ting taxes,
and provided for the imposition of customs, excise, and octroi dues:
he prepared the way for the improvement of the streets, the erection
of fountains, the reorganization of the hospitals and the post
office. To the university he gave special attention, rearranging the
curriculum on the model of the more advanced _ecoles centrales_ of
France, but inclining the studies severely to the exact sciences and
the useful arts. On all sides he left the imprint of his practical
mind, that viewed life as a game at chess, whence bishops and knights
were carefully banished, and wherein nothing was left but the heavy
pieces and subservient pawns.

After dragging Malta out of its mediaeval calm and plunging it into
the full swirl of modern progress, Bonaparte set sail for Egypt. His
exchequer was the richer by all the gold and silver, whether in
bullion or in vessels, discoverable in the treasury of Malta or in the
Church of St. John. Fortunately, the silver gates of this church had
been coloured over, and thus escaped the fate of the other
treasures.[100] On the voyage to Alexandria he studied the library of
books which he had requested Bourrienne to purchase for him. The
composition of this library is of interest as showing the strong trend
of his thoughts towards history, though at a later date he was careful
to limit its study in the university and schools which he founded. He
had with him 125 volumes of historical works, among which the
translations of Thucydides, Plutarch, Tacitus, and Livy represented
the life of the ancient world, while in modern life he concentrated
his attention chiefly on the manners and institutions of peoples and
the memoirs of great generals--as Turenne, Conde, Luxembourg, Saxe,
Marlborough, Eugene, and Charles XII. Of the poets he selected the
so-called Ossian, Tasso, Ariosto, Homer, Virgil, and the masterpieces
of the French theatre; but he especially affected the turgid and
declamatory style of Ossian. In romance, English literature was
strongly represented by forty volumes of novels, of course in
translations. Besides a few works on arts and sciences, he also had
with him twelve volumes of "Barclay's Geography," and three volumes of
"Cook's Voyages," which show that his thoughts extended to the
antipodes; and under the heading of Politics he included the Bible,
the Koran, the Vedas, a Mythology, and Montesquieu's "Esprit des
Lois"! The composition and classification of this library are e