Merriman, Henry Seton: Dross. V1. 18 Aug 2009
 

Hugh Stowell Scott (1863? - 1903) was a novelist (under the pseudonym of Henry Seton Merriman). He was an underwriter in Lloyd's, but having a strong literary bent, latterly devoted himself to writing novels, many of which had great popularity. They include The Slave of the Lamp (1892), The Sowers (generally considered his best) (1896), In Kedar's Tents (1897), Roden's Corner (1898), Isle of Unrest (1900), The Velvet Glove (1901), The Vultures (1902), and Barlasch of the Guard (1903). He worked with great care, and his best books hold a high place in modern fiction. He was unusually modest and retiring in character.

Excerpt
Under a glorious sky, in the year 1869, Paris gathered to rejoice in the centenary of the birth of the First Napoleon. A gathering this of mushroom nobility, soldiery and diplomacy, to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the greatest mushroom that ever sprang to life in the hotbed of internecine strife.
“Adventurers all,” said John Turner, the great Paris banker, with whom I was in the Church of the Invalides; “and yonder,” he added, indicating the Third Napoleon, “is the cleverest.”
We had pushed our way into the gorgeous church, and now rubbed elbows with some that wore épaulettes on peaceful shoulders. There were ladies present, too. Did not the fair beings contribute to the rise and fall of that marvellous Second Empire? Representatives of almost every European power paid homage that day to the memory of a little Corsican officer of artillery