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Ch. XXI.]
the Emperor Napoleon.
233

premeditated. Even a look, a tone of the voice, a gesture, in an unreserved moment, will give an insight into the real disposition, which years of a more formal intercourse would fail to convey; and this is particularly the case in the association of a person of mature age with very young people. There is generally a confiding candour and openness about them which invites confidence in return, and which tempts a man of the world to throw off the iron mask of reserve and caution, and to assume once more the simplicity of a little child. This, at least, took place in my intercourse with Napoleon, and I may therefore perhaps venture to say a few words on the general impression he left on my mind after three months' daily communication with him.

The point of character which has, more than any other, been a subject of dispute between Napoleon's friends and his enemies, and which will ever be the most im-

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