From the various signal-posts on the island, ships are frequently discovered at twenty-four leagues' distance, and always long before they can approach the shore. Two ships of war continually cruised, one to windward, and the other to leeward, to whom signals were made as soon as a vessel was discovered from the posts on shore. Every ship, except a British man-of-war, was accompanied down to the road by one of the cruisers, who remained with her until she was either permitted to anchor, or was sent away. No foreign vessels were allowed to anchor, unless under circumstances of great distress; in which case, no person from them was permitted to land, and an officer and party from one of the ships of war was sent on board to take charge of them as long as they remained, as well as in order to prevent any improper communication. Every fishing-boat belonging to the island was numbered, and anchored every evening at sunset, under the superintendence of a lieutenant in the navy boats, excepting guard-boats from the ships of war, which pulled about the island all night, were allowed to be down after sunset. The orderly officer was also instructed to ascertain the actual presence of Napoleon, twice in the twenty-four hours, which was done with as much delicacy as possible In fact, every human precaution to prevent escape, short of actual incarcerating or enchaining him, was adopted by Sir George Cockburn. No Hitherto as we have prosecuted our task, each year has been a history which we have found it difficult to contain within our narrow limits, conscious, that, in the necessary compression, we have been obliged to do injustice to the importance of our theme. But the years of imprisonment, which pass so much more slowly to the captive, occupy, with their melancholy monotony, only a small portion of the page of history; and the tale of five years of St. Helena, might, so far as events are concerned, be sooner told than the history of a single campaign, the shortest which was fought under Buonaparte's auspices. Yet these years were painfully marked, and indeed imbittered, by a train of irritating disputes between the prisoner and the officer, (Sir Hudson Lowe,) to whom was committed the task of restricting his liberty, and cutting off all prospect of escape. These unpleasant and discreditable disputes form, unhappily, the most marked events of Napoleon's latter life. For the five years and seven months that he remained in the island of St Helena, few circumstances occurred to vary the melancholy tenor of his life, excepting those which affected nis temper or his health. Our present object is a short and general view of his personal and domestic habits, while in this melancholy and secluded habitation. Napoleon's life, until his health began to give way, was of the most regular and monotonous character. Having become a very indifferent sleeper, perhaps from his custom of assigning during the active part of his life no precise time for repose, his ours of rising were uncertain, depending upon the rest which he had enjoyed during the earlier part of the night. It followed from this irregularity, that during the day time he occasionally fell asleep, for a few minutes, upon his couch or arm-chair. At times his favorite valet-de-chambre, Marchand, read to him while in bed until he was composed to rest, the best remedy, perhaps, for that course of "thick-coming fancies," which must so oft have disturbed the repose of one in circumstances so singular and so melancholy. So soon as Napoleon arose from bed, he either began to dictate to one of his generals (Montholon or Gourgaud generally,) and placed upon record such passages of his remarkable life as he desired to preserve; or, if the weather and his inclinations suited, he went out for an hour or two on horseback. He sometimes breakfasted in his own apartment, sometimes with his suite, generally about 10 o'clock, and almost always 'a la fourchette.' The forepart of the day he usually devoted to reading, or dictating to one or other of his suite, and about two or three o'clock received such visiters as had permission to wait upon him. An airing in the carriage or on horseback usually succeeded to this species of levee, on which occasion he was attended by all his suite. Their horses, supplied from the Cape of Good Hope, were of a good race and handsome appearance. On returning from his airings, he again resumed the book, or caused his amanuensis to take up the pen until dinner time, which was about eight o'clock at night.He preferred plain food, and eat plentifully, and with an apparent appetite. A very few glasses of claret, scarcely amounting to an English pint in all, and chiefly drank during the time of dinner, completed his meal. Sometimes he drank champaign; but his constitutional sobriety was such, that a large glass of that more generous wine immediately brought a degree of color to his cheek. No man appears to have been in a less degree than Napoleon, subject to the influence of those appetites which man has in common with the lower range of nature. He never took more than two meals a day, |