Bonaparte struck me as being different in appearance from any of the representations of him which I had at the time seen.* His face was larger and more square than it is given in the pictures and busts; and the breadth of his body, particularly across the shoulders, is considerably greater than I had expected. From the accounts we had received of his corpulency we had been prepared to meet a very fat man, but although he is certainly large in the body, it would not have occurred to me to describe him as being corpulent. His flesh looked firm and he was what is termed well-set. His legs in particular were well made, and rather small. His complexion was quite pale, approaching to white. There was not the least appearance of wrinkle either on his brow or at the corners of his eyes. Were it not for an occasional lighting up of the eyes, and a sort of determined commanding glance, which pierced, as it were, into one's most hidden thoughts, I should have been disposed to describe his look as being placid or gentle, and at all times lively, but never stern. Nor was there the slightest trace of care visible in his face or in his manner; on the contrary his whole deportment, conversation and expression of countenance indicated a mind perfectly at ease. I was particularly struck with the extraordinary play of his upper lip, but it is very difficult to describe, the moreso to me as I did not see him actually under the influence of any strong emotion, and what I did observe, therefore, served not so much to show the expression itself, as to suggest to the imagination what possibly might be the powerful effect of his eye and lip in giving character to his expression when he is strongly moved. …His manners were so good that from the first moment of the interview to the last, I felt myself not only at ease in his company, but every now and then I thought I was speaking to him in too familiar a tone. I wished, of course, to show him all sorts of respect and attention, but his cheerful and encouraging manner threw me repeatedly off my guard. *Since writing the above I have seen an excellent picture of Bonaparte in the possession of Mr. Richard Power of Dublin. It was painted in 1805 by Gerard and given to the City of Rome in 1810. Mr Power bought it at Rome in 1817. This picture has much more of Bonaparte's expression of countenance than any I have seen. It represents him, of course, smaller than he is now, but the face is extremely like, and is remarkable for conveying the placidity and sweetness of expression which is at times so very striking in his countenance.

[The only painting I find Gerard painted of Napoleon in 1805 is the one below. I don't know whether or not this is the one to which Hall is referring.]

Illustration by Louis Bombled, Un capitaine anglais presente un lieutenant a Napoleon.

From the interview between Captain Basil Hall and Napoleon on St. Helena in 1817. Transcribed from Hall's handwritten copy. His father had studied at Brienne simultaneously with Napoleon, who remembered him.

"I am certain that your father must be nine or ten years older than I am—at least nine years—is it not so?" I replied that I believed he was correct, upon which he turned nearly half round on his heel, and laughing very heartily, nodded his head as if to imply that he had considerably the advantage of my father in being so many years his junior. He next asked how many children my father had; I said, "Nine alive." "Ah, c'est beaucoup," said Bonaparte with an air of affected gravity accompanied by a formal sort of bow, as if he felt desirous of making up for the slighting manner in which he had just been treating my father on the score of age. His next question was, "Are you married?" and on my stating that I was not, he asked in a quick, impatient way, "Why don't you marry?" I hesitated a moment, but seeing that he was waiting for my answer, I said that I had not money enough to enable me to marry. "Ah ha," exclaimed Bonaparte several times. "Faute d'argent—faute d'argent"—laughing heartily at the same time and nodding his head as if he deemed the reason satisfactory enough.