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Ch. I.]
The Emperor Napoleon.
3

tired of its solitary life and isolated situation in the midst of the Atlantic, had given a great yawn, and had then been unable to close its mouth again. The buildings are confined entirely to the bottom of this cleft or chasm, as its sides are too precipitous to allow of houses being built on them. The position of the town renders it sufficiently hot in summer. The cool sea-breeze, so delicious in all tropical climates, is almost excluded by the situation of the valley, as the inhabitants call James Town, and for nine months in the year the heat is almost unendurable.

We were fortunate enough to reside out of town, my father possessing a beautiful little cottage called the Briars, about a mile and a quarter from the valley; a spot meriting a slight description, both from its intrinsic beauty, and from having been the residence of Napoleon during the first three months of his exile in St. Helena.

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