Monsieur Bonaparte gave his wife a noble name, but little else. He was an indolent, pleasure-loving, chimerical1 man, who had inherited a lawsuit2, and whose time was absorbed in the hopeless task of recovering an estate of which the Church had taken possession. Madame Bonaparte 18brought her husband no great name, but she did bring him health, beauty, and remarkable3 qualities. Tall and imposing4, Mademoiselle L?titia Ramolino had a superb carriage, which she never lost, and a face which attracted attention particularly by the accentuation and perfection of its features. She was reserved, but of ceaseless energy and will, and though but fifteen when married, she conducted her family affairs with such good sense and firmness that she was able to bring up decently the eight children spared her from the thirteen she bore. The habits of order and economy formed in her years of struggle became so firmly rooted in her character that later, when she became mater regum, the “Madame Mère” of an imperial court, she could not put them aside, but saved from the generous income at her disposal, “for those of my children who are not yet settled,” she said. Throughout her life she showed the truth of her son’s characterization: “A man’s head on a woman’s body.”
The first years after their marriage were stormy ones for the Bonapartes. The Corsicans, led by the patriot5 Pascal Paoli, were in revolt against the French, at that time masters of the island. Among Paoli’s followers6 was Charles Bonaparte. He shared the fortunes of his chief to the end of the struggle of 1769, and when, finally, Paoli was hopelessly defeated, took to the mountains. In all the dangers and miseries7 of this war and flight, Charles Bonaparte was accompanied by his wife, who, vigorous of body and brave of heart, suffered privations, dangers, and fatigue8 without complaint. When the Corsicans submitted, the Bonapartes went back to Ajaccio. Six weeks later Madame Bonaparte gave birth to her fourth child, Napoleon.
“I was born,” said Napoleon, “when my country was perishing. Thirty thousand Frenchmen were vomited9 upon our soil. Cries of the wounded, sighs of the oppressed, and tears of despair surrounded my cradle at my birth.”
19Young Bonaparte learned to hate with the fierceness peculiar10 to Corsican blood the idea of oppression, to revere11 Paoli, and, with a boy’s contempt of necessity, even to despise his father’s submission12. It was not strange. His mother had little time for her children’s training. His father gave them no attention; and Napoleon, “obstinate and curious,” domineering over his brothers and companions, fearing no one, ran wild on the beach with the sailors or over the mountains with the herdsmen, listening to their tales of the Corsican rebellion and of fights, on sea and land, imbibing13 their contempt for submission, their love for liberty.
At nine years of age he was a shy, proud, wilful14 child, unkempt and untrained, little, pale, and nervous, almost without instruction, and yet already enamored of a soldier’s life and conscious of a certain superiority over his comrades. Then it was that he was suddenly transplanted from his free life to an environment foreign in its language, artificial in its etiquette15, and severe in its regulations.
It was as a dependent, a species of charity pupil, that he went into this new atmosphere. Charles Bonaparte had become, in the nine years since he had abandoned the cause of Paoli, a thorough parasite16. Like all the poor nobility of the country to which he had attached himself, and even like many of the rich in that day, he begged favors of every description from the government in return for his support. To aid in securing them, he humbled17 himself before the French Governor-General of Corsica, the Count de Marb?uf, and made frequent trips, which he could ill afford, back and forth18 to Versailles. The free education of his children, a good office with its salary and honors, the maintenance of his claims against the Jesuits, were among the favors which he sought.
By dint19 of solicitation20 he had secured a place among the free pupils of the college at Autun for his son Joseph, the oldest of the family, and one for Napoleon at the military school at Brienne.
20
L?TITIA RAMOLINO, NAPOLEON’S MOTHER. BORN 1750, DIED 1836.
21To enter the school at Brienne, it was necessary to be able to read and write French, and to pass a preliminary examination in that language. This young Napoleon could not do; indeed, he could scarcely have done as much in his native Italian. A preparatory school was necessary, then, for a time. The place settled on was Autun, where Joseph was to enter college, and there in January, 1779, Charles Bonaparte arrived with the two boys.
