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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
r./^ ^«^ Cornell University Library 
 
 DC 203.M41 1894a 
 
 V.1 
 
 Napoleon at home ^the daily life of the 
 
 3 1924 024 330 635 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024330635 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME 
 
LIMITED EDITION 
 
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 DEJEUNER. 
 
Napoleon at Home 
 
 THE DAILY LIFE OF THE EMPEROR 
 AT THE TUILERIES 
 
 FREDERIC MASSON 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 JAMES E. MATTHEW 
 
 WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS BY F. DE MYRBACH 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 H. GREVEL AND CO. 
 
 Philadelphia: J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
 
 1894 
 
Printed by Hazell, 'Watsor, & Viney, -Ld., London and Aylesbu 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction ix 
 
 I. Etiquette i 
 
 The old and the new rigime — The King — The NobiUty — 
 The Clergy — The Third Estate — The People — The principle 
 of authority abolished by the Revolution — The necessity 
 Napoleon was under to re-establish it — The origin which 
 he assigns to his power — Charlemagne — Strange resemblance 
 of the situations — Formation of the Court on the example of 
 the Carlovingian Court — Grand dignitaries — Grand officers 
 of the Empire — Grand officers of the Crown — Etiquette — 
 The reason of its existence — By it alone absolute monarchies 
 exist — Bourbon etiquette — Napoleon unable to re-establish 
 it in its entirety — The reason of this inability — The King 
 — The Emperor — The Conciliator— Service of honour — 
 Service of actual necessity — Apartment of honour — Private 
 apartment — The true life of Napoleon goes on in the private 
 apartment. 
 
 II. The Apartments. Their Protection . . 53 
 
 Where to look for the apartments of the Emperor — The 
 arrangement of them more important than the furniture — 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Division of the apartments of the palace — State apartments 
 — Ordinary apartments — Apartment of honour — Interior 
 apartment — Secret apartment — Arrangement of the rooms — 
 Posts of the guard — The Adjoinls of the palace — Reynaud — 
 Clement — Segur — Tascher — The Governor of the palace — 
 The Undev-Governor — The adjudant Auger — The rounds of 
 the guard— Anecdotes — How the Emperor was guarded in 
 the interior apartment — Proposed formation of companies of 
 body-guards at the end of 1812. 
 
 III. The Toilet . . .... 74 
 
 The Emperor's bedroom — His awakening — The first valet- 
 de-chambre, Constant — The admission of a courier — The 
 service of health — Yvan — Corvisart — Tea — The bath — 
 Valets-de-chamhre of the toilet — Roustam, Saint-Denis, 
 called Ali — Wages and perquisites — The beard — Large use 
 of water — Pedicure — The hair-dresser — The way the Em- 
 peror wore his hair — Use of flesh-brush — Dressing — Con- 
 cealed poison — Stockings — Shoes — Boots — Waistcoat — 
 Sword — Grand cordon — Grenadier's coat — Frock of a chas- 
 seur (J cheval — Decorations — The Master of the Wardrobe — 
 Remusat — Turenne — Hat — Pocket-handkerchief — Eye- 
 glasses — Bonbon-box — Snuff-box — Watches — Money. 
 
 IV. The Morning Levee 132 
 
 The chamberlain of the day — The salon de service — The 
 service — The grand entries — The salon of the ordinary 
 apartment — The Lever — Audiences — Favours granted — 
 Etiquette observed at audiences. 
 
C0N7ENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 V. Dl^JEUNER 149 
 
 Dijeuner waits — Service of dSjeuner — Guignet, known as 
 Dunan, maitre d^hdtel— The menu — How the Emperor took 
 dijeuner — His tastes in cookery — The soldier's soup — A hair 
 — Cripinettes of partridge — Chambertin — Table service and 
 plate — The King of Rome at dijeuner — Children — Talma 
 — Denon — Fontaine — His companions in Egypt — The 
 kitchens — The chefs. 
 
 VI. The Emperor's Study 172 
 
 Visits to the Empress — The Study — Its furniture — The 
 back cabinet — The topographical cabinet — The private 
 secretary — Meneval — Fain — The keeper of the portfolio 
 — The secretaries of the cabinet : Clarke, Mounier, and 
 the office of translators — Deponthon — The topographical 
 office — Bacler d'Albe — The library — Denina, Ripault, 
 Barbier — Expenses of the Library — Bindings — Books printed 
 by order of the Emperor — Care which he took of books — 
 Writing paper — Lists — Boxes with divisions — Manuscript 
 dictionaries. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I ^HE portrait of such a man as Napoleon 
 -*- is not painted at the first attempt. 
 One study does not suffice, nor does one 
 canvas. To attempt, after the lapse of almost 
 a century, to represent so difficult a model 
 with at least some appearance of truth, it is 
 necessary to become imbued with his person- 
 ality under every aspect which it assumes, 
 according to the time of the day and the 
 variation of the light ; to neglect none of 
 those methods of procedure which tend to 
 the acquisition of a portion, however slight, 
 of the actual truth : to study each line, to 
 detail each wrinkle, to photograph each sur- 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 face and each curve of the countenance ; 
 and to relax the work only when it has 
 been carried as far as the resources of art 
 and the most scrupulous attention will allow. 
 For the accessories, and for each one of 
 them, the same labour is required ; they must 
 be isolated, and the construction of each 
 one separately investigated ; they must be 
 dissected, for in each he has probably in- 
 cluded something of himself; they must be 
 grouped together, for it is essential that he 
 should be placed in his own surroundings, 
 and move in his own atmosphere. These 
 are the sketches which a painter, careful of 
 the truth, must fill in before approaching 
 his canvas. At a later time, perhaps, he will 
 attempt to combine all these slight and 
 scattered works in order to construct the por- 
 trait he dreams of, but for this, conscientious- 
 ness and application will not suffice. In 
 vain he will endeavour to combine his studies, 
 yet never will he succeed in representing as 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 he conceived it, illumined by the glory 
 which flashes from it, the sovereign image 
 of him who among men was the nearest 
 approach to that which is called a God. 
 Possibly even he will never attempt it, so 
 weak does he feel his effort, and so unequal 
 to the task his power ; but these studies which 
 he has prosecuted with absolute sincerity, he 
 may hope will preserve in the eyes of the 
 public their truth and their characterisation, 
 and that they will at a later time furnish 
 some one more skilful with the features and 
 expression of nature, and it is for this reason, 
 knowing that life is short, that he sends them 
 forth from his studio and exhibits them. 
 
 Such is the scope of these volumes. They 
 have no pretension of offering the last word on 
 him about whom history will occupy itself 
 unceasingly ; their aim is simply to fix certain 
 guiding-marks, and to bring into prominence 
 certain characteristic facts. Before every 
 attempt at synthesis, it is by a succession of 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 analyses, slow, accurate, and minute, that we 
 must proceed, and these volumes contain, 
 according to the term used in Germany, no 
 more than contributions to history. 
 
 In a previous volume I attempted to define 
 the extent and nature, in the case of Napoleon, 
 of his taste and feelings towards woman ; 
 how far his senses affected him, how far his 
 feelings might have, been modified either by 
 education or by his exercise of supreme 
 power ; how he was affected outwardly and in- 
 wardly by that strongest of all passions — Love. 
 I shall attempt later to determine how far 
 he was acted on by the hereditary notions of 
 family feeling, the developments he gave to 
 them, and how far he yielded or resisted 
 them ; for it is this feeling which, after love, 
 is the least conventional, the one which man 
 holds most directly from nature. Afterwards 
 I shall investigate the treatment he adopted 
 towards his fellow-creatures, women in par- 
 ticular ; what lot he assigned to them, what 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 duties he traced out for them, what relations 
 he had with them, apart from love ; for woman 
 is the principal bond of all civilised society, 
 and the social being which man is, only 
 becomes intelligible and definite by his rela- 
 tions with women. 
 
 Side by side — and this is the aim of another 
 series of investigations, of which I publish 
 here the first instalment — I propose to give a 
 detailed account of the habits and the rule 
 of life which Napoleon laid down for himself, 
 to describe his dwelling with exactness, to 
 follow him about in it for a whole day, from 
 morning to evening, in such a manner that 
 the reader may be able to arrive at clear 
 ideas when he is spoken of, so that he may 
 figure him, if not as he was actually, at least 
 as it is permissible, after a century, to suppose 
 he was. Having thus described the daily 
 round of this existence, it will be necessary 
 later to describe the entertainments and the 
 pleasures which the Emperor gave to his 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 Court rather than to himself, — the plays, the 
 concerts, the balls ; and then to make the 
 retinue of public appearances pass before us, 
 and to display the whole pomp of the cere- 
 monies. It will be necessary, again, to descend 
 to the trifling details of the organisation of 
 the Imperial household, to call to life again 
 the crowd of chamberlains, equerries, masters 
 of the ceremonies, officers of the hunt, and 
 prefects of the palace ; to show whence these 
 people come, and whither they go ; how they 
 are recruited, what money and what honours 
 they received, and in what way they paid 
 their debt of gratitude. Finally, leaving 
 Paris, it will be necessary to follow the Court 
 in its small and great journeys to Fontaine- 
 bleau, to Compiegne, to Rambouillet, and then 
 to those distant residences which the Imperial 
 constitutions fixed in different points of the 
 Empire. An account must be given of his 
 habits and his character ; his attire and his 
 pleasures must be described, and the ulti- 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 mate forms which the Imperial monarchy 
 gave to the country trips of a sovereign must 
 be noted. 
 
 Such is a part of the work undertaken, 
 that which, at the present time, seems to the 
 author to be so far advanced that it is not 
 being too bold to announce the plan. He 
 disguises neither the difficulties nor the trouble. 
 To clear up each of the points which he 
 studies successively, he should isolate it and 
 examine it through the microscope. From 
 such a course, no doubt, will result a distorted 
 enlargement which may lead the reader to 
 take a part for the whole, and to make up 
 his mind before all the elements of conviction 
 have been put before him. In closely group- 
 ing facts which, spread over a whole life, 
 possess but a moderate importance, we lend 
 to them a seriousness and a connection which 
 they do not really possess. Take the chase, 
 for example. It is attempted in a book to 
 give an account solely of Napoleon as a 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 sportsman ; the author must enter into the 
 details of the organisation of the chase ; he 
 must have collected the most trifling incidents 
 of each run, have related from the detailed 
 account each whoop ; he must follow the 
 Emperor in his shooting parties, setting down 
 the list of each, with the names of the guests 
 and the number of guns. That would be the 
 subject undertaken, and it would be his duty 
 to exhaust it. But when he came to the end 
 of the volume the reader might run away 
 with the notion that during all his life 
 Napoleon did nothing else than hunt, at 
 the very time when he was probably occu- 
 pied with something quite different. 
 
 Here lies the danger of these monographs. 
 Taken by themselves, they give only a 
 moderately exact idea of the model, although, 
 alone, each of the alleged facts may be 
 authentic. In bringing them together, possi- 
 bly, the outlines will be recovered, and the 
 accumulation of details will give less shadow 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 to the figure. But beyond this what system 
 can be adopted which allows of the acquisi- 
 tion of precise notions, and which does not 
 offer more serious evils ? 
 
