Philobiblon: More on Napoleon

Friday, December 23, 2005

More on Napoleon

Miss Williams Wynn is back on the subject of Napoleon, having met two relevant officers at public balls, apparently in Hastings - then rather more fashionable than now, I suspect.

She's also writing on a young officer on the ship taking Napoleon to exile who was related to (I think she means) Sir Wm Sydney Smith, who refused to speak to Napoleon because of the way he perceived his relative had been treated by the emperor.

He was frigate captain at the start of the French Revolutionary War and in 1795 was captured on the coast of France during a cutting-out expedition and imprisoned in Paris until early 1798, largely because the French thought he was also engaged in espionage: at this he was also accomplished, aided by his fluent French.


Her other posts on Napoleon can be found here and here.

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