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DESCENT FROM THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK—ANAGRAMS, ETC., ON HIS NAME—THE BEAST OF THE APOCALYPSE—HIS MOTHER’S ACCOUNT OF HIS BIRTH.

The foregoing was the sort of stuff given to our grandfathers for history; nothing could be bad enough for Boney, the Corsican Ogre—nay, they even tortured his name to suit political purposes. It was hinted that the keeper of ‘the Man with the Iron Mask,’ who was said to be no other than the twin (and elder) brother of Louis XIV., was named Bon part; that the said keeper had a daughter, with whom the Man in the Mask fell in love, and to whom he was privately married; that their children received their mother’s name, and were secretly conveyed to Corsica, where the name was converted into Bonaparte, or Buonaparte; and that one of these children was the ancestor of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was thus entitled to be recognised, not only as of French origin, but as the direct descendant of the rightful heir to the throne of France.

They put his name into Greek, and tortured it thus:—

Napoleon, Apoleon, Poleon, Oleon, Leon, Eon, On,

Ναπολεων, Απολεων, Πολεων, Ολεων, Λεων, Εων, Ων,

which sentence will translate, ‘Napoleon, being the lion of the nations, went about destroying cities.’

In the ‘Journal des Débats,’ 8 Avril, 1814, although not an English satire on his name, it is gravely stated that he was baptised by the name of Nicholas, and that he assumed the name of Napoleon as an uncommon one; but this name, Nicholas, which was applied to him so freely in France, was but a cant term for a stupid blockhead. Whilst on this subject, however, I cannot refrain from quoting a passage from a French book: ‘I do not know what fellow has held that Napolione was a demon, who in bygone times, amused himself by tormenting a poor imbecile. The fellow can not have read the life of the Saints: he would then have learned that St. Napolione, whose name is given at length in the legend, is as good a patron as any other; that he performed seven miracles during his life, and twenty-two and a half after his death—for he had not time to finish the twenty-third; it was an unfortunate tiler who, in falling from a roof, broke both his legs. St. Napoleon had already set one, when an unlucky doctor prescribed some medicine to the sick man which carried him off to the other world.’9

There is an extremely forcible acrostic in Latin on his name, which deserves reproduction:—

N ationibus10 A uctoritatem P rincipibus O bedientiam L ibertatem E cclesiæ O mni modo N egans B ona U surpavit O mnium N eutrorum A urum P opulorum A nimas R evera T yrannus E xecrandus.

But not only was his name thus made a vehicle for political purposes, but the expounders of prophecy got hold of it, and found out, to their great delight, that at last they had got that theological bugbear, the Apocalyptic beast. Nothing could be clearer. It could be proved to demonstration, most simply and clearly. Every one had been in error about the Church of Rome; at last there could be no doubt about it, it was Napoleon. Take the following handbill as a sample of one out of many:—

A Prophecy

(From the 13th Chapter of Revelations) ALLUDING TO BUONAPARTE.

Verse 1st.

‘And a Beast rose out of the Sea, having ten crowns on his head,’ &c.

This Beast is supposed to mean Buonaparte, he being born in Corsica, which is an island, and having conquered ten kingdoms.

Verse 5th.

‘And a mouth was given him speaking blasphemies; and power given him upon the earth, forty and two months.’

Buonaparte was crowned in December, 1804; it is therefore supposed the extent of his assumed power upon earth will now be limited, this present month (June) 1808, being exactly the forty-second month of his reign.

Verse 16th.

‘And he caused all to receive a mark in their hands, and no one could buy or sell, save those that had the mark of the Beast.’

To persons conversant in commercial affairs, these verses need no comment. There are, at present, some of these marks to be seen in this country; they had the Crown of Italy, &c., at top, and are signed ‘Buonaparte,’ ‘Talleyrand’; and all of them are numbered.

Verse 18th.

‘Let him that hath understanding, count the number of the Beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is Six hundred, Sixty and Six.’

This verse is curious, and should be read attentively. The method of using letters for figures at the time the Revelations were written is proved by many monuments of Roman antiquity now extant.

The Ancient Alphabet of Figures	Buonaparte’s name with the Figures	Ten Kingdoms conquered
A	1	N	40	France
B	2	A	1	Prussia
C	3	P	60	Austria
D	4	O	50	Sardinia
E	5	L	20	Naples
F	6	E	5	Rome
G	7	A	1	Tuscany
H	8	N	40	Hungary
I	9			Portugal
K	10	B	2	Spain
L	20	U	110
M	30	O	50
N	40	N	40
O	50	A	1
P	60	P	60
Q	70	A	1
R	80	R	80
S	90	T	100
T	100	E	5
U	110		___
V	120	The Number of the Beast	666
X	130
Y	140
Z	150
Napole	an Buon	aparte
6	6	6

The above verses are not the only parts of the chapter which have reference to Buonaparte, but the most prominent ones; the connection throughout has been clearly ascertained.

