458 JAMES WATT. 



^ 



the great dignitaries of the empire, and the Council of 

 State. 



On the 27th of February, 1808, it came to the turn 

 of the French Academy. As may be easily supposed, 

 the assembly on that day was even more numerous than 

 usual : who does not think himself a judge in matters of 

 taste ? Chenier reads. He is listened to with attentive 

 silence : but all at once he is interrupted by the emperor, 

 who, putting his hand on his heart, his body leaning for- 

 ward, his voice affected by a visible emotion, exclaimed : 

 " It is too much, too much, Gentlemen, you overpower 

 me ; words fail me in which to express my gratitude ! " 



I leave you to imagine the deep surprise of the many 

 courtiers who witnessed this scene ; those men who from 

 flattery to flattery had come at last to say to their master, 

 and without his appearing astonished at it : " When 

 God had created Napoleon, he felt the want of re- 

 pose ! " 



But what then were the words that went so exactly, so 

 directly to the heart of Napoleon ? These words were 

 the following : 



" In camps where, far from the calamities of the inte- 

 rior, national glory was unalterably preserved, another 

 style of eloquence arose, unknown until then to modern 

 nations. "We must even acknowledge, that when we read 

 in ancient authors harangues from the most renowned 

 leaders, we are often tempted to admire only the talent 

 of the historians in them. But here, it is impossible to 

 doubt ; the monuments exist : history has only to collect 

 them together. It was from the armies of Italy that 

 those beautiful proclamations emanated, in which the 

 conqueror of Lodi and of Arcoli, created at the same 

 time a new system of warfare, and a new style of mili- 



