PUBLIC LIBRARY 156901 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1899. Edinburgh: Printed by W. and R. Chambers. person HE last relic of the Buonapartes was found in the of an old ecclesiastic, a wealthy canon of the Abbey of San-Miniato. The chief of the stock took refuge in the small island of Corsica, and settled at Ajaccio, among whose rude nobility his descendants were enrolled, and even admitted to all the privileges then accorded to that jealous distinction. In spite of the heroic efforts of the celebrated Paoli to preserve the independence of Corsica, it passed under the dominion of the crown of France, after which it was assimilated in its internal administration to the other provinces of France, and had provincial states composed of the three orders of nobility, clergy, and commonalty or third estate. It likewise preserved a supreme magistracy of twelve nobles, in whom the government of the country was vested; and to this high tribunal Charles Buonaparte was attached as assessor, a place preparatory to his elevation into the Council. This Charles was the only son of Joseph Buonaparte, the eldest of three brothers, the two other of whom died without male issue. He inherited the family property, which was not very considerable, consisting of a house in Ajaccio, and a small estate on the shore of the island, where a dilapidated villa served as a summer residence. As is usual in southern climates, he married at the early age of nineteen, and won for his wife from numerous competitors the reigning beauty of the world of Corsica, the young Letitia Ramolino, who was remarkable not only for her personal charms, but also for the courage and fortitude of her character. In 1779 the noblesse elected him the deputy of their order to the court of Versailles, and in this capacity he was obliged to make frequent journeys into France, which, notwithstanding the liberal grants he received from the government of Louis XVI., appear to have reduced his fortune within the narrowest limits; for upon his death at Montpellier in 1785, whither he had repaired in the vain hope of being relieved from the malady which afflicted him-cancer in the stomach; a disease often hereditary in families—he left his widow in very straitened circumstances, and dependent in a great measure for the support and education of her children on their uncle the Archdeacon Lucien, who was head of the chapter of Ajaccio, and who cheerfully undertook to perform the part of father to the bereaved orphans. These were no fewer than eight in number, the survivors of thirteen whom the fruitful Letitia had borne to her husband, although, at the time of his death, she had not completed her thirty-fifth year. Five were sons, and three daughters, the eldest of whom, Joseph, was seventeen years old, and the youngest, Jerome, only two months. The second son was Napoleon, the third Lucien, and the fourth Louis; the three daughters were Marianna Eliza, Pauline, and Caroline, also called Annonciada, who was nearly three years old at the death of her father. In his visits to France, Charles Buonaparte had taken with him his two eldest sons for the benefit of their education; Joseph being placed in a school at Autun, with the view of following the ecclesiastical profession under the patronage of Marboeuf, Archbishop of Lyons, brother of the governor of Corsica, who, as a friend of the family, was on his part instrumental in procuring the introduction of Napoleon into the military school of Brienne, whence he was afterwards removed to that of Paris. This second son was always a favourite with his father, who delighted to regard him as the future hero of his race; and the young Napoleon himself was fondly attached to an indulgent parent, whose loss he long deplored, regretting, above all, that the mournful consolation of attending his deathbed had been denied to him, which fell, on the contrary, to the lot of Joseph and the Abbé Fesch, a half-brother of their mother. In the succeeding years, Lucien likewise received his education at Brienne and at Aix in Provence; and when the mighty era of 1789 dawned, all the sons were assembled in Corsica, where the cause of the Revolution was from the first embraced by its inhabitants with the greatest ardour. The young Buonapartes were among its most eager partisans; and Lucien, in particular, who was only sixteen years of age, distinguished himself as an orator in the popular clubs of the island. Joseph had abjured the priestly calling, and having entered into the civil service of the department, was enabled to assist his mother in |