Napoleon Bonaparte 487 Bonaparte. silver. I was probably kissed — or, perhaps they thought me grown ; then no one noticed me any further. Soon an Careless de- officer of the consul's guard entered. He was short, thin, portmentof and carried himself badly, or at least carelessly. I was sufficiently drilled in etiquette to observe that he moved about a great deal and made rather free. Among other things I was surprised to see him sit on the arm of a chair. From thence he spoke across a considerable distance to my mother. We were in front of him, and I remarked his thin, almost wan face, with its brown and yellowish tints. We drew near to him while he spoke. When I was within his reach he noticed me ; he took me by my two ears and pulled them rather roughly. He hurt me, and had I not been in a palace I should have cried. Then turning to my father, he said, " Is he learning mathematics ? " Soon I was taken away. "Who is that soldier?" I asked my mother. "That soldier is the First Consul." Bonaparte made others uncom- Bonaparte's disregard of others and his insolent atti tude toward those who served him are seen in the follow ing incident reported by Madame de Remusat. Bonaparte dictated with great ease. He never wrote 429a. How anything with his own hand. His handwriting was bad and as illegible to himself as to others; and his spelling was very defective. He utterly lacked patience to do any- fortable thing whatever with his own hands. The extreme activity of his mind and the habitual prompt obedience rendered to him prevented him from practicing any occupation in which the mind must necessarily- wait for the action of the body. Those who wrote from his dictation — first Monsieur Bourrienne, then Monsieur Maret, and Mcneval, his private secretary — had made a shorthand for themselves in order that their pens might travel as fast as his thoughts. He dictated while walking to and fro in his cabinet. When he grew angry he would use violent imprecations, which were suppressed in writing and which had, at least, the advantage of giving the writer time to catch up with
