English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume I (of 2). Ashton John

it is well known that he was self created, or crowned Emperor of France, on the 2nd day of December 1804, and that he reigned in full power and authority over the prostrate States upon the Continent until the 2nd day of May 1808, the very day on which the gallant Patriots of Spain made so noble and glorious a struggle to throw off the abominable yoke that he had imposed upon them, which is exactly a period of three years and a half, or forty two months.’

      An ingenious lunatic, named L. Mayer, found out another way of fathering the Mark of the Beast upon Napoleon. He took the number of sovereigns who had reigned in Europe until Napoleon’s arrival – some he has left out to suit his convenience, but that is a trivial matter – the case had to be made out against the unfortunate Emperor.

      Sovereigns included in the Number of the Beast. 12

      The Society of Antiquaries have, among their handbills, one published in 1808, as follows: —

      Mr. Urban, – The following singular coincidences may furnish matter for reflection to the curious. It has been generally admitted that the Roman Empire, after passing under seven different forms of government (or seven heads), was divided into ten kingdoms in Europe (the ten horns of Daniel and John); and that, notwithstanding the various changes Europe has undergone, the number of kingdoms was generally about ten.

      It is not a little surprising that the Heads of the Family of Napoleon, who has effected such a change in the same Empire, are exactly seven, viz.: —

      1. Napoleon.

      2. Joseph, King of Italy.

      3. Louis, King of Holland.

      4. Jerome.

      5. Murat, Duke of Berg and Cleves.

      6. Cardinal Fesch.

      7. Beauharnais, the adopted son of Napoleon.

      And also that the Members of the New Federation are just ten, viz.: —

      1. Bavaria.

      2. Wirtemberg.

      3. Baden.

      4. Darmstadt.

      5. Nassau.

      6. Ysembourg.

      7. Hohenzollern.

      8. Aremberg.

      9. Salm.

      10. Leyen.

      It is also remarkable that in the man’s name, Napoleon Buonaparte, there are precisely three times six letters: —

      And in his name is contained the name given by John to the King of the Locusts, who is called ‘Apoleon,’ or ‘the Destroyer.’

      Even the date of his birth was disputed, for some said he was born on February 5, 1768 – in his marriage registry it is the same, and he used to tell De Bourrienne, his school-fellow, that he was born on August 15, 1769, and it is so noted in the registry of his entrance into the military school at Brienne in 1779, and the Ecole Militaire in 1784, besides being the date used in all documents necessary to his promotion. But probably his mother knew somewhat about it, and Madame Junot says,13 speaking of Madame Lætitia Bonaparte, ‘I recollect she this day told us that, being at Mass on the day of the fête of Notre Dame of August, she was overtaken by the pains of childbirth, and she had hardly reached home when she was delivered of Napoleon, on a wretched rug… I know not why,’ said she, ‘it has been reported that Paoli was Napoleon’s godfather. It is not true; Laurent Jiubéga14 was his godfather. He held him over the baptismal font, along with another of our relations, Celtruda Buonaparte.’15

      CHAPTER III

COUNT MARBŒUF, HIS PUTATIVE FATHER – POVERTY OF THE BONAPARTE FAMILY – EARLY PERSONAL DESCRIPTION OF NAPOLEON – HIS OWN ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF – SATIRISTS’ NARRATION OF HIS SCHOOL-DAYS

      In after life, when Napoleon was successful, and had made a position, reports were spread that his real father was Count Marbœuf, who had been in Corsica, and in after life, or at all events at his entrance into it, acted as his benefactor and patron. Lætitia Ramolini, afterwards Madame Lætitia Bonaparte, was very graceful and pretty, indeed Madame Junot says of her,16 ‘Lætitia was indeed a lovely woman. Those who knew her in advanced life thought her countenance somewhat harsh; but that expression instead of being caused by any austerity of disposition, seemed, on the contrary, to have been produced by timidity.’ Indeed, no one can look at any portrait of Madame Mère, and not be struck with her lofty beauty.

      This scandal about Count Marbœuf, it must be remembered, is of French origin, and was well known, and recognised, probably, at its value. To give one illustration,17 ‘La malignité a fait honneur de sa naissance au Comte de Marbœuf, governeur de l’isle, qui rendait des soins assidus à Madame Buonaparte, jeune femme, belle et interressante alors.’

      All our English squibs repeat the tale, and the subjoined is certainly the cleverest of them.18

      About his parentage indeed,

      Biographers have disagreed;

      Some say his father was a farmer,

      His mother, too, a Cyprian charmer:

      That his dad Carlo was quite poor,

      Letitia a French General’s – ;

      If, faithless to her marriage vows,

      She made a cuckold of her spouse,

      Then Nap (some characters are rotten)

      Has been a merrily begotten.

      But other writers, with civility,

      Insist he’s sprung from old Nobility,

      And therefore to his father’s name

      Attach the highest rank and fame:

      Nay, furthermore, they add as true,

      Nap was Paoli’s godson too.

      But what to this said great Paoli?

      ‘I stood for one, but ’pon my soul, I

      At present do not rightly know

      Whether it was for Nap or Joe.’

      It was for Joe, if he’d have said it,

      But Joe has done him little credit.

      Now let the honest muse despise

      All adulation, barefaced lies,

      And own the truth – Then Boney’s father

      Was member of the law, or rather,

      A pettifogger, which his friends,

      To serve their own politic ends,

      Would keep a secret, knowing well

      That pettifoggers go to Hell.

      When France occasioned some alarms,

      And Corsica was up in arms,

      This Carlo Bonaparte thought fit,

      His parchments for the sword to quit.

      He fought, they say, with some applause,

      Tho’ unsuccessful in the cause:

      Meanwhile, with battle’s din and fright,

      His wife was in a dismal plight;

      From town to town Letitia fled,

      To shun the French, as it is said;

      Tho’ others whisper that the fair

      Was

12

Buonaparte the Emperor of the French considered as the Lucifer and Gog of Isiah and Ezekiel, &c., by L. Mayer, Lond. 1806, p. 86.

13

Memoirs, p. 269.

14

His nephew was afterwards prefect in Corsica. He was a relation of Napoleon.

15

Daughter of Charles Bonaparte, the Emperor’s uncle, and wife of Paraviccini, a cousin, also, of Napoleon.

16

Memoirs, p. 7.

17

Buonapartiana, ou Choix d’Anecdotes curieuses, Paris, 1814.

18

The Life of Napoleon, a Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos, by Doctor Syntax (William Combe). London, 1815.