184 Constant's Memoirs of Buonaparte. [Aua 



the tone and manners of his early youth f Come, Mother Margaret,' said he, 

 ' bestir yourself some milk and fresh eggs ; I am half dead with hunger.' 

 Margaret stared at her visitor, and seemed as though endeavouring to recal 

 her buried recollections. ' Ha ! ha !' said the emperor, laughing ; f how 

 positive you were just now that you had not forgotten Buonaparte ! we are 

 old acquaintances, dame ;* meanwhile old Margaret had fallen at the empe- 

 ror's feet. Raising her with unaffected kindness { Have you nothing to 

 give me, Mother Margaret,' said he, ( I am hungry as hungry as a student.' 

 The poor woman, beside herself with joy, hastily laid before her guest some 

 fresh eggs and new milk. His repast finished, Napoleon forced his purse 

 into the hands of his hostess, at the same time observing, ' You recollect, 

 Margaret, I used to make every one pay his reckoning. Adieu; I shall not 

 forget you;' and as he again mounted his horse and rode away, the old 

 dame, weeping with excess of delight, and straining her eyes to catch a last 

 look, could only recompense him with her prayers." 



On the subject of recognitions, there is also an anecdote of Junot, who, 

 as Constant informs us, was rather partial to a lark, or, as we have it in 

 French, a tour d'ecolier :- 



" Junot, on his return from Egypt, happening to pass through Montbard, 

 where he had spent his years of boyhood, took especial pains to discover his 

 old schoolfellows and playmates, with whom he chatted gaily on the theme 

 of his youthful pranks. His next step was to visit the respective localities in 

 company with his quondam associates in mischief. In the public square, 

 Junot perceived a grave-looking old gentleman, walking magisterially along, 

 an ivory-headed cane supporting his steps. Without further ceremony, the 

 General ran up to him, threw himself upon his neck, and embraced him with 

 a vehemence of cordiality nearly sufficient to stifle him. The Professor, dis- 

 engaging himself with difficulty from the close hug, and ignorant of the motive 

 of such warmth, contemplated the General with every symptom of stupefac- 

 tion. ' What!' cried the latter, ' do you not know me ?' ' Citizen General, pray 

 excuse me, but I have no recollection ' ' Zounds ! Doctor, have you forgot- 

 ten the most idle, good-for-nothing, untractable dog that ever tried the patience 

 of pedagogue ?' ' I beg a thousand pardons, but have I the honour of 

 addressing M. Junot ?' f You have,' said the General, renewing his over- 

 whelming endearments, and bursting into a loud laugh (in which his friends 

 joined), at the singular signs and tokens .by which the man of learning had so 

 easily recognized his graceless pupil." 



Constant relates many pathetic stories of Buonaparte's generosity, 

 though coupled with extreme parsimony in the concerns of his menage, 

 or, if we may apply Othello's phrase, " the house affairs." Anecdotes 

 of liberality, when recorded of those born to higher station, or who have 

 " achieved greatness," never fail to call forth the eloquence of biogra- 

 phers, whose poetic amplifications impart an air of splendid fiction to 

 the whole. In such cases, the narrator tells his tale as if he were utterly 

 amazed that a great man should occasionally indulge in " the luxury of 

 doing good." This excessive admiration of the benevolence of those who 

 are kind with little cost to themselves, is in reality a keen satire ; they 

 who are inclined to cavil might infer from it that elevation of sentiment 

 rarely accompanies exalted rank. To check such immoral notions, we 

 now select one of the literary valet-de-chambre's shortest narratives, as 

 evidence of the fact that a great man is at times visited with the weak- 

 ness of humanity : 



" The emperor, walking one morning in the environs of Milan, met with a 

 poor woman whose cottage was hard by, and to whom he addressed a num- 

 ber of questions. ' Sir,' replied she, not being acquainted with the emperor's 



