his own name; but old Dupré, who was his writing-master, came to him once at St. Cloud and reminded the Emperor―as Napoleon then was―that "for fifteen months he had had the pleasure of giving him lessons in writing at Brienne." Napoleon could not help exclaiming to the poor man, who was quite aghast: "And a fine sort of pupil you had! I congratulate you."
After a few kindly words he dismissed Dupré, who received a few days later a notification of a pension of one thousand two hundred francs (forty-eight pounds).
II.
IN THE ARTILLERY.
Napoleon was unable to get a place in the Navy, for his influence was not sufficiently great; so he besought his family to try and get him into the artillery or engineers. He was sent to the Military School in Paris, and arrived there in 1784―that starting-point of the great events that led the King to the scaffold and himself to an Imperial throne. The descriptions of the period show that he is like most other new-comers to a great city.
He gaped at everything he saw, and stared about him. His appearance was that of a man whom any scoundrel would try to rob after seeing him.
But even at that age―he was then fifteen―he had the instincts of order and activity. There is
