The life of Napoleon Buonaparte, emperor of the French. By Sir Walter Scott.

LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 7
ened by adulation and flattery the claims of the king as acquiring their fortunes at the expense of the
and the nobles upon the community; and the nation, state. These numerous additions to the privileged
indifferent at that time to all literature which was body of nobles accorded ill with its original composinot of native growth, felt their respect for their tion, and introduced schism anti disunion into the
own government enhanced and extended by the body itself. The descendants of the ancient chivalry
works of those men of genius who flourished under of France looked with scorn and contempt upon the
its protection. new men, who, rising perhaps from tlhe very lees
Such was the system of French monarchy, and of the people, claimed from superior wealth a share
such it remained, in outward show at least, until in the privileges of the aristocracy.
the peace of Fontainebleau. But its foundation Again, secondly, there was, amlon gst tlie ancient
had been gradually undermined; public opinion nobles themselves, but too ample room for division,
had undergone a silent but almost a total change, between the upper and wealthier class of nobility,
and it might be compared to some ancient tower who had fortunes adequate to maintain their rank,
swayed from its base by the lapse of time, and and the much more numerous body, whose poverty
waiting the first blast of a hurricane, or shock of aii rendered them pensioners upon the state for the
earthquake, to be prostrated in the dust. How the means of supporting their dignity. Of about one
lapse of half a century, or little more, could have thousand houses, of which the ancient noblesse is
produced a change so total, must next be con- cormputed to have consisted, there were not above
sidered; and this can only be done by viewing two or three hundred families who had retained the
separately the various chainges which tie lapse of means of maintaining their rank without the assistyears had producedon the various orders ofthe state. ance of the crown. Their claims to monopolize
First, then, it is to be observed, that in these latter commissionls in the army, and situations in tile gotimnes the wasting etfects of' luxury and vanity had vernmenext, together with their exemption froml taxes,
totally ruined a great part of the French nobility, a were their sole resources; resources burthensonme to
word which, in respect of that country, corlpre- the state, and odious to the people, without being
hended what is called in Britain the nobility and in the same degree beneficial to those who enjoyed
gentry, or natural aristocracy of the kingdom. This them. Even in n;ilitary service, which was cosnbody, during the reign of Louis XIV., though far sidered as their birthright, the nobility of the second
even then from supporting tile part which their fa- class Nere seldom permitted to rise above a certain
thers had acted in history, yet existed, as it were, limited rank. Long service might exalt one of them
through their remembrances, and disguised their to the grade oflieutenant-colonel, or the government
dependence upon the throne by the outward show of some small town, but all the better rewards of a
of fortune, as well as by the consequence attached life spent in the army were reserved for nobles of
to hereditary right. They were one step nearer the the highest order. It followed as a matter of course,
days, not then totally forgotten, when the nobles of that amidst so many of this privileged body who
France, with their retainers, actually formed the languished in poverty, and could not rise frolm it by
army of the kingdom; and they still presented, to the ordinary paths of industry, some must have had
the imagination at least, the descendants of a body recourse to loose and dishonourable practices; and
of chivalrous heroes, ready to tread in the path of that gambling-houses and places of debauchery
their ancestors, should the times ever render neces- siiould have been frequented and patronized by insary thIe calling forth the Ban, or Arriere-Ban-the dividuals, whose ancient descent, titles, and emfeudal array of the Gallic chivally. But this delu- blems of nobility, did not save them- fromn the suspision had passed away; the defence of states war cion of very dishonourable conduct, the disgrace of
intrusted in France, as in other countries. to the ex- which affected the character of tile whole body.
ertions of a standing army; and, in the latter part There lmust be noticed a third classification of the
of the eighteenth century, the nobles of France pre- order, into the h/aute noblesse, or nlen of thile highest
sented a melancholy contrast to their predecessors. rank, most of whom spent their lives at court, and
The number of the order was of itself sufficient in discharge of the great offices of the crown and
to diminish its consequence. It had been impru- state, and the noblesse camnpagnarde, who condently increased by new creations. There were in tinued to reside upon their patrinlonial estates in the
the kingdom about eighty thousand famuilies enljoying provinces.
the privileges of nobility; and the order was divided The noblesse of the latter class had fallen grainto different classes, which looked on each other dually into a state of general contempt, which was
with mutual jealousy and contempt. deeply to be regretted. They were ridiculed and
The first general distinction was betwixt the scorned by the courtiers, who despised the rusticity
ancient, and mlodern, or new noblesse. The fbriner of their mnanners, and by the nobles of newer creawere nobles of old creationi, whose ancestors had tion, who, conscious of their own wealth, contenlned
obtained their rank from real or supposed services thle poverty of these ancient but decayed families.
rendered to the nation in her councils or her battles. The " bold peasant" himself, is not more a kingdoua's
The new nobles had found an easier access to tile pride than is the plain country gentleman, who, living
same elevation, by the purchase of territories, or of onl his own means, and amongst his own people, beoffices, or of letters of nobility, any of which easy comes the natural protector and referee of the ifarlmer
modes investet the owners with titles and rank, al d the peasant, and, in case of need, either the
often held by mnen whose wealth had been accumu- firmest assertor of their rights and his own against
lated in mean and sordid occupations, or by farmers- the aggressions of the crown, or the independent and
general, and financiers, whom the people considered unudalunted defender of the crown's rights, against