ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN (1841 - 1901)

NAPOLEON FALLEN

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NAPOLEON FALLEN

NAPOLEON FALLEN

A Lyrical Drama

By ROBERT BUCHANAN

STRAHAN & CO., PUBLISHERS
56 LUDGATE HILL, LONDON
1871

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LONDON:
PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO.,
CITY ROAD.

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TO THE PROPHETS AND MARTYRS.

O Prophets! that look forward, searching slow
     The future time for signs, what see ye there?
What far-off gleams of portent come and go?
     On what, with lips like quivering leaves, and hair
     Back-blowing in the whirlwind, do ye stare
So steadfast and so still? O speak, and tell—
Is the Soul safe? Shall the sick world be well?
     Will morning glimmer soon, and all be fair?
O Martyrs! all ye see this day is sad,
     And in your eyes there swim the fatal tears,
But on your brows the Dawn gleams cold and hoar.
1 too gaze forward, and my heart grows glad—
     I catch the comfort of the golden years—
I see the Soul is safe for evermore.

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PREFATORY NOTE.
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IN reading this Napoleonic Play, or Lyrical Drama, or Dramatic Poem (I know not which is the fit title, it should be remembered that we lack as yet the proper foreground for the contemplation of the chief character. Fortunately, the subject, if treated with any ordinary skill, will be always gaining instead of losing that artistic distance which many think so necessary; while, on the other hand, it is likely to secure certain elements of real strength from the mere fact of its being based on contemporary events. Of course, it is more than ordinarily open to abuse, for ardent politicians who would let me have my own ^viii way with Tiberius or Peter the Great, or even Bonaparte, are certain to rate me roundly if I disagree with them about Louis Napoleon.
     The man who here soliloquises may not be the real Napoleon, but I believe there is some justification for my portrait. After all, truth is one thing, and dramatic truth is another. If my play possess verisimilitude, no critic has a right to object to it because he himself would have conceived the chief character differently.
     One final word. I desire to say that I have nowhere in the following pages expressed my own political opinions.

                                                                                                                                 ROBERT BUCHANAN.

NAPOLEON FALLEN

[Notes:
Napoleon Fallen was published in January, 1871. In November, 1871, it was republished as the second part of The Drama of Kings. In January, 1874 The Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan was published by Henry S. King and the third volume contained a revision of Napoleon Fallen under the title, ‘The Fool of Destiny’ in the section, ‘Political Mystics’. This revised version was then reprinted by Chatto & Windus in The Poetical Works of 1884 and 1901.

Buchanan had intended to dedicate Napoleon Fallen to Browning and in a letter of 7th December, 1870, wrote:

“In a word, I feel convinced that you could accept the dedication of ‘Napoleon’ with perfect security & satisfaction. I am not an imperialist, I am in principle a republican; but I am above all one whose religion inculcates charity —to those above & those below me.”

But Browning declined the offer. In a letter of 24th January, 1871, Buchanan wrote to Browning:

“My ‘Napoleon’ despite its crudity has already reached a second edition, and is still selling rapidly. That, of course, is no test of merit, but I really think the thing has a soul in it, a truth, a central meaning. What it wants is complete re-fusion in my mind and improvement of poetic form. Meantime, it is I believe doing nothing but good,—I mean to all who read it with honest minds.”

However, in a postscript to a letter to Tennyson of 7th June, 1871, Buchanan wrote:
‘I made no arrangement for ‘Napoleon Fallen’ before publication, & of course have not rec^d a penny for that either, as it has not sold sufficiently to leave a profit for the author.” ]

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