twentieth Regiment of Foot, now the Lancashire 
 Fusiliers, quartered at the time at St. Helena. 
 
 53 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 MARSHAL SOULT. 
 
 THE connection of the XX. Regiment with Napoleon and St. 
 Helena resulted in an offer of hospitality from the Colonel 
 and Officers when, like Marshal Foch in 1919, Marshal Soult 
 paid a visit to England, upwards of eighty years ago, of which a short 
 account may not, at the present moment, be without interest^. 
 
 Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, Marshal of 
 France, was born at Saint Amand-la-Bastide (Tarn), on March 29th, 
 1769, the year of the births of Napoleon, Ney and Wellington. 
 He was of Hebrew extraction, like some of the other Napoleonic 
 marshals, such as Mass^na, whose real name was Manasseh. In 1804, 
 he was made one of the first Marshals created by Napoleon, who con- 
 ferred upon him also a dukedom for the victory at Austerlitz, and for 
 his services in Spain. In 1838, he was appointed by Louis Philippe 
 Ambassador- Extraordinary at the coronation of Queen Victoria. At a 
 grand review held in Hyde Park on July 9th, of that year, as recorded 
 by the late Mr. John Sainsbury, one of his stirrups broke, when, by 
 strange good luck, the Government saddler was able to supply hira with 
 a pair which had been worn by the Emperor Napoleon. 
 
 In "A History of Our Own Times", Mr. Justin McCarthy says that 
 the opponent of Moore and Wellington, in the Peninsula, and " one of 
 the strong arms of Napoleon at Waterloo ", was the most conspicuous 
 figure in the Coronation procession, and nothing could exceed the 
 enthusiasm with which the white-haired soldier was received by the 
 crowds in the streets of London. He appeared in the procession in a 
 carriage, the frame of which had been used on occasions of State by some 
 of the Princes of the House of Cond6, which he had had decorated 
 splendidly for the ceremony. Soult felt very warmly the genuine kindness 
 of the reception, and became immediately a warm partisan of the 
 English alliance. 
 
 Years after, in a debate in the French Chamber, when accused of 
 too much partiality for England, Marshal Soult declared himself a strong 
 champion of the alliance, " I fought the English down to Toulouse ", 
 
 ^This chapter appeared in a condensed form in Baily's Magazine for October, 1919. 
 Marshal Foch, in acknowledging the receipt of a copy, wrote from Quartier G^n^ral, 
 Commandement en Chef des Armies AUifies, on October 10th, 1919, accepting it with 
 best thanks — avec tons ses remerciements. 
 
 54 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 he said, " when I fired the last cannon in defence of the national 
 independence ; in the meantime, I have been in London, and France 
 knows the reception which I had there. The English themselves cried 
 * Vive Soult ! ' — they cried ' Soult for ever ! '. I have learnt to estimate 
 them in peace, and I repeat that I am a warm partisan of the English 
 alliance ". Probably the cheers of the London crowd did something 
 substantial towards restoring the good feeling between Great Britain 
 and France. 
 
 The " Times " of July, 1838, frequently refers to grand banquets, 
 balls and suppers in honour of our visitor, and among names of conspicuous 
 hosts are those of Queen Victoria, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, 
 the Duke of Wellington, and Sir Robert and Lady Peel. 
 
 Soult visited the Mansion House, the Guildhall, the British Museum, 
 the National Gallery, the Docks, Windsor, etc. Among other tours of 
 inspection, he made a journey to the north, visiting between July 20th 
 and the 24th, Manchester and Liverpool, the Menai Bridge, Dudley 
 Castle, and Birmingham. He travelled by the newly-opened 
 London and Birmingham Railway, now the London and North- Western 
 Railway, which on April 9th, 1838, was opened between London and 
 Denbigh Hall, a hamlet about two miles north of Bletchley Station, 
 a distance of about 50 mUes, and also between Rugby and Birmingham, 
 a distance of about 30 miles. Owing to the delay in completing Kilsby 
 tunnel and Roade cutting, that portion of the line could not be used 
 until September 17th, and coaches were run between Denbigh Hall and 
 Rugby, hundreds of horses being employed on the work. The last brick 
 of the Kilsby tunnel was laid in June, 1838. The first railway serving 
 the Metropolis was opened on December 14th, 1837, and by the middle 
 of the forties London had no fewer than ten termini. 
 
 On July 20th, 1838, at 4-30 a.m., Soult with his suite, including his 
 son the Marquis of Dalmatia, and his son-in-law the Marquis of Mornay, 
 left Euston by special train on his visit to the North. Denbigh Hall 
 v/as reached in about 90 minutes, whence he was driven by coach to 
 Rugby, a total distance of 82| miles, arriving there at 9 a.m., and break- 
 fasting at the station. 
 
 On his return-journey, the Marshal visited Birmingham, and 
 neighbouring towns, seeing the manufacture of goods from the raw 
 material to the finish, even the manufacture of British guns, with the 
 efficiency of which, as the " Times " remarked, he was already well 
 acquainted. The last place visited there was the Town Hall, which was 
 packed with people, who cheered him to the echo, while, among other 
 airs played upon the organ was the famous song of Marlborough. 
 
 55 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 The reception was followed by a grand banquet, at which, after the 
 loyal toasts, Marshal Soult, in responding to that of his health, said, 
 " the honours I receive at this moment touch me the more deeply and 
 sensibly, because they only confirm the opinion I had always entertained 
 of the greatness, the hospitality, and the magnanimity of the English 
 people. For many years past, I have highly esteemed the British nation. 
 I have learned to respect them in the field of battle. I found in your 
 great commander, the Duke of Wellington, a generous enemy : although 
 
 we fought against each other for many years I feel 
 
 that there was nothing of personal animosity between us in that war. 
 At the present time, I present myself to you under a different character, 
 I come as the bearer of words of peace : and, that peace, if my wishes 
 can accomplish it, will last eternally. Henceforward, there is no 
 possibility of a war between France and England." 
 
 A long account of the journey appears in the " Coventry Herald 
 and Observer " of the time. 
 
 I have in my possession a letter dated March 15th, 1916, from the 
 late Mr. Theodore Mark Wratislaw, of 11 St. Andrew's Street, Rugby, 
 who died on April 5th, 1919, in his eighty-eighth year, in which he says 
 that he was taken to the station, being then about six years old, to see 
 the marshal, his mother being invited by those in charge of the arrange- 
 ments to bring her silver tea-pot to make tea for him. 
 
