Excerpt from Three Political Tragedies Napoleon the Lion at Bay, the Tyrolese Patriots This is an attempt to dramatize the career of Napoleon. What life since Adam was one more dramatic? From Toulon to Friedland ascending! From Friedland to St. Helena descending! Up like a rocket, down like a stick! The son of a notary; the rival of Charlemagne; the fellow of convicts. Nor is it difficult to believe that no such person has ever existed, so meteoric was his career. It surpassed Caesar's, indeed, for Napoleon filled out his allotted days. No one should attempt this task who has not tried to know his history as nuns know their Bibles. Nor is this knowledge enough; for the causes which lifted him and the causes which tumbled him should be discovered, and his character and opinions and those of the men around him must be learned. And with this must go a dramatic instinct and some poetical gifts. It is a task for Shakespeare. But Shakespeare isn't here and a village carpenter has attempted it. It has been badly done, no doubt. But such as it is, here it is. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."