 To understand Napoleon at the present 
 time it will not suffice to give an example of 
 style written in a lazy manner at the corner 
 of a table. Truly his life offers rare material 
 for poetic development. Granted. But the 
 generation which preceded ours excelled in 
 that art, and, from Byron to Hugo, has left 
 scarcely any themes to treat. The cycle is 
 not yet shut ; in our days, young men with 
 rolling words and violent images undertake 
 to translate the immortal epic ; but however 
 excited their prose may be, the ideas of 
 which they make use, and even their imagery, 
 cannot possibly be new. They transcribe, in 
 the language of to-day and to-morrow, the 
 songs, incorrect and old in form, which for 
 half a century have consoled the Nation, and 
 have kept him before her eyes ; which, during 
 
TNTR OD UCTION. 
 
 the worst ages she has had to pass through, 
 have sustained her pride in herself, the rhythms 
 of which at the present day seem worn out only 
 because they have drawled out so long from 
 the throat of the people. Will the songs of 
 the present day possess this same glory, and 
 awaken the same echoes ? No one wishes 
 this more than I ; but singing is the business 
 of the young, and because Legend ought to 
 maintain its rights over the soul of France, 
 will it be asserted that History ought to 
 abandon its own rights ? 
 
 Well then, one will help forward the other: 
 the inquiry which History will set on foot 
 will in no respect tend to destroy Legend ; 
 for Legend is but historic truth, — turned into 
 poetry if you will, added to and generalised 
 in certain directions, but almost always 
 strangely exact. History will bring to light 
 new elements of which to-morrow Legend 
 will make use, which it will raise to sub- 
 limity at its will, the outlines of which it 
 
INTR OD VCTION. 
 
 will soften off and shade, lending it that 
 lofty spirit of poetry with which the imagin- 
 ation alone of the people can surround its 
 hero. 
 
 But what is wanted is a history, clear, 
 accurate, based entirely on documents which 
 are trustworthy ; a history which goes down 
 to the minutest detail, which leaves no ears 
 of corn to glean on the field which it 
 has chosen for itself A history is wanted 
 written with no other object in view than 
 the search after truth, apart from any party 
 feeling,— with a complete independence, which 
 shall have the dryness and the detail of a 
 legal document, and which, in proof of the 
 impartiality of the author, should gloss over 
 none of the defects, should tone down none 
 of the blemishes, should travel without re- 
 laxation of purpose to the very end of the 
 information collected. Every other method 
 of procedure would be futile, dishonest, 
 opposed to the end in view. The Hero 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 should appear in his completeness, lighted 
 up on all sides by a relentless light ; no veil 
 should conceal any part of him ; it is the 
 business of others to drape his figure. There 
 must be no reservation in the description of 
 his deeds, but " the truth, the whole truth, 
 and nothing but the truth." He must no 
 longer be lauded with phrases ; the truth alone 
 must suffice. 
 
 And at a blow the spiteful pamphlets and 
 the imbecile apologies will at once find their 
 refutation. The latter, by their stupidity, 
 are worse than the libels. To measure the 
 Emperor with the same yardstick as an 
 adroit man of business who keeps his books 
 properly and is content with a modest profit 
 on the goods which he retails out ; to polish 
 up the sharp edges of his medal to the 
 point of resembling those coins where you 
 can still distinguish the image of a sovereign, 
 without being able to distinguish what 
 sovereign it is ; to take away from his character 
 
INTR OD UC2I0N. 
 
 and his intellect all their excess so as to 
 bring down his physical and moral features to 
 an expression respectably commonplace and 
 honestly vulgar, is to understand his nature 
 still less than by attributing to it excessive 
 vices, ambition without measure, even crimes 
 without parallel. At least he would remain 
 great ; it would be the genius of evil, but it 
 would still be a genius. It would not be a 
 kind of pupil of the Ghetto, compacted of 
 usury and liberalism. 
 
 To those would-be impartial persons who 
 on every occasion run down their fellow- 
 countrymen before strangers ; to the moralists 
 of the study, who appear to wish to ignore 
 all the unclean dregs of human existence, 
 and apply to Napoleon a philosophic rule 
 which they have certainly not borrowed from 
 their contemporaries, the facts will supply an 
 answer. 
 
 Being suspected of having hypnotised myself 
 about Napoleon, I ought, more than any 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 Other person, to abstain from all polemics, 
 and to keep back, as far as possible, my 
 personal judgments. I will only say what I 
 have found in the documents, and do not 
 feel that I have the right to give my con- 
 clusions. Reserved as were those of a 
 former volume, they called forth criticisms 
 the justice of which I acknowledge. What 
 I put forward is a fragment of an 
 investigation. Judgment can only be given 
 when the whole investigation is under the 
 eyes of the public. 
 
 The plan which I adopted of indicating 
 none of the sources on which I have drawn 
 has been vigorously attacked, not only in 
 France, but in other countries. But I still 
 adhere to it. On the one hand, it seems to 
 me useless to make the reader take part in 
 the very long and very complex work to 
 which I have given myself up. On the other 
 hand, the references which I should have to 
 offer would teach no one anything ; for the 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 larger part of the documents on which I 
 worked either belong to myself, or form part 
 of private archives. In a short time I shall 
 be in a position to publish, in their complete- 
 ness, certain of the texts of which I made 
 use. It will then be seen whether they are 
 or are not authentic. In addition to this, 
 with the exception of cases where I am under 
 obligation to be silent, I am ready to give 
 to workers who are interested in the subject 
 all the proofs they may desire. This is the 
 course which I have already taken ; and 
 the most critical in the examination of docu- 
 ments have been perfectly contented with my 
 explanation. 
 
 Looking at this book, which makes its ap- 
 pearance less than six months after my volume 
 of Napoleon et les Femmes, it will perhaps 
 be said that I wished to take advantage 
 of success and to cling to the fashion. As 
 a matter of fact, it is the present volume 
 which ought to have been published first. 
 
IN7R0DUCTI0N. 
 
 During last year, in March and April 1893, 
 a Review printed the three articles which 
 form the woof of it. If I have completed 
 them it has been with notes collected a long 
 time back. I have had no need to borrow 
 from certain compilations which have been 
 placed on sale since then ; and I undertake 
 to establish, from motives which will be 
 appreciated, for these studies a priority which 
 cannot be questioned. 
 
 As to fashion, I have not the leisure to 
 follow it. It would be impossible for me to 
 improvise a book which, whether good or 
 bad, is the result of twenty years' study. 
 It was not the fashion to declare oneself a 
 Bonapartist at the time when I affirmed 
 myself to be one ; and if the fashion passes 
 by of writing upon the Empire, I shall none 
 the less go on with my work. But, how- 
 ever, I do not think that it will pass by, 
 for the reason that I do not think that it 
 is a fashion. 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 At the end of the second Empire there 
 was a fashion of attacking Napoleon III 
 through Napoleon I ; to dispute the origin 
 of his power, to become excited over his 
 religious policy, to deny his military great- 
 ness, to put his last campaigns in evidence, 
 and to detail his overwhelming defeat. It was 
 a development of opposition similar to that 
 which consisted in dressing out Napoleon III 
 as Caracalla or as Nero for the amusement 
 of a few literati of the Acad6mie. To 
 what this hatred of Napoleon, this contempt 
 for glory, this apology of peace-at-any-price 
 have led us is well known. But this has 
 not reformed the pamphleteers. When the 
 Empire fell there remained the principle of 
 authority, the principle of government, even 
 the principle of unity ; all that was Napoleon. 
 It was necessary to demolish him, and they 
 hastened to do it. That meant writing 
 against the Emperor, and the dedications of 
 such books were well paid for. There was on 
 
INTR ODUCTION. 
 
 the other side no opposition, no reply ; pos- 
 sibly from fear of becoming compromised, 
 possibly rather from ignorance. In the 
 Bonapartist party, those who contested the 
 matter were principally men formerly in office, 
 who were little and ill prepared for those 
 studies which require a special education 
 and careful research. An active life had 
 hurried them on, and the revolution ot 
 September gave them their first leisure. No 
 doubt, instructed as they were in their 
 calling, knowing all its possibilities, acquainted 
 with all its secrets, they would have had 
 less trouble than others in going back to 
 the source, and in ascertaining what part 
 the Emperor took in it. If at that time 
 among this body of officials, which was 
 truly excellent, there had been found a few 
 men of good will in each of the branches 
 in which human activity finds its develop- 
 ment, and in which the Government ought 
 to make its action felt — bridges and roads, 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 mines, prefectoral administration, finance and 
 justice, industry, commerce, diplomacy — who 
 had investigated' by means of actual documents, 
 who had formed the organisation, who had 
 foreseen the development and assured it, 
 who had laid down a rule which was most 
 salutary alike to private persons and to the 
 state, their books would tend to exhibit most 
 forcibly the highest idea which can possibly 
 be taken of Napoleon. Everywhere we should 
 have met with his ideas, his decrees, his 
 universal spirit of classification, and that 
 invariable good sense which protected him 
 at the same time from the quibbles of 
 rhetoricians, the details of fiscal authorities, 
 and the exaggerations of men of literature. 
 
 But the men who combine the capability, 
 the instruction, and the experience in a given 
 pursuit are frequently wanting in general 
 ideas, and still more frequently in the taste 
 for writing. They are accustomed to do 
 nothing but that which is immediately useful. 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 the results of which are at once apparent. 
 The papers which are submitted to them set 
 them to work, and they want no other 
 incentive, but they recoil from a speculative 
 work which has not received official sanction. 
 And, again, when it is proposed that they 
 should write a book, a sort of professional 
 timidity stops their pen and paralyses their 
 fingers. They are afraid of saying too much, 
 and, by force of being discreet, cease to be 
 instructive. Not that a few creditable works 
 did not make their appearance at this time ; 
 but they appealed only to a special and very 
 restricted public, who only wished to find 
 party politics in these attempts at history. 
 
 And, moreover, it was not given to any pro- 
 fessional writer to direct that current which, 
 at the present day, leads all minds towards 
 Napoleon. This can be explained. The 
 greater number of men who make books by 
 profession come from the Professoriate, from 
 Journalism, or from the Bar, — those three 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 schools in which the hatred of Napoleon is 
 taught, in which, from calling and from 
 interest, they are constrained to detest him. 
 
 Does not Napoleon represent military glory, 
 and do not the men of war, thanks to him, 
 usurp a part of the attention which men of 
 letters consider that the public owe to their 
 work alone ? To degrade the army by daily 
 insults, by the declaration, each day repeated, 
 of the same calumnies, to clamour for its 
 abolition, to conjure up the Peace Congress, to 
 foster, by means of international associations, 
 the forgetfulness and neglect of one's own 
 country — is not this the work which prominent 
 philosophers and writers of repute are actively 
 advancing, and is it not by adopting these 
 fruitful doctrines that to-day modern moralists 
 exalt those who have no country, and bring 
 forward apologies for anarchists ? 
 
 Again, Napoleon represents authority, and 
 no class in the state any longer bears re- 
 straint with patience. The relentless laws by 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 which the Emperor muzzled the three throats 
 of the Revolution are not of a nature to be 
 forgotten. He obliged the advocates to de- 
 fend their clients without insulting either 
 the government or private individuals. He 
 obliged the professors to teach their pupils 
 those subjects which they were paid to ex- 
 plain, without preaching either atheism or 
 contempt for the laws. He obliged the men 
 of letters to respect the lawful government of 
 their country, not to reveal to its enemies the 
 weak points of its defence, and not to corrupt 
 the imagination of the people. Napoleon, 
 therefore, is looked on by all these as an 
 enemy, — he, his doctrines, his intellect, even 
 his person, — and that he has continued to be. 
 Consequently, nothing is to be expected 
 from professional writers as long as they are 
 recruited among such surroundings. But it 
 was reserved for a man who was neither 
 literary nor an advocate to place the question 
 before public opinion in its true light. 
 
