In 1795 it is said that Napoleon paid a visit to a sorcerer named Pierre le Clerc, and expressed some doubt of his power. ‘You are wrong,’ said the magician, ‘to doubt my art. I know more than you probably imagine. There was a prophecy of a certain Count Cagliostro, uttered ten years ago, on the French Revolution, which was not then thought of. This announced that a Corsican voted or elected by the people, would finish it, probably by a Dictatorship.’ Napoleon left the old man, and, it is said, did not visit him again until the eve of the fateful 18th Brumaire. The seer gave him a number of cards, on each of which he was to write one letter of the question he wanted to ask, which was: ‘What will become of the Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte, general, on account of the _Coup d’Etat_ risked by him, at Paris, the 18th Brumaire, 1799?’ These cards were well mixed and handed to the conjurer, who, after some manipulation, settled on thirteen cards, having the letters B, O, P, P, I, A, I, B, I, P, A, U, F, each of which letters he interpreted as the commencement of a Latin word; and, on this basis, he constructed the following sentence: ‘Bis Oriens, Populi Princeps, In Altum Incedit; Bis Incidit; Per Anglos Ultima Fata,’--or, He rises twice Prince of the People, and hovers over the heights; twice he falls; his last fatality will come from the English. Napoleon then took fresh cards, and wrote: ‘Josephine Marie Rose de Tascher de la Pagerie, wife of the General Napoleon Bonaparte.’ Of these Pierre le Clerc selected three letters, H, E, A, which he interpreted as ‘Herois Extinctus Amor,’--or, Love extinguishes itself in the heart of a hero.