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24 thunderstruck. Only when he gets out of doors does he recover himself and fall back on his accustomed oaths. He agrees with Massena that 'that little of a general frightened him.' He cannot comprehend the ascendency 'which overawes him at the first glance.

One instance more will suffice. General Vandamme, an old revolutionary soldier, still more brutal and energetic than Augereau, said to Marshal D'Ornano, one day when they were ascending the staircase of the Tuileries together, "My dear fellow, that devil of a man" (speaking of the Emperor) "fascinates me in a way I cannot account for. I, who don't fear either God or the Devil, tremble like a child when I approach him. He would make me dash through the eye of a needle into the fire!"

almost the very first, Napoleon makes no secret of his final purposes. Let us study the causes which enabled him to so successfully use men and events to carry out these designs.

First among these are his extraordinary powers of work and of mastering and remembering all the details of every subject which can come under the notice of a commander or a ruler. When one reads the record of his gifts in this respect, one