INTRO D UCTION. 
 
 When M. H. Taine added to the pamphlet 
 which he had just printed against royal and 
 revolutionary France, that scandalous portrait 
 of the Emperor which bore the unmistakable 
 character of a libel, Prince Napoleon, in 
 exile, replied by a work of history and 
 eloquence which he called " Napoleon et ses 
 detracteurs." A shudder, as it were, was felt 
 to pass through the public. At last some one 
 had dared to hold up his head and carry 
 the war into the enemy's country. At last 
 the Emperor found in one of his descendants 
 an advocate worthy of his cause. Better 
 prepared than any one else could possibly 
 be for such a work, in that he had presided 
 over the publication of the correspondence ; 
 because since his tenderest infancy his mind 
 was simply fed on the traditions and recollec- 
 tions of the great man ; bearing in his own 
 person striking features of his physical and 
 moral heredity, — the Prince was one of those 
 whose voice, when he raises it, in spite of 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 the uproar of crowds, carries to the extremity 
 of the forum. In language belonging to 
 himself alone, which disdained the artifices 
 of rhetoric, and never sacrificed the very 
 smallest atom of the sense to the turn of 
 the phrase, he says what he knew and what 
 he thought of the Ernperor ; and these few 
 pages, passing over the head of the professor 
 of rhetoric who had given the occasion for 
 them, had the result in many -hearts of 
 arousing the sleeping passion for the illustrious 
 dead. 
 
 The fitting time also had arrived. The 
 twenty generations which, since 1871, had 
 passed under the flag had then learned that 
 which is taught in all the armies of the 
 world — that Napoleon was the greatest man 
 of war of all times. In proportion that our 
 young officers studied the history of the 
 great wars, in proportion that their chiefs 
 rendered themselves capable of teaching them, 
 admiration, respect, passion for the Emperor- 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 chief of the army, absorbed all other feeling. 
 It was no longer for the legend that they 
 waxed enthusiastic, it was for the real and 
 tangible ; for they studied it at close quarters, 
 they scrutinised each campaign, each operation, 
 each detail of organisation. The military cor- 
 respondence of Napoleon was their breviary. 
 Not content with what was printed, they 
 were anxious to learn by actual documents 
 how in time of war, beyond the bold strokes 
 which he carried out, he trained, led, and 
 fed his army ; on what information he made 
 his decisions ; how he conducted the service 
 of the front and the rear. And after each 
 new publication we were obliged to confess 
 that if France was conquered it was because 
 she deserted his injunctions and others were 
 adopted. 
 
 From the officers this veneration descended 
 to the soldiers. What glory was to be spoken 
 of to them to rouse them, if not his glory? 
 What army was to be held up as a model, 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 if not his army? What victories were they 
 to celebrate, if not his victories ? Thus, little 
 by little, by the power of facts alone, without 
 united action of any sort, without previous 
 understanding, everywhere throughout the 
 whole army, through which the entire nation 
 passes, light appears. 
 
 The military painters, more in touch than 
 any one with the army, were the first to 
 translate into startling representations these 
 thoughts of the soldier. Weary also them- 
 selves of depicting for seventeen years the 
 disasters of the terrible year, they desired 
 to break away from it, and went straight to 
 this inexhaustible fountain of glory, in which 
 incidents are abundant where everything is 
 picturesque, both men and horses, and affords 
 materials for interesting compositions. Did 
 they see any farther? No. But in carrying 
 on their profession conscientiously, in exe- 
 cuting excellent pictures or wonderful drawings, 
 they discovered that they had helped on the 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 movement which was about to take place in 
 a very remarkable manner. Reproduced in 
 enormous numbers, their pictures succeeded 
 in striking the minds of crowds of people, 
 and when in 1889 the Exhibition of the 
 Ministry of War, on the esplanade of the 
 Invalides, was thrown open to them, what 
 they saw there completed the conversion. 
 
 In this palace of a day, thanks to the 
 intelligent initiative of a few members of a 
 commission from which, without doubt, the 
 Minister did not expect so vigorous an effort, 
 were found collected together all the relics 
 of the generals and of the soldiers of that 
 age. Hovering over them, everywhere visible 
 and present, was the image of Napoleon. 
 Of the whole of the national fair, this palace 
 was the most visited. Pouring into it in 
 deep waves, from the very vestibule, the 
 most excited and the most noisy held their 
 peace. A certain religious and sacred feeling 
 entered their troubled minds. They passed 
 
INTR OD UCTIOJSr. 
 
 along the glass cases silently, deliberately, 
 thoughtfully, and continuously. Of the heads 
 bent down in examination, there was always 
 a varied succession, and always a stream 
 of men, of women, and of children, which 
 flowed by as the months passed. Through 
 all their eyes they drank in glory, the glory 
 of the people, of peasants and workers like 
 themselves, taken away one day from the 
 paternal field or from the workshop, to return 
 after five years all covered with gold, 
 charged with decorations, holding in their 
 hand the staff" of a Marshal of the Empire, 
 rich enough to buy provinces, and called 
 by a name new and sonorous, a name of 
 victory which was to them more precious 
 than the name of their father. And him 
 they recognise who, raised far above them 
 all, distributed, as he pleased, fortune and 
 renown ; him of whom, in their childhood 
 the old soldiers talked — him whose image 
 they had for so long a time seen above 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the great fireplace of the paternal cottage, — 
 the Man, the Conqueror, the Martyr ; the 
 supernatural being whose misfortunes alone 
 were equal to his pleasures, whose name alone, 
 mysterious and unique, is like a rallying cry, 
 everywhere understood, which unites all people 
 in a bond of admiration and respect. 
 
 And then, as if awakened from the silence 
 of the tomb by a Divine law, the witnesses 
 of the epic begin to speak. It was a re- 
 markable occurrence ; all other voices, those 
 whose stories the public best loved to hear, 
 whose indecent stress it revelled in, whose 
 prurient details it received with delight, no 
 longer found an audience. 
 
 Everything turned towards these phantom 
 mouths, which at last gave forth the ex- 
 pected secrets. And these secrets were those 
 of our passed greatness ; confidence in the 
 man of genius, devotion, self-denial ; they 
 were vigorous sabre-cuts given or received, 
 strange cavalcades crossing Europe, squares 
 
xxxviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 broken with a superb rush, rivers crossed 
 by swimming, adventures more surprising 
 than any novel ; and by the light of the 
 fire of cannon, in a fog of powder and 
 bleeding dust, he appeared, his hat over 
 his eyes, in his long greatcoat, unmoved, 
 serene, superb. 
 
 And then he was to be seen as he lived, 
 to be followed in his moments of tenderness, 
 and in his misfortunes. We felt for him in 
 the same way as his old soldiers. We learnt 
 again to love him. When during his last 
 days at Saint Helena he inscribed in his will 
 the name of that Marbot, whom he knew for 
 a certainty to be of the number of the brave, 
 but whose talent as a writer had only just 
 been discovered by a brochure of a few pages ; 
 when ^' he wotild urge him, to contimie to write 
 hi the defence of the glory of the French 
 Armies, and to silence calumniators and 
 apostates," did the Emperor perceive that 
 this book of Marbot's, buried for half a century, 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 published almost by chance, would succeed 
 on one memorable day in awakening in all 
 hearts, even in those which were the hardest 
 and the most closed against him, sympathy 
 for the soldiers, a passion for their adven- 
 tures, respect for their uncomplaining stoicism, 
 and a love, generous and strong as was 
 theirs for him who for twenty years strove 
 for France, and with France, against the 
 world. 
 
 All this prepared the movement ; but still 
 it was not this which produced it. Under 
 the force of circumstances with which it 
 appears that the recollection of Napoleon 
 had no connection, the Nation suddenly found 
 itself in such a state of mind that a cttltus 
 of the Emperor was alone capable in its own 
 eyes of consoling it, of fortifying it, and of 
 restoring it. His name was a symbol ; he 
 combines the idea of glory, the idea of 
 authority, the idea of honesty. The Nation 
 is wearied of defeats, and longs for victories. 
 
xl INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 The Nation is wearied of parliamentary 
 anarchy, and looks towards the man who 
 gave them back security and order. The 
 Nation is wearied of seeing the conscience 
 of those who govern it put up to auction, 
 and looks towards him who, inflexible, in- 
 sisted on restitution from financiers, and 
 emptied the pockets of contractors. 
 
 To a people of simple views, a name is 
 necessary to summarise its dream. But for 
 a century, each time that the people, sunk 
 into the quicksands of parliamentarism, feels 
 itself on the point of perishing, at the risk 
 of hurrying on the catastrophe, it makes a 
 desperate effort, in spite of the sand which 
 is closing its lips, and the filth which is 
 filling its mouth, and throws out a last ap- 
 peal, a last cry, after which nothing remains 
 but death ; and it is this man whom it calls 
 to the rescue, it is this name which it gives 
 utterance to as that of the supernatural 
 being who alone can save. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xli 
 
 In 1799, when the People wished to free 
 itself from the ignominy of the Directory ; 
 in 181 5, in 1830, and in 1848, when it 
 attempted to overcome the oppression of the 
 aristocrats and the financiers ; in 1848 again, 
 when it was disgusted with republican anarchy, 
 five times already in one century, it was the 
 only name which summed up all the aspira- 
 tions of the people. But for all, in 1799, in 
 18 1 5, for the greater part in 1830, for the 
 mass even in 1848, the name was that of a 
 living person, and it was to his genius that 
 the people appealed. At the present day 
 there is no influence of survivorship, no belief 
 in an heirship, no thought relating to any 
 descendant. It is to Napoleon dead, to no 
 member of the Napoleon family living, that 
 the soul of crowds leaps out. Napoleon seems 
 like a creation of the reason, a being of 
 legend and of dreams, so good, so strong, 
 so far superior to surrounding humanity, that, 
 for this nation which has no longer the re- 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mains of faith in the ancient gods, it is he 
 who becomes the God. 
 
 There is at present no party which can 
 restore him to France ; he is too far away 
 in time, too exalted in glory. To her alone 
 can he serve as leader and guide, for she 
 alone is equal to him, and can without failing 
 support the weight of his name. 
 
 Vainly, by the side of his worship, is the 
 attempt made to create a rival. Joan of Arc, 
 declared venerable by the Church, after 
 having been condemned by the Church ; Joan 
 of Arc seized and monopolised by the 
 Catholics, exalted into a worker of miracles, 
 whose marvellous acts were not only inspired 
 but carried out by a divinity, from that time 
 forth loses hold of the country. The visionary 
 who is guided by St. Michael and St. 
 Catherine, no longer is the representative of 
 the spirit of France, that spirit incensed 
 against the English invader, which descended 
 into the little shepherdess of Domremy, and 
 
INTR OD UCTION. xliii 
 
 to the time of her death animated her sweet 
 and overflowing love for our land. The 
 statue of Joan, which each will honour in 
 his own way, may unite all believers to the 
 country : the shrine of Joan will unite only 
 the believers in a religion. 
 
