The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 326, August 9, 1828

Excerpt

YOUNG NAPOLEON.

(For the Mirror.)

It is impossible at this time of day, to foretell how the future destinies of Europe may be influenced by the subject of these lines. To use the words of the talented author of the Improvisatrice, "Poetry needs no preface." However in this instance, a few remarks may not be uninteresting. Until I met with the following stanzas, I was not aware that Napoleon had been a votary of the muses. He has certainly climbed the Parnassian mount with considerable success, whether we take the interest of the subject, or the correctness of the versification into consideration. Memorials like these of such a man, are, in the highest degree, interesting; they serve to display the man, divested of the "pomp and circumstance" of royalty. That Napoleon had many faults cannot be disputed, but it is equally clear that he possessed many virtues the world never gave him credit for:—"Posterity will do me justice."

I subjoin two translations of the beautiful lines written by Napoleon at St. Helena, on the portrait of his son. The love he bore to his son was carried to enthusiasm. According to those persons who had access to his society at St. Helena, his young heir was the continual object of his solicitude during the period of seven years, "For him alone," he said, "I returned from the Island of Elba, and if I still form some expectations on earth, they are also for him." He has declared to several of his suite, that he every day suffered the greatest anxiety on his account. Since I met with these lines however, I have found that Napoleon had in his youth composed a poem on Corsica, some extracts of which are to be found in "Les Annales de l'Europe" a German collection. He was exceedingly anxious in after life to destroy the copies of this poem which had been circulated, and bought and procured them by every means in his power for the purpose of destroying them; it is probable not a single copy is in existence at the present period. It has been remarked, that, "it requires nothing short of the solitude of exile, and the idolatry which he manifested for his son, to inspire him once more. In neither of the original poems is it indicated which he preferred."

VYVYAN.

Delightful image of my much loved boy!

Behold his eyes, his looks, his cherub smile!

No more, alas! will he enkindle joy,

Nor on some kindlier shore my woes beguile.

My son! my darling son! wert thou but here,

My bosom should receive thy lovely form:

Thou'dst soothe my gloomy hours with converse dear:

Serenely mild behold the lowering storm.

I'd be the partner of thy infant cares,

And pour instruction o'er thy expanding mind;

Whilst in thy heart, in my declining years,

My wearied soul should an asylum find.

My wrongs—my cares—should be forgot with thee,

My power—imperial dignities—renown—

This rock itself would be a heaven to me;

Thine arms more cherished than the victor's crown.

O! in thine arms, my son! I could forget that fame

Shall give me, through all time, a never dying name....