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 ationibus[10]
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 | Buonaparte’s name with | Ten Kingdoms |
| of Figures | the Figures | 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 666 | |
| X 130 | of the Beast | |
| 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 Jiubéga[14] was
his godfather. He held him over the baptismal font, along with another
of our relations, Celtruda Buonaparte.’[15]