witness almost at this very date, a friend and a competent diplomat.' You know that, though I am very fond of the dear General, I call him myself the little tiger, so as to properly characterise his looks, tenacity, and courage, the rapidity of his movements, and all that he has in him which may be fairly regarded in that sense.'"
IX.
HIS POWER OF COMMAND.
Poor, forlorn, discontented, at first sight insignificant in figure, and without any employment, Napoleon in these early days might have been passed by without much notice. But it is a singular thing that the moment he attains any position, people at once, involuntarily, even strongly against their will, recognise and bow down before his calmly arrogant capacity. There are, for instance, two portraits of him at the period in his existence just following that to which we have now reached, and both give the same impression—the one is by Madame de Staël, and is in words; the other is by Guérin, a truthful painter. Madame de Staël meets him at a time when, having gained some victories, she and the public generally are sympathetic towards him; and yet, she says, "the recovery from the first excitement of admiration was followed by a decided sense of apprehension." He had then no power, and