 For information about the Wratislaw family, I am indebted to Mr. 
 H. Lodge of Rugby, F. White & Company's " Warwickshire ", and 
 " Chapters from the History of Rugby School " by Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Sydney Selfe. The Wratislaw family, the title being Count Wratislavia, 
 is descended from the founder of the City of Prague, who died A.D. 
 697, and it held the throne of Bohemia until A.D. 1310. Apparently, 
 while the family was on the throne of Bohemia, several Counts of 
 Hapsburgh, descendants of Ethica, Duke of Elsas (Alsace), A.D. 700, 
 were their masters of the horse, and from them is descended the Earl 
 of Denbigh. The two families became refugees in England, and, strange 
 to relate, the Wratislaw and Denbigh families are settled now side by side 
 in the same County — after a lapse of seven or eight centuries, the 
 descendants of Kings as county-gentlemen, the descendants of their 
 masters of the horse as peers of the realm. The Count Wratislaw of 
 about 1705 was a friend of Marlborough. 
 
 In the Officers' Mess of the 1st Battalion, the Lancashire Fusiliers, 
 kept with the three volumes of Coxe's " Life of Marlborough ", which 
 Napoleon gave to the 20th Regiment at St. Helena, is the following letter 
 from Marshal Soult, as follows : — 
 
 56 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Rugeby (sic), le 20 Juillet, 1838. 
 Monsieur le Commandant, 
 
 J'ai 6t6 infiniment sensible k men passage k Weedon, aux honneurs 
 que vous avez voulu me faire rendre ; s'il m'avait 6t6 possible de m'arr^ter 
 quelques moments, j'aurais 6t6 heureux de les passer avec vous et M" 
 les officiers sous vos ordres. 
 
 Mais, press^ d'arriver pour prendre le chemin de fer, je n'ai pu 
 suspendre ma marche. 
 
 Je saisis le premier instant dont je puis disposer pour vous t^moigner. 
 Monsieur le Commandant, les regrets que j'en ai ^prouv^s et mes 
 remerelments les plus sinc^res. 
 
 Ayez la bont^ de faire part de ma lettre h M" vos officiers en leur 
 exprimant les sentiments de confraternity qui m'animent pour I'arm^e 
 anglaise, 
 
 Agr^ez, Monsieur le Commandant, I'assurance de ma consideration 
 la plus distingu^e. 
 
 M' Due de Dalmatie. 
 
 [translation]. 
 
 Rugby, July 20th, 1838. 
 Monsieur le Commandant, 
 
 I have appreciated highly the honour which you wished to show me 
 on my way to Weedon. If it had been possible to stay for a few moments, 
 I should have been happy to have spent them with you and your officers. 
 But, being pressed for time to catch the train, I could not break my 
 journey. 
 
 I take the earliest opportunity of expressing to you. Sir, the 
 regret I feel, and my most sincere thanks. Pray be so kind as to com- 
 municate my letter to your officers, and at the same time assure them of 
 the friendly feelings which I entertain for the British Army. 
 
 Accept, Monsieur le Commandant, the assurance of my greatest 
 respect. 
 
 (Signed) M' Due de Dalmatie. 
 
 The Regiment had been at the Tower, where it received the Marshal, 
 with other ambassadors, and it had gone from London to Weedon, 
 whence an invitation had been sent to Marshal Soult to visit the Colonel 
 and Officers there. 
 
 Soult was Minister of War, and Minister of Foreign Affairs under 
 Louis Philippe, by whom he was appointed President of the Council 
 in 1839. In 1848, when Louis Philippe was overthrown, he became a 
 Republican : he died in 1851. 
 
 67 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 The word " Marshal " is derived from the old high German Marah, 
 a horse, and Scale, a servant. Originally, he was a manager of horses, 
 and then, as King's Marshal, one of the principal officers of State. The 
 title of Field Marshal was adopted in England in 1736. 
 
 When, on December 26th, 1916, General Joffre was appointed a 
 Marshal, he became the 325th of the famous " Mar^chaux de France". 
 A general of supreme genius, his name will be associated always with the 
 Battle of the Marne — the turning-point in the Great War — and the 
 Battle of the Yser, whence he arose as the Saviour of France. After 
 1814, only seven appointments were made, the last being that of Marshal 
 MacMahon, President of the French Republic. A similar appointment 
 has not been made since 1870, although an offer was declined by General 
 Chanzy, for the reason that " the high dignity of Marechal should be 
 reserved for a victorious general, who has had the honour to com- 
 mand in a war of revenge ". 
 
 According to a correspondent in the " Morning Post " for December 
 28th, 1916, the post of Marechal dates back to 1185, when the function 
 of the officer holding it was to look after the horses of his Prince, and the 
 word is still used in an analogous sense in the term marechal ferrant, 
 or, shoeing-smith. The first holder was Alberic Clement, Lord of Metz. 
 At the outset there was only one holder of the office, but the number 
 gradually changed, and at the time of the Revolution there were fifteen, 
 or sixteen. Marshals. They were suppressed by the Convention of 1793, 
 but re-established by Napoleon in 1804, when, to be awarded the title, 
 it was necessary to have won two pitched battles, or to have captured 
 two fortresses. The title was then Marechal de I'Empire, but this was 
 changed by the Restoration to that of Marechal de France. In 1839, 
 the statutory number of Marshals was six, with the possibility of their 
 number being doubled in time of war, and this regulation is theoretically 
 still in force. The appointment is for life. There is only one instance 
 of the holder being deprived of his office, that of Moncey, who was 
 struck off the list in 1815, for refusing to preside over the court-martial 
 appointed to try Ney — " le brave des braves " — the bravest of the brave. 
 
 Joffre fought as a Lieutenant in 1870. Later, he served in the French 
 Colonies, and the Soudan, as an Empire-builder. In 1911, he was given 
 the supreme post of Commander-in-Chief in time of War, and Chief- 
 of-the-Staff in time of peace, when he spared no work or trouble in 
 bringing the French Array into its present wonderful state of efficiency. 
 
 58 
 
INDEX 
 
 AcTitTM, battle of, 12 
 
 Agrippa, M. Vipsanius, 12 
 
 Alexander the Great, cameo of, 14, 15, 16 
 
 Alexandria, 7 
 
 Ali, Mameluke, 38, 40, 44, see St. Denis 
 
 Allen, Percy, Songs of Old France, 52 
 
 Almanach de Gotha, the, vii. 
 
