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feated, from Russia. of his own story of misfortune. An army of almost half a million of men, sons, brothers, fathers, loversthe chivalry of France, had perished in the snows of the north. There was hardly a family which had not now to mourn the loss of some near and dear friend. Millions of money, wrung from the people, had been lost; the banner of France had quailed; the conqueror was conquered; the once invincible emperor was a fugitive!

He returned to Paris, the bearer

Here was a state of things to try the soul of a nation. How natural for sorrow to turn in anger against its author,-for disappointment to vent itself upon him who has occasioned it! Yet such was not the course of things now. Napoleon but stamped upon the earth, and thirty millions of people obeyed his call. There was no wavering, no hesitation. Money, men, munitions, were lavished as if nothing had been lost as if the country were inexhaustible; and in a few brief weeks, all that could be done by France, was done for Napoleon. There is no instance in history equal to this, as furnishing evidence of the sway which one man has acquired over the mind and heart of a populous and intelligent nation. It is a homage to the power, the mastery of Bonaparte, which is without a parallel.

Napoleon's reception on his return from Elba also evinces the ascendancy he had acquired over the hearts of the French people. And at a still later date, we have seen proofs that this ascendancy had not a slight foundation. Though Europe had risen in battle array, and banished him from the theatre of

his renown; though other kings had ruled over the nation; though a lone island was his grave, and his image had long been withdrawn from the sight, still, after a lapse of six and twenty years, his senseless form is borne back to France, and we see a nation in tears over his coffin! What legitimate prince was ever thus wept-what other man, public or private, has ever been honored with such a testimony to his dominion over the hearts of thirty-five millions of men?

But while we thus acknowledge the intellectual greatness of Napoleon, and ponder with admiration upon it as a spectacle of human capacity, calculated to exalt our views of man, we must still bestow the most emphatic condemnation upon his character and career. His aim was universal dominion, for no good or philanthropic purpose, but only to gratify the hungering and thirsting ambition of his soul. In attempting to realize this wicked dream, he sacrificed millions of human lives, and would, had it been required, have sacrificed half the human race. Nor was this reckless waste of happiness, this utter contempt of mankind,-their hopes, fortunes, feelings, pains, pleasures, the only charge which we must lay to his account.

Universal dominion, at which Bonaparte aimed, involves a general prostration of the sense of rectitude in the hearts of men. Implying, as it does, universal despotism, it is a thing so wicked, so monstrous, that it cannot be, till the light of justice and truth is put out in the human bosom. Bonaparte, then, was warring, not against men's physical power alone, but

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JOHN WOLFGANG VON GÖTHE, or Goethe, was born at Frankfort, on the Maine, August 28th, 1749. His father was a doctor of laws, and an imperial counsellor of high standing. He was a great admirer of pictures, and had a considerable collection, embracing many fine specimens. He early directed the attention of his son to these, pointed out their beauties and defects, and thus excited his interest in them.

This

course, cooperating with a native tendency to love everything beautiful, in young Göthe, served to cherish and establish that admiration of the arts, which distinguished him through life.

When he was eight years old, the Seven Years' war broke out, and the Count de Thorane, one of the king's officers, was stationed at his father's house. He was a man of taste, and employed several young painters of Frankfort to execute pictures for him. At the interviews between the count and these artists, Göthe was present, took part in the conversations, and one picture, from the story of Joseph, was painted agreeably to his suggestions.

He now learnt the French language, and a French company, performing at Frankfort, excited his taste for the drama. While pursuing his studies at this period, he devoted himself, with singular versatility, alternately to drawing, music, the natural sciences, jurisprudence and the languages.

To assist his studies in the latter, he formed the plan of a novel, in which seven characters, brothers and sisters, corresponded with each other, in so many different languages. The youngest of these used Hebrew, and this led Göthe to study that language. In this manner he acquired a taste for oriental poetry, which is visible in his works.

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At an early age, he fell in love, and, as often hapwith boys, the object of his affection was much older than himself. Young as he was, his passion was so violent as to deprive him of sleep and rest; the consequence of this was a severe fit of sickness. With returning health, he devoted himself to a pre

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