422
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. VIIL NOV. 23, 1901.
I do not for one moment imagine that it is
forgotten by the old folk of Northants.
NAPOLEON'S LAST YEAES. The publication recently of a work by a writer of great social distinction on Napoleon's last years, in which a not too favourable view is taken of the treatment of the great emperor by the English Government, has to some extent revived the old controversy about Napoleon and Sir Hudson Lowe ; and so far as I who do not pretend to anything more than a general acquaintance with that period of history am entitled to an opinion, I am sorry that this question should have cropped up again.
Napoleon died in 1821, of cancer of the stomach. So much the general public have been permitted by the medical faculty to know. So far back as the Leipzig campaign in 1813 we hear of illness, and during the crisis which ended at Waterloo this supreme military genius is stated to have shown signs of diminished energy : after Ligny to have wasted hours when, as no one knew better than he, rapidity of action was all-important, so that his generals on the morning of 17 June were long delayed, and unable to get access to their commander for orders, and Grouchy, on whose successful pursuit of the Prussians everything turned, was not sent off till 2 r.M. On these unfortunate incidents and their consequences Lord Wolseley com- mented with surprise in his interesting little book published some two or three years ago, but he put forward no explanation ; rather he left the matter in the same mysterious position as before. When we get next to St. Helena we have to listen to the story of trumpery squabbles, the blame for which it is endeavoured riot wholly unsuccessfully to throw entirely on Sir Hudson Lowe.
Now I should like to ask whether any readers can refer me to an authoritative report by competent medical men on the true state of Napoleon's health from Leipzig to his death ; and if no such report by physicians who know the truth has yet been made public, I suggest that the time has arrived when the information might with ad- vantage be supplied, for I am disposed to think that what is now unexplained might thereby be accounted for, and a good deal of the blame put upon Sir Hudson Lowe's shoulders (for whom I hold no brief) might be got rid of. I am not a medical man, but it has long seemed to me that Napoleon even at Leipzig was suffering from the pain which would be caused especially before meals by an
ulcerated condition of the stomach that was
later to terminate fatally in a cancer, and
that to relieve this torment his medical
advisers administered some strong narcotics.
Hence the attacks of illness, the sleepiness,
the indolence, which historians say marked
the last period of his life. Hence the
inability of his generals to get their orders
till late in the day of 17 June, and hence the
constant state of irritability at St. Helena
which did so much mischief to the reputation
of Sir Hudson Lowe. H. G. K.
WE must request correspondents desiring infor-
mation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that the answers may be addressed to them
direct.
HAVRE DE GRACE. Where can I find any information as to the occupation of Havre de Grace by the English in 1562-3, other than that contained in the State Papers? I am particularly anxious to find some map or account of the fortifications and surroundings of the town at that date. G. H. D.
[Have you consulted the bibliography in the Guide Joanne for Normandy?]
"GOD SPEED YOU AND THE BEADLE." Can
any one give me the origin of the saying " God speed you and the beadle "-(or beetle) ? I have searched ' N. & Q.' from the beginning, but fail to find it ; nor have I been any more successful in numerous books at the British Museum. W. D. D.
LEGH OF BOOTHES. Can any one tell me the name of the wife of Sir John Legh of Boothes, temp. Henry VII.? His son Philip married a daughter of Sir Andrew Brereton of Brereton. KATHLEEN WARD.
Castle Ward, Downpatrick.
PARIS CATACOMBS. Could any reader in- form me where photographs or drawings of the Paris catacombs and Paris sewers could be obtained, either in the pages of a maga- zine or book, or as a separate publication ? WALTER BOOTH.
78, George Street, London, N.W.
" COATS TURNED." Carlyle of Inveresk, in his 'Autobiography,' tells us that early in the morning of 21 September, 1745, he went to his father's manse at Prestonpans, and from a mound in the garden saw "fields almost to the verge of that part where the
battle was fought the whole prospect was filled
with runaways, and Highlanders pursuing them
Many had their coats turned as prisoners, but were still trying to reach the town in hopes of escaping."
