e. And the Iles de
Lerins look so different from their usual aspect as sentinels to Cannes
that it is hard to believe they are the same islands. Near the
lighthouse and semaphore a paved path, marked with the stations of the
cross, leads to a chapel.

The Villa Thuret is the property of the state, and is used as a
botanical nursery for the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. In variety,
however, it does not rival the Giardino Hanbury near Menton, and in
beauty it is surpassed by the private garden of Villa Eilenroc, near
the end of the Cap d'Antibes. These two gardens, the most remarkable
of the Riviera, were made by Englishmen who preferred the sun and
warmth of the Riviera to their native land. The most wonderful garden
on Cap Ferrat is the creation of an American. Cannes was "made" by
Lord Brougham. The other important estate of the Cap d'Antibes,
Chateau de la Garoupe, is the property of an Englishman. As at
Arcachon and Biarritz and Pau, as at Aix-les-Bains, Anglo-Saxon
ownership of villas and German ownership of hotels and the prevalence
of Teutons as shopkeepers and waiters prove the passion of men of the
north for lands of the south.

Twenty years ago, just after Fashoda, there was a strong current of
uneasiness among British residents on the Riviera. The experiences of
civilians caught by Napoleon and kept prisoners for years had passed
into English history and literature. British consuls were surprised to
find that thousands of their compatriots, of whom they had had no
previous knowledge, were living all the year round on the Riviera.
These people came to make inquiry about what would be done to them if
France did declare war suddenly against Great Britain. Would they be
given time to leave the country? Fifteen years later the calamity of a
sudden interruption of a peaceful existence, basking in the sun, did
fall upon foreigners, but statesmen had shuffled the cards around, and
this time the civilians caught in the net were Germans and Austrians.
The Napoleonic principle still held. Italy could be seen with the
naked eye. But none were allowed to pass out. Tourists and residents,
subjects of the Central Powers, were arrested and imprisoned on the
Iles de Lerins, where they remained five years, many of them in sight
of their villas on the coast and the hotels they had built and managed.
They stayed longer than Marshal Bazaine, who managed to escape, but not
as long as the mysterious Man with the Iron