 Joan, besides, however glorious the re- 
 collection of her may be, represents only the 
 struggle against the foreigner, the defence of 
 the native land. She is far removed in point 
 of time, and belonged to an age so different 
 from our own, that, saving our country, nothing 
 that touched her and excited her to action 
 suffices to move us. He, on the other hand, 
 is entwined in all our fibres, and there is 
 not an atom of his flesh of which our flesh 
 is not made. He bore our whole social 
 system ; he made its laws and its institutions. 
 He impressed on it the form which it still 
 bears, although a century has passed away. 
 He suffered all our miseries ; he gave us 
 all our joys. For twenty years he carried on 
 
xli V IN TROD UCTION. 
 
 the formidable resistance of France, alone 
 against the whole of Europe. He was the 
 Revolution as far as it possessed sublimity ; 
 he was the Country in all that is most sacred, 
 for after all the glories which he gave her, 
 he fell with her, and it was a common disaster 
 which annihilated them, — her for a time, him, 
 as to his sovereignty, for ever. 
 
 And let it not be said that it was Napoleon 
 who led France into this disaster. History 
 is there to reply. Valois and Bourbons, the 
 Revolution and the Empire, the Government 
 of to-day and that of to-morrow, have en- 
 countered and will always encounter the same 
 enemies, since they will be France, and will 
 concern themselves in her mission, her in- 
 terests, and her glory. The coalitions which 
 are formed against France are not the con- 
 sequence of the internal form of government 
 which she adopts. They result from the 
 very configuration of Europe, and from the 
 fact that France will always be looked 
 
iNm on ucTJON. xiv 
 
 on with jealousy simply because she is 
 France. 
 
 The political system by which the Bourbon 
 kings had been compelled, by the very force 
 of circumstances, to be restrained, which took 
 three reigns and two centuries to form, is 
 — let it be understood — the same system 
 which Napoleon was compelled to adopt ; 
 only he effected it in fifteen years. The 
 Bourbons, in order to protect their frontiers, 
 had been forced to constitute the League 
 of the Rhine, to put kings of their own 
 family on the thrones of Spain and Naples, 
 to establish a point of support in Upper 
 Italy, and to endeavour to annex Belgium. 
 What else did Napoleon do ? 
 
 Was it he who entered into the struggle 
 with England ? Putting aside the Hundred 
 Years' War, and the wars of Belgium, let 
 us take history only from Louis XIV. What 
 page of it is there which is not reddened 
 by the English with the blood of France ? 
 
xlvi INTR on UC TION. 
 
 War from 1666 to 1667, from 1672 to 1679, 
 from 1688 to 1697, from 1701 to 1714, 
 from 1740 to 1748, from 1755 to 1763, 
 from 1778 to 1783, from 1793 to 1800; 
 in the eighteenth century alone, out of a 
 hundred years, forty-one of open, declared, 
 official war. On the Continent, whoever 
 attacks France has England behind him. 
 Napoleon governs, and the same thing hap- 
 pens as in the time of the Bourbons. It is 
 not the Bourbons, nor Napoleon, which 
 England designs to destroy ; it is France. 
 
 In these fifteen years is found collected 
 and represented the complete national history. 
 In his own person Napoleon unites the 
 grandness and the disasters of the whole 
 Bourbon dynasty. By him are summed up 
 and united victories similar to Denain and 
 defeats like Malplaquet. In him is em- 
 bodied at the same time the struggle for 
 the freedom of the seas and the struggle for 
 natural frontiers. Like Henry IV, he brings 
 
introduction: xWn 
 
 peace to consciences ; like Louis XIV, 
 he organises the administration; better than 
 all the kings, he creates the unity of the 
 nation, and Conde, Turenne, Luxembourg, 
 Villars, Saxe, are soldiers in the past, as 
 in the present are Lannes, Davout, and 
 Massena. 
 
 The ignorance of Napoleon brought on 
 France and its army the disasters of 1870; 
 it brought on the nation the orgies of 
 parliamentarism, — that shameless corruption 
 which made of the law-court a public 
 exchange of votes ; it brought on the 
 Government such a lowering of the prin- 
 ciple of authority that it relaxed all the 
 springs, destroyed the administration, intro- 
 duced a want of discipline into all its ranks ; 
 it brought on society that moral anarchy 
 which rotted and disintegrated the class which 
 professed to direct, long before it had pro- 
 voked in the class which held no property, 
 and which would no longer be directed, the 
 
xl vi i i INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 proselytism of the bomb. That society 
 trembles at present. It was when it threw 
 him over who alone could protect it that 
 they should have trembled. It is astonished 
 at the frequency of anarchist attempts. It 
 is their rarity which ought to astonish. 
 When anarchy is in the minds of the shop- 
 keepers, how should it not descend to the 
 mass of the people ? Why should the shop- 
 keepers alone have the monopoly of satisfying 
 their appetites, when the appetites and in- 
 terests serve only as a base to society, when 
 the principle of authority no longer has its 
 devotees, and the Country even is no more 
 than a figure of oratory which serves to 
 cover all expenses and to justify all 
 peculation ? 
 
 Country, authority, society — these are what 
 Napoleon represents. He alone supplies us 
 with a common faith and hope, a common 
 religion, a common form of worship. He 
 alone can deliver us from a common terror. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xlix 
 
 In him alone we Frenchmen — who are not 
 oppressors and are tired of being oppressed 
 — can and ought to meet on common 
 ground. It is because they have known how 
 to honour their heroes and keep them in 
 faithful recollection, that other peoples have 
 become great at our side. A pedant has 
 said that it was the Prussian schoolmaster 
 who conquered at Sadowa. Nonsense ! It 
 was Frederick the Great. And it was he, 
 living, who at Sedan conquered Napoleon, 
 dead. 
 
 France, lying down in its armour of war, 
 sleeps a heavy slumber, a slumber which has- 
 lasted for four-and-twenty years. Around 
 her swarm and buzz the rabble of spouters 
 and betrayed who take her for their prey. 
 They cry and dispute, they howl about 
 figures, they feign indignation, they hiss, they 
 laugh, they amuse themselves. She, while 
 their noise does not succeed in disturbing 
 her dream, sleeps on, dreaming of times past. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and does net even perceive that they have 
 stolen her mantle of purple to cut it into 
 the shape of the tunics of kings. But let 
 the Hero, so unmoved by these outcries, 
 ascend the mountain, let him appear, and with 
 a gesture he will disperse and overthrow this 
 band of rulers ; let him lean over the pillow 
 of the warrior maiden and kiss her forehead, 
 and suddenly she will stand erect, more 
 radiant and more noble, her lance in hand, 
 her helmet on her brow, as she appeared in 
 former times, when, hovering in the blue 
 heaven on rapid wings, she led the pioneers 
 of glory to make their harvest on the plains 
 of Jena. 
 
 If he delay, this Hero whom we have 
 expected for so long a time, if death over- 
 take us before his hour, at least out of 
 veneration for this man, who to our fathers 
 was a saviour, let us bring up a generation 
 which shall be faithful to his memory, which 
 shall receive the teaching of his history, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 shall grow up in devotion to him. Who 
 knows ? Perhaps some child will be dis- 
 covered, born for glory, who will feel that 
 he is worthy to follow his footsteps, and 
 who by a Montenotte will show that he 
 knows the roads which lead to Marengo. 
 
 Frederic Masson. 
 
 March 1S94. 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 ETIQUETTE. 
 
 ANEW order of things has arisen. A new- 
 monarchy is estabHshed on the ruins. 
 But can it be called a monarchy ? 
 
 Doubtless he who now occupies the Tuileries 
 has this in common with his predecessors, that 
 he is an absolute ruler ; but he conquered for 
 himself that which was theirs by right of 
 inheritance. If in point of intellect, activity, 
 and genius it is impossible to establish any 
 comparison between him and them — for they 
 only inherited what he grasped by his own 
 power — what imperious authority must he not 
 have possessed to equal that which formed, as 
 it were, an integral part of their personality. 
 
 The Most Christian King presented himself 
 to his people encircled with the radiant shades 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 of the kings his ancestors ; and these kings 
 were so numerous and so remote that they 
 reached back to the very sources of the nation ; 
 they were so closely bound up with it that their 
 name was associated with each occasion of its 
 aggrandisement, of its victories and of its 
 reverses, so that the history of the House of 
 France was the history of France itself Was 
 it not these kings who, bit by bit, had built up 
 the edifice and, by their laws and their institu- 
 tions, had so deeply fixed their imprint on 
 each individual that it occurred to none as 
 possible that he could be governed by other 
 methods, so that, for centuries, to rebel meant 
 an appeal from the king to the king himself? 
 As all justice flowed from him, to bring a 
 matter to his notice was to ensure the delivery 
 of perfect justice at his hands. 
 
 Before the king, as a rampart, was that 
 innumerable body of gentlemen, attached to 
 him much more by tradition than by interest ; 
 compelled to serve in the armies by family duty 
 and by the honour of caste ; holding loyalty as 
 so much a matter of custom and so invariable 
 that they looked on it as something to be taken 
 for granted, about which it would have appeared 
 
ETIQUETTE. 
 
 beneath them to take an oath ; for they were 
 of the same race as Fabert, and, like him, for 
 the sake of the king they would have put their 
 persons, their families, and all their possessions 
 in the breach. This they testified by their emi- 
 gration, by their service in the Army of Cond^, 
 at Ouiberon, and on the scaffold. This testimony 
 of a whole caste in favour of a form of govern- 
 ment has no equal among any other nation. 
 To testify to its faith in the monarchy the 
 nobility gave its life, its fortune, the inheritance 
 of its children ; it suffered cold, hunger, mis- 
 fortunes of every sort, misfortunes which, for 
 it, were much worse than death ; this it did 
 after centuries of power and of opulence, at a time 
 when it seemed to be enervated by success, by 
 an over-refined civilisation, by alliances with 
 those beneath it which it had been compelled 
 to make in order to keep its position. To cure 
 itself of the vices to which it had fallen a victim, 
 the call of duty, clear, strong, and distinct, 
 sufficed, for the surface only was sullied ; the 
 heart beneath the robe of silk remained the 
 same as beneath the armour of steel, and honour 
 did not call on it in vain. 
 
 Side by side with the nobility, the clergy 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 imparted to the king — a bishop outside the 
 Church — the immeasurable power of a rehgion 
 voluntarily allied with the monarchy. Having 
 espoused its claims and adopted its principles 
 the two became so intimately united that the 
 subordination of the Church to the temporal 
 head of the nation became in the eyes of its 
 spiritual head the safeguard of his liberties. 
 There was no dispute among the priests on the 
 origin of the civil power, no discussion as to 
 the form in which it was exercised. God Him- 
 self was proclaimed the founder of royalty, and 
 the decrees of the sovereign dropping from the 
 seat of Truth were almost regarded as matters 
 of faith. 
 
 Then came the Third Estate, attached to 
 the monarchy by thousands of offices of finance 
 and judicature, by thousands of little honours 
 to which it might hope to attain by purchase or 
 gift, rising step by step, generation after genera- 
 tion ; and these aspirations prompt it to keep 
 its place in the State or at Court. A whole 
 hierarchy separated It from the king, but the 
 hierarchy had steps which might be mounted. 
 There were cases of commoners who, in the time 
 of the kings, gave their orders to men of the 
 
ETIQUETTE. 
 
 sword, and became the ancestors of dukes and 
 peers. To what did not Finance lead if it could 
 only marry off its daughters ? What could not 
 the Parliament do for him who had obtained 
 an office ? The nobility held the sword, but 
 the Third Estate possessed the money ; it 
 bought everything that was to be sold, and 
 many things already were on sale. No doubt 
 the Third Estate had its detractors, but they 
 were so few in number that they scarcely 
 counted. To make them numerous it required 
 the confusion caused in secondary education by 
 the abolition of the Company of Jesus. So long 
 as these results did not ensue, the ambitions of 
 the Third Estate prompted it to line its pockets 
 if among the farmers-general ; to push itself 
 forward if engaged in the Palace or in the 
 Administration ; and if unconcerned in such 
 matters, to gain position in its native town, its 
 guild, its corporation, or its profession. Its 
 vanity waited only for letters patent to consider 
 itself on a footing with the nobility. Envy 
 alone made it a leveller, but the king was too 
 exalted to be envied. 
 
