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BONAPARTK -BONAVENTURA. 



but, like him, lie was wearying for all that was be- 

 yond the range of llie mountains that separated him 

 from his fellow men : in tin- one ("INC, these moun- 

 tains were physical obstacles ; in the other, moral 

 ones. The spirit chafed against the prison bars : the 

 victim, bruised and care-worn, refused its food, lost 

 its substance, grew emaciated, ami died. The mind 

 all the while was developed, and grew apace, while 

 the body became debilitated, nay, aged : the truth 

 being, that intellectual food may always be found in 

 prison, but moral and social isolation prey upon the 

 physical state ; the creature grows up a sapless weed, 

 with the suspicions ami dMru-t of lone experience, 

 and the reflexion and calm profundity of thought pe- 

 culiar to unclouded age. After his death, yoiuig 

 Napoleon presented in his body the same anomaly he 

 had done in his lifetime : his frame had all the slen- 

 derness and fragility of infancy stretched into unna- 

 tural length, while his vital organs bore the schirrous 

 and flaccid appearance of extreme old age: there 

 was no part healthy or natural but the brain , which was 

 wonderfully fine, with the exception, that it was more 

 compact, and of firmer substance than is usually found. 



No story was ever replete with more painful in- 

 terest than the account of the obstinate struggle 

 which this unhappy youth kept up against physical 

 decay ; he never complained, never even would 

 admit that he was ill ; finding his voice fail him in 

 manoeuvring his corps, he would, after the exertion 

 of a review, go and hide his weakness, fainting and 

 sinking upon some secret sofa. At length, however, 

 on the representation of a physician, whom he never 

 would consult, he was sent to Schonbrunn, where he 

 died. He had, however, nearly rallied, and if the 

 disease had not advanced to the extent of producing 

 severe organic change, would perhaps have recovered 

 by a proposed tour to Naples, and other parts of 

 Italy. The effect on the mind of the moral prisoner 

 was electric, and to his dying hour, this journey was 

 his chief hope and prospect in the world. 



Before he came into Austrian hands, no regular 

 attempt had been made to educate him ; but it is not 

 to be supposed that nearly five years of such a preg- 

 nant existence as his, were left without numerous 

 and deep impressions. His was far from a commu- 

 nicative disposition, and consequently, he did not, 

 like some children, talk himself out of his recollec- 

 tions. They sank in the mind of the forlorn boy, 

 and if ever they were permitted to see the light, it 

 was in some little moment of excitement. One day, 

 when he was playing with the imperial family, one 

 of the archdukes showed him a little medal of silver, 

 of which numbers had been struck in honour of his 

 birth, and were distributed to the people after the 

 ceremony of his baptism : his bust was upon it. He 

 was asked, do you know who this represents? " C'est 

 moi," answered he, without hesitation, " quand j'etais 

 roi de Rome." (Me when I was king of Rome.) 

 Ideas of his own former consequence, and the great- 

 ness of his father, says his early tutor, M. Foresti, 

 were constantly present to his mind. Other impres- 

 sions were not less deep ; he had a love of truth 

 which made him utterly intolerant even of fable, and 

 probably contributed to his subsequent distaste for 

 poetry. The word vrai (truth) he used to pronounce, 

 when a perfect child, with a solemnity and a move- 

 ment of the hand, which showed that it had to him 

 all the sacred character of an asseveration. And yet, 

 child as he was, he had that force of character, or 

 rather that sensitiveness mixed with vigour, that, on 

 being ridiculed unintentionally for its use, he never 

 again repeated the word. 



The first instruction attempted to be communicated 

 to him was a knowledge of the German language. 

 To this he opposed a most determined resistance : 



not one word of German wouid he pronounce, and 

 even resisted the endeavours to teach him as an in- 

 sult and an injury ; for his age he kept up this reso- 

 lution a long time ; when it was conquered by the 

 mildness and persuasion of his teachers, he learned 

 the language with a prodigious facility, and soon 

 spoke it in the imperial family like one of themselves. 

 Not -only the rapidity with which he acquired this 

 difficult tongue, but even his mistakes and miscon- 

 ceptions indicated a superior logical faculty, for they 

 were generally founded on fancied analogies, and 

 little etymological observations. M. Forest!, whose 

 duty it was to teach him to read, found the. difficulty 

 insurmountable, until he introduced a rival and a 

 fellow pupil. The son of one of the valets de chaiu- 

 bre of the empress was procured, and in company 

 with him the young Napoleon quickly devoured his 

 task. Such was the being destined to be brought up 

 in nearly a perfect state oT isolation. 



As he lay on his bier, his resemblance to his fa- 

 ther, that resemblance so striking in the cradle, be- 

 came once more remarkable. It might have been 

 detected in life, but the flowing blond hair of his 

 Austrian mother, and his tall form, would naturally 

 mask the resemblance. His manner was graceful 

 and elegant the expression of his countenance 

 somewhat sad ; he was reserved till he fancied he 

 had found a friend, when he became confidential, 

 communicative, and even enthusiastic. He appears 

 to have been universally beloved : no one can recol- 

 lect an offence much less an injury ; he was full of 

 kindness and consideration for every one about him. 

 But one passion appears to have been developed 

 that of military ambition. The present with him was 

 but a preparation ; in fact, he lived in a future, which 

 for him was never to arrive. 



Looking at the interests of Europe (says the Fo- 

 reign Quarterly Review, to which we are indebted 

 for most of this article), it is impossible to regret his 

 death; looking at himself, it is impossible not to 

 feel a great interest in his life; had, in truth, his 

 various qualities and dispositions been more generally 

 known during his youth, it is very probable, that the 

 popular feeling of France would have more deeply 

 sympathized in his fate. He was never regarded 

 otherwise than as le fits de I'homme, and as such let 

 him rest a last victim to the turbulent ambition of 

 his own father. 



BONAVENTURA, John of Fidanza, one of the most 

 renowned scholastic philosophers, was bora in 1221, 

 in Tuscany ; became, in 1243, a Franciscan monk ; in 

 1255, teacher of theology at Paris, where he had 

 studied ; in 1256, general of his order, which he 

 ruled with a prudent mixture of gentleness and firm- 

 ness. He died in 1274, at the age of fifty-three. At 

 this time, he was a cardinal and papal legate at the 

 council of Lyons. His death was hastened by his as- 

 cetic severities. On account of his blameless conduct 

 from his earliest youth, and of some miracles ascribed 

 to him, lie enjoyed during his life the greatest venera- 

 tion, and was canonizeof by pope Sextus IV. The 

 elevation of thought in his writings, and his dignity 

 as general of the Seraphic order, procured him the 

 name doctor Seraphicus. The Franciscans opposed 

 him as their hero to the Dominican scholastic Thomas 

 Aquinas. He wrote for the honour and improve- 

 ment of his order, for the promotion of the wor- 

 ship of the virgin, on celibacy, transubstantiation, 

 and other doctrines. He is frequently obscure 

 by his attempts to support the creed of the church 

 with arguments drawn from the Aristotelian and 

 new Platonic philosophy, and by his mystical views 

 in treating of the moral and intellectual perfection of 

 the human character. Yet he is distinguished from 

 other scholastics by perspicuity, avoidance of useless 



