566 Reviews of Books The picture of Napoleon is faithful. Retaining his power of fascina- tion so that even the crews of the ships which deported him grew fond of the man, and that every visitor felt its influence ; insisting on his ancient ceremonial until his aides and attendants almost dropped from the fatigue of standing ; dining on gold and silver plate, though he finished the meal in twenty minutes' time ; driving with coach and six — though indeed the roads of St. Helena accounted for this ; reading voraciously the books supplied him, among which the Bible (not from religious motives how- ever). Homer, Aeschylus, Euripides, and other classics were prominent ; like Voltaire's Candide, digging in his garden, and obliging all about him to lend a hand ; never unoccupied, but always ineffably bored ; growing fat and pudgy and careless of his dress, yet in bearing still "the Emperor," we see, from Lord Rosebery's resume, the man as he actually was, up to the day when cancer of the stomach ended his abnormal career. The farce is detailed of the French, Austrian and Russian Commis- sioners, charged "to assure themselves of Napoleon's presence," and yet unable to get a sight of him, so sedulously did he keep within his own domain ; and a sketch is given of " amorous Montchenu," a " mounte- bank " Napoleon called him; of Balmain, the dignified and amiable Russian, who alone had orders (from his master Alexander) to show Na- poleon " les egards personnels qu'on lui doit ;" of the neutral Austrian Stiirmer. Their quarrels with Lowe were constant ; and though it was a physical impossibility for Napoleon to escape, both they and Sir Hudson were ever ridden by the nightmare of such an event. Napoleon had been crowned as Emperor by the Pope and accepted as such by all Europe ; yet on his deportation he was ordered to be treated as " a general out of employment ;" and to this low rank his St. Helena gaoler would fain have degraded him. But Napoleon rose su- perior to this affront. In every instance where Lowe matched himself against Napoleon's dignity, he lost. Yet Napoleon's personal bearing towards Lowe was " imperturbably calm," writes Lavalette, only on rare occasions descending to any expression of indignation. Overbearing enough in his years of success, captivity appears to have brought out Napoleon's native amiability. Even Gourgaud's impudent reply : "Yes, Sire, provided thit history does not say that France was very great before Napoleon, but was partitioned after him," was passed over in silence. A caged animal, ' 'gagged and paralyzed by Europe because his was too gigantic a force," he lapsed into neither ferocity nor laziness. Lord Rosebery deems Roederer's report of Napoleon's conversations to be the most exact. " Concise, frank, sometimes brutal, but always in- teresting " was the Emperor's real talk. Las Cases pads, Montholon lacks intelligence; O'Meara translates ; Gourgaud painted him from one standpoint. So unduly sensitive to English newspaper criticism that he learned a little English in order to understand it, yet Napoleon never caught its spirit. There was no lapse in intellectual ability, but it took shape solely in talk, for he had dictated so many years that he quite lost his power to