 Such was the surface : beneath, it possessed 
 great virtues. In the first place, the sense of 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 respect ; then the instinct, the taste, and the 
 passion for becoming rich and of rising in the 
 world, patience, frugaHty, and honesty. It was 
 in no hurry, and was content to work for the 
 future. 
 
 To a king who knew how to humour him, 
 he did not refuse to lend his money, provided 
 he was satisfied that he got something in ex- 
 change. He but rarely gave his blood, because 
 he could make no profit out of it, and because 
 that was the business of a gentleman ; but let 
 him be ennobled, and he will show that courage 
 is learned much more quickly than fine manners. 
 The less important the privileges which he 
 has won, the more he holds to them. If they 
 are touched he is incensed. It is not he who 
 of himself caused the Revolution ; at the outset 
 he followed in the wake of a few broken and 
 bankrupt nobles who showed the way ; then 
 he seized his own advantage, but only because 
 the king and the nobility gave up the struggle. 
 To induce him to wish for a change, and then 
 to work for it, it was necessary that those 
 whose whole interest was to avoid a change 
 should be the first to preach it ; that those who 
 had to watch over the principle of authority 
 
ETIQ_UETTE. 
 
 should employ all their weapons to destroy it. 
 Up to this time the real Third Estate was 
 passive, and took no leading part in the move- 
 ment. A constitutional monarchy would have 
 completely satisfied it, because in that form of 
 government it foresaw its own access to power. 
 For the king, whom it looked on as outside 
 the question, it preserved, after three years of 
 Revolution, a sort of respectful devotion. 
 From 1792 to 1798 three electoral coups d'dtat 
 were necessary to put an end to the expression 
 of its loyalty — the massacre of September, the 
 13th Vendemiaire, and the i8th Fructidor. 
 The Third Estate, as well as the nobility, had 
 its defections ; but these, in neither case, were 
 entitled to speak for their order, which they 
 had disowned, and which disowned them. 
 
 The Third Estate as a body was Royalist, 
 and remained so. 
 
 Below the Third Estate, still lower down, 
 was the People, who on solemn occasions, to 
 the sound of peals of bells, through a golden 
 dust, surrounded by glittering steel, got a 
 glimpse of a supernatural king, loaded with 
 gold, resplendent with precious stones, who 
 passed like a flash of lightning, drawn by eight 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 horses in a coach of gold. No near approach 
 was possible, nor contact even by chance, 
 except on the day when that king, the elect 
 of God, returning from the altar and consecrated 
 with the triple anointing, touched with his 
 hand the hideous wounds of the poorest of his 
 subjects, and cured them. He appeared only 
 on religious festivals, or in military ceremonies: 
 in the former as the priest-king ; in the latter 
 as the inheritor of conquerors, the chief and 
 leader of the men of the sword, the heaven- 
 appointed defender of his people. 
 
 That part of his every-day life which he 
 had in common with ordinary beings had no 
 existence for the crowd ; such a notion was 
 lost and stifled in those impenetrable walls 
 which separated the sovereign from the mul- 
 titude, and within which were fenced off the 
 different classes of people of the court. There 
 remains a being, very great, very good, and 
 very just, whose will is law, who lives in a 
 palace of gold, eats, drinks, sleeps, rolls in 
 gold ; a being whose remarkable longevity in 
 two instances makes the reign seem eternal, 
 without beginning, without end. From 1643 
 to 1774, in a hundred and thirty years, were 
 
ETIQUETTE. 
 
 two kings only ; two kings who bore the same 
 name, both of them Louis ; so much alike in 
 face that one might be taken for the other. 
 Is it not always the same — a king who ceases 
 to have an identity and becomes only The 
 King ? Hence an excess of veneration, a 
 sort of annihilation before that master who is 
 more than human, whose existence is exempt 
 from ordinary laws, who is so far off, so lofty, 
 so like a god. 
 
 Now, nothing retains its existence ! Every- 
 thing which has formed the object of respect, 
 the consolation, the ambition of past generations, 
 is scouted, vilified, shattered, destroyed ; their 
 very names execrated, No more laws, but at 
 the caprice of Assemblies in a state of frenzy ; 
 decrees repealed almost as soon as they are 
 passed, and as to which it is a question 
 whether the penalty of death is the punishment 
 for obeying them or for disobeying them. No 
 more national institutions, but in turn England, 
 Sparta, or Rome has become the model ; no 
 more morals, but the despotism of depraved 
 instincts ; all classes of society, all ranks, all 
 professions, all degrees of fortune shaken as 
 in a winnowing basket by some gigantic 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 winnower, deaf, blind, and mad ; prostitution 
 rendered lawful by divorce ; the family sup- 
 pressed, friendship proscribed, modesty dead ; 
 and the only master of everything, the only 
 sovereign of living beings, alone respected, 
 alone worshipped — Money ; money which has 
 taken the place of God, of the king, and of the 
 nobility, which alone confers every right, usurps 
 every privilege, is the cause of every act of 
 tyranny, corrupts every mind, and which of that 
 France, given over to stock-jobbers, to thieves, 
 and to bankers, makes an immense market- 
 place where everything is for sale — the country, 
 justice, law, honour, everything except glory. 
 
 The man of glory has appeared, who after 
 the ten years during which parliamentary 
 despotism, and the anarchy of the sovereign 
 Assemblies lasted, humoured the disgust of the 
 people ; the roll of a drum, the display of a 
 few grenadiers in the orangery at St. Cloud, 
 and all was over ; and at the same moment 
 money recognised its master, him whom alone 
 it could not buy, for all the gold in the world 
 could not purchase Montenotte or Rivoli. 
 
 But to reconstruct a France, nothing — 
 nothing but those ragged togas soaked with 
 
ETIQUETTE. 
 
 gore and mud, which, in the parl<; where the 
 Five Hundred have thrown them away in flight, 
 make here and there a red spot which still 
 resembles blood. With nothing a nation was 
 to be restored ; to that end give back Faith 
 which makes priests. Honour which makes 
 soldiers. Honesty which is the bond of indi- 
 viduals and of civilised nations. Before every- 
 thing, and* as a beginning, it was necessary to 
 restore that principle of authority which for 
 eighty years past kings, queens, ministers, and 
 courtiers, as if in emulation, had been so relent- 
 less to discredit and destroy, before even it had 
 fallen so low as to be the prey of imbeciles, 
 incapables, and madmen. 
 
 But how was this principle of authority to be 
 restored to that pitch of power which it naturally 
 possessed under the kings ? No doubt the 
 general of Italy and of Egypt brings his great 
 personal influence to strengthen the supreme 
 magistracy with which he is invested ; no doubt 
 it is founded on the unanimous suffrage of a 
 nation thirsting for security for the present and 
 for some time to come ; no doubt his person is 
 adored by the army and by a portion of the 
 people ; but how little does this amount to in 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 comparison with tlaat aggregate of power which 
 the last of the Bourbon kings possessed, virtually 
 without any trouble to themselves, by the mere 
 fact of their birth, which, in spite of their 
 mistresses, and their wives, allowed them to 
 reign for sixty years. 
 
 To the principle of authority as represented 
 by Bonaparte a divine institution is wanting; 
 it does not carry with it the nobility, whose 
 loyalty is incorruptible ; it is wanting in that 
 majestic remoteness, that retreat into time and 
 space, which make of the sovereign, who has 
 become as it were a creature of the imagination 
 and of dreams, the inevitable, unquestioned, 
 irresponsible, the almost impersonal master of 
 his people. 
 
 It was only by degrees that Napoleon broke 
 through these limitations, and only in proportion 
 to the increase of his power. At the outset a 
 magistrate appointed by the people, and sharing, 
 at least nominally, the exercise of the sovereign 
 power, he was, by the express terms of the Con- 
 stitution, only one member of a government, 
 appointed for ten years ; eligible for re-election 
 indefinitely, it is true, but subject, in the same 
 way as his colleagues, to that necessity of re- 
 
ETIQUETTE. 
 
 election which is the true characteristic of a 
 repubUcan form of government. His new form 
 of authority could have nothing in common with 
 royalty ; its legal power had its origin in the 
 sovereignty of the nation, and in fact it is the 
 army, that is to say, force, which established it; 
 it is by the consent of the people, and by force, 
 that it is maintained. 
 
 Even when, two years after Brumaire, Bona- 
 parte had freed himself from the uncertainty of 
 re-election ; when, by being appointed consul 
 for life, he had obtained all the prerogatives of 
 the sovereign with the exception of heredity, he 
 is still only a magistrate. The foundation of 
 his power remains the same ; his rank is not 
 indelible, his authority is subordinate. When 
 even the last step is reached, and when, like 
 the ancient kings, he has mounted the throne 
 and has encircled his brow with a crown, he 
 has still to acknowledge an external power 
 higher than his own, and if in the executive 
 formula of his decrees he abandons the precise 
 words Will of the People, he is constrained to 
 recognise that he is E7nperor by the Constitutions 
 of the Republic, which implies the recognition 
 of all the degrees of the national sovereignty. 
 
1+ NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 He who has a sovereign above him, even 
 if it be the people, is not a sovereign. The 
 authority, therefore, with which the emioeror is 
 invested is far removed from that of kings. 
 However despotic it may be, although it may 
 override all control, although it may act most 
 rigorously, it will never possess that potential 
 energy which the royal authority enjoyed ; it 
 is no longer possible ; the Bourbons themselves, 
 if they could return, would be powerless to 
 recover it. The Revolution broke the charm ; 
 it broke through prescriptive right ; it showed 
 that kings could be overturned ; it left in its 
 wake an indefinable trace of scepticism ; it 
 abolished reverence, and by those oft-repeated 
 oaths which it exacted in favour of so many 
 varying constitutions, it destroyed the feeling, 
 even the very idea of fidelity. Henceforth 
 treason ceases to be treason so soon as it 
 becomes a matter of politics, and in order to 
 violate his solemn faith, every man finds in his 
 conscience arguments which will absolve him, 
 and allow him to keep his place and to serve, 
 one after the other, with equal zeal, all the 
 successive forms of government. Louis XVH I , 
 on his return, would have done well to date his 
 
ETIQUETTE. 75 
 
 first Royal Act as the eighteenth year of his 
 reign, and thus by the only logical means to 
 have established the legitimacy of his authority ; 
 he would have done well to place himself above 
 facts simply to affirm the right ; he would thus 
 have proclaimed to the world that he alone 
 represented and embodied that right, no longer 
 believed in. Was he still able to believe in 
 it himself? 
 
 If the sovereign authority was unable to 
 regain in its integrity the prestige which 
 naturally attached to it before the Revolution, 
 at least, in becoming emperor. Napoleon 
 attempted to restore, as far as was compatible 
 with the spirit of his time, the two elements 
 which he judged essential, not only because 
 they formed the support of the Bourbon 
 monarchy, but because they were of necessity 
 the foundation and the safeguard of all 
 hereditary monarchy. 
 
