tunc Germani
vocati sint: ita nationis nomen in nomen gentis evaluisse paullatim,
ut omnes, primum a victore ob metum, mox a seipsis invento nomine,
Germani vocarentur.--_Tacitus, de Mor. Germ._

* * * * *

POSTSCRIPT TO THE THIRD EDITION.

It may seem arrogant for an obscure and nameless individual to claim
the glory of having put to death the most formidable of all recorded
heroes. But a shadowy champion may be overthrown by a shadowy
antagonist. Many a terrific spectre has been laid by the beams of a
halfpenny candle. And if I have succeeded in making out, in the
foregoing pages, a probable case of suspicion, it must, I think, be
admitted, that there is some ground for my present boast, of having
_killed_ Napoleon Buonaparte.

Let but the circumstances of the case be considered. This mighty
Emperor, who had been so long the bugbear of the civilized world,
after having obtained successes and undergone reverses, such as never
befel any (other at least) _real_ potentate, was at length sentenced
to confinement in the remote island of St. Helena: a measure which
many persons wondered at, and many objected to, on various grounds;
not unreasonably, supposing the illustrious exile to be a real person;
but on the supposition of his being only a man of straw, the
situation was exceedingly favourable for keeping him out of the way of
impertinent curiosity, when not wanted, and for making him the
foundation of any new plots that there might be occasion to conjure
up.

About this juncture it was that the public attention was first
invited, by these pages, to the question as to the real existence of
Napoleon Buonaparte. They excited, it may be fairly supposed, along
with much surprise and much censure, some degree of doubt, and
probably of consequent inquiry. No fresh evidence, as far as I can
learn, of the truth of the disputed points, was brought forward to
dispel these doubts. We heard, however, of the most jealous
precautions being used to prevent any intercourse between the
formidable prisoner, and any stranger who, from motives of curiosity,
might wish to visit him. The "man in the iron mask" could hardly have
been more rigorously secluded: and we also heard various contradictory
reports of conversations between him and the few who were allowed
access to him; the falsehood and inconsistency of most of these
reports being proved in contemporary publications.

At length, just abo