Napoleon and Doctor Verling on St Helena

Author(s) : MARKHAM J. David
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Here J. David Markham brings for the first time to the English-speaking public the complete memoirs of James Roche Verling, the man who would have been Napoleon's doctor. In fact Verling never met Napoleon (despite residing in Longwood for almost a year), but his memoirs give a vivid picture of the social round and the gossip (not to mention the obsessions of governor Hudson Lowe). Unbeknownst to our author, however, this text is not entirely new. A French translation of this work, prepared by the Napoleonic collector and enthusiast, Emile Brouwet, was in fact serialised in the French military magazine, Le Carnet de La Sabretache, in the years 1921-22. This earlier edition had the significant advantage of notes written by the Napoleon expert Frédéric Masson. It is also still in print, republished recently by the Librairie historique Tesseidre in Journaux de Sainte-Hélène, 1998. Comparison of this French version with that prepared by Mr Markham shows that the two are largely the same. Mr Markham does not however specify which source he reproduced. He mentions specifically two, a transcription held at the Bodleian in Oxford and the Verling autograph held at the Archives Nationales in Paris, and presumably used them both. Monsieur Brouwet explicitly used the original in Paris (shelf mark A.B. XIX, 92, 34). 
On close inspection of the two publications (Markham's and Brouwet's), at specific moments (chosen at random) there are some inconsistencies between the two versions. On p. 31, at entry 7, Markham has “Guerre de Russie et d'Allemagne”, whilst Brouwet has “Guerre de Russie et d'Allemagne, par Sarrazin”, and at entry 8 Markham gives “L'Ambigu”, whilst Brouwet has more convincingly “L'Ambigu de 1812” – Napoleon is unlikely to have had all the year volumes for this newpaper. At both points Brouwet gives more and would appear to be better. Only consultation of the original could resolve the difference.
There are also in Markham some omissions and errors of transcription. Lord Holland's Latin dedication to the Emperor (p. 28) is missing words and misspelt. And on p. 66, “an article from home” recounting the imminent arrival of the Abbé Vignali and Antommarchi on St Helena from Rome should in fact read (much more logically) “an article from Rome”! Markham also does not reproduce all the known letters by Verling held in the British Library. A list of the fifteen not reproduced is given here below. He also does not mention the four Verling autograph letters held at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Perhaps Mr Markham could add these nineteen letters to a second edition?
On the other hand, Brouwet's edition was incomplete since he tells us in his introduction that he omitted things he considered as being without Napoleonic interest. Since it is complete, Mr Markham's text here comes into its own. One striking example of this is the entry of Thursday 8 October 1818. Here Verling (brought to us for the first time by Markham) recounts Madame Bertrand bitching about Albine de Montholon. Fanny Bertrand complained to Verling that Tristan de Montholon's privileged position near to Napoleon was simply related to his wife's 'intimate relations' with the emperor, that Montholon's daughter, Napoleone, did not look at all like Montholon, and that Gourgaud had said aloud that the girl was Napoleon's, for which the emperor had scolded him. And that she, Madame Bertrand, could have been Napoleon's mistress a long time ago, if she had wanted it!!!
Furthermore, Brouwet's translation errors and mistaken dates are corrected in Markham's edition. Hence, all things being equal, this book is a useful addition to the St Helena literature.
 
David Markham is the author of Imperial Glory and Napoleon's Road to Glory, not to mention president of the Napoleonic Alliance.
 
British Library Verling letters not reproduced:
Add. 20,214. Part 4.
Original letters of Dr. J. Verling, Assistant Surgeon, R.H.A., to Sir H. Lowe and Major Gorrequer; 31 Oct. 1818-15 Nov. 1824, fol. 96. At fol. 145 is the draft of a letter of Sir H. Lowe to Dr. Verling; 17 Nov. 1824.
Add. 3715, fols. 50, 116   
Add. 3716, fols. 8, 88, 190, 195   
Add. 3717, fols. 11, 107, 115, 220   
Add. 3717, Verling (James Roche). M.D. Letter to Sir T. Reade 1819. fol. 112   
Add. 20124 fol. 193


P. Hicks, October 2005

Year of publication :
2005
Place and publisher :
Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military
Number of pages :
178
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