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LECTURE II.

THE BOYHOOD OF NAPOLEON.

TRUTHFUL history of the youth and educa

tion of one, who in manhood has manifested transcendent powers of mind, must always be of interest. If the conduct and glory of his life has attracted unusual attention, there is a natural desire to be acquainted with that portion of it which transpired before he had come to public notice. But to the rising generation, to those who are now receiving that education which is to guide and support them through life, the early history of such a man is of vital importance. If a certain course of training has conducted him to success in what he has undertaken, it is fair to infer that similar training will exert a corresponding influence. If a well-spent youth has been rewarded with fortunate results, it will yield encouragement for others to go and do likewise. If his education has borne rich fruits in mature years, it will be profitable for us to inquire, what was the course of studies that he pursued, and what was the manner of pursuing them. When a man has arisen

Labor and genius.

Observation of Sir Sydney Smith.

from poverty and obscurity to such a brilliant career as that of Napoleon, the force of his early example speaks to us in a voice that commands universal attention.

We are apt to look upon every marked achievement of human effort as having been secured by genius-by gifts the special manifestation of Providence. The young especially, are ever ready to believe that labor and genius are incompatible. They would transfer that halo of glory, that surrounds the reputed feats of the gods of antiquity, to the real heroes of history. There can be no belief more fatal to the claims of true greatness, and at no period of life is it more disastrous to entertain it than in youth.

Sir Sydney Smith has appropriately observed, that "it would be an extremely profitable thing, to draw up a short and well authenticated account of the habits of study of the most celebrated writers with whose style of literary industry we happen to be most acquainted. It would go very far to destroy the absurd and pernicious association of genius and idleness, by showing that the greatest poets, orators, statesmen, and historians-men of the most brilliant and imposing talents, have actually labored as hard as the makers of dictionaries and the arrangers of indexes; and that the most obvious reason why they

Genius and idleness.

Five talents ten.

Napoleon the warrior.

have been superior to other men, is that they have taken more pains than other men."

Could such a collection be made, it would but add another proof to the many which already exist, that the only true glory of man is labor; and that so far from labor being incompatible with genius, it is in fact the creator of it. The most brilliant powers with which Heaven is pleased to endow men, must inevitably grow weak under the blighting influence of sloth and inactivity. While labor makes the five talents ten, and secures those habits of mental action which are absolutely indispensable to the loftiest achievements. Let no youth despise labor, and court the position of a luxurious life who hopes to walk the paths of glory. The muscles pine, and the strong sinews perish beneath the withering touch of inactivity; while the smith at his sooty forge can show a brawny arm and sinews like the steel he has wrought. The faculties become weak and the purpose wavering when pampered with inglorious ease, but the mind that is accustomed to bend steadily to its tasks will be ready to seize with firm grasp the object of its labors.

It is common for us to think of Napoleon only as a warrior, as General Bonaparte. At the mention of his name the presence is a lofty form, with a sword flashing by its side, and a plume bending from its

Bridge of Lodi. Helena. His tarnished sword.

Once like other boys.

lordly brow. We would as soon draw the picture of the lion without his claws and teeth, as Napoleon without the trappings of war. Does he cross the Alps? He is seated upon a black charger with fiery eyes and rearing form. Does he force the bridge of Lodi? He is amid the thickest of the fight, his saber drips with blood, his enemies flee at his approach as from the genius of war. Is he banished to Elba? He must still be an emperor, and the commander of a military establishment. He was put in his grave at Helena in the habiliments of war, and when they brought him back to France, his tarnished sword surmounted his sarcophagus.

We seem to forget that he ever had a boyhood; that he was once an infant muling in his nurse's arms; that he began in the world with as little knowledge as any of us; that he was obliged to resort to the same means for the attainment of it that we were all under the necessity of doing; that he encountered the same difficulties which perplex the mind of the youth who are to-day in our common schools. Because he was a giant in manhood we do not realize that he was in youth like other boys, subject to their weaknesses, captivated by their pleasures, and joining with equal zest in their sports, and that the only difference was, that he from his earliest years had his faculties under the control of his own

Moral tendency.

Born in 1769.

Roman blood.

will, while they suffered theirs to be led by their de

sires and passions.

Of the moral tendency of Napoleon's life we have nothing to say. Whether his career was a blessing or a curse to the world, is not material to the subject which we are considering. There are those who have stigmatized him as a demon, and others with equal zeal have praised his patriotism and his devotion to the welfare of his country. Upon this question we are not called to pass judgment. We do not desire by any praises we may bestow on his talent and industry in youth, to encourage a taste for military glory, or unholy ambition. He was a noble pattern of a scholar, and as such we wish to present him as an example to those who would become eminent in learning.

About five years previous to the opening of our Revolution, in 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born. His parents were Italian, and there consequently coursed in his veins some of the old Roman blood. We discover in his character many of the Roman traits. War was the profession of the Roman people. Peace was to them an abnormal state. We see in his nature that boldness and energy, that ironwill and unconquerable perseverance which so signally marked his progenitors.

He was born in the midst of a revolution. Cor