 Alsace, Duke of, 56 
 
 America, ballads in, 47 
 
 Anne, Queen, 11 
 
 Antommarchi, Dr., attends the dying 
 
 Napoleon, v., 53 
 Apres la Mart de I'Empereur, Cahuet's, 
 
 iv., 34 
 Arabic version of " Marlbrough s'en 
 
 va-t-en guerre," 47, 52 
 Arnott, Dr., attends the dying Napoleon, 
 
 v., 4, 5, 10, 52, 53 
 Athenaeum, quoted, 3 
 Athill, Charles Harold, Clarenceux King of 
 
 Arms, 6 
 Augustus, Emperor, 12 
 
 — Cameo of, 14, 16 
 Austerlitz, battle of, 54 
 Australian aborigines, 45 
 
 Austria shelters the ex-Empress Marie- 
 Louise, 36 
 Auxerre, Marchand at, 35 
 Ayling, G. F., on Napoleon's gift, 7 
 
 Baden, Stephanie de Beauharnais, Grand 
 
 Duchess of, vi. 
 Baily's Magazine, 54 note 
 Ballads, antiquity of English, 47 
 Barb^-Marbois, 8 
 Barbier's Didionnaire des ouvrages 
 
 anonymes, 12 
 Basque Pastorale, 45 
 Bathurst, Lord, sends books to Napoleon, 
 
 42 
 Baudouin, Maison E., 30 
 Bauerbach, Baden, vi. 
 Beauharnais, Stephanie de. Grand Duchess 
 
 of Baden, vi. 
 Beaumarchais, his Manage de Figaro, 46, 
 
 47 
 Belle-Poule, frigate, 37 
 Bertrand, Comte, as Grand Marshal, 2, 
 
 34, 39, 41 
 
 — command offered to, 37 
 
 — Napoleon dictates to, 8 
 
 — Napoleon's executor, 36 
 
 — translates Coxe's Life of Marlborough, 5 
 
 — suggests painting to Steuben, vii. 
 Bertrand, Comtesse, at Elba, 39 
 
 — at Longwood, 41, 43 
 
 — attends the dying Napoleon, v., 1, 6 
 
 Bertrand, Mile., on Napoleon's supposed 
 
 snuff, 18 
 Bignon, M., 8 
 
 Birmingham, Marshal Soult at, 55 
 Bletchley, 55 
 
 Blttcher, Field-Marshal, 40 
 Bohemia, throne of, 56 
 Boufflers, General, 46, 47 
 Bouillon, Godfrey de, 48 
 Bourbon dynasty, overthrow of the, 37 
 Brayer, Lt. -General le Comte de, his 
 
 command at Strasbourg, and his death, 
 
 37 
 
 — Marchand marries the daughter of, 
 36, 38 
 
 Breton beliefs, 52 
 
 Brewer's Reader's Handbook, and Dictionary 
 
 of Phrase and Fable, 45 
 British Museum, additional MSS., 6, 17 
 
 — Foreign letters, 17 
 
 — Lowe papers at, 13 
 
 — Marshal Soult visits, 55 
 
 — Will of Napoleon in, iv. 
 Broadley, A. M., his Collectania 
 
 Napoleonica, 10, 13 
 Brown, John, 34 
 Brutus, Marcus, 2 
 
 Buonaparte, Lewis, his handwriting, 8 
 Buonaparte, Lucien, his handwriting, 8 
 Buonaparte, Madame (Madame Mere) 
 
 pictures executed for, vi. 
 
 — portraits of, 14-16 
 
 Cahuet, Alb^ric, his Apres la mort de 
 
 I'Empereur, quoted, iv., 34 
 Cambaceres, 8 
 
 Cambridge, Duke and Duchess of, 55 
 Camel, transport, 43 
 
 Captivite de Sainte-Ht'Une, La, quoted, 13 
 Carter, Thomas, 46 
 Chaboulon, Fleury de, his Me'moires, 23, 
 
 32, 33 
 Chansons de Geste, 45 
 Chansons populaires, Nisard's, 48 
 Chants et Chansons populaires de France, 
 
 quoted, 47, 50 
 Chanzy, General, 58 
 
 Chaplin, Dr. Arnold, on Napoleon's gift, 10 
 Charlemagne, Emperor, 15, 16 
 Charles IV. of Spain, 8 
 Charlton, Air-Commodore L. E. O., C.B., 
 
 C.M.G., D.S.O., 3 
 Chateaubriand, M. de on " Marlbrough 
 
 s'en va-t-en guerre ", 46 
 Cherbourg, Expedition against, 45, 48_ 
 Christie, Manson & Woods, Messrs., vii. 
 Churchill, Lady Anne, 7 
 
 59 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Cisalpine Republic, the, 14, 16 
 Clarence, H.R.H. the Duke of, 7 
 Clement, Alberic, Lord of Metz, 58 
 Clevedon, Somersetshire, 12 
 Compi^gne, library at, 40 
 Cond6, House of, 54 
 Connoisseur, the. May, 1915, iv. 
 Cornet, Lucien, correspondence with, 23-29 
 
 — his Memoires de Fleury de Chaboulon, 23 
 Cornethier, M., 32, 33 
 
 Corot, Alexandre, Notaire de Sens, 25, 26, 
 
 28, 29, 30, 31 
 Corsica, Dr. Antommarchi of, 53 
 Coubard, M., 32, 33 
 Coulaincourt, Grand Coachman, 38 
 Courtauld, S. A., 12 
 Coventry Herald & Observer, 56 
 Coxe's Life of Marlborough, inscriptions in, 
 
 iv., 3-9, 10-13, 17 
 
 — Napoleon's gift of, iv., 3-9, 52, 53 
 Creswicke, Louis, letter from, 52 
 Crokat, Captain, Orderly Officer at 
 
 Longwood, v., 3 
 Crusades, the, Air of " Malbrough " 
 
 dated from, 45-47 
 Curzon of Kedleston, Earl, his Colledanea 
 
 Napoleonica, 13 
 
 Dalmatia, Soult, Duke of, visits England, 
 
 54-57 
 Daru, 8 
 
 Denbigh Hall, 55 
 Denbigh, Earl of, his descent, 56 
 Denikin, General, on the Marlborough, 48 
 Desmazi5res, Edouard, Marchand's heir, 38 
 De Ternant, Andrew, on Baron de Steuben, 
 
 and his picture, vi., vii. 
 Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Brewer's, 45 
 Dieppe, presentation by, 15, 16 
 Dino, Duchess de, on Marchand, 37 
 Dorez, lAon, on the inscription in 
 
 Napoleon's gift, 19, 20 
 Dudley Castle, 55 
 
 Dumersan and Noel S6gur, MM., 45 
 Dutems, Abbe J. F. H., 12 
 
 Edwards, Francis, on Napoleon's gift, 7 
 Egypt, air of " Marlbrough " known in, 
 45, 47 
 
 — Napoleon's campaign in, 40 
 Elba, Napoleon in, vi., 34, 39, 40 
 Elsas, Ethica, Duke of, 56 
 Elson, his Shakespeare in Music, 47 
 Eugene, Prince, portraits of, 14, 16 
 Eugenie, Empress, her death, iii. 
 
