A few leagues from Ajaccio lies a small village, which bears the name of Pozzo di Borgo (well of the city); tradition says, however, that the family of that name inhabited the little fort of Montechi among the mountains: the Pozzis, the Poggis, and the Pazzis, were all families of the middle ages. As it was in Germany with the Castellans of the Seven Mountains, so also in Corsica the nobles reckoned their pedigree from some of the highest peaks in the island, under the shelter of rocks and wild fig-trees, where so many black crosses, symbols of _Vendetta_, are still to be seen. When Corsica was annexed to France, the noble descent of the Pozzos was substantiated by a supreme council of the island. The subject of this memoir was born the same year as Napoleon, if we rectify a little the date assigned by chronologists to the latter event. He first saw the light on the 8th of March, 1768, and had, therefore, attained his majority at the time of the revolution, when the popular agitation produced a most startling and arousing effect upon Corsica; and as if awaking from slumber two parties started up--a national party, and one devoted to the French interests. Paoli and Pozzo di Borgo indulged in dreams of the independence of their country, but without the intervention of foreign aid. The Buonapartes, who had for a short time ranged themselves under the banner of Paoli, afterwards joined the Arenas and the Salicettis, partisans of the French and Jacobin school. Before these divisions had assumed a very decided complexion, they contented themselves with giving an enthusiastic welcome to the revolution; intoxication prevailed every where, and at the age of twenty-two years Pozzo di Borgo, secretary to the corps of the nobility, was despatched as deputy-extraordinary to the National Assembly.