 The necessities of his throne were a super- 
 natural origin, and a body of men around him 
 who, owing the satisfaction of their ambitions 
 and of their desires exclusively to the new 
 order of things, should devote themselves 
 entirely to him. He required lastly a dis- 
 
1 6 NA POLE ON A T HOME. 
 
 tinguishing mark which, in the eyes of the 
 people, should place him in the same rank as 
 the overturned throne of the ancient national 
 kings, or as the existing thrones of neighbour- 
 ing kings. Singular difficulties arose ; Napo- 
 leon wished to follow no foreign model. He 
 was compelled to seek his example in national 
 history. This the later kings could not furnish 
 him with, for they were the summing up of 
 the successes of their ancestors ; in their case 
 the dynasty which they represented was the 
 creator of its own definite form ; they were 
 the outcome of centuries. Napoleon' was the 
 founder of his own dynasty. It was the 
 founders of dynasties alone, therefore, in whose 
 steps he could follow. 
 
 Of these there were two : one was simply 
 a great lord, elected by lords his equals ; his 
 power was limited by the oligarchy of whom 
 he was the representative, and whose privileges 
 he engaged to protect. No resemblance 
 existed between the position of Napoleon 
 and that of Hugues Capet, and it was not 
 from the Duke of France developed into the 
 King of France that an emperor could draw his 
 inspiration. 
 
ETIQUETTE. 17 
 
 The Other had the recommendation of the 
 services of his father, but possessed no here- 
 ditary right. He was not the chosen of a 
 few, but the elect of the whole nation, or of 
 that part of the nation which carried arms, 
 which alone counted : in that way he became 
 Csesar. Nevertheless, he did not look on 
 his reign as assured, his dynasty as founded, 
 until the Pope, the interpreter of God and 
 the arbiter of spiritual authority, had poured 
 on his head the holy oil, and placed on his 
 brow the crown. This consecration he might 
 have demanded from the bishops of his 
 empire, but he wished to receive it from the 
 head of the Church, from him who binds and 
 who looses, and from whom, in the eyes of 
 all Christians, every truth emanates. 
 
 Here was the example. The similarity of 
 the situations is striking, and forces itself on 
 the mind. Napoleon inherits no recom- 
 mendation from his father, but possesses 
 the recommendation of his victories. He 
 was the elect of all, of the people and of 
 the army, and he is Csesar ; but, like Charle- 
 magne, he does not hold that national election 
 takes the place of supernatural origin. By 
 
 VOL. I. 2 
 
NAPOLEON A T HOME. 
 
 the two Concordats he had re-estabHshed the 
 Catholic rehgion in France and Italy ; in 
 doing this he considered that he was yielding 
 to the wishes of the two nations, whom he 
 was justified in supposing Catholic. Like 
 Charlemagne, therefore, it was from the Pope, 
 and from the Pope alone, that he could claim 
 investiture. He will thus clothe his authority 
 with the divine origin which is wanting to 
 it, and, reascending the course of ages, will 
 unite the fourth dynasty to the second. 
 
 It is on this account that Napoleon is con- 
 tinually referring to Charlemagne, that he 
 proposed to dedicate to him a gigantic monu- 
 ment on the Place Vendome, that he erected a 
 statue to him at Aix-la-Chapelle, that on every 
 occasion he insists on his admiration for the 
 great man for whose relics at Aix-la-Chapelle 
 he was anxious to show his veneration so soon 
 as he became emperor. Perhaps some tradition 
 of the Carlovingians, his ancestors, still excited 
 the great admiration he bore for his august 
 predecessor ; perhaps some tradition of the 
 Byzantine Emperors, handed down in legend ; 
 but a glance at history served to establish such 
 strange coincidences between his own destiny 
 
ETIQUETTE. 19 
 
 and that of Charlemagne, that he was led, 
 indeed compelled, to seek no other model. 
 
 He too fills the place of lawful kings, and 
 claims to substitute his dynasty for theirs ; he 
 too, with his eyes fixed on that Italy which he 
 has twice conquered, looks on his empire as in- 
 complete unless he reigns over the people of the 
 Peninsula at the same time as over the French; 
 he too has seen all the Germans of the East rise 
 in arms .against the principle which he ; repre- 
 sents, and his lieutenants went to the places 
 where Charlemagne fought in order to quell 
 their revolt. 
 
 When Napoleon says, " I am Charlemagne, 
 because, like Charlemagne, I once more unite 
 my Crown of France with that of the Lombards, 
 and because my empire reaches to the East," 
 the cry comes from his heart. It is from the 
 imperial costume of Charlemagne also that he 
 copies his coronation robes ; it is the coat-of- 
 arms attributed to Charlemagne, a golden eagle 
 on a blue field, that he takes for his bearings ; 
 it is the imperial insignia of Charlemagne, the 
 crown, the sceptre, the sword of Charlemagne 
 which Kellermann, Pdrignon, and Lefebvre bear 
 before him on the day of his coronation. 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 If not from Charlemagne himself, it is from 
 the Holy Roman Empire founded by him that 
 he borrows the greater part of the titles with 
 which he invests the great dignitaries of his 
 empire. Cambac^res is arch-chancellor of the 
 empire, because there was in the College of 
 Electors an arch-chancellor of the empire, who 
 was archbishop of Mayence. Lebrun is arch- 
 treasurer, as was the Count Palatine of the 
 Rhine. Louis is constable, not because a con- 
 stable up to the time of Louis XIII commanded 
 the armies of the King of France, but because a 
 constable was one of the Palatines of Charle- 
 magne. If the name of Grand Admiral is 
 without precedent in the Germanic Empire (for 
 even in France it dates only from Louis XIV 
 and brings to our recollection only the Comte 
 de Toulouse and the Due de Ponthievre), it is 
 in accordance with German traditions that the 
 dignity of grand elector was taken ; and it is 
 again from the Holy Empire that we get those 
 deputies who were appointed to supply the 
 places of the great dignitaries ; there are a 
 vice-grand-electeur and a vice-constable in 
 the Napoleonic Empire because in the Holy 
 Empire there were a vice-grand-master of 
 
ETIQUETTE. 
 
 the Palace, a vice-grand-marshal, a vice-grand- 
 chamberlain, and a vice-grand-treasurer. 
 
 As far, then, as possible, in the great digni- 
 ties of the Empire, Napoleon copied, if not 
 Charlemagne directly, at least the successors of 
 Charlemagne. He follows the same course 
 when, with a view of surrounding the fourth 
 dynasty with a devoted body similar to that 
 which the Bourbon kings possessed in their 
 nobility, he institutes the Legion of Honour, 
 and the nobility of the Empire. With the latter 
 the similarity is remarkable. Like Charle- 
 magne, Napoleon has his dukes and his counts ; 
 he contemplates the creation of margraves. 
 When he admits barons and chevaliers it is 
 because the two titles are in use in the Holy 
 Empire ; if he creates princedoms (Essling, Eck- 
 muhl, Wagram,) it is not until 1809, at Vienna, 
 following the example of the Emperors of 
 Germany. And lastly, when to the son for whom 
 he hoped, he assigned, even before he married 
 Marie \^o\i\s&[Senatus- Cons^dte of February 1 7th, 
 1 8 10), the title and honours of King of Rome, 
 what more convincing proof can there be that 
 the thought of Charlemagne and of the Holy 
 Empire haunted him incessantly ? Was it not 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 in Germany that he found the title of King of 
 the Romans given to the son of the emperor, to 
 the emperor who was not crowned ? And in the 
 statement of the grounds of this Senatus-Con- 
 siilte of 1810 does he not make his orators say, 
 " Napoleon, in the first days of his glory, abstains 
 from entering Rome as a conqueror. He waits 
 till he can appear there as a father. It is his 
 wish in that city to have the crown of Charle- 
 magne placed on his head for a second time " ? 
 
 Complete as Napoleon dreamt the identity 
 to be between his empire and that of Charle- 
 magne, there were many points in which he 
 was constrained to depart from the model he 
 had chosen ; for to satisfy the largest possible 
 number of his companions in arms he was 
 compelled to multiply offices, and in a lower 
 rank than that of the great dignitaries — of 
 Carlovingian origin — to create other great 
 officers, having, for the most part, no duties to 
 perform, whose titles could only have relation 
 to institutions which were in existence recently, 
 or which could be created anew without 
 ridicule. 
 
 The twelve Marshals of the Empire [twelve 
 as soon as Murat and Berthier were promoted to 
 
ETiqUETTE. 23 
 
 be grand dignitaries) have by their very number 
 some air of resemblance to the twelve peers of 
 Charlemagne ; but the five colonels-general of 
 cavalry, the inspectors-general of artillery and 
 of engineers, and the four inspectors of the 
 coasts, had no counterparts before the Valois 
 and the Bourbons. 
 
 These offices were purely ornamental, and 
 these " grand officers " of the Empire would not, 
 any more than the " grand dignitaries," have 
 daily duties to perform in the service of the 
 Emperor. Their posts formed the excuse for 
 large salaries, splendid uniforms, and nothing 
 more. On days of ceremony the "grand 
 dignitaries" and the "grand officers" of the 
 Empire would take their places in certain rooms 
 apart ; they would form the cortege of the 
 sovereign or would surround his throne ; but 
 they knew not how to direct the Court, nor 
 how to superintend the various services of the 
 Emperor's house so as to give to both of them 
 the dignity and the splendour which Napoleon 
 desired. 
 
 It became necessary, therefore, on this account 
 to have special officers who should be " grand 
 officers of the Crown." If these important 
 
24 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 posts received from him the same titles which 
 they bore at the Court of the Bourbons, it is 
 for the reason that in every monarchy analogous 
 duties must have similar titles. Everywhere 
 the "grand master" or the "grand marshal" 
 assumes the general direction of the household; 
 the grand chamberlain has charge of that which 
 belongs to the chamber or the wardrobe ; the 
 grand almoner watches over the spiritual depart- 
 ment ; the master of the horse directs the 
 stables ; the grand huntsman manages the 
 hunts. 
 
 In different countries other accessory offices 
 are created according to the wants of the 
 service, or the requirements of politics and of 
 finance. Thus, we saw in France a grand 
 butler, a grand cupbearer, a grand pantler, a 
 grand falconer, a grand master of the wolf- 
 hounds, a grand cook, a grand master of the 
 woods and forests ; but with the exception of 
 the grand huntsman and the grand almoner, 
 which in several states are not found, we find 
 everywhere these three offices essential to the 
 state of the monarchy and to the majesty of the 
 throne — the grand master, the grand chamber- 
 lain, and the master of the horse. 
 
ETIQUETTE. 25 
 
 These, then, Napoleon was of necessity bound 
 to re-establish ; not a " grand master," for the 
 title is too ambitious, but a " grand marshal," 
 as in Germany ; a grand chamberlain, and a 
 master of the horse, for no Court was without 
 them. He appointed a grand almoner because 
 such an office was customary in France, a 
 master of the hounds for the same reason, 
 and, with equal rank, a grand master of the 
 ceremonies, whose office is still more necessary 
 than in former times, for all the new-comers 
 have to be taught an etiquette which many 
 have forgotten, and which most have never 
 known. 
 
