evoured Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus; China, Arabia, and
the Indies dazzled his imagination, and what he could lay hands upon
concerning the East was soon assimilated. England and Germany next
engaged his attention, and toward the close of his studies he became
ardent in examining the minutest particulars of French history. It
was, moreover, the science of history, and not its literature, which
occupied him--dry details of revenue, resources, and institutions; the
Sorbonne, the bull Unigenitus, and church history in general; the
character of peoples, the origin of institutions, the philosophy of
legislation--all these he studied, and, if the fragments of his notes
be trustworthy evidence, as they surely are, with some thoroughness.
He also found time to read the masterpieces of French literature, and
the great critical judgments which had been passed upon them.[14]

[Footnote 14: The volumes of Napoleon inconnu contain
the text of these papers as deciphered for M. Masson and
revised by him. My own examination, which antedated his
transcription by more than a year (1891), led me to
trust their authenticity absolutely, as far as the
writer's memory and good faith are concerned. I cannot
rely as positively as Masson does on the Epoques de ma
vie, which has the appearance of a casual scribbling
done in an idle moment on the first scrap that came to
hand.]

The agreeable and studious life at Valence was soon ended. Early in
August, 1786, a little rebellion, known as the "Two-cent Revolt,"
broke out in Lyons over a strike of the silk-weavers for two cents an
ell more pay and the revolt of the tavern-keepers against the
enforcement of the "Banvin," an ancient feudal right levying a heavy
tax on the sale of wine. The neighboring garrisons were ordered to
furnish their respective quotas for the suppression of the uprising.
Buonaparte's company was sent among others, but those earlier on the
ground had been active, several workmen had been killed, and the
disturbance was already quelled when he arrived. The days he spent at
Lyons were so agreeable that, as he wrote his uncle Fesch, he left the
city with regret "to follow his destiny." His regiment had been
ordered northward to Douay in Flanders; he returned to Valence and
reached that city about the end of August. His furlough began
nomi