But the young officer rightly gauged the weakness of the moribund monarchy; and the officers of his almost mutinous regiment were glad to get him back on any terms.

Everywhere in his journey through Provence and Dauphine, Buonaparte saw the triumph of revolutionary principles.

He notes that the peasants are to a man for the Revolution; so are the rank and file of the regiment.

The officers are aristocrats, along with three-fourths of those who belong to "good society": so are all the women, for "Liberty is fairer than they, and eclipses them." The Revolution was evidently gaining completer hold over his mind and was somewhat blurring his insular sentiments, when a rebuff from Paoli further weakened his ties to Corsica.

Buonaparte had dedicated to him his work on Corsica, and had sent him the manuscript for his approval.