e two sentiments is genuine and characteristic. Probably both and
neither, according to the mood of the man. Outward caprice is, in
great natures, often the mask of inward perseverance, especially among
the unprincipled who suit their language to their present purpose, in
fine disdain of commonplace consistency. The primitive Corsican was
both rude and gentle, easily moved to tears at one time, insensate at
another; selfish at one moment, lavish at another; and yet he had a
consistent character. Although disliking in later life to be called a
Corsican, Napoleon was nevertheless typical of his race: he could
despise love, yet render himself its willing slave; he was fierce and
dictatorial, yet, as the present object of his passion said, "tenderer
and weaker than anybody dreamed."[56]

[Footnote 56: The best references for the history of
Josephine de Beauharnais are Masson: Josephine de
Beauharnais, 1763-1796, and Josephine, imperatrice et
reine; Hall: Napoleon's letters to Josephine; Levy:
Napoleon intime; together with the memoirs of Joseph,
Bourrienne, Ducrest, Dufort de Cheverney, and Remusat.]

And thus it was in the matter of his courtship: there were elements in
it of romantic, abandoned passion, but likewise of shrewd, calculating
selfishness. In his callow youth his relations to the other sex had
been either childish, morbid, or immoral. During his earliest manhood
he had appeared like one who desired the training rather than the
substance of gallantry. As a Jacobin he sought such support as he
could find in the good will of the women related to men in power; as
a French patriot he put forth strenuous efforts to secure an
influential alliance through matrimony. He appears to have addressed
Mme. Permon, whose fortune, despite her advanced age, would have been
a great relief to his destitution. Refused by her, he was in a
disordered and desperate emotional state until military and political
success gave him sufficient self-confidence to try once more. With his
feet firmly planted on the ladder of ambition, he was not indifferent
to securing social props for a further rise, but was nevertheless in
such a tumult of feeling as to make him particularly receptive to real
passion. He had made advances for the hand of the rich and beautiful
Desiree Clary;[57] the first evidence in his correspondence of a
serious intention to marry her is