"Letters from the Emperor's family, intrusted to the Secretary of State, were henceforward more regularly transmitted. Provisions, clothing, and books, purchased by them, and sent to the same office, were also forwarded; and Lord Bathurst, some time afterwards, not only consented to convey articles from Lady Holland to Napoleon and Sir Hudson Lowe, but apprised her regularly of ships that sailed for St Helena, and, after due experience of her scrupulous adherence to the rules which he imposed, allowed all parcels, books, and cases indorsed with her handwriting and name, to proceed, without further inspection, to their destination. Lady Holland had the satisfaction of knowing that many of those articles were received and approved of. Napoleon never wrote, but he mentioned her name and her attentions more than once to persons who repeated his acknowledgments to her. The legacy was, however, a gratifying, and, by her, an unexpected proof that such endeavours to express her admiration of his great qualities, and even to soothe his afflictions, had not been altogether unsuccessful. The testimony of his own handwriting, the words so judiciously chosen--even the pains taken to fit the card to the box--enhanced the value of the bequest; for they proved that Napoleon understood her motives, and that they had occupied, for some little space of time, the thoughts, as well as excited the good-will, of that extraordinary man. The whole was in good taste. Had the gift been greater, she could not have accepted it; had the expressions been stronger, they would not have appeared sincere. Surely to have afforded satisfaction to a man so calumniated, so persecuted, and so ill treated, and to have excited the esteem of a mind so capacious and so penetrating, is no slight distinction. Lady Holland found, in the knowledge of it, an ample reward for her constant, unremitting, and unostentatious compassion and generosity." Our readers will probably agree with us in thinking that there is "something too much of this." It is rather a novelty to us to be informed that Napoleon was a persecuted man. Most people throughout Europe have maintained the opinion that the persecution lay the other way. But perhaps Lord Holland meant to insinuate that the persecution lay in his banishment of St Helena. He calls it an "ungenerous decision;" and elsewhere says:--