among the number of the five who were chosen in 1784.

In a biographical account of Bonaparte I have read the following
anecdote:--When he was fourteen years of age he happened to be at a party
where some one pronounced a high eulogium on Turenne; and a lady in the
company observed that he certainly was a great man, but that she should
like him better if he had not burned the Palatinate. "What signifies
that," replied Bonaparte, "if it was necessary to the object he had in
view?"

This is either an anachronism or a mere fabrication. Bonaparte was
fourteen in the year 1783. He was then at Brienne, where certainly he
did not go into company, and least of all the company of ladies.




CHAPTER II.

1784-1794.

Bonaparte enters the Military College of Paris--He urges me to
embrace the military profession--His report on the state of the
Military School of Paris--He obtains a commission--I set off for
Vienna--Return to Paris, where I again meet Bonaparte--His singular
plans for raising money--Louis XVI, with the red cap on his head--
The 10th of August--My departure for Stuttgart--Bonaparte goes to
Corsica--My name inscribed on the list of emigrants--Bonaparte at
the siege of Toulon--Le Souper de Beaucaire--Napoleon's mission to
Genoa--His arrest--His autographical justification