son's caricatures called the Mock Auction-or Boncy selling Stolen Goods.' There is an announcement that 'speedily will be sold the 13 cantons of Switzerland,' and, among the property he has for sale, are the Papal Tiara, and several crowns, a lot of useless eagles, the kingdom of Bavaria, twenty flags the property of the Empress, the kingdom of Prussia, Saxony, kingdom of Westphalia, and the United Provinces. Some French officers are among the audience, which includes the crowned heads of Europe. The crown of Spain is on sale, and is lifted upon high for inspection. Spain jeeringly asks: That a Crown? It's not worth half a crown.' Napoleon, seeing no chance of selling it, says: "What! no bidding for the Crown of Spain. Then take the other crowns and lump them into one lot.' Maria Louisa carries the King of Rome, who is like a little monkey, and who exclaims: 'I suppose daddy will put us up for sale.'

CHAPTER LIII.

L'HOMME ROUGE-NAPOLEON'S SUPERSTITION.

THIS ends the caricatures for the year 1813, at the close of which Napoleon was in Paris. Wellington and Soult were fighting their prolonged duel in Spain, to the great advantage of the former. One after another did the French garrisons surrender, until, at the close of the year, Santona alone remained to the French. His troops, shut up in garrison in Germany and Prussia, were in very evil case, from hardships and sickness. St. Cyr abandoned Dresden, and all the garrison were made prisoners of war. Stettin surrendered, and the Dutch revolted; whilst at home the life-blood of the nation was being drained by a new conscription of 300,000 men, and the taxes were increased by one half.

And here, as well as at any other place, I may introduce Napoleon's familiar spirit, 'l'Homme Rouge. The belief in the red man,' in connection with the Emperor, was very widely spread; but details of his personal appearance, and the times of his visits, are rarely to be met with, and are invariably contradictory. Napoleon's success had been so marvellous, that it is easily to be imagined it was popularly ascribed to supernatural agency.

In a small and very rare French book,' is an account of The little red and green men, or the genius of Evil triumphing

1 Buonabartiana, ou Choix d'Anecdotes curieuses. Paris, 1814.

over the genius of Good. Many persons, astonished at the success of Buonaparte in all which he undertook, asked by what tutelary divinity he was protected?

'Some said, It is Europe which is being destroyed by itself, an effect natural to every country, over-populated, and too flourishing-Was it not thus with Egypt, Greece, Judea, and Rome? Others, less philosophic, but easier given to conjecture, said, When he was in Egypt he several times absented himself from his staff.-Somebody generally came to him before he fought a battle, or undertook any enterprise.

'He frequently repeated, God has given me the strength and the will to overcome all obstacles. There was something supernatural . . . . and thenceforth endless questions were asked of those who were with him in the Egyptian expedition. At length, by dint of research, a part of the truth was discovered, which is as follows:

'On the eve of the battle of the Pyramids, Buonaparte, at the council which was held in the morning, formally opposed the proposition to give battle. In the afternoon of that day, having gone, with some of the officers of his suite, to make a reconnaissance, and having approached one of the monuments of the pride of the Pharaohs,' he suddenly saw, coming out from it, a little man clothed in a long red robe, his head being adorned with a pointed cap of the same colour, after the manner of the priests of Isis, or the Chaldean sages; known under the name of Magi. He carried a little ring in his hand.

'This mysterious man only said these words to him: "Approach, young man, and learn the high destinies to which you are called, if you wish to be prudent and wise."

'Immediately, Buonaparte, as if he had been drawn by a supernatural force, descended from his horse, and followed

1 One of the pyramids.

him into the interior of the pyramid, where he remained more than an hour.

'The officers of his suite, at first, paid little attention to this rencontre, taking the red man to be one of those charlatans, with which the world abounds, to the detriment of science and real knowledge; they were even astonished that their general, to whom they accorded so much merit, lost precious time in interviewing a wretched cheat; but, when they saw Buonaparte come out, all radiant with joy, saying to them, "Friends, let us give battle; we shall conquer!" and when they saw, that in spite of the inferiority of their forces, they should gain the most complete victory, they could only think of the red man. Is he a God? Is he a Genius? That was what they asked.

'Thenceforth the French, in Egypt, only marched from victory to victory, until the departure of Napoleon for France.

'We believe that all the deeds with which the red man has been credited are only fables which conjecturors have invented; but, at least, in him they discover the emblem of a good Genius, who pointed out to Buonaparte what he ought to do to assure at least the love and gratitude of the people. But an evil Genius, whom they suppose to have been clothed in green, appeared to him at St. Cloud, at the time of the 18th Brumaire, and gave him counsels, which prevailed, for the misfortune of the world, over those of the red man, and led him to his ruin.'

Balzac, in a delicious booklet,' in which an old soldier gives the history of his beloved Emperor, makes him say, 'There is one thing which it would be unjust, if I did not tell you In Egypt, in the Desert, near Syria, THE RED MAN appeared to him, in the mountain of Moses, to tell him, "All went well."

1 Histoire de l'Empereur, racontée dans une Grange par un vieux Soldat.

'Then at Marengo, on the evening of the Victory, he saw, standing before him, the Red Man, who said to him :

"Thou shalt see the world at thy feet, and thou shalt be Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Master of Holland, Sovereign of Spain, Portugal, the Illyrian Provinces, Protector of Germany, Saviour of Poland, First Eagle of the Legion of Honour."

'This Red Man, do you see, was his idea, his own: a kind of lackey, who helped him, as many say, to communicate with his star. I, myself, have never believed that but the Red Man is a veritable fact, and Napoleon has spoken of him himself, and has said that he visits him in troublous moments, and that he stays at the palace of the Tuileries, in the upper apartments. Then at his Coronation, Napoleon saw him, in the evening, for the third time, and they were in deliberation about many things. Then the Emperor went straight to Milan to crown himself King of Italy. . .

'At length we found ourselves, one morning, encamped at Moskowa. It was there that I gained the Cross, and I take the liberty of saying that it was a cursed battle! The Emperor was uneasy: he had seen the Red Man, who said to him:

My child, thou art going too fast, men will fail thee, and friends will betray thee."

And the old soldier, almost at the end of his story, says, 'The remainder is sufficiently well known. The Red Man passed over to the Bourbons, like a scoundrel, as he is. France is crushed,' &c.

It is needless to say that this legend was known in England, and was not lost sight of by the satirist.

Poor Bonaparte, now, every day,

Endeavoured to be wondrous gay;

Borodino.