Napoleon was nine and a half years old when he entered the school at Autun. He remained three months, and in that time made sufficient progress to fulfil the requirements at Brienne. The principal record of the boy’s conduct at Autun comes from Abbé Chardon, who was at the head of the primary department. He says of his pupil:
“Napoleon brought to Autun a sombre, thoughtful character. He was interested in no one, and found his amusements by himself. He rarely had a companion in his walks. He was quick to learn, and quick of apprehension21 in all ways. When I gave him a lesson, he fixed22 his eyes upon me with parted lips; but if I recapitulated23 anything I had said, his interest was gone, as he plainly showed by his manner. When reproved for this, he would answer coldly, I might almost say with an imperious air, ‘I know it already, sir.’”
When he went to Brienne, Napoleon left his brother Joseph behind at Autun. The boy had not now one familiar feature in his life. The school at Brienne was made up of about one hundred and twenty pupils, half of whom were supported by the government. They were sons of nobles, who, generally, had little but their great names, and whose rule for getting on in the world was the rule of the old régime—secure a powerful patron, and, by flattery and servile attentions, continue in his train. Young Bonaparte heard little but boasting, and saw little but vanity. His first lessons in French society were the doubtful ones of the parasite 22and courtier. The motto which he saw everywhere practised was, “The end justifies24 the means.” His teachers were not strong enough men to counteract25 this influence. The military schools of France were at this time in the hands of religious orders, and the Minim Brothers, who had charge of Brienne, were principally celebrated26 for their ignorance. They certainly could not change the arrogant27 and false notions of their aristocratic young pupils.
It was a dangerous experiment to place in such surroundings a boy like the young Napoleon, proud, ambitious, jealous; lacking any healthful moral training; possessing an Italian indifference28 to truth and the rights of others; already conscious that he had his own way to make in the world, and inspired by a determination to do it.
From the first the atmosphere at Brienne was hateful to the boy. His comrades were French, and it was the French who had subdued29 Corsica. They taunted30 him with it sometimes, and he told them that had there been but four to one, Corsica would never have been conquered, but that the French came ten to one. When they said: “But your father submitted,” he said bitterly: “I shall never forgive him for it.” As for Paoli, he told them, proudly, “He is a good man. I wish I could be like him.”
He had trouble with the new language. They jeered31 at him because of it. His name was strange; la paille au nez was the nickname they made from Napoleon.
He was poor; they were rich. The contemptuous treatment he received because of his poverty was such that he begged to be taken home.
“My father [he wrote], if you or my protectors cannot give me the means of sustaining myself more honorably in the house where I am, please let me return home as soon as possible. I am tired of poverty and of the jeers32 of insolent33 scholars who are superior to me only in their fortune, for there is not one among them who feels one hundredth part of the noble sentiment which animates34 me. Must your son, sir, 23continually be the butt35 of these boobies, who, vain of the luxuries which they enjoy, insult me by their laughter at the privations which I am forced to endure? No, father, no! If fortune refuses to smile upon me, take me from Brienne, and make me, if you will, a mechanic. From these words you may judge of my despair. This letter, sir, please believe, is not dictated36 by a vain desire to enjoy extravagant37 amusements. I have no such wish. I feel simply that it is necessary to show my companions that I can procure38 them as well as they, if I wish to do so.
“Your respectful and affectionate son,
“Bonaparte.”