 Fattche, M., grandson of M. St. Denis, 
 
 25-27, 44 
 Favorite La, convoy-corvette, 37 
 Federation of Milan, the, 14, 16 
 Fickling, Birney, 10 
 Field-Marshal, origin of term, 58 
 
 Figaro, quoted, 38 
 
 Firmin-Didot, Georges, La Captivite de 
 
 St.-H^Vne, 13 
 Florence, Steuben in, vi. 
 Foch, Marshal, visits England, 54 
 Fontainebleau, hunting scene, 17, 18 
 
 — Napoleon at, 39, 41 
 
 Foreign Reminiscences of Henry Richard 
 
 Lord Holland, 7 
 " For he's a jolly good fellow ",46 
 Forsyth, on Napoleon's gift, 5 
 Fortescue, Hon. J. W., 10 
 Fraser, Caroline, becomes Princess Murat, 
 
 vii. 
 Frederick the Great, portrait of, 15, 16 
 
 Gambetta, ministry of, 38 
 
 Gamier frSres, Librairie, 47, 50 
 
 George IV., King, 11 
 
 Gerard, artist, vi. 
 
 Gilson, J. P., Egerton Librarian, 12 
 
 Gorrequer, Major Gideon, Aide-de-Camp 
 
 to Sir H. Lowe, 4, 5 
 Gourgaud, General, Napoleon dictates to, 
 
 vi., 41 
 Granville, Earl, 7 
 Grenoble, Napoleon's reception by the 7th 
 
 Regiment at, vi. 
 Guise, Due de, song of his death, 48 
 
 Hall, Betsy, marries St. Denis, 43 
 Hapsburg, Counts of, 56 
 H6ricy, Monsieur d'. Notary, 26, 27 
 Histoire de Jean Churchill, 11, 12 
 Holland, King of, portrait of, 14, 16 
 Holland, Henry Richard, Lord, his 
 
 Foreign Reminiscences, 7 
 Holland, Lord and Lady, their gifts to 
 
 Napoleon, 32, 33, 42 
 Horace, quotations from, 11 
 Hortense, Queen, her necklace, 35, 36 
 
 — portrait of, 14, 16 
 Hughes-Hughes, A., 12 
 Hundred Days, the, 34, 36, 39 
 Hunter, Major Thomas, Montgomery, 12 
 
 Illustrated Book of French Songs, quoted, 45 
 
 Imperial Dictionary, the, 45 
 
 Italy, Napoleon's campaigns in, 32, 33, 40 
 
 Jackson, Rev. E. Brook, 10 
 
 Jacob, P. L., quoted, 47, 48 
 
 Jazet, engraver, vi. 
 
 Jennings, Sarah, 7 
 
 Jerningham, Lady, 43 
 
 Jerusalem, Crusaders at, 48 
 
 Joffre, Marshal, his appointment, 58 
 
 Joinville, Prince de, visits St. Helena, 37 
 
 Joinville, Sire de, at Mansurah, 48 
 
 Joseph, King, daughters of, 15, 16 
 
 — portrait of, 15, 16 
 
 Josephine, Empress, portraits of, 14, 15, 16 
 
 00 
 
INDEX 
 
 Jouan, Gulf of, 39 
 Journal des D^bats, 37 
 Julius Caesar, death of, 2 
 
 — medallions of, 14, 15, 16 
 Jutland, Battle of, 48 
 
 KiLSBY tunnel, 56 
 
 King's Classical and Foreign Quotations, 45 
 Elnowles, Sir Lees, correspondence relating 
 to Napoleon's gift, 10, 19-31 
 
 Lacroix, Paul, quoted, 47 
 
 Ladoga, Lake of, vi 
 
 Laeken, view of, 14, 16 
 
 Lancashire Fusiliers, the (late XX. 
 
 Regiment) entertain Marshal Soult, 
 
 54 57 
 
 — Napoleon's gift to. iv., 3-9, 52, 53, 56 
 Lane, John, his letter from M. Pichot, 10 
 Langlois, Charles V., Directeur des 
 
 Archives, 20 
 
 Lap^rouse, Gustave, 44 
 
 La Place, Recueil des Pieces inter essantes, 48 
 
 Larousse illustrS, Petit, quoted, vi., 48 
 
 Las Cases, father and son, act as Napoleon's 
 Secretaries, 8, 40 
 
 Lef^vre, Robert, artist, vi. 
 
 Legion d'honneur, decorations of the, 15, 16 
 
 Le Quesnoy, 47 
 
 Letters of Captain Engelbert Lutyens, publica- 
 tion of, iii., 2, 3 
 
 lAfe of Marlborough, Coxe's, inscription in, 
 10-18, 19-31 
 
 — presented to the XX. Regiment, iv., 
 3-9, 52, 53 
 
 Ligny, battle of, 39 
 
 Liverpool, 55 
 
 Livy, cameo of, 14, 16 
 
 Lodge, H., 56 
 
 Lomer, Lt.-Colonel S. F. McL, O.B.E., 3 
 
 London, death of Princess Murat in, iv., vii. 
 
