"Through that long series of years, coming more or less into contact with the great doings of the world, I failed not to think seriously on what was passing around me, and, after my own fashion, to connect so many extraordinary mutations into something like arrangement and interdependence. "What could now be more delightful to me than leisurely and calmly to sit down and listen to the discourse of such a man, while clearly, truly, and with all the skill of a great artist, he recalls to me the incidents on which through life I have meditated, and the influence of which is still daily in operation?"--Goëthe's _Posthumous Works_, vol. vi., p. 253. Sed non in Cæsare tantum Nomen erat, nec fama ducis; sed nescia virtus Stare loco: solusque pudor non vincere bello. Acer et indomitus; quo spes quoque ira vocasset, Ferre manum, et nunquam temerando parcere ferro: Successus urgere suos: instare favori Numinis: impellens quicquid sibi summa petenti Obstaret: gaudensque viam fecisse ruina. LUCANI, _Pharsalia_, Lib. I.[4] FOOTNOTES: [1] Southey's _Life of Nelson_, 2 vols. fcap. 8vo. 1813. [2] Barras, in his official account of the affair of the 13th Vendémiaire, (Oct. 5, 1795,) calls him General _Buonaparte_; and in the contract of marriage between Napoleon and Josephine, still existing in the registry of the second arrondissement of Paris, dated March 9, 1796, his signature is so written. No document has ever been produced, in which the word appears as _Bonaparte_, prior to Napoleon's appointment to the command of the Army of Italy. [3] [Sir Walter Scott's Notes have the letter S affixed to them, all of the others having been collected by the Editor of the 1843 Edition.] [4] "But Cæsar's greatness, and his strength, was more Than past renown and antiquated power; 'Twas not the fame of what he once had been, Or tales in old records and annals seen; But 'twas a valour restless, unconfined, Which no success could sate, nor limits bind; 'Twas shame, a soldier's shame, untaught to yield, That blush'd for nothing but an ill-fought field; Fierce in his hopes he was, nor knew to stay Where vengeance or ambition led the way; Still prodigal of war whene'er withstood, Nor spared to stain the guilty sword with blood; Urging advantage, he improved all odds, And made the most of fortune and the gods; Pleased to o'erturn whate'er withheld his prize, And saw the ruin with rejoicing eyes."--ROWE. CONTENTS VIEW OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. PAGE