RECOLLECTIONS OF THE YOUTH OF left without an answer for twenty years after the death of Napoleon, when the want was supplied, and in the only way it could NAPOLEON. HE public acts of the life of Napoleon be supplied-almost all those who knew be forgotten. The transactions of his secret policy are preserved in the archives of every court in Europe, and must, sooner or later, be equally well known. As to the incidents of his private life, we find in the memoirs published by different persons attached to the person of the Emperor, or written under his own eye at St. Helena, a multitude of anecdotes, more or less authentic, which give, up to a certain point, some insight into his character and habits. All these recollections, however, relate to the more brilliant epochs of his life, but scarcely, if at all, touch upon the history of his early youth; and up to a long time after his death, the world was still in ignorance of all that pertained to his mental training-to the formation of his intellectual powers. We were shown him in the full development of his genius; he was depicted as general, first consul, and emperor; and placed before us now in the imperial purple-now in his ocean prison. His course was traced for us from the moment when the eagle took his first flight upward at Toulon, to that in which he was chained to the island rock; but we had not been told how those pinions were trained for such lofty soaring. Napoleon himself seemed to have been very reserved on this point, and, with the exception of a few college anecdotes, and some vague intimations, we were left, up to a very late period, with scarcely any light upon all that preceded his elevation, or could account for it. And yet, what more interesting problem than the formation of such a character as Napoleon's? How did he employ the years when he was only lieutenant of artillery?how prepare for his high destiny? By what means were developed that extraordinary character-that marvelous intellect? Were those intellectual heights attained by one single spring of a genius submitting to no restraint, needing none of the ordinary aids? or was that genius directed by an iron will, and supported by that steady and persevering diligence which is its natural ally, and, in all its highest creations, its indispensable fellow-worker and inseparable companion? But to these questions we have been having gone to the grave-by himself. It was during his consulship that the idea occurred to Napoleon, who, to use his own words at St. Helena, "saw himself already in history," of putting into safe-keeping all the papers relating to his early youth. He placed them in a large official dispatch-box, labeled "Correspondence with the First Consul;" and drawing his pen over these words he wrote: "To be forwarded to Cardinal Fesch." This box, corded and sealed with the cardinal's crest, passed through the empire, and the restoration, and through many hands, with the seals still unbroken, till about nine years ago, when for the first time it was opened, and the nature of its contents discovered. These documents were divided into two classes-the first comprising the correspondence and the biographical details; and the second, some original compositions of Napoleon, with thoughts, notes, and passages, extracted from and suggested by different works. To give some idea of the number of those documents, (all either autographs or copies, with corrections and annotations by the author) it is sufficient to say that without reckoning these copies, and a crowd of detached pieces, there were in this box thirty-eight commonplace books wholly in Napoleon's own hand. The greater number of these books are dated, and contain all that he wrote, from the year 1786 to 1793. In them he seems to have found a vent for all the thoughts, opinions, and feelings, which his taciturn disposition and somber gloom prevented his communicating to his companions. This gloom and reserve ought not to be matter of surprise; for he himself tells us, in a kind of biographical and chronological notice of his early life, that he left his home at nine years old, and did not return to Corsica till he was seventeen-an isolation which, while it doubtless strengthened his character, must yet have tended to embitter it. It will not be uninteresting to note, that in all these papers we find no complaint of his poverty, though, in order to meet the educational expenses of his brother Louis, he was obliged to dress his own dinner. It is not our intention to dwell upon the biographical notices; our object being to point attention to the numerous evidences of his arduous study and persevering diligence, affording a useful lesson, which we would commend to the consideration of those who, feeling within them a certain excitement, regard it—and it may be justly as the token of mental power, but forget that it is as surely an evidence of power needing the strengthening and discipline of order and systematic study; and who, therefore, require to be reminded that diligence and self-control are the crowning attributes of genius. Napoleon no more attained his greatness by fits and starts-of a genius however extraordinary-than he made his way over the Alps by a sudden flight. In both cases the road was opened by labor, toil, and endurance. must suffice. None but a young man, and has