 — General Denikin in, 48 
 
 — Marlborough Street, 47 
 
 — Marshal Soult in, 54, 55, 57 
 Longwood, brass cannons from, 12 
 
 — St. Helena, Captain Lutyens, Orderly 
 Officer at, iii. note, 2 
 
 — hbrary at, 23, 33, 40-44 
 
 — routine at, 40 
 Louis XIV., Kmg, 9 
 
 Louis XVI, King, his son's lullaby, 45, 47 
 
 — his stables, 38 
 
 Louis Xyill., King, 13, 40 
 Louis-Philippe, King, rewards the sup- 
 porters of Napoleon, 37, 54, 57 
 Lowe, Sir Hudson, Governor of St . Helena, 42 
 
 — his copy of Chaboulon's Memoires, 32, 33 
 
 — his treatment of Lutyens, 3 
 
 — papers relating to, 12, 13 
 Lucan, Charles, 1st Earl of, 7 
 
 Lutyens, Captain Engelbert, as Orderly 
 Officer at Longwood, iii., 2-5 
 
 Lyons, Augusta, daughter of the let Lord, 
 
 vii. 
 Lyre Franeaise, La, Masson's, 48-60 
 
 MacMahon, Marshal, 58 
 
 Madagascar, H.M.S., 7 
 
 Madeira, Napoleon at, 41, 42 
 
 Madgett, author of the Histoire de Jtan 
 
 Churchill, 12 
 Malmaison, Napoleon at, 35, 39, 41 
 Malplaquet, battle of, 45, 46, 47 
 Manchester, John Ry lands Library, 11 
 
 — Marshal Soult at, 55 
 Mansurah, battle of, 48 
 Marcel, J. J., 11 
 
 Marchand, Louis-Joseph-Narcisse, 
 Napoleon's 1st Valet de chambre, at 
 Auxerre, 35 
 
 — collects the Imperial baggage, 39 
 
 — his ennoblement, 36-38 
 
 — his handwriting, 9, 10, 13, 19, 20-22 
 
 — his souvenirs, quoted, v. 
 
 — Napoleon's executor, 13-18, 35-38, 62 
 
 — Napoleon's relations with, 1, 2, 34 
 
 — portraits of, iv. 
 
 — returns to St. Helena, 37 
 Marengo, Battle of, 15, 16, 35 
 Mariage de Figaro, Le, 46, 47 
 Marie-Louise, Empress, in Austria, 36 
 
 — portrait of, 15, 16 
 
 Marlborough, John, 1st Duke of, con- 
 nection of song with, 45-52 
 Coxe's Life of, iv., 3-13, 17, 52 
 
 — Histoire de Jean Churchill, 11, 12, 63 
 
 — his portrait, 12 
 
 — Napoleon's admiration of 4, 5, 52, 63 
 Marlborough, Charles, 3rd Duke of, 45 
 Marlborough family, pedigree of, 7 
 Marlborough, H.M.S., 48 
 Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, 55 
 
 — discussion of the song, 45-52 
 Mame, battle of the, 58 
 Marshal, origin and use of term, 68 
 Mass^na, Marshal, 54 
 
 Masson, Fr6d6ric, his Napoleon Sainte- 
 HeUne, iv., 11, 34, 52 
 
 — on Napoleon's gift, 11, 21, 22, 52, 53 
 
 — on Napoleon's illness and death, 1, 11 
 
 — on Napoleon's library, 41 
 
 — on Steuben's picture, v. 
 
 Masson, Gustave, La Lyre Francaite, 
 
 48-50 
 Massoure, battle of, 48 
 Maurepas, M., his collection of historical 
 
 songs, 46 
 Mayence, St. Denis in, 39 
 McCarthy, Justin, History of Our Own 
 
 Times, quoted, 54 
 McLean, James, vii. 
 Menai Bridge, the, 55 
 M6i^, Poltrot de, 48 
 Metz, Alberic Clement, Lord of, 58 
 
 61 
 
A GIFT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 Michaut, Monsieur, Maltre de Con- 
 ferences a la Sorbonne, 27, 29, 30 
 Milan, Federation of, 14, 16 
 Mindelheim, 11 
 Moncey, General, 58 
 Montchemi, Marquis de, 13 
 Montholon, Count, at St. Helena, 6, 35, 41 
 
 — Napoleon's executor, 35, 36 
 Moore, Sir John, 54 
 
 Mornay, Marquis de, visits England, 55 
 Morning Post, quoted, 58 
 Mozart, " Le Mariage de Figaro ",46 
 Murat, Princess Caroline, her copy of " The 
 
 death of Napoleon ", iv, vii. 
 Murin, M., of Sens, 32, 33 
 
 Naples, Queen of, portraits of, 14, 16 
 Napoleon I., Emperor, his abdication, 
 vi., 39 
 
 — his bequests to hie son, 13-18, 36, 43 
 
 — his bequests to Marchand, 35 
 
 — his bequests to St. Denis, 43 
 
 — his body brought back to France, 37, 43 
 
 — his death, iii.-v., 1, 2, 3, 35, 43 
 
 — his death-mask, vi. 
 
 — his decorations, 15, 16, 32, 33, 44 
 
 — his dictation, 8, 32, 33 
 
 — his gift of books to the XX. Regiment, 
 3-9, 52, 53 
 
 — his handwriting, 8-10, 32, 33 
 
 — his library at Longwood, 23, 33, 40-44 
 
 — his life at Longwood, 34, 40 
 
 — his mother, see Buonaparte, Madame. 
 
 — his portraits, vi. 
 
 — his relations with Marchand, 34, 35 
 
 — his supposed snuff, 18 
 
 — his wardrobe, 35 
 
 — his will, iv., 1, 36, 38, 43 
 
 — hums " Marlbrough s'en va-t-en 
 guerre, 48 
 
 — pictures of, iv., vi. 
 
 — re-establishes Marshals, 58 
 
 — relics of, offered to Sens by St. Denis, 
 32,33 
 
 — St. Denis becomes personal attendant 
 to, 38, 39 
 
 — title of Emperor denied to, 3, 5 
 
 — unpubUshed Official and Confidential 
 Correspondence of, 19 
 
 Napol'on d Sainte-H^lene, Masson's, 
 
 quoted, iv., 11, 34, 52, 53 
 Napoleon in Exile, by Norwood Young, 
 
 iv., vi. 
 Napoleon II., bequests to, 13-18, 35, 36, 37, 
 
 43 
 
 — his exile, 1 
 
 — portraits of, iv., 14, 15, 16 
 Napoleon III., Emperor, his reign, iii., 36, 38 
 Ney, Marshal, court-martial of, 58 
 
 — his birth, 54 
 
 Nisard, Charles, Chansons populairea, 48 
 
 Norfolk, Augusta, Duchess of, iv., vii. 
 Northumberland, H.M.S., 40, 41 
 Notes and Queries, quoted, vi., 45, 47, 48, 
 52 
 
 O'Meara, Dr., corrects Steuben's picture, 
 vii. 
 