Charles Bonaparte, always in pursuit of pleasure and his inheritance, could not help his son. Napoleon made other attempts to escape, even offering himself, it is said, to the British Admiralty as a sailor, and once, at least, begging Monsieur de Marb?uf, the Governor-General of Corsica, who had aided Charles Bonaparte in securing places for both boys, to withdraw his protection. The incident which led to this was characteristic of the school. The supercilious39 young nobles taunted him with his father’s position; it was nothing but that of a poor tipstaff, they said. Young Bonaparte, stung by what he thought an insult, attacked his tormentors, and, being caught in the act, was shut up. He immediately wrote to the Count de Marb?uf a letter of remarkable qualities in so young a boy and in such circumstances. After explaining the incident he said:
“Now, Monsieur le Comte, if I am guilty, if my liberty has been taken from me justly, have the goodness to add to the kindnesses which you have shown me one thing more—take me from Brienne and withdraw your protection: it would be robbery on my part to keep it any longer from one who deserves it more than I do. I shall never, sir, be worthier40 of it than I am now. I shall never cure myself of an impetuosity which is all the more dangerous because I believe its motive41 is sacred. Whatever idea of self-interest influences me, I shall never have control enough to see my father, an honorable man, dragged in the mud. I shall always, Monsieur le Comte, feel too deeply in these circumstances to limit myself to complaining to my superior. I shall always feel that a good son ought not to allow another to avenge42 such an outrage43. As for the benefits which you have rained upon me, they will never be forgotten. I shall say I had gained an honorable protection, but Heaven denied me the virtues44 which were necessary in order to profit by it.”
24
BONAPARTE AT BRIENNE.
The original of this statue is in the gallery of Versailles. It dates from 1851, and is by Louis Rochet, one of the pupils of David d’Angers.
25In the end Napoleon saw that there was no way for him but to remain at Brienne, galled45 by poverty and formalism.
It would be unreasonable46 to suppose that there was no relief to this sombre life. The boy won recognition more than once from his companions by his bravery and skill in defending his rights. He was not only valorous; he was generous, and, “preferred going to prison himself to denouncing his comrades who had done wrong.” Young Napoleon found, soon, that if there were things for which he was ridiculed47, there were others for which he was applauded.
He made friends, particularly among his teachers; and to one of his comrades, Bourrienne, he remained attached for years. “You never laugh at me; you like me,” he said to his friend. Those who found him morose48 and surly, did not realize that beneath the reserved, sullen49 exterior50 of the little Corsican boy there was a proud and passionate51 heart aching for love and recognition; that it was sensitiveness rather than arrogance52 which drove him away from his mates.
At the end of five and one-half years Napoleon was promoted to the military school at Paris. The choice of pupils for this school was made by an inspector53, at this time one Chevalier de Kéralio, an amiable54 old man, who was fond of mingling55 with the boys as well as examining them. He was particularly pleased with Napoleon, and named him for promotion56 in spite of his being strong in nothing but mathematics, and not yet being of the age required by the regulations. The teachers protested, but De Kéralio insisted.
“I know what I am doing,” he said. “If I put the rules aside in this case, it is not to do his family a favor—I do 26not know them. It is because of the child himself. I have seen a spark here which cannot be too carefully cultivated.”
De Kéralio died before the nominations57 were made, but his wishes in regard to young Bonaparte were carried out. The recommendation which sent him up is curious. The notes read:
“Monsieur de Bonaparte; height four feet, ten inches and ten lines; he has passed his fourth examination; good constitution, excellent health; submissive character, frank and grateful; regular in conduct; has distinguished58 himself by his application to mathematics; is passably well up in history and geography; is behindhand in his Latin. Will make an excellent sailor. Deserves to be sent to the school in Paris.”
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1
chimerical
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| adj.荒诞不经的，梦幻的 | |
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lawsuit
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| n.诉讼，控诉 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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vomited
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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revere
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| vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏 | |
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12
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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13
imbibing
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| v.吸收( imbibe的现在分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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14
wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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humbled
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| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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solicitation
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| n.诱惑；揽货；恳切地要求；游说 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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recapitulated
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| v.总结，扼要重述( recapitulate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
justifies
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| 证明…有理( justify的第三人称单数 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护） | |
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counteract
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| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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30
taunted
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| 嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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jeers
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| n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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animates
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| v.使有生气( animate的第三人称单数 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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supercilious
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| adj.目中无人的，高傲的；adv.高傲地；n.高傲 | |
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40
worthier
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| 应得某事物( worthy的比较级 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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41
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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42
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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43
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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44
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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45
galled
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| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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47
ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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49
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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50
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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51
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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52
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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53
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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54
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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55
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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56
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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57
nominations
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| n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 ) | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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