icers (_officiers d'ordonnance_) on missions, daily sent
him circumstantial reports, which he examined, and answered
immediately: it being a maxim with him, to put nothing off till
to-morrow. And let it not be supposed, that he satisfied himself with
a superficial judgment of affairs: he read every report through, and
examined every voucher attentively. Frequently the super-human
sagacity, with which he was gifted, enabled him to perceive errors and
imperfections, that had escaped the scrutinizing eyes of his
ministers; and then he corrected their labours. But still more
frequently he fashioned them anew from beginning to end; and what was
a fortnight's work to a whole ministry, scarcely cost the genius of
Napoleon a few minutes.

The Emperor rarely sat down, but dictated as he walked about. He did
not like to repeat his words; and if you asked him a word not clearly
understood, he answered impatiently, "_I said_," and went on.

When he had to treat a subject worthy of himself, his style,
habitually nervous and concise, rose to the level of his grand
conceptions: it became majestic and sublime.

If the possibility of expressing his ideas was shackled by the want of
the proper word; or if the customary terms did not appear to him
sufficiently strong, sufficiently animated, he brought together words,
that were astonished to find themselves in each other's company, and
created a language of his own, a language rich and impressive, that
might sometimes infringe established rules, but compensated this happy
fault, by giving more loftiness and vigour to his thoughts[79].

[Footnote 79: I have been assured, that Napoleon in
his youth composed a history of Paoli, and of the
war of liberty: may he realize the design of
writing the history of his own reign, for the
instruction of future ages! This reign is so
fertile in extraordinary events, and unforeseen
catastrophes, and displays to our view such
numerous examples of human vicissitudes, that its
history may supply the place of all others, and
become itself alone a lesson for kings and people.]

Sometimes, hurried away by the impetuosity of his character, and
eager to arrive more quickly at his object, he did not take time to
weigh his words, his ideas, his desires. When his orders had