tary profession--His report on the state of the
Military School of Paris--He obtains a commission--I set off for
Vienna--Return to Paris, where I again meet Bonaparte--His singular
plans for raising money--Louis XVI, with the red cap on his head--
The 10th of August--My departure for Stuttgart--Bonaparte goes to
Corsica--My name inscribed on the list of emigrants--Bonaparte at
the siege of Toulon--Le Souper de Beaucaire--Napoleon's mission to
Genoa--His arrest--His autographical justification
--Duroc's first connection with Bonaparte.

Bonaparte was fifteen years and two months old when he went to the
Military College of Paris.

--[Madame Junot relates some interesting particulars connected with
Napoleon's first residence in Paris:
"My mother's first care," says she, "on arriving in Paris was to
inquire after Napoleon Bonaparte. He was at that time in the
military school at Paris, having quitted Brienne in the September of
the preceding year.

"My uncle Demetrius had met him just after he alighted from the coach
which brought him to town; 'And truly.' said my uncle, 'he had the
appearance of a fresh importation. I met him in the Palms Royal,
where he was gaping and staring with wonder at everything he saw.
He would have been an excellent subject for sharpers, if, indeed, he
had had anything worth taking!' My uncle invited him to dine at his
house; for though my uncle was a bachelor, he did not choose to dine
at a 'traiteur' (the name 'restaurateur' was not then introduced).
He told my mother that Napoleon was very morose. 'I fear,' added
he, 'that that young man has more self-conceit than is suitable to
his condition. When he dined with me he began to declaim violently
against the luxury of the young men of the military school. After a
little he turned the conversation on Mania, and the present
education of the young Maniotes, drawing a comparison between it and
the ancient Spartan system of education. His observations on this
head be told me he intended to embody in a memorial to be presented
to the Minister of War. All this, depend upon it, will bring him
under the displeasure of his comrades; and it will be lucky if he
escape being run through.' A few days afterwards my mother saw
Napoleon, and then his irritability was at its height. He would
scarcely bear any observations, even if made in his favour, and I am