 — his gift to Napoleon, 32, 33 
 Ormond, Lt.-Colonel H. V. S., 3 
 Owen Glendower, H.M.S., 6 
 
 Oxenford, John, Illustrated Book of French 
 Songs, 45 
 
 Palmerston, Viscount, proposes the cession 
 
 of Napoleon's remains, 37 
 Paris, Archives Affaires 6trang6res, 13 
 
 — Archives Nationales, 20 
 
 — Bibliotheque Nationale, 19 
 
 — Entry of the Allies into, 39 
 
 — Marchand in, 35, 36 
 
 — Napoleon in, 34, 39 
 
 — Napoleon's burial in, 37, 38 
 
 — Steuben in, vi. 
 
 — Tuileries, 38, 39, 40, 41 
 
 — vogue of " Marlbrough s'en va-t-en 
 guerre " in, 46 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert and Lady, entertain 
 
 Soult, 55 
 Perrigny, commune of, 35 
 Persia, Emperor of, 15, 16 
 Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, 
 
 painting of, vi., 15, 16 
 Pichot, Pierre Am6d6e, on Napoleon's gift, 
 
 10, 11 
 Pierpoint, Robert, quoted, 47, 52 
 Pius VII., Pope, 14, 15 
 Poitrine, Madame, 47 
 Polish Exile with Napoleon, A, Watson's, 17 
 Polytechnic School, command of the, 37 
 Port6 et Mercier, M<^-\, 25 
 Portishead, Clevedon, 12 
 Porto-Ferrajo, Elba, 39, 40 
 Portsmouth, 41 
 
 Potsdam, Frederick the Great at, 15, 16 
 Poyntz, Rt. Hon. Stephen, 7 
 Prague, founder of, 56 
 Provost, M., photographer, 24, 30, 31 
 Prout, Father, his Songs ojf France, 50 
 Prud'hon, artist, vi. 
 Putron, Lt.-Colonel C. de, 3 
 
 Rambouillet, library at, 40 
 Reader^s Handbook, Brewer's, 45 
 Record Office, the, Lowe papers at, 13 
 Red Cross Sales, 1915 and 1916, vii. 
 Reichstadt, Duke of, bequests to, 13-18, 
 35-37, 43 
 
 — his exile, 1 
 
 — his portraits, iv., 14-16 
 Revolution of 1830, 37 
 Richmond, H. Droop, quoted, 52 
 Roade cutting, 55 
 
 OS 
 
INDEX 
 
 Rollet, M., letter from, 26, 27, 28 
 Rome, King of, see Napoleon II. or Duke 
 
 of Reichstadt. 
 Rose, Dr. J. Holland, 10, 13 
 Rosebery, Earl of, his Napoleon's Last 
 
 Phase, 13 
 Roustan, Mameluke, 38, 39 
 Rouveyre, Edouard, publisher, 23 
 Rugby, Marshal Soult at, 55-57 
 Russia, Napoleon's campaign in, 39 
 Rylands Library, the John, 11 
 
 Sainsburt, John, quoted, 54 
 
 — The Napoleon Museum, 9 
 St. Amand-la-Bastide, 54 
 Saint-Denis, Louis-Etienne, 2nd Valet de 
 
 chambre, as out-rider, 38 
 
 — custodian of the library, 1, 20-23, 
 40-44 
 
 — his career, 38-44 
 
 — his death, 44 
 
 — his handwriting, 9, 10, 12, 13, 19-33 
 
 — his Napoleonic relics, 25, 29, 30, 32, 
 33 43 
 
 — his will, 26, 29-33, 44 
 
 — is admitted to the Legion of Honour, 44 
 
 — portraits of, iv. 
 
 — returns to St. Helena, 43 
 St. Helena, Artillery, 12 
 
 — Hon. Robert Spencer at, 6 
 
 — Long wood, see under Longwood 
 
 — Napoleon's body brought from, 37, 43 
 
 — Napoleon's exile on, 1 
 
 — Plantation House, 4 
 
 St. Petersburg Academy, the, vi. 
 
 Sceaux, Seine, 27, 29, 30 
 
 Scipio, Wisdom of, 14, 15 
 
 Seaton, R. C, on Napoleon's gift, 5 
 
 Sedan, 38 
 
 S4gur, Noel, 45 
 
 Selfe, Lt.-Col. Sydney, Chapters from the 
 
 History of Rugby School, 56 
 Sens, correspondence with the Mayor of, 
 
 22-31 
 
 — Napoleonic relics bequeathed to, 43, 44 
 Shakespeare in Music, Elson's, quoted, 47 
 Sloane, Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, iv. 
 Smart, C, translation of Horace, 12 
 Smyth, Major B., O.B.E., M.V.O., 3 
 Songs of France, Prout's, 50 
 
 Songs of old France, Allen's, 52 
 Sorbonne, M. Michaut, Maltre de 
 
 Conferences a la, 27, 29, 30 
 Soudan, the, 58 
 Soult, Marshal, attends Napoleon's funeral, 
 
 37 
 
 — visits England, 54-57 
 
 Spencer, Hon. Robert, his gift to Napoleon, 
 
 5-7, 11 
 Spencer, John Spencer, Ist Earl, 7, 11 
 Spencer, George John Spencer, 2nd Earl, 7 
 
 Steuben, Charles, Baron de, his picture of 
 
 the death of Napoleon, iv.-vii. 
 Strasbourg, Marchand at, 37 
 Sunday Times, quoted, 52 
 Sunderland, Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of, 7 
 Sutherland, MilHcent, Duchess of, vii. 
 
 Talleyrand, on Napoleon's dictation, 8 
 Ternant, Andrew de, on Baron de Steuben 
 
 and his picture, vi., vii. 
 Thiers, M., Marchand'e letter to, 19 
 
 — negotiates for the return of Napoleon's 
 body, 37 
 
 Times, the, quoted, 55 
 
 Toulouse, 54 
 
 Trianon, Napoleon's Library at the, 40, 41, 
 
 43 
 Turenne, Marshal, portrait of, 14, 16 
 Twentieth Regiment, see Lancashire 
 
 Fusiliers. 
 
