expose the Holy Sacrament for forty
hours. After I am dead you will place your altar at my head in the
funeral chamber; you will continue to celebrate mass, and perform all the
customary ceremonies; you will not cease till I am laid in the ground."
The Abbe (Vignale) withdrew; Napoleon reproved his fellow-countryman for
his supposed incredulity. "Can you carry it to this point? Can you
disbelieve in God? Everything proclaims His existence; and, besides, the
greatest minds have thought so."--"But, Sire, I have never called it in
question. I was attending to the progress of the fever: your Majesty
fancied you saw in my features an expression which they had not."--
"You are a physician, Doctor," he replied laughingly; "these folks," he
added, half to himself, "are conversant only with matter; they will
believe in nothing beyond."

In the afternoon of the 25th he was better; but being left alone, a
sudden fancy possessed him to eat. He called for fruits, wine, tried a
biscuit, then swallowed some champagne, seized a bunch of grapes, and
burst into a fit of laughter as soon as he saw Antommarchi return. The
physician ordered away the dessert, and found fault with the maitre
d'hotel; but the mischief was done, the fever returned and became
violent. The Emperor was now on his death-bed, but he testified concern
for every one. He asked Antommarchi if 500 guineas would satisfy the
English physician, and if he himself would like to serve Maria Louisa in
quality of a physician? "She is my wife, the first Princess in Europe,
and after me you should serve no one else." Antommarchi expressed his
acknowledgments. The fever continued unabated, with violent thirst and
cold in the feet. On the 27th he determined to remove from the small
chamber into the salon. They were preparing to carry him. "No," he
said, "not until I am dead; for the present it will be sufficient if you
support me."

Between the 27th and 28th the Emperor passed a very bad night; the fever
increased, coldness spread over his limbs, his strength was quite gone.
He spoke a few words of encouragement to Antommarchi; then in a tone of
perfect calmness and composure he delivered to him the following
instructions: "After my death, which cannot be far off, I wish you to
open my body: I wish also, nay, I require, that you will not suffer any
English physician to touch me. If, however, you find it indispensable to
have some one to assist you, Dr. Arnott is the only one I am w