The drama of Saint Helena . n. Yes, yes,continued he ; but of Europe ? What do they knowof us ? I replied, They know nothing of Europe atall ; they know nothing about France or England :neither, I added, have they ever heard of yourMajesty. Bonaparte laughed heartily at this extra-ordinary particular in the history of Loo-Choo ; a cir-cumstance, he may well have thought, which distin-guished it from every other corner of the known world. I held in my hand a drawing of Sulphur Island,a solitary and desolate rock in the midst of the Japansea. He looked at it for a moment, and cried out, Why, thi
The drama of Saint Helena . n. Yes, yes,continued he ; but of Europe ? What do they knowof us ? I replied, They know nothing of Europe atall ; they know nothing about France or England :neither, I added, have they ever heard of yourMajesty. Bonaparte laughed heartily at this extra-ordinary particular in the history of Loo-Choo ; a cir-cumstance, he may well have thought, which distin-guished it from every other corner of the known world. I held in my hand a drawing of Sulphur Island,a solitary and desolate rock in the midst of the Japansea. He looked at it for a moment, and cried out, Why, this is Saint Helena itself! . . Bonaparte struck me as differing considerablyfrom the pictures and busts I had seen of him. Hisface and figure looked much broader and more square,larger indeed, in every way, than any representationI had met with. His corpulency, at this time univers-ally reported to be excessive, was by no meansremarkable. His flesh looked, on the contrary, firmand muscular. There was not the least trace of. THE EMPEROR 105 colour in his cheeks ; in fact, his skin was more likemarble than ordinary flesh. Not the smallest trace of awrinkle was discernible on his brow, nor an approachto a furrow on any part of his countenance. Hishealth and spirits, judging from appearances, wereexcellent ; though at this period it was generallybelieved in England that he was fast sinking undera complication of diseases, and that his spirits wereentirely gone. . This remark of Basil Hall, that Napoleon offered animpression of good health, in the middle of the year 1817,also occurs in the accounts of Ellis, MacLeod and All the members of the Amherst Embassy,like the captain of the Lyra, were impressed by theEmperors robust looks. He felt already, however,the effects of the disease to which he was to succumb,though no outward sign yet revealed its ravages. His manner of speaking, says Basil Hall inconclusion, was rather slow than otherwise, andperfectly distinct : he waited
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectnapoleo, bookyear1910
