ile I am very fond of the dear general, I call him to myself the
little tiger, so as to properly characterize his figure, tenacity, and
courage, the rapidity of his movements, and all that he has in him which
maybe fairly regarded in that sense."[1132]

At this very date, previous to official adulation and the adoption of
a recognized type, we see him face to face in two portraits drawn from
life, one physical, by a truthful painter, Guerin, and the other moral,
by a superior woman, Madame de Stael, who to the best European culture
added tact and worldly perspicacity. Both portraits agree so perfectly
that each seems to interpret and complete the other. "I saw him for the
first time,"[1133] says Madame de Stael, "on his return to France after
the treaty of Campo-Formio. After recovering from the first excitement
of admiration there succeeded to this a decided sentiment of fear." And
yet, "at this time he had no power, for it was even then supposed that
the Directory looked upon him with a good deal of suspicion." People
regarded him sympathetically, and were even prepossessed in his favor;

"thus the fear he inspired was simply due to the singular effect of his
person on almost all who approached him. I had met men worthy of respect
and had likewise met men of ferocious character; but nothing in the
impression which Bonaparte produced on me reminded me of either. I soon
found, in the various opportunities I had of meeting him during his stay
in Paris, that his character was not to be described in terms commonly
employed; he was neither mild nor violent, nor gentle nor cruel, like
certain personages one happens to know. A being like him, wholly unlike
anybody else, could neither feel nor excite sympathy; he was both
more and less than a man; his figure, intellect, and language bore the
imprint of a foreign nationality.. .. far from being reassured on seeing
Bonaparte oftener, he intimidated me more and more every day. I had a
confused impression that he was not to be influenced by any emotion of
sympathy or affection. He regards a human being as a fact, an object,
and not as a fellow-creature. He neither hates nor loves, he exists for
himself alone; the rest of humanity are so many ciphers. The force of
his will consists in the imperturbable calculation of his egoism. He is
a skillful player who has the human species for an antagonist, and
whom he proposes to checkmate... Every time that I heard him talk I
was struck wit