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Untitled Article
a }) Ove those weaknesses / said he ; * but what is to be done ? I am neither a p hilosopher nor a physician . I believe in God , and am of the religion of my father . It is not every body who can be an Atheist / Then turnin * lur- 'iin to the priest , * I was born a will fulfil the duties
Catholic , and prescribed hy the Catholic religion , and receive the assistance it administers . You will say mass every day in the chapel , and will expose the holy sacrament during forty hours 1 After my death you will place your altar at mv head in the room in which I
shall lie in state ; you will continue to say mass , and perform all the customary ceremonies , aud will not cease to do m , until I am under ground / " Dr , A . then adds , i ( The Abb 6 withdrew , and I remained alone with Napoleon , who censured my supposed
incredulity . c How can you carry it so far }' said he . * Can you not believe in a God , whose existence every thing" proclaims ., and in whom the greatest minds have believed ? ' But , Sire , I have never
doubted it . I was following the pulsations of the fever , and your Majesty thought you perceived in my features an expression which they had not / ' You are a physician / he replied ,, laughing ' ; and then added , in an under
tone , Those people have only to do with , matter ; they never believe any thins . ' » Not long after , Dr . A . informs us , that one day " Napoleon spoke ot rdigious dissensions , and of the plan he had formed in order to reconcile all
sects . Our reverses occurred too soon to allow him to carry that plan into execution ; but he had at least reestablished religion , and that was a service , the results of which were incalculable . " To reconcile all sects in France , or in any other part of
Cliristencloiu , is an Herculean task , of winch the Emperor was not apprized . J erhaps no man except himself would have thought of such a thing , and assuredly no other man would have been e mboldened to attempt its
accom-P ment . That happy event must » c reserved for better times . It is , indeed no inconsiderable portion of AfvJ . vines have denominated , the M'Ueniat glory / In the mean time , " will be both the duty and felicity of ^ tDohc and Protestant , of Church-
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man and Dissenter , laying aside their most repulsive peculiarities , to live together in peace , love ami Christian charity . And now approaches the last awful scene . Two days previous to his death Vignali , the pfiest , administered the
Viaticum to the Emperor , who , on the 5 th , of May , 1821 5 thus affectingly breathed his last . " Head army ! were the final words he uttered ; he was in a state af delirium and insensibility . At eleven a , m ., icy coldness of the
extremities , and in a short time of the whole body , eye fixed , lips closed and contracted , breathing slow , deep sighs , piteous moans , convulsive movements , which ended by a loud and dismal shriek ! I placed a blister on his chest and on each thigh , applied two larirc
sinapisni 3 on the soles of the feet , and fomentations on the abdomen , with a bottle filled with hot water . I also
endeavoured to refresh the Emperor ' s lips and mouth , by constantly moistening them with a mixture of common water , orange-flower water and sugar , but the passage was spasmodically closed ; nothing was swallowed ; all was in vain ! The intermittent
breathing and mournful sound continued , accompanied by a violent agitation of the abdominal muscles ; the eye-lids remaining fixed , the eyes moved and fell back under the upper lids 3 . the pulse sunk and rallied again . It was eleven minutes before six
o ' clock—Napoleon was about to breath his last—a slight froth covered his lips —lie teas no more I Such is the end of all human glory . Dr . A . proceeds to tell us , that " having- finished the melancholy operation of dissection , I detached the
heart and stomach , and put . them into a silver vase , filled with spirits and wine . I afterwards connected the separate parts by a suture , washed the body , and made room for the valet dc c / tainbre , who dressed it , as the Emperor was usually dressed during his life : —Drawers , white kerseymere
breeches , white waistcoat , white eravat , and over that a black one , fastened behind with a buckle ; the ribbon of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour , the uniform of Colonel of tine Chasseurs de la Garde , decorated witU the Orders of the Legion of Honour , and of the Iron Crown j long booU ., u
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last Illness and just previous to his Dissolution . S 31
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1825, page 531, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2540/page/19/
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