 Napoleon thus places himself on an equality 
 of state with the other sovereigns of Europe ; 
 he constitutes his Court essentially of the same 
 elements which form theirs. The customs of 
 Courts are everywhere the same, so that, willing 
 or unwilling, he is compelled to accept the 
 traditional way of naming these offices which 
 existed at the Court of the Bourbons, which 
 alone adapted itself to the times in which he 
 lived — for in truth the days of Charlemagne 
 were somewhat remote. Having re-established 
 these titles, what duties shall he assign to their 
 
i6 NAPOLEON A T HOME. 
 
 bearers? How shall he contrive to conciliate 
 modern feeling, the spirit of equality, the spirit 
 of the Revolution, of which, in spite of all, he is 
 the representative, with a ceremonial the hate- 
 fulness and absurdity of which he recognised ? 
 His aim was not so much to surpass in splendour 
 the kings who preceded him and the sovereigns 
 who were his contemporaries ; it was especially 
 to restore to the embodiment of authority all 
 the splendour with which it was surrounded 
 before the Revolution ; it was to attach to his 
 new government a considerable number of 
 ambitious men who, of their own accord, would 
 come and occupy the positions he had designed 
 for them, and who, to recover the titles which 
 they had borne, or to receive similar titles, 
 would abandon their ancient masters ; it was 
 to promote expenditure by the festivities which 
 he would command, and thus foster national 
 industries ; it was to re-establish a centre from 
 which should radiate an example of politeness, 
 of manners, and of fashion ; it was lastly, by 
 the numerous barriers and the distance placed 
 between the emperor and the people, to in- 
 crease the veneration of the multitude. But 
 there is a wide distinction between such a 
 
ETIQUETTE. 27 
 
 course and any attempt to re-establish the 
 power of the great officers of the Crown, and 
 their subordinates, on the same footing as 
 under the Bourbons, or to resume the etiquette 
 practised fourteen years previously, and to insist 
 on its strict observance. If he desired to do so 
 it was impossible. 
 
 The etiquette, at which people who con- 
 sidered themselves emancipated might smile 
 because they had lost the intentions of the 
 ideas which it symbolised, was not formulated 
 at a single stroke ; it was the product of the 
 experience of ages, the rational application of 
 traditions, many of which reached back to the 
 very founders of the dynasties, while some 
 were even more ancient than the dynasty 
 itself. 
 
 France had had neither the privilege nor 
 the special burden of etiquette. In it, etiquette 
 was the law of the Court as it is the law of 
 the Court of every monarch by Divine right. 
 To make a joke of it, to ridicule it, to abolish 
 it, give the popularity of a day, but overthrow 
 a monarchy of twenty centuries. To act like 
 Louis XVI, shows the most complete mis- 
 apprehension that a king can have, both of the 
 
28 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 character with which he is invested and of the 
 conditions which allow him to exercise his power. 
 
 The law of etiquette was not the invention 
 of Louis XIV ; he only adapted it to his 
 kingdom by the introduction, according to 
 precedents, of certain prescribed forms ; but 
 if the principle was differently carried out 
 according to the usages of nations, it was 
 virtually identical in Spain, in England, in 
 all the German monarchies, in Turkey, in 
 Persia, in the Indies, in China, in Japan, in 
 every place where a monarch reigns who 
 claims to hold his power from God. 
 
 The sovereign by Divine right could only 
 be approached by those of the nation who 
 had been raised to the highest dignity. These 
 are his witnesses and his servants ; they assist 
 at and take part in all the acts of his existence. 
 They are the intermediaries between him and 
 the nation, and render him services, which, 
 servile in themselves, take the character of 
 the highest honours when his person is in 
 question. They are under obligation to render 
 them, but it is also a right, and the sovereign 
 cannot recede from it without falling short of 
 his character. The two terms are inseparable. 
 
ETIQUETTE. 29 
 
 If it is a privilege to approach the sovereign 
 — a privilege dearly bought, for in addition 
 to the questions of birth and position, every- 
 place, in France at least, involves its money 
 value, which is considerable — it is necessary 
 that the duty of every post which gives this 
 privilege should be performed personally by 
 its occupier, and that regularly and punctually, 
 whether important or otherwise ; so that 
 every courtier must consider himself infinitely 
 honoured by the office which he fills, by the 
 fact that his duties compel him to be in the 
 presence, and he must be so deeply devoted 
 to the interests of the sovereign that he can 
 imagine no other ambition than to serve him, 
 nor conceive any other desire than to please 
 him, nor form any other project than to 
 advance in his good graces. This faith in 
 the monarchy must spread through every 
 courtier to the public, so that every man who 
 gets rich, or who rises in the world, shall 
 not think himself satisfied until he has gained 
 possession, by his money or by his sword, for 
 himself or for his descendants, of some place 
 in which he can personally serve the king. 
 
 In order that each of the ceremonies which 
 
30 NAPOLEOISr AT HOME. 
 
 form the reason for the presence of each of 
 the officers of the household may be duly 
 performed, it is necessary that the life of the 
 sovereign should be laid out to the minute ; 
 that the sovereign should never be wearied 
 nor bored by being thus waited upon ; that 
 he should feel so deeply the inmost nature 
 of his quasi-divine mission, that none of these 
 attentions should weary him ; that he should 
 bring to it the conviction that he is not per- 
 forming vain ceremonies, but acts of a lofty 
 importance. In this way every one is satisfied ; 
 from it the king draws the power of faith 
 in himself; for it he is more respected, and 
 this respect increases his importance in his 
 own eyes ; the officers of his household feel 
 themselves honoured in serving him, consider 
 themselves the foremost members of the state, 
 and if they give themselves up to intrigues 
 to obtain the favour of the sovereign they 
 are not dangerous to the throne ; the nobility 
 and the upper middle class aspire to offices 
 which can be multiplied indefinitely, and which 
 are an inexhaustible resource for the treasury 
 at the same time that they form the goal of 
 all ambition ; the very people, knowing that 
 
ETIQUETTE. 
 
 the sovereign is waited on by the most 
 illustrious families of each province, for that 
 reason acquire more veneration for this master 
 of masters. 
 
 For the existence of an hereditary monarchy 
 it must unite in itself these three elements : the 
 sovereign must be convinced that he possesses 
 in his own person the fulness of law ; those who 
 surround him must be convinced that as the 
 sovereign is the embodiment of law, to approach 
 him in order to render him the most humble 
 services constitutes the highest distinction ; his 
 subjects, all his subjects, must be convinced that 
 the sovereign could be no other person, that he 
 is because he is, that he has had, so to speak, no 
 beginning, so old is his dynasty, and that he 
 will have no end, so surely is its heredity 
 assured. 
 
 Etiquette alone ensures these three elements: 
 by confining within the Court the material life 
 of the sovereign, it becomes surrounded with a 
 sacred mystery ; it is from this mystery that its 
 power proceeds, and it is the reason why, little 
 by little, except in the case of the very greatest, 
 the absolute sovereign becomes unapproachable ; 
 his face can no longer be looked upon ; those even 
 
32 NAPOLEON AT HOME, 
 
 who are admitted to his presence must not Hft 
 their eyes towards him. Everything depends on 
 this, it all hangs together. The Oriental despot 
 who lives shut up in his harem, whom none 
 of his subjects have ever seen, whose presence 
 is only revealed to the ambassadors of foreign 
 nations by the rhythm of traditional music, or 
 by the barbarous clang of brazen gongs, is alone 
 logical. He is God's envoy, or he is God ; and 
 God is invisible. 
 
 In Europe, because the dynasties are there too 
 young, and probably for that reason alone, kings 
 have not driven logic quite so far, but they would 
 have arrived at that point if they had lasted. 
 In France ceremonies had already acquired 
 such an importance that they engrossed nearly 
 all the hours of the day ; and each was necessary, 
 not so much because tradition would have it so, 
 but because the existence of the ceremony had 
 caused the creation of a whole group of offices 
 which would not have been filled up if the 
 king had got rid of it. When the Revolution 
 redeemed or abolished the offices, the ceremony 
 fell into disuse. The tradition nevertheless 
 remained : was it really the sovereign unless he 
 was surrounded by the same crowd which in 
 
ETiqUETTE. 33 
 
 former times surrounded the king, unless the 
 same ceremonies were performed ? How, on 
 the other hand, was it possible to have the 
 courage to submit to them ? How was it possible 
 to have the endurance to support, day after day, 
 such servitude ? How was it possible to yield 
 to that series of obligations which up to the last 
 days of the Bourbon monarch, accompanied, 
 for example, so simple an act as the Lever ? 
 
 The first valet-de-cha7nbre , who slept in the 
 king's chamber, calls in th.& gar(^ons de lackambre, 
 who quietly open the shutters and set the door 
 ajar for the entries familih^es ; then, the king 
 being awake, the grande entree is summoned ; 
 the king getting out of bed, the grand chamber- 
 lain, or the first gentleman of the chamber, 
 hands him his dressing-gown : then, after in- 
 tervals, all duly prescribed, the grand master 
 of the wardrobe puts on the night -jacket and 
 the blue ribbon * ; at each ceremony of the 
 toilet a corresponding entree : the first entree or 
 entree des brevets, entree of the ambassadeu^'s de 
 famille, entT-de de la chambre, the fifth entrde, 
 which is performed when the king has washed 
 
 * The order of the Holy Ghost. 
 VOE. I. X 
 
34 NAP OLEON A T HOME. 
 
 his hands, the sixth entrde when his majesty has 
 taken his shirt. It seemed as if the entrdes 
 were from one of Moliere's pieces, from one of 
 the divertissements of the entr'actes, and that the 
 courtiers ought to advance dancing and with 
 graceful gestures. In truth, they almost did 
 dance, and the whole ceremony was like an air 
 de ballet, — of a religious ballet, very measured 
 and solemn, as the priests of all religions dance 
 before their idols. 
 
 It is a special prerogative to pour s^Dirits of 
 wine on the hands of the king, or to hand him 
 the holy water vase, to undo the right or left 
 sleeve of his night-shirt ; it is an honour to 
 pass the king his shirt, an honour which 
 at first fell to the sons or the grandsons of 
 France, then to princes of the blood, then to 
 legitimate princes, only in default of these to 
 the grand chamberlain, afterwards, following 
 the order of rank, to the first gentleman of the 
 chamber, to the grand master of the robes, to 
 the master of the robes, to the officers of the 
 wardrobe, each in his order ; and this shirt, 
 warmed, covered with white taffety, is, according 
 to the rank of him who is to give it, presented 
 by such a person whose duty it is, taken in the 
 
ETIQ^UETTE. 35 
 
 prescribed manner, so that the king behind his 
 dressing-gown, held up by two valets-de-chambre 
 to conceal him from observation, may be left to 
 shiver while such or such a one coming into 
 the room draws off his gloves and puts himself 
 into the posture of waiting on him. 
 
 Imagine Napoleon subject to such constraint, 
 and waiting like this for his shirt ! If even his 
 inclination would allow him to submit to such 
 trifles, how could he find the time ? 
 
 His life is far too much taken up by work to 
 allow him to waste hours every day. Besides, 
 in this palace, still riddled with the bullets of 
 August loth, where the floor is still red with the 
 blood of the murdered Swiss and gentlemen, 
 how was it possible to take up the whole of the 
 cast-off clothes of kings ? Are there not patches 
 which on them keep up a traditional majesty, 
 which on another would look like the disguise 
 for a carnival ? For such ceremonies to make 
 any impression, to provoke respect, to assure 
 the dignity of the throne, or at least to retain 
 their seriousness and to be received in that 
 spirit, they must have some sense, they must 
 be founded on tradition, they must call up old 
 memories. In this case there is nothing of the 
 
36 NAPOLEON A 2 HOME. 
 
 kind — no tradition save that of the Bourbons, 
 no memories apart from theirs, nothing which 
 in itself can belong to the new dynasty. 
 
