The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-04-26
Special TO THE CALL

ne some interesting QetallS, taken from lie,
relating TO the last years of Prince Napoleon
in that villa of Prangins, near Lake Geneva,
where the cousin of Napoleon III had lived
sadly ever since the law OF exile closed
French territory to him.
81 From the retreat in which l write these
lines" said the Prince in his preface to
Napoleon ana His Detractors," 81 see the
mountains of that Savoy which l helped to
give my country" And every summer even
ing when the setting sun gilded the snowy
Alps, he used to sit upon the strand and hx
his melancholy gaze on Mount Blanc, where
an Illusion shows Napoleon l with small
hat upon his head, stretching out his i'm
mense silhouette.
NOT MAN OF LETTERS.
Only a few friends persisted in visiting
the prescribed man. They remained two OF
three days at most an then departed. The
Prince accompanied them in his carriage to
the Nyon depot. There, upon the steps he
made gesture of adieu, relighted his eter-
nal cigar cite, turned on lis heel and sank
down among his cushions in his coach, grim,
suIky and with heavy eyelids.
But these infrequent visits did not inter-
rupt the ordinary routine of his life. The
Prince was filed with gloom. Notwlth-
standing what has been said on the subject,
he was not 4 man-Of letters in the full ac-
CeptatiOn OF the term; he abhorred books.
reviews and newspapers From time to time
lie cast furtive glance over the ROchefOrt
article of the day the while sitting a yawn,
then let fall his eye5lass, with the bitter
rictus Of the man withdrawn from every
thing on his lips.
HOPELESS MONoTONY.
In accordance with his will, life at Pran-
gins ran in the rut OF hopeless monotony.
3, rrf,1
itY OF clockwork. He initiated his uncle
exemplary order, the minuti9e of which
made the personnel of the establishment
tremble every morning as they passed IN re-
view beneath his eyes. His lynx glance
missed nothing. The c0W-Stall5. tue stable,
the dOg-kenne and the kitchen came in for
an equal share Of his attention; then 1t was
the turn of his private secretary, NJ. Berth
ct, who gave him the morning mail and TOOK
his instructions for the correspondence In
a mOnotOnOus tone the Prince dictated to
him The brief answers to be returned, for 1t
was rarely that he wrote, even TO his init
mate friends
CARELESS OF oRTHOGRAPHY.
Like his uncle, Primes Napoleon was
careless Of orthography, and paid no atten-
ton to style, but the idea he emitted was
always clear. the verbs strong and TO the
point Many times he walked back and
forth in his study, searching for some con-
else and image-cOnyeyIng expression which
- had escaped him. The phrase found, he re-
called his secretary, examined his corrected
letters and bTusqueiy signed them.
The last book, already cited, which was
published under his name, proved a great
annoyance to his c0Ilaborateurs, Messrs..
Lsngle, Lambert and a former keeper Of
the archives of the Ministry Of Foreign
Affairs, whose name l have forgotten. NJ.
Berthet thought it would drive him crazy.
Six times he rec0pIed the eight chapters OF
the work before his Imperial HIghness
made up his mind to turn II over TO the pub
Usher. For this literary labor tue thirty
two volumes of the Correspondence Of Ma
poieon l. and 1.-The Memoirs of St. Helena"
were brought under contribution; they
searched the time-stained papers Of the En-
peror TO ind the exact expressions he had
employed on this or that occasion.
The Princes astonishing memory enabled
him to point out almost the very chapter
and page wanted,
He spoke English and Italian with equal
perfection; he had to some degree forgotten
the German, which was the language OF MS
youth, when he was acquiring his military
education at LOulsbOurg.
AN INYETERATE WoMAN-C CHASER.
Feminine distractions were lacking al
Prangns; hence the Prince, an inveterate
yroman-chastr-to employ his own express
sion-the impassioned friend of Rachel,
judith, Arnoul-Plessis and Cora Pearl, TO
cite only the best known, saw. at first with
pleasure, the installation not far from the
villa Of the MarQuise de C and her
daughter, At the commencement oil TINS
renewal IF old ties, each day alternately the
Prince dined at the cottage with the Mar
uuise or received her at his own table; but,
gradually, WEAKNESS crept into this little
distraction and they got to yawning In each
others faces.
The Prince was bored by the continual
tete-a-tete and the poor Marquise did not
even Try to keep up the dying conversation
or to shake of her drOwsneSs.
Meanwhile, the past autumn had witnessed
at Praugns the marriage of Mile. de c.
to NJ. de Caruieres, the Princes partner at
whist. NJ. de Carneres went off to take up
his residence in Tunis, the tickle Prince de-
parted Tor Italy, where a new star, his last
passion. had attracted him, and the Mar
Quiese went to do penance in house OF re-
treat in Paris
UNWILLING To DROP HIM.
1t was there that she was surprised by
the news of the Illness of her old friend
whom she had, at the decline of the Empire,
attached to her tTiumphal car, and whom, III
spite Of many eclipSes, she had never been
able to resolve to drop completely.
1t will be remembered that in LOficel
Of the month of December, 1889, NJ. Adelon,
the cOnfdant Of the Prince, announced his
intention of applying TO tue Garde des
Sceaux in order to obtain for the minors,
NapoIeon-Lueien-Je me-Robert and Cath
crime Marie-NapOleone both born in Paris.
one November %. 1874, and the other July
z, 1877, the authorization to add to their
names that OF DecOlgny, under which they
were known, the announcement added
Quite near Nyon is a Geneyan locality
COlgny-the euphony of which name had
without doubt struck the ear of NJ. AdelOn.
the guardian of the orphans, when he had
visited the eXiles.
THE BRIGHT LIGHT OF THE DISTRICT.
At Nyon the death of Prince Napoleon
was a blow to everybody. Without being
popular like his uncle, King Joseph Bona
parte, he did good in the vicinity. He was
the bright light of the district and contrib
u-ed to its animation.
Aud, Curious coincidence, at the hour
when at Rome the Prince expired with the
cry, TT is DEATH Drive 1t away, drive i
away" at Nyon also died. at the age of a
years, his private physician. NJ. Maurice d.
Melville, a very amiable man whom TIM
Prince had delighted to tease.
Doctor" he used often to say to him.. :"
snap my fingers at your prescriptions!
will live as long as you dop
This prediction, as has been seen, was ful
filed to the letter. EDoUARD MoUN1ER.