had the same faculties of reasoning, the same affections which he now has, and he must have used them, for we have no instance of the existence of man who has not used them. To feel is a want of the heart, as to eat is of the body. To feel is to attach ourselves-is to love. Man must know pity, friendship, and love; thence flow gratitude, veneration, respect. If it could have been otherwise, then the statement would be true, that feeling and reason are not inherent in man, but only the fruit of civilization-of society; then would there be no natural affection, no natural reason, no duty, no virtue, no conscience. No conscience? It is not the citizen of Geneva who will tell us this!" His selection of works and his extracts from them are alike remarkable. First, we perceive a restless curiosity throwing itself into all subjects without any determinate object. He reads Buffon, occupies himself with natural history, natural philosophy, and medicine. He studies geog-ing, I think that man in a state of nature raphy and ancient history, especially that of Greece. He cites Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus; but, strange to say, the name of Plutarch, the teacher at whose feet so many illustrious men have sat, and which has been so often said to have been Napoleon's favorite study, is not once mentioned. He next turned successively to the history of China, of India and Arabia, of England and Germany, and then applied himself to French history, first in a general view, and afterward in detail. He examines the resources, the revenue, the legislation, of France, and studies carefully the rights of the Gallican Church; and the three books filled with notes, written at eighteen, on the subject of the Sorbonne and the bull Unigenitus, and the religion of the State, at once anticipate and account for the Concordat. His object seemed rather to gain a knowledge of historical facts than to form a system from them. He soon directs his attention to the moral sciences; engages in the study of political economy and legislation; reads Filangieri, Mably, Necker, Smith, and takes extracts, often interspersed with critical remarks. The independence of his character is displayed here as in all else. A single instance In this refutation, defective as it is in many respects, the fundamental vice of Rousseau's system is strongly and logically put. It needed to be a Napoleon to criticise so boldly the opinions of a writer who, in 1791, exercised such despotic and universal sway. It is singular that, amid all this studying and copying, Napoleon never learned the grammar of the French language, nor even to spell correctly. His writing, it is well known, was almost illegible, and he was aware of it himself. Immediately after his accession to the imperial throne, a somewhat shabbily-dressed man gained access to him. "Who are you?" asked Napoleon. "Sire, I had the honor of giving lessons in writing to your majesty for fifteen months." "Your pupil does you great credit,” replied the Emperor, quickly; "I cannot but congratulate you." And he gave him a pension. His writing, always hardly legible, soon became a complete short-hand, scarcely half the letters being given that properly belonged to the words. It is asserted that this was done designedly, to conceal his ignorance of orthography, which, as we have said, he could never learn. There is but little trace of mathematical research, all remains of his studies in this way being limited to calculations for the artillery. All this regular and systematic | course of reading had a definite object; nothing was done for mere amusement. Ariosto is the only work of imagination he seems to notice, and from which, strange to say, he has some extracts; though several scraps of not very good poetry, scattered through his commonplace books, show that he sometimes liked to try his powers in the more flowery fields of literature. We have also a Corsican romance, entirely in his own handwriting, in which the dagger plays a very principal part; an English historical tale, called The Earl of Essex; and a short eastern story, entitled The Masked Prophet. Among these papers are several harangues and speeches at popular meetings, and on deputations, the prospectus of the Calotte, (a secret society in the army,) and various political notes, in which Napoleon presents himself as an ardent and devoted republican. "The republicans," he says, in one of his speeches," are reproached and calumniated; nay, it is even asserted that a republic is impossible in France." Farther on is found the plan of a work on royalty. It is somewhat curious to see what Napoleon, then at Auxonne, thought of a monarchy on the 23d of October, 1788. "Dissertation on Kingly Government.This work is to begin with a general view of the origin of the name of king, and the progress of its prestige in the minds of kings in the twelve kingdoms of Europe. There are very few kings that had not deserved to be dethroned." Of all the productions of Napoleon's youth, the best known is a History of Corsica, which he wished to have had published at Dole, and which was supposed to have been lost. Lucien Bonaparte, in his Memoirs, thus expresses his regret for the loss of this work : "The names of Mirabeau and of Raynal bring me back to Napoleon. Napoleon, while at Ajaccio, during leave of