And then there IS that....

the eagerly awaited new computer soon to be installed.

Now I JUST (ha) have to learn how to use that new system and off we go to future blogdom...

I wish it were that easy.
Meanwhile I have my nose in a book! 
Yes, the old kind with fluttering pages to be thumbed through and dog-eared to mark the spot.

I do have bookmarks, just that they are NEVER handy when and where needed.

So I do turn down the corner.

Now this was found by chance in a 'used book' store on our travels.

I am always  excited when coming across an unusual find, a book written by an obscure author (never or rarely on the bestseller list),written about subjects of diminished interest to anyone but history buffs or opera buffs, or hockey buffs (well there are only a handful of those kind of books).

So here it goes:

In 1974 a certain Thomas G.Wheeler wrote HIS (Who Lies Here?) book on the last days of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The author, born, as his bio states, 'in the shadow of the Himalayas in a British Garrison of NW India' studied previous writings on that notorious yet famous French General with his great talents in war who then converted them into the highest position in France.

L'Empereur de France

Emperor and acclaimed foe of many.
Anyway, when he lost at Waterloo, the British with the connivance of  other European ruling heads, decided to exile him to a desolate island in the middle of nowhere.

St. Helena from space

St.Helena, basically a watering station of the.British East India Company, was seen as a place from which no escape seemed possible.


Yet the author, posits that after extensive research into extant papers, memoirs, correspondence and so on, Napoleon did find a way off the island.
Perhaps, financially supported by the various groups of loyalists established, among other places,
also right here in Texas - hm - always a Texas connection somewhere.
Am I starting to believe in weird coincidences...not really :-)!!


Partially he bases his conviction on various factors.

• Such as the seemingly disinterested behaviour of Napoleons family in the latter part of the exile.
• That the person of Napoleon was seldom seen and spoken to face to face by his 'jailers'.
• That a peasant soldier named  Robeaud, with his uncanny resemblance to Napoleon and having been coached as a stand-in even before the exile, vanished suddenly from his farm, never to be seen again.
• That an autopsy performed on 'the emperor' after his sudden death on St. Helena, seemingly disagrees with war wounds known to have been suffered by Napoleon.
• And several other incidents.

Too numerous to recount here - to find out,  do read the book!


In summa, Wheeler does believe in the theory that somehow 'they' whisked Napoleon off St. Helena!

And that he was living in Verona, Italy, some time past the recorded time of ' his' death, as a 'diamond merchant'.

He posits that the Tomb in Les Invalides does not, in fact, house  the body of the real Napoleon Bonaparte, but only of the 'voltigeur' Robeaud, Napoleon's body double.



The Tomb in Les Invalides

It was, truly, an interesting read.

The author spent, undoubtedly, quite some time researching existing decipherable documents and letters and,  perhaps, 'hear say' or second hand reports, as well.

But the conclusion he arrived at, appears based entirely too much on his interpretation and reasoning of  the long deads' perceived actions, even their thoughts.

One can fit just about anything to one's ideas if working hard enough at it! Can't one?

That Goethe, who is quoted on the book cover, once wrote:

"The story of Napoleon produces a similar impression to that created by the Revelation of St. John:

we all know there must be something more there, but we don't know what",

is, for this reader, not grounds enough to believe in such a theory,

however one wants to, however romantic it may sound.

But go ahead and read it yourself, chers readers. 

This is only my opinion.