NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5372, 3 September 1904, Page 12

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

The history of the world shows that our greatest warriors have frequently been small men. Napoleon was essentially a small man, and of all the great little men perhaps no figure has been more idealised than that of the great Napoleon. Lord Rosebery, in “Napoleon: The Last Phase," thus winds up his appreciation; "Till he had lived no one could realise that there could be so stupendous a combination of military and civil genius, such comprehension of view united to such, grasp of detail, such prodigious vitality of body and mind. ‘He contracts history/ said Madame d’Houdetot, ‘and expands imagination.' ‘He has thrown a doubt/ said Lord Dudley, 'on all past glory; be has made all future renown impossible. 1 This is hyperbole, but with a substance of truth. No name represents so completely and conspicuously dominion, splendour, and catastrophe. He raised himself by the use, and ruined himself by the abuse, of superhuman faculties. He was wrecked by the extravagance of his own genius. No less powers than those which had effected his rise could have achieved Ids fall.” Lord appreciation is followed by an appendix giving the opinions of different authorities on the personal appearance of Napolc-on. They are worth quoting in this connection. Senliouse: "His person I was very desirous of seeing, and I felt disappointed. His figure is very had; he is short, with a large head, his hands and legs small, and his body so corpulent as to project very considerably.” Bunbury: "Napoleon appears to be about five feet six inches high. His make is very stout and muscular. In the management of his limbs Napoleon is ungraceful, but he uses very little gesture, and the carriage of his head is dignified. I have seldom seen a man of stronger make, or better fitted to endure fatigue." Henry: “A fascinating prestige, which we had cherished all qur lives, then vanished like gossamer in the sun. The great Napoleon had merged in an unsightly and obese individual; and we looked in vain for that overwhelming power of eye and force of expression which we had been taught to expect by a delusive imagination.' 1