Page:Life of Napoleon Bonaparte.pdf/3

 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE was born at Ajaccio on the 15th of August, 1768. In early youth, he was adroit, lively, and agile in the extreme, and had acquired, 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 number of young Corsicans, belonging to families possessing the greatest influence, should be educated in French seminaries; and Napoleon was, in consequence, entered as king's scholar in the military school of Brienne.

On entering the school of Brienne, Napoleon had attained his tenth year, at which tender period of life, he displayed a very marked character. Unlike other boys, 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 sentiments, his company was little sought by his fellow students, and when he did appear among them, his presence threw a damp upon their occupations, as he invariably addressed them in the language of