 Verger estate, the, 35 
 Versailles, " Marlbrough " sung at, 46, 47 
 Victoria, Queen, her friendship with John 
 Brown, 34 
 
 — her coronation attended by Soult, 54, 55 
 Vienna, Empress Marie-Louise in, 36 
 
 — plan of, 15, 16 
 Villars, General, 46, 47 
 
 Warrington, Robert Pierpoint, M.P. for, 
 
 52 
 Watergrashill, Co. Cork, 50 
 Waterloo, battle of, book on, 32, 33, 42 
 
 — Napoleon at, vi., 38, 39, 54 
 Watson, G. L. de St. M., A Polish Exile 
 
 with Napoleon, 17 
 Weedon, Marshal Soult at, 57 
 Wellington, Arthur, Ist Duke of, his birth, 
 
 54 
 
 — entertains Soult, 55, 56 
 Westphalia, King and Queen of, portraits 
 
 of, 14, 15 
 " We won't go home till morning", 47 
 Weygand, General, vi. . 
 White, F., & Company's Warwickshire, 56 
 Whyte-Melville, G. J., quoted, 12 
 WiUiam IV., King, 7 
 Willis, Major, R. R., V.C, 3 
 Windsor, Marshal Soult at, 55 
 Wolf, Henry, engraving by, iv. 
 Wood, D. T. Baird, his connection with St. 
 
 Helena, 12 
 
 — his correspondence with M. Langlois, 20 
 Wratislaw, Theodore Mark, his family and 
 
 recollection of Soult, 56 
 
 YoNNE, Lucien Cornet, Senator of 1', 
 
 23-31 
 Young, Norwood, his Napoleon in Exile, 
 
 iv., vi., 5 
 
 — on Napoleon's gift, 5, 6, 10, 13 
 Yser, battle of the, 58 
 
 68 
 
Letters of Captain Engelbert Lutyens 
 
 Orderly Officer at Longwood, Saint Helena : Feb. 1820 to Nov. 1823 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 SIR LEES KNOWLES, Baronet, C.V.O., O.B.E., T.D., D.L., M.A., LL.M. 
 
 Crown Uo.— Price 10/6 Net 
 
 The present book, in its appeal to Napoleonists, will win at once a great success. It is 
 uncommonly fascinating. Sir Lees Knowles in his short introduction is a thorough devotee 
 of Napoleon, and his editing footnotes are excellent.—" THE SATURDAY REVIEW." 
 
 These letters, with all their wealth of detail, which Sir Lees Knowles has edited with 
 great care, must command the attention of all Napoleonic students. — " THE BIRMINGHAM 
 MERCURY." 
 
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 This must rank as a serious and important contribution to the study of the tragedy of St. Helena. 
 — " THE LAND AND WATER." 
 
 Those who are interested in the " last phase " controversy will welcome the publication 
 of these letters.—" THE GLASGOW HERALD." 
 
 These letters constitute a valuable and important addition to the history of the St. Helena 
 period of Napoleon's Hfe. The book is a valuable addition to the biography of Napoleon, and 
 like everything written concerning the most romantic, if not the greatest, figure in the world's 
 history, is of absorbing interest.-" THE IRISH LIFE." 
 
 Unquestionably a volume that all lovers of Napoleonic literature will cherish. It may 
 well be true, as the author says, that " during the captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena every 
 day is accounted for " ; yet the fascination of Napoleon's character and career is enduring, 
 and these pages, moreover, testify to the fact that conscientious and discriminating students 
 like Sir Lees Knowles are enabled, even at this hour of the day, to put their hands upon fresh 
 material.— " THE ENGLISH REVIEW." 
 
 These letters are not to be read with pride, but, carefully edited and documented, they form 
 a notable addition to the ever-growing mass of Napoleonic bibliography . — "THE STANDARD." 
 
 These letters have been unearthed by Sir Lees Knowles from the British Museum 
 manuscripts, and Sir Lees Knowles has really placed every student of Napoleon under an obliga- 
 tion by persuading a publisher to issue them in so handsome a form with many illustrations 
 in colours.-" THE SPHERE." 
 
 Many of the events described are necessarily trivial, for it was Lutyens's duty to report 
 everything ; but their very homeliness renders the correspondence all the more entertaining 
 to read. In addition to the letters, the editor has been fortunate enough to be able to reproduce 
 some excellent illustrations, and the book should certainly be included in the library of everybody 
 who makes a study of the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. — " THE FIELD." 
 
 The most striking feature of Sir Lees Knowles's interesting compilation will be found 
 in the final chapter, which is entitled " The Death of Napoleon." The correspondence has 
 unusual historical value.—" THE LITERARY DIGEST." 
 
 The letters are full of petty detail, but they are of extraordinary interest, at any rate to 
 those who cannot resist anything in which the word " Napoleon " has to be used. They throw 
 a flood of light upon Hfe on the island in the dreary months in which the prisoner was moving 
 towards death, and the idiosyncrasies of the people who were waiting for his end are unconsciously 
 revealed with much minuteness.—" THE BIRMINGHAM POST." 
 
 Captain Lutyens's Letters, as arranged by Sir Lees, offer a continuous and illuminating 
 report.— " SPRINGFIELD SUNDAY REPUBLIC." 
 
 Sir Lees Knowles has edited an interesting collection of Letters written by an Orderly 
 Officer on duty at Longwood, St. Helena, during the last year and a half of Napoleon's life. — 
 " MANCHESTER GUARDIAN." 
 
 LONDON— JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD. 
 
The British in Capri, 1806-1808 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR LEES KNOWLES, Baronet, C.V.O., O.B.E., T.D., D.L., M.A., LL.M. 
 
 Demy 8V0. — Price IS/- Net. 
 
 Sir Lees Knowles has collected much interesting historical material in his story of the 
 capture and loss of Capri by the British during the Napoleonic wars. He has also written a 
 delightful introduction on modern Capri.— " THE DAILY NEWS." 
 
 Little or nothing is said in our general histories of the Napoleonic wars about the occupation 
 of Capri by the British from 1806 till the French and ItaUan forces, organised by Mur at, at last 
 succeeded in persuading Colonel Hudson Lowe to surrender on favourable terms, and to march 
 out with arms and baggage and with colours flying. Sir Lees Knowles's readable book makes 
 a thoroughgoing investigation of the existing traces of the history of this occupation, and 
 brings together many letters of the English, French and Italian leaders who were concerned in 
 it, along with the English State Papers and other remaining records. It makes interesting 
 studies of the personalities of the English Admiral, Sir Sidney Smith ; of Sir Richard Church, 
 and of Murat himself ; brings together a well-chosen collection of photographic pictures to 
 illustrate the occurrences referred to in the letters and journals given ; and reproduces an 
 article giving an excellent memoir by Sir Lees Knowles of Major John Hamill, an Irish Officer, 
 who took part in the operations, and is buried in the island ; while the volume's readable and 
 instructive introduction discourses pleasantly on all the characteristics and attractions of 
 Capri.—" THE SCOTSMAN." 
 
