In my opinion Lasalle is the better light cavalry officer, but there is no one whom the men will follow as they do Murat.' 'And who is the stern-looking man, leaning on the Oriental sword ?' 'Oh, that is Soult! He is the most obstinate man in the world.

He argues with the Emperor.

The handsome man beside him is Junot, and Bernadotte is leaning against the tent-pole.' I looked with interest at the extraordinary face of this adventurer, who, after starting with a musket and a knapsack in the ranks, was not contented with the baton of a marshal, but passed on afterwards to grasp the sceptre of a king.

And it might be said of him that, unlike his fellows, he gained his throne in spite of Napoleon rather than by his aid.

Any man who looked at his singular pronounced features, the swarthiness of which proclaimed his half Spanish origin, must have read in his flashing black eyes and in that huge aggressive nose that he was reserved for a strange destiny.