found there the last of that branch of the Bonapartes, an old canon, Filippo Bonaparte, who made the young hero his heir, and died in the year 1799. As to the Bonapartes in Corsica or in Ajaccio, they certainly ascend to Messire Francesco Bonaparte, who died 1567; the Corsican branch of the family had undoubtedly come over from Sarzana. For perspicuity's sake I give a little genealogical table: FRANCESCO BONAPARTE, 1567. GABRIELE BONA BONAPARTE MESSIRE, (built towers at Ajaccio against the Barbaresques.) GERONIMO BONAPARTE EGREGIUS, PROCURATOR NOBILIS, The Bonapartes played no part in the history of Corsica. Respected in their own town, and honoured with titles of nobility by the Genoese, to whom Ajaccio was obliged to be submissive, they limited themselves to taking a part in the civil government of Ajaccio. Not till Carlo Bonaparte does this name become respected, and in a certain sense historical over the whole of Corsica. Napoleon's father, then, was born at Ajaccio, March 29, 1746, in stormy times, when the Corsicans were gathering up all their strength to shake off the hated Genoese yoke. Gaffori was the head of the Corsicans, and Pasquale was still in exile at Naples. It had become customary with the Bonapartes at Ajaccio to send their children to Tuscany for their education, and especially to let them study at Pisa: for the Bonapartes remembered their Florentine nobility, and never ceased to assert it. Carlo Bonaparte himself was styled Nobile and Patrician of Florence. However, young Carlo passed his first time of study at Paoli's newly founded academy at Corte, and then went to the univer sity of Pisa, where he found many students his countrymen. He studied the science of law, and is said to have gained esteem by his knowledge, and affection by his liberality. Returning to his country after taking the degree of doctor of laws, he soon became the most popular advocate in Ajaccio. Carlo Bonaparte, exceedingly handsome, eloquent, and of brilliant intellect, soon attracted the notice of Paoli, who generally had a correct eye for character. He took him into his service, and employed him in business of state. In the year 1764, the young advocate made the acquaintance of the most beautiful girl in Ajaccio, Letitia Ramolino, who was fourteen years old. An ardent affection sprang up between them; but the Ramolinos were of the Genoese party, and would not give their daughter in marriage to a Paolist. Paoli himself then mediated between them, and managed to gain over Letitia's parents, so that they gave their consent to the marriage. Letitia's mother, when a widow, married M. Fesch, captain in the Swiss regiment in the service of Genoa, and from this marriage was born the subsequent Cardinal Fesch. So Paoli made young Carlo Bonaparte his secretary, and took him to Corte, the seat of government. Letitia accompanied him, though against her will. The catastrophe now came to the Corsican cause: the French had already entered the island after the treaty of Fontainebleau, and when the issue seemed to hang upon the edge of the sword, the people were convened to a parliament to deliberate upon the course to be taken. Carlo Bonaparte, in a fiery patriotic speech, gave his vote for war with France. After the disastrous battle of Ponte Nuovo, when every one sought his safety in flight, and the French were already advancing upon Corte, some hundreds of persons of distinguished families fled to Monte Rotondo, among whom were Carlo Bonaparte and his wife, who was then pregnant with Napoleon. The mountain presented a sad sight of despairing, helpless men, and of women and children who feared that their last hour was come. Thus passed several days of anxiety and uncertainty in those wilds among the shepherds. At last there appeared French officers upon the mountain with a flag of peace, sent out by Count De Vaux, who had entered Corte. They announced to the fugitives that the island had submitted, and that Paoli was about to take ship for the continent, and that they had nothing to fear, and might come down from the mountain to their homes. The fugitives immediately sent a deputation to Corte, with Carlo Bonaparte and Lorenzo Giubega of Calvi at its head, who, when they had received passports of security for all the fugitive families, returned to Monte Rotondo to fetch them away. Bonaparte descended the mountains with his wife to the pastoral district of Niolo. To reach Ajaccio by this difficult road, they had to cross the Liamone; and. this river being swollen, Letitia was exposed to the danger of drowning, and was only saved from the stream by her courage and the promptness of her conductors. Carlo Bonaparte now desired to accompany Paoli, his friend and patron, into exile, considering it dishonourable to remain when their common country had fallen into the power of the French. But the entreaties of his uncle, Archdeacon Lucian, and the tears of his wife, prevailed upon him to relinquish this desperate idea. So he stayed in the island, returned to Ajaccio, and became assessor of the Royal Tribunal, then under French supremacy. Marbœuf treated him with great distinction; and it was by his influence that Carlo procured for his eldest son Joseph a place in the seminary of Autun, and for his second son, Napoleon, a position in the military school at Brienne. Thus it was Marbœuf, the conqueror of Corsica, who rendered possible the career of the young Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte. He visited very