In a curious little book called The Corsican’s Downfall, by a Royal Arch Mason, published at Mansfield in 1814, at p. 6, it says, with reference to the numeration, ‘The oldest treatise on the theory of arithmetic is comprised in the seventh, eighth, and ninth books of Euclid’s Elements, about two hundred and eighty years before the Christian era. The first author of any consequence who used the modern way of computing by figures, instead of letters of the alphabet, was Jordanus of Namur, who flourished about 1200; and his arithmetic was afterwards published and demonstrated by Johannis Faber Stapulensis, in the fifteenth century. The name, then, and number of the Beast must be discovered (if at all) by the ancient method of computation in use at the time when the prophecies were written.’

But Bonaparte ungratefully refused to fulfil prophecy by being destroyed at the end of forty-two months, i.e. in June 1808, which must have put the expositors on their mettle. They were, however, fully equal to the occasion, and ingeniously solved the quotation this way.11 ‘Power was given unto him to continue forty-and-two months: now it is well known that he was self created, or crowned Emperor of France, on the 2nd day of December 1804, and that he reigned in full power and authority over the prostrate States upon the Continent until the 2nd day of May 1808, the very day on which the gallant Patriots of Spain made so noble and glorious a struggle to throw off the abominable yoke that he had imposed upon them, which is exactly a period of three years and a half, or forty two months.’

An ingenious lunatic, named L. Mayer, found out another way of fathering the Mark of the Beast upon Napoleon. He took the number of sovereigns who had reigned in Europe until Napoleon’s arrival—some he has left out to suit his convenience, but that is a trivial matter—the case had to be made out against the unfortunate Emperor.

Sovereigns included in the Number of the Beast. 12

	Numbers
Roman Emperors	77
Popes	186
Kings of France	40
Kings of Spain	78
Kings of Portugal	26
Emperors of Germany	57
Kings of Bohemia	31
Kings of Hungary	34
Kings of Poland	35
Kings of Denmark	35
Kings of Naples and Sicily	30
Kings of Sardinia	36
Bonaparte	1
Total	666

The Society of Antiquaries have, among their handbills, one published in 1808, as follows:—

Mr. Urban—The following singular coincidences may furnish matter for reflection to the curious. It has been generally admitted that the Roman Empire, after passing under seven different forms of government (or seven heads), was divided into ten kingdoms in Europe (the ten horns of Daniel and John); and that, notwithstanding the various changes Europe has undergone, the number of kingdoms was generally about ten.

It is not a little surprising that the Heads of the Family of Napoleon, who has effected such a change in the same Empire, are exactly seven, viz.:—

1. Napoleon.

2. Joseph, King of Italy.

3. Louis, King of Holland.

4. Jerome.

5. Murat, Duke of Berg and Cleves.

6. Cardinal Fesch.

7. Beauharnais, the adopted son of Napoleon.

And also that the Members of the New Federation are just ten, viz.:—

1. Bavaria.

2. Wirtemberg.

3. Baden.

4. Darmstadt.

5. Nassau.

6. Ysembourg.

7. Hohenzollern.

8. Aremberg.

9. Salm.

10. Leyen.

It is also remarkable that in the man’s name, Napoleon Buonaparte, there are precisely three times six letters:—

Napole	on Buon	aparte
6	6	6	= 666

And in his name is contained the name given by John to the King of the Locusts, who is called ‘Apoleon,’ or ‘the Destroyer.’

Even the date of his birth was disputed, for some said he was born on February 5, 1768—in his marriage registry it is the same, and he used to tell De Bourrienne, his school-fellow, that he was born on August 15, 1769, and it is so noted in the registry of his entrance into the military school at Brienne in 1779, and the Ecole Militaire in 1784, besides being the date used in all documents necessary to his promotion. But probably his mother knew somewhat about it, and Madame Junot says,13 speaking of Madame Lætitia Bonaparte, ‘I recollect she this day told us that, being at Mass on the day of the fête of Notre Dame of August, she was overtaken by the pains of childbirth, and she had hardly reached home when she was delivered of Napoleon, on a wretched rug. … I know not why,’ said she, ‘it has been reported that Paoli was Napoleon’s godfather. It is not true; Laurent Jiubéga14 was his godfather. He held him over the baptismal font, along with another of our relations, Celtruda Buonaparte.’15