THE  MAN  33

and  leave  unnoticed  the  ordinary  outlines.  Let  us,
then,  remember  that  for  the  most  part  the  bearing  of
Napoleon  was  cheery  and  unaffected,  pleasing  yet
dignified.  There  was  something  in  that  short  figure
which  overawed  the  giants,  Alexander  of  Russia  and
Frederick  William  of  Prussia.  Yet  in  the  presence  of
those  to  whom  he  granted  his  friendship  he,  for  the
most  part,  maintained  an  easy  familiarity,  while  his
suggestive  and  incisive  remarks  opened  up  new  vistas
of  thought  or  lit  up  hackneyed  themes.  At  Erfurt,  in
1808,  while  the  elegant  dancing  of  the  Czar  Alex-
ander drew  much  attention,  the  chief  centre  of  attrac-
tion was  the  dispute  of  the  little  Corsican  with
Wieland  on  the  merits  and  demerits  of  Tacitus.  He
could  transact  complex  affairs  of  State,  and  yet
devote  mental  energy  to  an  interview  with  Goethe,
which  charmed  that  monarch  of  the  realms  of  thought.
Such  a  union  of  powers  had  not  been  seen  in  the
modern  world;  for  Frederick  the  Great's  patronage
of  literature  and  the  arts  was  stilted  and  artificial
when  compared  with  the  living  interest  of  Napoleon
in  great  themes.  In  truth  his  supremacy  rested  largely
on  his  natural  powers  and  on  the  range  of  his  studies
in  youth,  which  his  marvellous  memory  enabled  him
to  utilize  through  a  long  career.
