Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1895-01-18
WORKS HE STUDIED.
THE KIND OF LITERATURE THAT IN.
TERESTED NAPOLEON.

He Fell Under the Influence of Able Ray.
nal, Who Advised Him to Read Mere
Before Writing-He Was Partial to His
tory, Politics and Geography.
Rousseau had been the prophet and
forerunner Of the new social dispense
ton. The scheme for applying it's prin-
ciples is found in work which bears
the name Of very mediocre man, the
Able Raynal, man who enjoyed in
his day an extended and splendid repu-
tation which now appears to have had
only the slender foundations of unmer-
tied persecution and the friendship Of
superior men. In 1870 appeared over
his name volume Of which he was the
compiler, but not the author. "Philo-
sophical and Political History of the
Establishments and Commerce Of the
Europeans In the Two Indies'' is mis-
cellany compounded of extracts from
many sources and of short essays by
Raynal's brilliant acquaintance on SUI
perstition, tyranny and similar themes.
The reputed author had written for the
!
works, none of which attracted atten-
ton. The amazing success of this ore
was not remarkable if, as the critics
'now believe, at least third of the book
was by Diderot. The position of the self
styled author as man Of letters imme-
diately became foremost one, and such
was the vogue Of the work that the au-
thorities finally became alarmed. A
dramatic climax to Raynal's renown
was secured when in 1871 the vol
ume was condemned to be burned and
the writer fled for safety into exile. The
storm had finally subsidized, he had re-
turned to France, and communication
was opened between the great man and
his aspiring reader.
'Not yet 49,, are the startling words
in the letter written by Bonaparte, II
am writer. 1t is the age when we
must learn. Will my boldness subject
me to your raillery? No; I am sure. If
indulgence be a mark Of true genius,
you should have much Indulgence. I
inclose chapters l and 2 of a his
tory Of Corsica, with an outline of the
rest. If you approve, will go on; if
you advise me to stop, 1 will go no fur
ther." These chapters as they came to
Raynal's hands are not in existence, SO
far as is known, and posterity can never
judge how monumental their authors
assurance was The abbe's reply was
kindly, but he advised the novice to
complete his researches and then to re-
write his pieces. Bonaparte was not
unwilling to profit by the counsels he
received. Soon after, in July, he gave
two orders to Genevese bookseller, one
for books concerning Corsica, another
for the memoirs of Mime. de Warens and
her servant, Claude Anet, which are
sort Of supplement to Rousseau's ''Con-
fessions. - The young historians letter
teens with bad spelling and bad gram
mar, but it is saturated with the spirit
Iof his time.
Some of the tagging days were not
only spent in novel reading, as the e1u
peror in after years confessed to Nine.
{de Remusat, but in attempts at novel
writing to relieve the tedium of idle
hours. 1t is said that first and last b.
!naparte read "Werther' five times
i through. Enough remains among his
boyish scribblings to show the kind of
fantastic dreams both of love and of
! glory in which he INDUCED. Many en-
terrain a shrewd suspicion that amid
1.-THE gayeties Of the winter he lost his
heart, or thought he did, and was re-
pulsed. At least, in his Dialogue on
Love-" written five years later, he says,
TT, too, was once in love-" and pro-
leeds, after few lines, to decry the
sentiment as harmful to mankind, a
something from which God would do
Iwell to emancipate it. There seems to
I have been in the interval no opportuni-
ty for philandering so good as the one
he had enjoyed in the drawing rooms of
Nine. de Colombier. It has at all events
been the good fortune of that excellent
and charming woman to secure, by this
superstition, place in history not mere
ly as the influential patroness CT Napo-
leon, but as the mother of his first love-
But these were his avocations. The
real occupation Of his time was study.
Besides reading again the chief works
of Rousseau and devouring the Able
Raynal, his most beloved author, he
of Filangieri, Of Necker and of Adam
Smith. With notebook and pencil he
extracted, annotated and criticised, his
mind alert and every faculty bent to the
clear apprehension of the subject in
hand. To the conception of the state as
a private corporation, which he had
imbibed from Rousseau, was now added
the conviction that the institutions Of
France were no longer adapted to the
occupations, beliefs Or morals of her
people, and that revolution was neces-
sity. To judge from memoir presented
some years later to the Lyons Academy,
he must have absorbed the teachings Of
the "Two Indies" almost entire.
The consuming zeal for studies on the
part of this incomprehensible youth is
probably unparalleled Having read
Plutarch in his childhood, he now de-
voured Herodotus, Strabo and Diodorus.
China, Arabia and the Indies dazzled
his imagination, and what he could lay
hands upon concerning the east was
soon assimilated England and Germany
next engaged his attention, and toward
the close of his studies he became ardent
in examining the minutest details of
French history. It was, moreover, the
science of history and not of literature
which occupied him - dry details of
revenue, resources and institutions. The
Sorbonne, the bull Unigenitus and
church history in general, the character
of peoples, the origin Of institutions, the
philosophy of legislation-a,l these he
studied, and if the character of his notes
is Trustworthy with some thoroughness.
He also found time to read the master
pieces of French literature and the
great critical judgments which had l,een
passed upon them. Professor William
M. Sloane in Century.
An Elevators Trips.
While I was waiting for Laclede
building elevator to begin its journey
upward I surveyed the uniformed con-
aaetef and wondered how far he travels
without covering any ground in the
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