XXXI. THE BEGINNING OF THE END--THE LEIPZIG CAMPAIGN 291 XXXII. THE CONQUEST OF THE CONQUEROR 302 INDEX 315 Illustrations NAPOLEON I., EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH _J. L. David_ _Frontispiece_ PAGE NAPOLEON AT BRIENNE _Réalier Dumas_ 24 “IT IS THE EMPEROR!” _H. de T. Glazebrook_ 86 INSTALLATION OF NAPOLEON AS FIRST CONSUL _L. Couder_ 108 THE DEATH OF GENERAL DESAIX _A. Le Dru_ 118 ON THE SANDS AT BOULOGNE _A. C. Gow, R.A._ 132 NAPOLEON GIVING THE EAGLES TO HIS ARMY _L. David_ 140 NAPOLEON DECORATING HIS SOLDIERS AT BOULOGNE _F. G. Roussel_ 146 THE NIGHT BEFORE AUSTERLITZ _A. Dawant_ 152 THE BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND _Horace Vernet_ 176 THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW _V. Werestchagin_ 266 AFTER MOSCOW: “ADVANCE OR RETREAT?” _V. Werestchagin_ 280 MARSHAL NEY DEFENDING THE REAR-GUARD _Adolphe Yvon_ 288 1814 _J. L. E. Meissonier_ 302 THE FLIGHT FROM WATERLOO _A. C. Gow, R.A._ 308 NAPOLEON ON BOARD THE BELLEROPHON _Sir W. Q. Orchardson, R.A._ 312 The Story of Napoleon CHAPTER I Napoleon the Boy (1769-1778) Whenever we hear the name of Napoleon mentioned, or see it printed in a book, it is usually in connection with a hard-fought victory on the battlefield. He certainly spent most of his life in the camp, and enjoyed the society of soldiers more than that of courtiers. The thunder of guns, the charge of cavalry, and the flash of bayonets as they glittered in the sun, appealed to him with much the same force as music to more ordinary folk. Indeed, he himself tells us that “the cries of the dying, the tears of the hopeless, surrounded my cradle from the moment of my birth.”