Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/505

 Napoleon Bonaparte 467 Second, he has been educated for the ecclesiastical estate, and it is much too late to give this up. The bishop of Autun would have given him a fine benefice, and he would have been sure to have become bishop. What an advan- tage for his family ! The bishop has done all he could to induce him to persist in his original purpose, promising him that he would not be sorry. However, he has made up his mind. I would praise him if only he had a decided taste for this profession, which is the finest of all professions. If only the great Director of human affairs, in forming him, had given him, as he has me, a decided inclination for mili- tary life! He wants to go into the army ; that is well enough, but in what department ? The marine ? But, in the first place, he knows no mathematics, and it will take him two years to master the subject. In the second place, his health is in- compatible with a life on the sea. Shall it be the engineers' division ? He would require four or five years to learn what is necessary, and at the end of that time he would only be a beginner. Moreover I believe that the necessity of working all day is not compat- ible with the lightness of his character. The same reasOD which holds for the engineers holds for the artillery. . . . That certainly is not to his taste. Let us see, then. Doubtless he would like to go into the infantrv. Good; I can comprehend that. lie would like to have nothing to do all day except to walk about the streets. And wh.it is a little infantry < inner, anyway — except a hard case three fourths of the time? This is just what my dear father, and you, and my mother, and my uncle the arch- deacon would not wish, for he has already shown some little indications of lightheadedness and prodigality. Consequently a last effort will be made to induce him to pursue a clerical career. Otherwise my dear father will carry him back to Corsica with him, so that he may keep an eye on him, and they will try to have him enter the law. I close with the hope that you will continue to retain me in your good graces : to render myself worthy of them will