aimed,
for revision by a former teacher, Berton. Nevertheless he found
almost, if not altogether, for the first time a real friend in the
person of des Mazis, a youth noble by birth and nature, who was
assigned to him as a pupil-teacher, and was moreover a foundation
scholar like himself. It is also declared by various authorities that
from time to time he enjoyed the agreeable society of the bishop of
Autun, who was now at Versailles, of his sister Elisa at Saint-Cyr,
and, toward the very close, of a family friend who had just settled in
Paris, the beautiful Mme. Permon, mother of the future duchess of
Abrantes. Although born in Corsica, she belonged to a branch of the
noble Greek family of the Comneni. In view of the stringent
regulations both of the military school and of Saint-Cyr, these visits
are problematical, though not impossible.

Rigid as were the regulations of the royal establishments, their
enforcement depended of course on the character of their directors.
The marquis who presided over the military school was a veteran
place-holder, his assistant was a man of no force, and the director of
studies was the only conscientious official of the three. He knew his
charge thoroughly and was recognized by Napoleon in later years as a
man of worth. The course of studies was a continuation of that at
Brienne, and there were twenty-one instructors in the various branches
of mathematics, history, geography, and languages. De l'Esguille
endorsed one of Buonaparte's exercises in history with the remark:
"Corsican by nation and character. He will go far if circumstances
favor." Domairon said of his French style that it was "granite heated
in a volcano." There were admirable masters, seven in number, for
riding, fencing, and dancing. In none of these exercises did
Buonaparte excel. It was the avowed purpose of the institution to make
its pupils pious Roman Catholics. The parish priest at Brienne had
administered the sacraments to a number of the boys, including the
young Corsican, who appears to have submitted without cavil to the
severe religious training of the Paris school: chapel with mass at
half-past six in the morning, grace before and after all meals, and
chapel again a quarter before nine in the evening; on holidays,
catechism for new students; Sundays, catechism and high mass, and
vespers with confession every Saturday; communion every two months.
Long afterwards the Emperor remembered de Juigne, his chaplain,