aracter. European archives, long carefully guarded, have been
thrown open; the diplomatic correspondence of the most important
periods has been published; family papers have been examined, and
numbers of valuable memoirs have been printed. It has therefore
been possible to check one account by another, to cancel
misrepresentations, to eliminate passion--in short, to establish
something like correct outline and accurate detail, at least in
regard to what the man actually did. Those hidden secrets of any
human mind which we call motives must ever remain to other minds
largely a matter of opinion, but a very fair indication of them
can be found when once the actual conduct of the actor has been
determined."

From this point of view Professor Sloane has proceeded with his
tremendous work. His studies at home and abroad have been ample. We
may remark, in passing, upon the physical vigor of the author as shown
in his portrait. From such a face and figure we can but expect energy,
persistency, accomplishment. I do not pretend to disclose the reasons
of Professor Sloane for indulging in this prodigious Napoleonic dream
and for delineating it in what is likely to be regarded as the best
product of his intellectual career. We can only take what he has
produced and give it such cursory notice as our space will permit.

The first volume of the work extends from a survey of the conditions
under which Napoleon was born and reared to the conclusion of his
twenty-eighth year. The first events depicted are those historical
movements in which the Bonapartes, within the narrow limits of their
island, were involved in the seventh decade of the eighteenth century;
and the last event recorded in this volume is the fall of Venice, at
the end of May, 1797. I incline to regard this as the most
interesting, though not the most important, of the four great volumes
of Professor Sloane's work. In the nature of the case the ascendant of
a man is the more inspiring part. In it he appears as an orb whose
full majesty, not yet revealed, solicits the imagination and kindles
by sympathy the ambitions that in some measure are common to us all.
Here in volume I is portrayed the youth of the man Napoleon Bonaparte.
In this he is revealed in the full charm of that electrical audacity
which had as yet lost none of its sharpness and burning flash. Nor had
Napoleon, as a _man_, as yet become sufficiently i