absence, (it was, I think, in 1790,) had composed a History of Corsica; two copies of which I wrote, and the loss of which I much regret. One of these two MSS. was addressed to the Abbé Raynal, with whom my brother had become acquainted on his passage to Marseilles. Raynal thought the work so remarkable that he showed it to Mirabeau, who, when returning it, wrote to Raynal that this little History seemed to him an indication of genius of a firstrate order. Napoleon was enchanted at this opinion of the great orator. I have made many and vain attempts to recover these pieces, which were probably destroyed in the conflagration of our house by Paoli's troops." Lucien was mistaken; the manuscript of this History was not destroyed-it is among the papers committed to Cardinal Fesch, and consists of three large books, not in Napoleon's own hand, but with corrections and annotations by him. The history is in the form of letters addressed to the Abbé Raynal, and, beginning with the most remote period, terminates with the treaty of Coste between the Genoese and the Corsicans in the eighteenth century. The style is animated and fervid, and the whole breathes the most ardent love for Corsica. Indeed, there are many indications in the numerous documents on subjects connected with his native country, that Napoleon was then fully occupied with it, and with it only, and was preparing to play in it the part of Paoli. It is as remarkable as little to be expected, that in writing this History, Napoleon did not confine himself to traditions more or less vague; but at a time when erudition was almost proscribed as antiquated stuff, incompatible with the march of intellect, he studied every document that could throw any light upon his subject, and not only cited his authorities, but collected the inedited documents to which he had referred for information. Many of these pieces are still annexed to the manuscript of The History of Corsica. This extraordinary man could do nothing by halves; all that he did was done in earnest. In the midst of the revolution, and in its rapid torrent of fluctuating opinions, he felt that history is not to be improvised, but it must be studied in original documents. We must not enter into quotations, nor the moral questions connected with Napoleon's aims and objects, with the use or misuse of his energies, for we are now only dealing with the raining by which he learned to concentrate them; and with the great lesson to be drawn from the fact that it was by strenuous perseverance and unwearied effort, under difficulties and impediments, that his mental powers were -we will not say created-but fostered and made effectual to the attainment of his aims and objects. Napoleon, as well as Michael Angelo, and Newton, and all possessed of true genius, had to submit to that law of human nature, which decrees that nothing great can be done without great effort. Of all the subjects of which he afterward showed himself master, he was first the regular and diligent student. His clear ideas on legislation, on finance, and social organization, were not fruits of spontaneous growth, but the harvest reaped on the throne from the labors of the poor lieutenant of artillery. He owed his mental development to-that which in every age every great and strong mind has owed it-industry, to solitary and patient vigil, to difficulty and misfortune. True it is, that the revolution opened to him a vast field; but had the revolution never occurred, Napoleon must have become distinguished, for characters such as his seize upon, but are never the slaves of, circumstances. When, after seven years spent in retirement, Napoleon made his first appearance on the world's stage, he had already within him the germs of his future greatness. Nothing was fortuitous with him. His was a perpetual struggle, and not always a successful one. His being at Toulon was owing to his never losing an opportunity of coming forward. Never did a new minister come into power without receiving a memorial from the young officer on the affairs of his native country; and never was any change in the military department of Corsica proposed, that Napoleon did not, at any risk, immediately repair thither. When unsuccessful in his object, he returned to Valence, to think and to study; and these seven years of the youthful life of Napoleon are to us the noblest and greatest in that life of prodigies, and are themselves sufficient to preclude his elevation being ascribed to fatality. And yet how often must the readers of the papers in that dispatch-box have been struck with the most singular coincidences of facts and dates. For the first time was it then generally known that Napoleon, in 1791, was receiving a pension from the king, and that his brevet as captain was signed by Louis XVI.; and, as if the monarch before his fall intended to name his successor, it bears the date of August 30th, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Two. In the geographical note-book in Napoleon's own hand, but unfinished, the last words are-and do they not contain the most extraordinary prediction ?