Excerpt from Anecdotes of Napoleon Bonaparte and His Times: Compiled From Every Authentic Source A professed catholic, he imprisoned the pope; a professed patriot, he impoverished the country; and, in the name of Brutus, be grasped without remorse, and wore with out shame, the diadem of the Ca'sars! Through this pantomime of his policy, fortune played the clown to his caprice. At his touch crowns cr ambled, beggars reigned, and systems vanished; the wildest theories took the colour of his whim, and all that was venerable, all that was novel, changed places with the rapidity of a drama. Evra in the gambling of his wild ambition defeat itself assumed the appearance of victory his flight from Egypt confirmed his destiny ruin itself only elevated him to the empire! But if his fortune was great, his genius was transcendent; decision flashed upon his councils, and it was the same to decide and to perform. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.