time I ever saw them in the apartment in which he slept.

After some conversation, he said, in a cheerful and playful way, that he would show us his camp bed; and sent for Marchand, his premier valet de chambre, who received his order, and soon returned with two small packages in leather cases; one of which contained the bedstead, which was composed of steel, and, when packed up, was not above two feet long, and eighteen inches in circumference; the other contained the mattress and curtains, the latter of green silk. In three minutes the whole was put together, and formed a very elegant small bed, about thirty inches wide.

He then went out, and walked the quarterdeck for some time, and retired to his cabin about half-past seven o'clock. Soon after, when the Admiral was going to return to his ship, he proposed to Bertrand to take leave

of him. He went into the cabin, but returned immediately with an apology, saying he was undressed, and going to bed.

In the course of the afternoon, the Admiral invited Buonaparte, with the ladies and all his principal officers, to breakfast, the following day which invitation was accepted, apparently, with much satisfaction.

When I went on deck, early the next morning, (the 16th of July) I observed that the Superb had the tompions out of her guns, and the man ropes on her yards, as if for the purpose of saluting and manning ships; and as I had received Buonaparte without even the guard presenting arms, I felt that he might conceive I had intentionally treated him with disrespect. I therefore sent the officer of the watch with my compliments to Sir Henry Hotham, and begged to know if it was his intention to salute Buonaparte on his going on board, and to receive him with

manned yards; and, if so, whether I was to do the same, on his quitting the Bellerophon. He sent for answer, that it was not his intention to salute, but he meant to man ship; that I was not to do so on his quitting the Bellerophon, but was at liberty to man yards on his return. I likewise received directions from the Admiral to hoist a signal, when the boat with his visitors was ready to leave the ship, that he might have time to make the necessary preparations.

About ten A. M. the barge was manned, and a captain's guard turned out. When Buonaparte came on deck, he looked at the marines, who were generally fine-looking young men, with much satisfaction; went through their ranks, inspected their arms, and admired their appearance, saying to Bertrand, "How much might be done with a hundred thousand such soldiers as these." He asked which had been longest in the corps; went up and spoke to him. His

questions were put in French, which I interpreted, as well as the man's answers. He enquired how many years he had served; on being told upwards of ten, he turned to me and said, "Is it not customary in your service, to give a man who has been in it so long some mark of distinction?" He was informed that the person in question had been a sergeant, but was reduced to the ranks for some misconduct. He then put the guard through part of their exercise, whilst I interpreted to the Captain of Marines, who did not understand French, the manoeuvres -he wished to have performed. He made some remarks upon the difference of the charge with the bayonet between our troops and the French; and found fault with our method of fixing the bayonet to the musquet, as being more easy to twist off, if seized by an enemy when in the act of charging.

On getting into the boat, he looked at the

1

barge's crew, and said, "What a very fine set of men you have got!" He then turned to Las Cases, who had come on board the ship in plain clothes, but now appeared in a naval uniform, and said jocularly, "Comment, Las Cases, vous êtes militaire?" "What, Las Cases, are you a military man? I have never till now seen you in uniform." He answered, Please your Majesty, before the revolution I was a lieutenant in the navy; and as I think an uniform carries more consideration with it in a foreign country, I have adopted it."

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His attention was now drawn to the men on the Superb's yards, as well as to the appearance of the ship, about which he made some observations, and asked several questions; among others, whether she was French or English; what her age was; the number of guns she carried, and the weight of metal on each deck.