From the 15th to the 25th of April, Napoleon occupied himself with drawing up his last will, in which he bequeathed his orders, and a specimen of every article in his wardrobe, to his son. On the 18th, he gave directions for opening his body after death, expressing a special desire that his stomach should be examined and its appearance communicated to his son. “The symptoms,” he said, “seem to show that of all my organs the stomach is the most diseased. I am inclined to believe it is attacked with the disorder that killed my father—the physicians of Montpellier prophesied it would be hereditary in our family.”

On the third of May, it became evident that the scene was near its close. The attendants would fain have called in more medical men; but they durst not, knowing his feelings on this head: “even had he been speechless,” said one of them, “we could not have brooked his eye.” The last sacraments of the church were now administered by Vignali. He lingered on thenceforth in a stupor. On the 4th, the island was swept by a tremendous storm, which tore up almost all the trees about Longwood by the roots. The 5th was another day of tempests; and about six in the evening, Napoleon having pronounced the words “tÊte d’armÉe,” passed forever from the dreams of battle.