NAPOLEON. From a print in the collection of Mr. W. C. Crane. The original engraving by G. Fiesinger, after a miniature by Jean-Baptiste-Paulin Guérin. Deposited in the National Library, Paris, 1799 136 LETTER FROM NAPOLEON IN ITALY TO JOSEPHINE. In facsimile 160 JOSEPHINE IN 1800. From a pastel by P. P. Prud’hon 188 NAPOLEON. From the painting by Paul Delaroche entitled “General Buonaparte crossing the Alps” 200 NAPOLEON AS FIRST CONSUL, AT MALMAISON. From a painting by J. B. Isabey 256 JOSEPHINE IN 1809. From a water-color by Isabey 338 MARIA LOUISA. From the portrait by Gérard in the Louvre 460 LETTER FROM NAPOLEON TO COUNTESS WALEWSKI, DATED APRIL 16, 1814. In facsimile 562 THE KING OF ROME. From the painting by Sir T. Lawrence 690 NAPOLEON CHAPTER I Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, has an extreme width of 52 miles and length of 116. It is within easy reach of Italy, France, Spain, Sardinia, and the African coast. Within 54 miles lies Tuscany, while Genoa is distant but 98, and the French coast at Nice is 106. Across the island strides a chain of mountains, dividing it into two nearly equal parts. The slopes of the hills are covered with dense forests of gigantic pines and chestnuts, and on their summits rests eternal snow. Down from these highlands rapid streams run to the sea. There are many beautiful valleys and many fine bays and harbors. The population of the island was, in the eighteenth century, about 130,000. The Italian type predominated. In religion it was Roman Catholic. The history of Corsica has been wonderfully dramatic. Peopled originally by the Celts, perhaps, the island has been so often war-swept, so often borne down under the rush of stronger nations, that the native race almost disappeared. The Greeks from Asia Minor, back in the dim ages, seized upon a part of the coast and colonized it. Carthage, in her day of greatness, was its mistress; and then came Rome, whose long period of supremacy left its stamp upon the people, bringing as it did multitudes of Italians, with their language, customs, and religion.