Kings and rulers > Life of Napoleon Bonaparte

LIFE OF
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio on the
loth of August, 1768. In early youth, he was
1 adroit, lively, and agile in the extreme, and had ac¬
quired, it is said, a complete ascendancy over his
elder brother, Joseph, who was often beaten and ill-
treated ; if complaints were carried to the mother,
she usually advocated the part of Napoleon, and
seldom allowed Joseph to speak in his own defence.
The French government, regarding education as
one of the most efficacious means of modifying the
national character, and attaching the rising generation
to the interests of France, decided that a certain
1 number of young Corsicans, belonging to families pos-
= sessing the greatest influence, should be educated in
l French seminaries; and Napoleon was, in consequence,
s entered as king’s scholar in the military school of
1 Brienne.
On entering the school of Brienne, Napoleon had
: attained his tenth year, at which tender period of life,
i he displayed a very marked character. Unlike other
1 hoys, the sports of infancy were uncongenial to his
) opening mind ; he courted the shades of solitude, and
; gloom was familiar to his soul. Impressed with such
a sentiments, his company was little sought by his fel-
f low students, and when he did appear among them,
! his presence threw a damp upon their occupations,
s as he invariably addressed them in the language of