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ashamed to own it, but at present such a confession is not so painful.
Reserved in his temper and wholly occ- upied by his own pursuits Bonaparte courted that solitude which seemed to con- stitute his delight. He employed, during a long time some of the hours allowed to recreation in cultivating as a little garden,,; that spot which fell to his share, of a consi derable portion of ground which was divid- ed among us. Alter having forced two of his partners to give it up entirely to him, his first care was to render the access to it difficult by means of a strong palisade; in forming which, he spent all the money which the Count de Marbœf had sent t o him for his little expences. the green arbours, which he planted himself and cultivated with the utmost pains, rendered his garden, at the end of two years, the : retreat of a perfect hermit. Woe to the curious, the malicious, or the payful, who dared to trouble his repose! You might see him burst furious from his retreat to repel them ; nor was he deterred by the number of his assailants. It was in this concealed retirement where the soul of Bonaparte greedy of glory insensibly evol- ved the seed of that noble ambition feasting on the example of those great men whom he was preparing himself to surpass.
