on the sands of Africa, without much reluctance
agreed to his proposal.

Napoleon never loved the Revolution, and he most thoroughly detested the
infamous and sanguinary despotism which had risen upon the ruins of the
altar and the throne. He chanced to be in Paris when the drunken and
ragged mob, like an inundation, broke into the Tuilleries, and heaped
upon the humiliated Louis XVI. and Maria Antoinette the most infamous
outrages. He saw the monarch standing at the window of his palace, with
the dirty red cap of Jacobinism thrust upon that brow which had worn the
crown of Charlemagne. At the sight, the blood boiled in the veins of the
youthful Napoleon. He could not endure the spectacle. Turning upon his
heel, he indignantly exclaimed, "The wretches! had they mown down four
or five hundred with grape-shot, the rest would speedily have taken to
flight."

He often expressed his dislike of the violent revolutionary course which
the Directory were pursuing, and stated freely to his friends, "For my
part, I declare, that if I had only the option between royalty and the
system of these gentlemen, I would not hesitate for one moment to
declare for a king." Just before Napoleon embarked for the East,
Bourrienne asked him if he was really determined to risk his fate on the
perilous expedition to Egypt. "Yes!" he replied. "If I should remain
here, it would be necessary to overturn this miserable government, and
make myself king. But we must not think of that yet. The nobles will not
consent to it. I have sounded, but I find the time for that has not yet
arrived. I must first dazzle these gentlemen by my exploits."

On the morning of the 19th of May, 1798, the fleet set sail from the
harbor of Toulon. It was a morning of surpassing loveliness, and seldom,
if ever, has the unclouded sun shone upon a more brilliant scene. The
magnificent armament extended over a semicircle of not less than
eighteen miles. The fleet consisted of thirteen ships of the line,
fourteen frigates, and four hundred transports. They carried forty
thousand picked soldiers, and officers of the highest celebrity. For the
first time in the world, a corps of scientific gentlemen was attached to
a military expedition. One hundred eminent artists and connoisseurs
Napoleon had collected to gather the antiquarian treasures of Egypt,
and to extend the boundaries of science by the observation of the
phenomena of nature. They formed a part of the staff of the invad