On the night of the 10th of Nivose the Rue Chantereine, in which Bonaparte had a small house (No. 6), received, in pursuance of a decree of the department, the name of Rue de la Victoire.  The cries of “Vive Bonaparte!” and the incense prodigally offered up to him, did not however seduce him from his retired habits.  Lately the conqueror and ruler of Italy, and now under men for whom he had no respect, and who saw in him a formidable rival, he said to me one day, “The people of Paris do not remember anything.  Were I to remain here long, doing nothing, I should be lost.  In this great Babylon one reputation displaces another.  Let me be seen but three times at the theatre and I shall no longer excite attention; so I shall go there but seldom.”  When he went he occupied a box shaded with curtains.  The manager of the opera wished to get up a special performance in his honour; but he declined the offer.  When I observed that it must be agreeable to him to see his fellow-citizens so eagerly running after him, he replied, “Bah! the people would crowd as fast to see me if I were going to the scaffold.”

   —­[A similar remark made to William iii. on his lending at Brixham
   elicited the comment, “Like the Jews, who cried one day ‘Hosanna!’
   and the next ‘Crucify Him! crucify Him!’"]—­

On the 28th of December Bonaparte was named a member of the Institute, in the class of the Sciences and arts.

—­[Napoleon seems to have really considered this nomination as a great honour.  He was fond of using the title in his proclamations; and to the last the allowance attached to the appointment figured in the Imperial accounts.  He replaced Carnot, the exiled Director.]—­

He showed a deep sense of this honour, and wrote the following letter to Camus; the president of the class: 

Citizen president—­The suffrage of the distinguished men who compose the institute confers a high honour on me.  I feel well assured that, before I can be their equal, I must long be their scholar.  If there were any way more expressive than another of making known my esteem for you, I should be glad to employ it.  True conquests—­the only ones which leave no regret behind them—­are those which are made over ignorance.  The most honourable, as well as the most useful, occupation for nations is the contributing to the extension of human knowledge.  The true power of the French Republic should henceforth be made to consist in not allowing a single new idea to exist without making it part of its property. 
                         Bonaparte.

The General now renewed, though unsuccessfully, the attempt he had made before the 18th Fructidor to obtain a dispensation of the age necessary for becoming a Director.  Perceiving that the time was not yet favourable for such a purpose, he said to me, on the 29th of January 1798, “Bourrienne, I do not wish to remain here; there is nothing to do.  They