whether the tendency of the mind dictated the selection of it; or,
lastly, whether the nature of the pastime, corresponding with the taste
which chose it, may not have had each their action and reaction, and
contributed between them to the formation of a character so warlike.

[4] "Sketches of Corsica," p. 4.

The same traveller who furnishes the above anecdote, gives an
interesting account of the country retreat of the family of Bonaparte
during the summer.

Going along the sea-shore from Ajaccio towards the Isle Sanguiniere,
about a mile from the town, occur two stone pillars, the remains of a
doorway, leading up to a dilapidated villa, once the residence of Madame
Bonaparte's half-brother on the mother's side, whom Napoleon created
Cardinal Fesch.[5] The house is approached by an avenue, surrounded and
overhung by the cactus and other shrubs, which luxuriate in a warm
climate. It has a garden and a lawn, showing amidst neglect vestiges of
their former beauty, and the house is surrounded by shrubberies,
permitted to run to wilderness. This was the summer residence of Madame
Bonaparte and her family. Almost enclosed by the wild olive, the cactus,
the clematis, and the almond-tree, is a very singular and isolated
granite rock, called Napoleon's grotto, which seems to have resisted the
decomposition which has taken place around. The remains of a small
summer-house are visible beneath the rock, the entrance to which is
nearly closed by a luxuriant fig-tree. This was Bonaparte's frequent
retreat, when the vacations of the school at which he studied permitted
him to visit home. How the imagination labours to form an idea of the
visions, which, in this sequestered and romantic spot, must have arisen
before the eyes of the future hero of a hundred battles!