Produced by Thierry Alberto, Henry Craig, Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained.] [Illustration: Napoleon Bonaparte in 1785, aged sixteen. From sketch made by a comrade; formerly in the Musée des Souverains, now in the Louvre.] THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE BY WILLIAM MILLIGAN SLOANE PH.D., L.H.D., LL.D. _Professor of History in Columbia University_ Revised and Enlarged With Portraits VOLUME I [Illustration: Editor's arm.] NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1916 Copyright, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1910 BY THE CENTURY CO. _Published, October, 1910_ PREFACE TO THE LIBRARY EDITION This life of Napoleon was first published in 1896 as a book: for the years 1895-96 it ran as a serial in the pages of the Century Magazine. Judging from the sales, it has been read by many tens if not hundreds of thousands of readers; and it has been extensively noticed in the critical journals of both worlds. Throughout these fourteen years the demand has been very large and steady, considering the size and cost of the volumes. Both publishers and author have determined therefore that a library edition was desired by the public, and in that confidence the book has been partly rewritten and entirely remade. In the main it is the same book as that which has passed through so many editions. But in some respects it has been amplified. The portion relating to the period of youth has been somewhat expanded, the personalities of those nearest to Napoleon have been in some cases more broadly sketched, new chapters have been added to the treatment of the Continental system, the Louisiana Purchase, and the St. Helena epoch. In all the text has been lengthened about one-tenth.