— Sainte Helene, petite île. And there, indeed, the Emperor was to close his geography. A THE ANCIENT USE OF A KISS. ROMAN woman in the ancient time was not allowed to drink wine, except it were simple raisin wine; and, however she might relish strong drinks, she could not indulge, even by stealth; first, because she was never intrusted with the key of the wine cellar; and, secondly, because she was obliged daily to greet with a kiss all her own as well as her husband's male representatives, down even to second cousins; and as she knew not when or where she might meet them, she was forced to be wary and abstain altogether, for had she tasted but a drop, the smell would have betrayed her. So strict were the old Romans in this respect, that a certain Ignatius Mercurius is said to have slain his wife because he caught her at the wine-cask-a punishment which was not deemed excessive by Romulus, who absolved the husband of the crime of murder. Another Roman lady, who, under the pretense of taking a little wine for her stomach's sake and frequent infirmities, indulged somewhat too freely, was mulcted to the full amount of her dowry. TOWAR BLIND MUSICIANS. NOWARD the latter end of the seventeenth and the early part of the eighteenth centuries we come upon a crowd of blind musicians, of whom we may mention the most noted, or those whose experiences throw most light upon the blind condition. One of the most remarkable of those names is that of TURLAGH CAROLAN, one of the best and most celebrated of the Irish bards, whose compositions have been as much admired for their extraordinary variety as for their exquisite melody, as he is. said to have composed no less than four hundred pieces. It is certain that the national Irish music was much enriched by his productions; nor did these form the sole ground of his claim to the distinction which he achieved, as he also was a very fair poet, and has left coupled to his own music many fine lyrical pieces which, in this connection, will not soon be forgotten. Carolan was the son of one of those poor farmers-peasant-farmers we might call them-who seem to have always abounded in Ireland. He was born in 1670, in the village of Nobber, Westmeath. The small-pox deprived him of sight at so early an age that he retained no recollection of colors. Of this loss, he who had scarcely known what sight was, and whose habits grew up under blindness, could not well complain; and he did not: "My eyes," he used to say, "are transplanted to my ears." Carolan's musical talents were soon discovered, and his friends determined to cultivate them. At the age of twelve, a proper master was engaged to instruct him in the harp. Of that instrument he became fond but he never struck it with a master-hand, perhaps because he wanted the application which is essential to perfection in any art. Yet the harp was often in his hands: but he used it chiefly as a help to composition, his fingers wandering in quest of melody among the strings. When he grew to manhood, there was a time when his harp would sound only of love, under the impulse of a passion he had conceived for Bridget Cruise. The lady did not unite her lot with his; and after a while he loved and married another, named Mary Maguire. Many years after he went on a pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Purgatory, a cave in the island of Loughderg, Donegal; and, on returning to the shore, met several pilgrims waiting the arrival of the boat that conveyed him. On assisting some of these into the boat, his hand unexpectedly met one which caused him to start, and he instantly exclaimed: "This is the hand of Bridget Cruise." His sense of feeling had not deceived him. It was the hand of her he had once loved so passionately. "I had this anecdote from his own mouth," says the narrator, "and in terms which gave me a strong impression of the emotion which he felt on meeting the object of his early affection." a On his marriage Carolan built himself house, and lived more merrily than wisely in it. Want was the consequence; and this, coupled with his fondness for music, seems to have been the original cause of his betaking himself to that itinerant life which he thenceforth led. For the remainder of his days he went about the country as a traveling musician, mounted on a good horse, and followed on another by a servant, who carried his harp. Wherever he came, the gates of the nobility and gentry were thrown open to him. He was received with respect, and a high place at the table was assigned to him. It was during these peregrinations that Carolan composed those airs which are still the delight of his countrymen. He thought the tribute of a song due to every house in which he was entertained, and he never failed to pay it, choosing for his subject either the head of the family or some one of its loveliest members. Few men have manifested stronger evidences of a vigorous mind than Carolan; although at the same time it afforded the usual characteristics of a mind undisciplined by cultivation. He is said to have outstripped all his predecessors in the three species of composition used among the Irish; and although he omitted no opportunity of bestowing large, but not indiscriminate, praise upon his brothers in the tuneful art, he preferred Italian compositions to all others. Habitually pious, Carolan never omitted daily prayer; and he fondly imagined himself inspired in composing some pieces of church music, which, however different from his usual style of composition, were considered excellent. This idea enhanced his devotion |