The Modern Regime, vol 1

tect, especially whether he is the proprietor, whether he built it to live in himself, and, once installed in it, whether he took pains to adapt it to how own way of living, to his own necessities, to his own use. - Such is the social edifice erected by Napoleon Bonaparte, its architect, proprietor, and principal occupant from 1799 to 1814. It is he who has made modern France; never was an individual character so profoundly stamped on any collective work, so that, to comprehend the work, we must first study the character of the Man.[2]

I. Napoleon's Past and Personality.

He is of another race and another century. - Origin of his paternal family. - Transplanted to Corsica. - His maternal family. - Laetitia Ramolino. - Persistence of Corsican souvenirs in Napoleon's mind. - His youthful sentiments regarding Corsica and France. - Indications found in his early compositions and in his style. - Current monarchical or democratic ideas have no hold on him. - His impressions of the 20th of June and