iting. "The little
blockhead," said Napoleon, "cannot read his own handwriting."--"It is
not mine, Sire."--"And whose, then?"--"Your Majesty's."--"How so, you
little rogue; do you mean to insult me?" The Emperor took the
manuscript, tried a long while to read it, and at last threw it down,
saying, "He is right; I cannot tell myself what is written." He has
often sent the copyists to Las Cases to read what he had himself been
unable to decipher.

We are now approaching the last melancholy epoch of Napoleon's life, when
he first felt the ravages of that malady which finally put a period to
his existence. Occasional manifestations of its presence had been
exhibited for some years, but his usual health always returned after
every attack, and its fatal nature was not suspected, although Napoleon
himself had several times said that he should die of a scirrhus in the
pylorus, the disease which killed his father, and which the physicians of
Montpelier declared would be hereditary in his family. About the middle
of the year 1818 it was observed that his health grew gradually worse,
and it was thought proper by O'Meara to report to the Governor the state
in which he was. Even on these occasions Napoleon seized the opportunity
for renewing his claim to the title of Emperor. He insisted that the
physician should not send any bulletin whatever unless he named him in it
by his Imperial designation. O'Meara explained that the instructions of
his Government and the orders of Sir Hudson Lowe prohibited him from
using the term; but it was in vain. After some difficulty it was agreed
upon that the word "patient" should be used instead of the title of
General, which caused so much offence, and this substitution got rid of
the difficulty.

O'Meara afterwards proposed to call in the assistance of Dr. Baxter, the
principal medical officer of the island, but this offer Napoleon refused
at once, alleging that, although "it was true he looked like an honest
man, he was too much attached to that hangman" (Lows), he also persisted
in rejecting the aid of medicine, and determined to take no exercise
out-of-doors as long as he should be subjected to the challenge of
sentinels. To a representation that his determination might convert a
curable to a fatal malady, he replied, "I shall at least have the
consolation that my death will be an eternal dishonour to the English
nation who sent me to this climate to die under the hands of . . ."

An importa