9, edit.

1883).]-- He has been described in terms of enthusiastic praise and exaggerated condemnation.

It is ever thus with individuals who by talent or favourable circumstances are raised above their fellow-creatures.
Bonaparte himself laughed at all the stories which were got up for the purpose of embellishing or blackening his character in early life.
An anonymous publication, entitled the 'History of Napoleon Bonaparte', from his Birth to his last abdication, contains perhaps the greatest collection of false and ridiculous details about his boyhood.

Among other things, it is stated that he fortified a garden to protect himself from the attacks of his comrades, who, a few lines lower down, are described as treating him with esteem and respect.

I remember the circumstances which, probably, gave rise to the fabrication inserted in the work just mentioned; they were as follows.
During the winter of 1783-84, so memorable for heavy falls of snow, Napoleon was greatly at a loss for those retired walks and outdoor recreations in which he used to take much delight.