LIFE OF NAPOLEON
Pocket Edition
VOL. I.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
1802
LIFE OF
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
By SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.
VOL. 1.
Napoleons Logement Qua Cont
EDINBURGH; A. & C. BLACK.
1876{iii}
The extent and purpose of this Work, have, in the courseof its progress, gradually but essentially changed fromwhat the Author originally proposed. It was at firstintended merely as a brief and popular abstract of the life ofthe most wonderful man, and the most extraordinary events, ofthe last thirty years; in short, to emulate the concise yet mostinteresting history of the great British Admiral, by the Poet-Laureateof Britain.[1] The Author was partly induced to undertakethe task, by having formerly drawn up for a periodicalwork—"The Edinburgh Annual Register"—the history of thetwo great campaigns of 1814 and 1815; and three volumes werethe compass assigned to the proposed work. An introductoryvolume, giving a general account of the Rise and Progress of theFrench Revolution, was thought necessary; and the singlevolume, on a theme of such extent, soon swelled into two.
As the Author composed under an anonymous title, he couldneither seek nor expect information from those who had beenactively engaged in the changeful scenes which he was attemptingto record; nor was his object more ambitious than that ofcompressing and arranging such information as the ordinaryauthorities afforded. Circumstances, however, unconnected withthe undertaking, induced him to lay aside an incognito, any fartherattempt to preserve which must have been considered asaffectation; and since his having done so, he has been favouredwith access to some valuable materials, most of which have now,for the first time, seen the light. For these he refers to theAppendix at the close of the Work, where the reader will findseveral articles of novelty and interest. Though not at liberty,in every case, to mention the quarter from which his informationhas been derived, the Author has been careful not to rely uponany which did not come from sufficient authority. He has neithergrubbed for anecdotes in the libels and private scandal of the{iv}time, nor has he solicited information from individuals who couldnot be impartial witnesses in the facts to which they gave evidence.Yet the various public documents and private informat