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 equally suggestive.

Bonaparte carefully searched out the weak places of the organism which he was about to attack--in the present campaign, Egypt and the British Empire.

The climate and natural products, the genius of its writers and the spirit of its religion--nothing came amiss to his voracious intellect, which assimilated the most diverse materials and pressed them all into his service.