Vendémiaire Sept. 22 to Oct. 21. Brumaire Oct. 22 " Nov. 20. Frimaire Nov. 21 " Dec. 20. Nivôse Dec. 21 " Jan. 19. Pluviôse Jan. 20 " Feb. 18. Ventôse Feb. 19 " Mar. 20. Germinal Mar. 21 " April 19. Floréal April 20 " May 19. Prairial May 20 " June 18. Messidor June 19 " July 18. Thermidor July 19 " Aug. 17. Fructidor Aug. 18 " Sept. 16. Add five (in leap years six) "Sansculottides" or "Jours complémentaires." In 1796 (leap year) the numbers in the table of months, so far as concerns all dates between Feb. 28 and Sept. 22, will have to be _reduced by one_, owing to the intercalation of Feb. 29, which is not compensated for until the end of the republican year. The matter is further complicated by the fact that the republicans reckoned An VIII as a leap year, though it is not one in the Gregorian Calendar. Hence that year ended on Sept. 22, and An IX and succeeding years began on Sept. 23. Consequently in the above table of months the numbers of all days from Vendémiaire 1, An IX (Sept. 23, 1800), to Nivôse 10, An XIV (Dec. 31, 1805), inclusive, will have to be _increased by one_, except only in the next leap year between Ventôse 9, An XII, and Vendémiaire 1, An XIII (Feb. 28-Sept, 23, 1804), when the two Revolutionary aberrations happen to neutralize each other. * * * * * THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I CHAPTER I PARENTAGE AND EARLY YEARS "I was born when my country was perishing. Thirty thousand French vomited upon our coasts, drowning the throne of Liberty in waves of blood, such was the sight which struck my eyes." This passionate utterance, penned by Napoleon Buonaparte at the beginning of the French Revolution, describes the state of Corsica in his natal year. The words are instinct with the vehemence of the youth and the extravagant sentiment of the age: they strike the keynote of his career. His life was one of strain and stress from his cradle to his grave.