tate of my troops and
fleets, all forming about twenty large volumes. I leave every other
occupation to read them over in detail, to see what difference there
is between one month and another. I take more pleasure in reading those
than any young girl does in a novel."--Cadet de Gassicourt, "Voyage en
Autriche"(1809). On his reviews at Schoenbrunn and his verification of
the contents of a pontoon-wagon, taken as an example.]

[Footnote 1159: One ancient French league equals app. 4 km. (SR.)]

[Footnote 1160: Bourrienne, II., 116; IV., 238: "He had not a good
memory for proper names, words, and dates, but it was prodigious for
facts and localities. I remember that, on the way from Paris to Toulon,
he called my attention to ten places suitable for giving battle.... It
was a souvenir of his youthful travels, and he described to me the lay
of the ground, designating the positions he would have taken even before
we were on the spot." March 17, 1800, puncturing a card with a pin,
he shows Bourrienne the place where he intends to beat Melas, at San
Juliano. "Four months after this I found myself at San Juliano with his
portfolio and dispatches, and, that very evening, at Torre-di-Gafolo, a
league off, I wrote the bulletin of the battle under his dictation" (of
Marengo).--De Segur, II., 30 (Narrative of M. Daru to M. De Segur Aug.
13, 1805, at the headquarters of La Manche, Napoleon dictates to M. Daru
the complete plan of the campaign against Austria): "Order of marches,
their duration, places of convergence or meeting of the columns, attacks
in full force, the various movements and mistakes of the enemy, all,
in this rapid dictation, was foreseen two months beforehand and at a
distance of two hundred leagues.... The battle-field, the victories, and
even the very days on which we were to enter Munich and Vienna were
then announced and written down as it all turned out.... Daru saw these
oracles fulfilled on the designated days up to our entry into Munich; if
there were any differences of time and not of results between Munich
and Vienna, they were all in our favor."--M. de La Vallette, "Memoires,"
II., p. 35. (He was postmaster-general): "It often happened to me that
I was not as certain as he was of distances and of many details in my
administration on which he was able to set me straight."--On returning
from the camp at Bologna, Napoleon encounters a squad of soldiers who
had got lost, asks what regiment they belong to, calcu