Page:History of Napoleon Buonaparte.pdf/3



NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE was born at Ajaccio, in the island of Corsica, near France. He chose the profession of arms; and at the age of seven was placed in the military school of Brienne. In 1783, he was transferred to the Royal Military School at Paris. He became an excellent mathematician, and read the Latin historians with enthusiasm: Ossian, also, was a favourite author. At sixteen, he obtained his first commission, as second lieutenant in an artillery regiment. In 1792, he attained the rank of Captain, but was not in employment, and lived chiefly at the expense of his friend De Bourrienne, wandering about the streets of Paris, and talked of establishing himself in business, and, at one time, of making money by sub-letting houses. In 1793, the national guards of Paris, to the number of 30,000, took up arms against their rulers, when, through the influence