 The interesting story that is behind this is very fully told, with many references to official 
 documents, in the book ; and it is elaborately illustrated. — " THE WESTMINSTER 
 GAZETTE." 
 
 The story is told chiefly by contemporary letters and documents, which are pieced together 
 by an easy-flowing narrative. There are numerous illustrations, including admirable reproduc- 
 tions of several miniature portraits. All future visitors to the island will be grateful to Sir 
 Lees Knowles for his dehghtful volume.—" THE DAILY GRAPHIC." 
 
 It is more than a merely historical work, for Sir Lees Knowles knows Capri and its people 
 well, and he writes intimately of both.—" THE DAILY CHRONICLE." 
 
 A very interesting chapter in the story of our old wars. — " THE EVENING NEWS." 
 
 In the interesting and attractive volume before us Sir Lees Knowles has told the story of 
 
 this little episode in the history of British sea power in great detail. — " THE TIMES " 
 
 LITERARY SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 The author's careful work among official papers and contemporary records has reconstructed 
 in an attractive form the incidents of these two years. Researches along some side-track of 
 history generally make dull reading, but Sir Lees Knowles's introduction on Capri as it is 
 to-day, and the many photographs of scenes in the island, lend the book some of the charm 
 that Capri has thrown over its visitors since a Roman emperor made it famous. — " THE 
 MANCHESTER GUARDIAN." 
 
 Those who like to wander in the by-ways of history should make a point of reading Sir Lees 
 Knowles's informing and entertaining volume. — " THE BOOKMAN." 
 
 In a large and handsome volume. Sir Lees Knowles, Bart., has compiled a very comprehensive 
 and interesting narrative that will in the future serve a useful historical purpose. " THE 
 LIVERPOOL COURIER." 
 
 Sir Lees Knowles bases his story on first-hand authorities and evolves a very attractive 
 book.—" THE OBSERVER." 
 
 This morning I was agreeably surprised on receiving your book, " The British in Capri." 
 I have spent most of the day in reading it, and admiring the richness of the documents which 
 are of the greatest importance for the historical period of our island, when it was garrisoned by 
 the brave English military troops. I can easily imagine the amount of work in the researches, 
 which add enormous value to this most valuable publication. 
 
 DR. IGNAZIO CERIO, 
 Capri, April 19th, 1918. Commendatore. 
 
 LONDON-JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD. 
 
The War in the Peninsula 
 
 Some Letters of Lieutenant Robert Knowles of the 7tb,or Royal, Fusiliers, a Lancashire Officer 
 
 Arranged and Annotated by 
 SIR LEES KNOWLES, Baronet, C.V.O., O.B.E., T.D., D.L., M.A., LL.M. 
 
 Demy 8vo. — Prict Z/& Net 
 
 The small volume entitled " The War in the Peninsula," brings together an interesting 
 collection of letters of a Lancashire officer, Lieutenant Robert Knowles, arranged and edited by 
 his great-great-nephew Sir Lees Knowles, Bart.—" THE SCOTSMAN." 
 
 Letters written home by a young officer, which, as Professor Oman says "contain not 
 only a record of the daily life of the 4th Division, with all the details of its toils and marches, 
 but several pieces of narrative of real historical value."— "WESTMINSTER GAZETTE." 
 
 The interest in these letters is derived from the fact that their author stands self-revealed 
 as a singularly attractive specimen of the type of youth from which the best of our officers have 
 come.—" ARMY & NAVY GAZETTE." 
 
 A Day with Corps-Students in Germany 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR LEES KNOWLES, Baronet, C.V.O., O.B.E., T.D., D.L., M.A., LL.M. 
 
 Royal SVO.— Price 3/& Net 
 
 We in England know, in reality, very little of the true inwardness of the quaint and time- 
 honoured customs of the German student. Sir Lees Knowles, therefore, in publishing his 
 book entitled " A Day with the Corps-Students in Germany," has done real service in 
 describing pretty fully the life of the German youth during his student-days at Heidelberg 
 and elsewhere.—" THE ILLUSTRATED SPORTING AND DRAMATIC NEWS." 
 
 In " A Day with Corps-Students in Germany," Sir Lees Knowles treats a subject which, 
 while often touched upon in the periodical press, has never before been described with so much 
 practical knowledge and sympathetic understanding, viz., fencing as practised in German 
 Universities and the quaint and curious customs observed by members of those academic 
 societies known as corps, which were founded on a national basis. The practice of Schlaeger- 
 fencing, with which Sir Lees Knowles made himself familiar while in Germany ; the ceremonious 
 procedure at a Mensur, as the student's duel is called ; and practically every phase in the daily 
 life of a corps-student are lucidly described. — " THE FIELD." 
 
 Minden and the Seven Years' War 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR LEES KNOWLES, Baronet, C.V.O., O.B.E., T.D., D.L., M.A., LL.M. 
 
 Royal 8V0. — Price 3/- Net 
 
 A clear and well-written account, from a British point of view, of the famous battle. . . 
 Not the least valuable chapter is the section devoted to a short history of the " Minden 
 Regiments." These regiments — the Suflfolks, the Lancashire Fusiliers, the Royal Welsh 
 Fusiliers, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Hampshires, and the King' Own (Yorkshire 
 Light Infantry) — ^have won laurels on many fields since Minden, and Sir Lees Knowles has done 
 well to recount their later deeds. A number of portraits, excellently reproduced, are in keeping 
 with the well-printed letterpress of this useful, if modestly brief, monograph on a vital period 
 of political and military history.—" THE YORKSHIRE POST." 
 
 A monograph of considerable value. Sir Lees Knowles's book is well worth reading, as it 
 makes us better acquainted with many episodes of this warlike period, and with the men who 
 were then most prominent in the public eye.— " THE ARMY AND NAVY GAZETTE." 
 
 The book is admirably written, and contains excellent maps and illustrations. — " THE 
 ENGLISH REVIEW." 
 
lu 
 
495735 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 2)aB's XtbrarsXtO., 
 
 New and 
 
 Second-Hand Booksellebs, 
 
 96, MOUNT STREET, 
 
 LONDON, W. 1.