frequently at the house of Bonaparte, and passed many a pleasant hour in the society of the beautiful Madame Letitia: this, and the patronage granted to her second son, prompted the enemies of the French Count to spread scandalous rumours to the disparagement of the fair mother of Napoleon. Marbœuf was, however, under obligations to Carlo Bonaparte. When General Narbonne Fritzlar was intriguing against the latter with a view of gaining the command-in-chief in Corsica, Bonaparte had prevailed upon the French ministry, by his counsel, to retain Marbœuf in the government of the island. The Count requited this service by his friendship and good-will, and by the recommendation of the young military scholar Napoleon to the influential family of Brienne. Carlo Bonaparte showed his attachment to Marbœuf by every possible means. I have read a sonnet of his to the count, which I will not publish because it is not characteristic; every educated Italian ought to be able to make a pretty good sonnet in Italian. In the year 1777, Napoleon's father, being elected a deputy of the nobility for Corsica, travelled by way of Florence to Paris. He repaired thither once more to terminate his lawsuit with the Jesuits of Ajaccio concerning certain estates. But he died on the way, at Montpellier, in February of the year 1785, in the thirty-ninth year of his age, of the same disease of the stomach which was to prove fatal to his son Napoleon. In his dying dreams he was always thinking of Napoleon, a proof that he had rested all his hopes upon that son; he exclaimed when dying, "Where is Napoleon? why comes he not to aid his father with his great sword?" He passed away in the arms of his son Joseph. He was buried at Montpellier. When Napoleon had become emperor, the citizens of this town proposed to erect a monument to his father. But Napoleon replied that they should let the dead rest in peace; for if he were to erect a statue to his father, who was so long dead, his grandfather and his great grandfather might with the same right claim the same honour. Subsequently Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, caused his father's body to be disinterred, and buried at St. Leu. Napoleon was at school in Paris when his father died. This is the letter of consolation which the youth of sixteen wrote to his mother: "PARIS, March 29, 1785. "MY DEAR MOTHER-Time has today somewhat calmed the first outbreak of my grief, and I hasten to testify to you the gratitude inspired by the goodness you have always had towards us. Console yourself, my dear mother: circumstances demand it. We shall double our solicitude and our thankfulness, and be happy if we can in any degree make up to you by our obedience for the inestimable loss of a beloved husband. I conclude, my dear mother: my grief commands me to close, entreating you at the same time to calm your own. My health is excellent, and I pray Heaven daily to bless you with a similar gift. Offer my respects to my Aunt Gertrude, Minana Saveria, Minana Fesch, &c. "P.S.-The Queen of France has given birth to a prince, called the Duke of Normandy, on the 27th March, 7 P.M. "Your very devoted and affectionate son, "NAPOLEON DE BONAPARTE." If this laconic letter of young Napoleon is genuine, it has some value. Carlo Bonaparte was a man of brilliant parts, a clear head, ardent eloquence, and patriotism; and yet, as we have seen, he yielded to the pressure of circumstances, and possessed a certain political prudence. He loved splendour and profusion. On his death, Madame Letitia was only thirty-five years old, and had borne him thirteen children, of whom five were dead. Jerome was a child in the cradle. The head of the family was now Archdeacon Lucian, who administered the family property with strictness. The Bonapartes possessed some landed estates, vineyards, and herds. CHAPTER IV. NAPOLEON'S BOYHOOD. I myself also am a mortal man like to all, and the offspring of him that was first made of the earth.-WisDOM OF SOLOMON, vii. 1. THERE is a great charm in picturing to one's-self an extraordinary man as a child, at the age when he is lost among his fellows, and is still untouched by destiny. One feels tempted to discover even in the child's physiognomy the greatness of the man: but childhood is a profound mystery; and who can discover in the soul of a child, the form of the angel or the demon sleeping there who even detect the secret force that suddenly gives form to the mighty dormant powers, seizes upon them, and gives them an existence in Time? I saw in the Uffizj of Florence a marble bust of a boy, whose innocent childish smile attracted me, and I regarded it with pleasure. On the base was written NERO. Of Napoleon's early childhood but little is known. His mother, Letitia, was in the church at the festival of the Assumption of the Virgin, when she felt the pangs of labour. She immediately hastened home. She had not time to reach her own room, but was delivered in the small cabinet, and, as they say, on a carpet representing scenes from the heroic story of the Iliad. Her sister-in-law, Gertrude, performed the services of a midwife. It was eleven o'clock in the morning when Napoleon came into the world. He was not christened till the 21st July, 1771, nearly two years after his birth, and then he was baptized together with his sister Maria Anna, who died soon after. They say he struggled violently when the priest besprinkled him with holy water; perhaps he wanted to baptize himself, as he afterwards |