46. 1815. Nov. 20.-Second Treaty of Paris; France restricted to limits of 1790; losing Savoy, etc., pays an indemnity, and receives an army of occupation.

51 yrs. 8 mths. 1840.

1821. May 5.-Napoleon dies 5.45 P.M.; buried 8th May.

Oct. 15.-Body of Napoleon disentombed; embarked in the Belle Poule, commanded by the Prince de Joinville, son of Louis Philippe, on 16th October; placed in the Invalides 15th December 1840.

NOTE.

THE Editor of the 1836 edition had added to the Memoirs several chapters taken from or founded on other works of the time, so as to make a more complete history of the period. These materials have been mostly retained, but with the corrections which later publications have made necessary. A chapter has now been added to give a brief account of the part played by the chief historical personages during the Cent Jours, and another at the end to include the removal of the body of Napoleon from St. Helena to France.

Two special improvements have, it is hoped, been made in this edition. Great care has been taken to get names, dates, and figures rightly given,-points much neglected in most translations, though in some few cases, such as Davoust, the ordinary but not strictly correct spelling has been followed to suit the general reader. The number of references to other works which are given in the notes will, it is believed, be of use to any one wishing to continue the study of the history of Napoleon, and may preserve them from many of the errors too often committed. The present Editor has had the great advantage of having his work shared by Mr. Richard Bentley, who has brought his knowledge of the period to bear, and who has found, as only a busy man could do, the time to minutely enter into every fresh detail, with the ardour which soon seizes any one who long follows that enticing pursuit,— the special study of an historical period.

January 1885.

R. W. P.

MEMOIRS

OF

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

CHAPTER I

1769-1783.

Authentic date of Bonaparte's birth-His family ruined by the JesuitsHis taste for military amusements-Sham siege at the College of Brienne-The porter's wife and Napoleon-My intimacy with Bonaparte at college-His love for the mathematics, and his dislike of Latin-He defends Paoli and blames his father-He is ridiculed by his comrades-Ignorance of the monks-Distribution of prizes at Brienne-Madame de Montesson and the Duke of Orleans-Report of M. Kéralio on Bonaparte-He leaves Brienne.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the 15th of August 1769;' the original orthography of his name was Buonaparte, but he suppressed the u during his first campaign in Italy. His motives for so

1 The question as to the date of Napoleon's birth is fully gone into in Colonel Iung's work, Bonaparte et Son Temps (tome i. pp. 39-52), from which the following summary is made. The first two children of Charles Bonaparte-a son born in 1765, and a daughter born 1767—both died young. A third child, a son, was born on 7th January 1768, at Corte; and a fourth child, also a son, was born on 15th August 1769 at Ajaccio. There is no doubt as to these dates, or as to Joseph and Napoleon being the two sons so born; the question is, was Napoleon the second or first of these two? By the copy of an "Acte de Naissance" preserved in the French War Office, the child born on 7th January 1768 was baptized “Nabulione." In the archives of Ajaccio, a copy of a non-existing original record of baptism gives the name of the child then born as "Joseph Nabulion." By the official records of Corsica, Napoleone Bonaparte, born 15th August 1769, was baptized 21st July 1771. Colonel Iung inclines to the belief that Napoleon was born on 7th January 1768 at Corte, and Joseph on 15th August 1769. He suggests that when, in 1778, Charles Bonaparte obtained permission for one son to enter Brienne at the cost of the State, finding that the age of the child must be under ten years, and Napoleon, the son chosen to enter, being really

doing were merely to render the spelling conformable with the pronunciation, and to abridge his signature. He signed Buonaparte even after the famous 13th Vendémiaire.

It has been affirmed that he was born in 1768, and that he represented himself to be a year younger than he really was. This is untrue. He always told me the 9th of August was his birthday, and as I was born on the 9th of July 1769, our proximity of age served to strengthen our union and friendship when we were both at the Military College of Brienne.

The false and absurd charge of Bonaparte having misrepresented his age, is decidedly refuted by a note in the register of M. Berton, sub-principal of the College of Brienne, in which it is stated that M. Napoléon de Buonaparte, écuyer, born in the city of Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the 15th of August 1769, left the Royal Military College of Brienne on the 17th October 1784.

over the age, he used the baptismal record of the second son for the first Napoleon. To support this theory, he throws doubt on the copy preserved in Ajaccio, saying that the name Joseph is given in the French form at the time the French language was not used in Corsica. In 1794, when Joseph married, the witnesses brought to prove his age and place of birth, because the records could not be then got at, testified that Joseph, aged about 25, was born at Ajaccio, that is, at the place where the son was born on 15th August 1769. But nothing seems realy proved, except that, whether by error or fraud, the Bonapartes were unfortunate in their dates, and were fond of giving the same name to child after child. Thus there were several MarieAnnes. In the marriage-contract of Napoleon with Josephine, his date of birth is given as 5th February 1768, while she, really born on 23d July 1763, is stated to have been born on 23d June 1767, the ages of the pair being thus made to approximate, instead of a real difference of at least five years. Even in Napoleon's name the greatest uncertainty appears to have prevailed. It figures in the different docu. ments as Nabulione, Napoleone, Napoleone, Napolione, and, on the Vendôme column, as “Neapolio, im Aug." It will be noticed that the document given by Bourrienne and the statements of Napoleon to him really prove little or nothing, as if once the date of his birth had been altered to a wrong date, it would have been necessary to adhere to the alteration. But, on the whole, allowing for all the confusion of the time and of his family affairs, it seems safest to adhere to the date of 15th August 1769.

[Another reason for the change of date might be the wish to appear by birth a French citizen, Corsica not having been annexed to France until June 1769.-See Notes and Queries, 1st Series, vol. vi. p. 265; also Quarterly Review, No. 23, and some succeeding numbers.]