Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 349 pages of information about Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913.

Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 349 pages of information about Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913.

Nothing illustrates Napoleon’s character more clearly than the numerous ana which may be culled from the pages of Madame de Remusat, Masson, Beugnot, Roederer, and others.  Of these, some are reproduced by Lady Blennerhassett.  The writer of the present article was informed on good authority of the following Napoleonic anecdote.  It is related that Napoleon ordered from Breguet, the famous Paris watchmaker, a watch for his brother Joseph, who was at the time King of Spain.  The back was of blue enamel decorated with the letter J in diamonds.  In 1813 Napoleon was present at a military parade when a messenger arrived bearing a brief despatch, in which it was stated that the French army had been completely defeated at Vittoria.  It was manifest that Spain was lost.  Always severely practical, all that Napoleon did, after glancing at the despatch, was to turn to his secretary and say, “Write to Breguet and tell him that I shall not want that watch.”  It is believed that the watch was eventually bought by the Duke of Wellington.[108]

[Footnote 107:  Sidelights.  By Lady Blennerhassett.  Translated by Edith Guelcher.  London:  Constable & Co. 7s. 6d.]

[Footnote 108:  My informant in this matter was the late General Sir Arthur Ellis.  Since the above was written, the Duke of Wellington has informed me that there is at Apsley House a watch, not made by Breguet but by another Paris watchmaker, on which is inscribed, “Ordered by Napoleon for his brother Joseph.”  The cover is ornamented not with a diamond J, but with a map of the Peninsula.  Inside is the portrait of a lady.  I do not doubt that this is the watch to which Sir Arthur Ellis alluded.]

XXVIII

SONGS, PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL

"The Spectator,” September 13, 1913

All historians are agreed that contemporary ballads and broadsheets constitute a priceless storehouse from which to draw a picture of the society existing at the period whose history they seek to relate.  Some of those which have survived to become generally known to later ages show such poverty of imagination and such total absence of literary merit as to evoke the surprise of posterity at the ephemeral success which they unquestionably achieved.  An instance in point is the celebrated poem “Lillibullero,” or, as it is sometimes written, “Lilli Burlero.”  Here is the final stanza of the pitiful doggerel with which Wharton boasted that he had “sung a king out of three kingdoms”: 

There was an old prophecy found in a bog: 
Ireland shall be ruled by an ass and a dog;
And now this prophecy is come to pass,
For Talbot’s the dog, and James is the ass. 

                Lillibullero, Bullen-a-la.

Doggerel as this was, it survived the special occasion for which it was written.  When Queen Anne’s reign was well advanced balladmongers were singing: 

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Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.