s, and
Lucien was now installed either in the school itself or near by, to be
in readiness for any vacancy. All was well with the rest, except that
Joseph was uneasy, and wished to become an officer too.

[Footnote 4: Du Casse, Supplement a la Correspondence de
Napoleon Ier, Vol. X, p. 50. Masson, I, 79-84.]

The tone of Napoleon is extraordinary. Opening with a commonplace
little sketch of Lucien such as any elder brother might draw of a
younger, he proceeds to an analysis of Joseph which is remarkable.
Searching and thorough, it explains with fullness of reasoning and
illustration how much more advantageous from the worldly point of view
both for Joseph and for the family would be a career in the Church:
"the bishop of Autun would bestow a fat living on him, and he was
himself sure of becoming a bishop." As an _obiter dictum_ it contains
a curious expression of contempt for infantry as an arm, the origin of
which feeling is by no means clear. Joseph wishes to be a soldier:
very well, but in what branch of the profession? He could not enter
the navy, for he knows no mathematics; nor is his doubtful health
suited to that career. He would have to study two years more for the
navy, and four if he were to be an engineer; however, the ceaseless
occupation of this arm of the service would be more than his strength
could endure. Similar reasons militate against the artillery. There
remains, therefore, only the infantry. "Good. I see. He wants to be
all day idle, he wants to march the streets all day, and besides, what
is a slim infantry office? A poor thing, three quarters of the time;
and that, neither my dear father nor you, nor my mother, nor my dear
uncle the archdeacon, desires, for he has already shown some slight
tendency to folly and extravagance." There is an utter absence of
loose talk, or of enthusiasm, and no allusion to principle or
sentiment. It is the work of a cold, calculating, and dictatorial
nature. There is a poetical quotation in it, very apt, but very badly
spelled; and while the expression throughout is fair, it is by no
means what might be expected from a person capable of such thought,
who had been studying French for three years, and using it exclusively
in daily life.

In August, 1783, Buonaparte and Bourrienne, according to the statement
of the latter, shared the first prize in mathematics, and soon
afterward, in the same year, a royal inspector, M. de Keralio, arrive