 For the establishment of a form of worship 
 priests must befound, and these priests must have 
 faith in the religion the mysteries of which they 
 celebrate. But it was impossible for Napoleon 
 to have that inward assurance of his sovereignty 
 which was possessed by the kings descended 
 from Hugues Capet. In his case etiquette was 
 a necessity of the monarchy, but could not be 
 an article of faith. As it applies to himself ic 
 is an organisation which he insists on, a law 
 which he enacts. But how many enactments 
 have fallen into oblivion in ten years, how 
 many laws have been revoked ! The etiquette 
 which he proposes to lay down will be obeyed, 
 for force is on his side, but it cannot be respected. 
 The men who have sprung from the Revolution 
 will take it seriously as far as it affects them- 
 selves, but in no respect as it affects others ; the 
 meh of the ancien regime will see in it only a 
 parody of that which has passed away. It will 
 not even be in their eyes an etiquette in the 
 proper sense, that is to say, a code of ceremonial, 
 each clause of which is constituted by a prece- 
 
ETIQUETTE. n 
 
 dent, each precept justified by an example ; it is 
 simply an order which will last as long as he 
 who gave it. 
 
 To restore the ceremonial of the monarchy in 
 its integrity was not to be thought of; not that 
 Napoleon feared by adopting it to render him- 
 self ridiculous (he had no sense of the ridiculous ; 
 he said himself, " Power is never ridiculous "), 
 but he would not restore it because it would 
 worry him, and, moreover, he could not because 
 he was not surrounded by the large number 
 of persons necessary to carry it out in such a 
 manner that he might not be inferior to the 
 ancient kings. 
 
 His companions-in-arms do not excel in such 
 duties. Their rides through Europe with death 
 on the crupper had not given their backs 
 sufficient suppleness for the duties of the ante- 
 chamber. They knew not how to fulfil them, 
 and committed all sorts of blunders. It is from 
 birth itself that such habits are acquired, and 
 the whole education must be given with that 
 object. 
 
 Even those younger men who have not arrived 
 at the highest rank, and who up to now formed 
 the Consular " family," men of dexterity and 
 
38 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 men of brains, are almost useless for it. Without 
 looking at their origin, without troubling himself 
 from what stock they issued, and from what 
 college, Bonaparte recruited them by the chance 
 of the times, for their good looks, because he 
 had seen that they were brave, intelligent, and 
 honest, these at the siege of Toulon, those on 
 the day of Venddmiaire, some on the staff of 
 Berthier, others on the battle-field of Marengo : 
 a few are noble, but very few, and of the 
 smaller nobility who had never approached the 
 Court. One alone is. of good family, but it is 
 precisely his name, much more than his military 
 reputation, which caused his promotion to the , 
 staff in the last days of the Consulate. 
 
 As for the Prefects of the Palace whom 
 he appointed about the same time to do the 
 honours of his receptions and to take care of 
 the contents of the palace, they were but simple 
 major-domos, of a position a little better than 
 servants, but of whom the best connected were 
 members of some family of finance, while those 
 best instructed in etiquette had already filled 
 some menial office in the Royal Court, some 
 purchased place which allowed them to add to 
 their patronymic the title of some estate, and 
 
ETIQUETTE. 39 
 
 at the end of, two or three generations to 
 deck themselves out with an assumed title 
 and with a name to which they had no 
 right. 
 
 The great nobles, really of ancient nobility 
 and really of the exalted race who had been the 
 grand officers of the Crown of France, were 
 not to be thought of Those who had not 
 perished on the scaffold remained in exile 
 religiously faithful to their deposed but not 
 uncrowned king. The ' grand almoner of 
 France, the Cardinal de Montmorency-Laval, 
 lived at Altona ; it was useless to speak of 
 the grand master, the Prince of Conde, of the 
 grand chamberlain, the Prince de Gudmdn^, 
 of the master of the horse, the Prince de 
 Lambesc, of the master of the hunt, the Duke 
 of Ponthievre, princes of the blood royal, or 
 of the House of Lorraine. The grand butler, 
 the Marquis of Verneuil, was dead ; the grand 
 pantler, the Duke of Brissac, had been 
 murdered ; the grand falconer, the Marquis 
 of Vaudreuil, was by the king's side ; the 
 grand master of the wolf-hounds, the Comte 
 d'Haussonville, had scarcely returned from 
 emigration. He died in 1806, and it was 
 
40 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 only four years later, in 1810, that his son 
 offered himself as chamberlain. 
 
 There were no first gentlemen of the 
 chamber, no captains of the guards, no 
 governors of the royal houses ; none of those 
 were to be found strolling about the Tuileries in 
 the year XII — neither Richelieu, nor Durfort, 
 nor d'Aumont, nor Fleury, nor Noailles, nor 
 Luxembourg, nor de Poix. Much more than 
 is supposed, the high nobility remained faithful 
 to its masters : for appearance' sake Napoleon 
 was able later to recruit a few starving younger 
 sons ; but the heads of the names and arms, 
 of those who had charge of the family, he 
 could not have gained over so soon, even if 
 he could ever have done so. 
 
 Without the unremitting participation of 
 this illustrious body, the restoration of the 
 ancient etiquette was impossible ; these men 
 alone possessed the secrets of it, they alone 
 knew the details. Alone they had succeeded 
 for ages in placing themselves between the 
 king and the people, without a murmur from 
 the latter, because the people knew that they 
 were illustrious, and that the splendour of their 
 services exalted the majesty of the throne. 
 
ETIQUETTE. 41 
 
 There are reasons of another order, which, 
 disregarding the impossible which he would 
 never take into consideration, must have pre- 
 sented themselves to Napoleon's mind and 
 have determined him. 
 
 The ancient monarchy rested on a dynastic 
 fiction. The new was entirely founded on 
 the idea that the nation chose its chief. The 
 royalty of the House of Capet supported itself 
 by mystery, by the ignorance in which the 
 people remained as to the value of its king ; 
 the Empire lived by the constant intercourse 
 between the emperor and the soldiery, and 
 by the conviction which all the citizens had 
 formed of his genius. 
 
 Bourbon France remained as it was, be- 
 cause ages after ages had so moulded it ; 
 because each king had added his stone to 
 it, because each queen had brought her dowry ; 
 because each of the peoples which formed it, 
 in submitting to the sovereignty of the king, 
 whether accepting it or protesting against it, 
 had preserved its own institutions ; because 
 these little nations, of which the king was the 
 sole bond which united them, preserved their 
 particular habits of life, their ways of thinking, 
 
42 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 their language, their customs ; and_although the 
 attempt had been made, they had never become 
 united into a single and grand nation. They 
 possessed no unity of mind, no similarity of 
 aim, no uniformity of laws. The King of 
 France, who was in fact only king of the Isle 
 of France, ought, as other sovereigns still do, 
 to have added to his title, if it had not been, 
 as was said, the highest after that of King of 
 the Heavens, the enumeration of the duchies 
 and of the counties of which he was the lord. 
 In this way he would have proclaimed an 
 absolute truth. He alone gave an apparent 
 cohesion to these various elements ; in him 
 alone were united the rights which he held 
 much less by conquest than by the assent of 
 the heads of the people. To him alone, not 
 as king, but as duke or count, could be traced 
 back the feudal hierarchy of each duchy and 
 of each county. To disturb a capital was to 
 put the whole edifice in danger, to upset 
 the whole arrangement. The faith of the 
 times must be accepted, holding that that 
 which had taken six hundred years to organise, 
 and which for two centuries had acquired its 
 definite form, would still last for many reigns. 
 
ETIQUETTE. 43 
 
 The machine being thus set up and ahnost in 
 working order, it was necessary to let it go on 
 as it could, without pretending to do away 
 with useless wheelwork, or to replace what was 
 worn out with new. Consequently every one 
 had his place, and each institution, however 
 superannuated it seemed, had its purpose, its 
 utility, its necessity. In order that people 
 should preserve their respect for it, that they 
 should not see the cracks in it, and that by 
 some whim they should not be tempted to 
 demolish it, it was necessary that this immense 
 and singular piece of mechanism, all covered 
 with dust and rust, should be in some measure 
 lost in a sort of foggy and golden atmosphere, 
 in which objects became confused, so that the 
 imposing and majestic mass was alone visible. 
 As soon as kings reduced the thickness of the 
 veil which covered them, respect disappeared. 
 As soon as they touched the machine to repair 
 it or to improve it, the machine stopped. 
 There is a time when the foolish wheels still 
 turn in the void, but the mainspring is 
 broken. Soon all that heap of corroded 
 ironwork and of rotten wood falls to pieces as 
 of itself at the risk of crushing the entire 
 
44 NAPOLEON AT HOME. ■ 
 
 nation, and the earth for some distance is 
 strewed with the fragments. 
 
 But the people rouses itself, takes courage, 
 and wishes to live. From duchy to duchy, 
 across overturned barriers, they address each 
 other, and are surprised that they understand. 
 They soon advance to meet, recognise each 
 other and embrace. They have the same 
 hatreds, the same wants, the same interests, 
 the same ideal. And from one end to the 
 other of this kingdom which had nothing in 
 common but the king, men of a different race, 
 who express themselves in different dialects, 
 feel a similar thrill pass through them. They 
 wish to be a nation, and they are France. 
 
 Of this nation Napoleon is the elect. He 
 has constructed his own machinery, to his own 
 satisfaction and to the satisfaction of France. 
 It is new and solid, and loses nothing by close 
 examination. The springs of steel which he 
 has picked up here and there on the ground he 
 has tempered anew for his own use. He has 
 combined them with wheelwork which seems 
 new, with all of which, however, the nation 
 itself has provided him. He has been careful 
 to work up into it nothing foreign, holding that 
 
ETIQUETTE. 45 
 
 the country suflfices for itself, and should not 
 live by borrowing. He has made his machine 
 high enough and wide enough to rule the world, 
 delicate enough to adapt itself to every new 
 necessity. A wheel ceases to work — it is re- 
 moved ; a spring is worn out — it is changed ; 
 and the machine continues to go on. The 
 machine is independent of him. He is its 
 supreme mover, but he is not its indispensable 
 mover. No doubt for its full action it is 
 necessary that the chief of all should be the 
 elect of all ; but even if he is displaced from 
 that foundation, even if the crowning part is 
 taken away, the machine works on. 
 
 As far as it concerns himself, he feels that 
 it is to this single principle, that of the 
 sovereignty of the nation, that he owes his 
 existence. If at times he wishes to make no 
 distinction between the dynasty he established 
 and that of the Bourbons, if in a way he accepts 
 their succession, if he forces himself to give to 
 his own sovereignty a similar outward appear- 
 ance, nothing could take away the necessity of 
 remaining in touch with the nation. In those 
 hours when his power appeared to be established 
 so firmly as to defy every storm, he was able to 
 
46 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 multiply the intermediaries, to appear no longer 
 before the people except surrounded by gorgeous 
 pomp, in imperial costume, even to increase the 
 mystery surrounding his person and to shut 
 himself up in his harem. But when the bad 
 days came and the European coalition threatens 
 him, he goes of his own accord to invigorate 
 himself among the people ; he shows himself to 
 them in military costume, frequents the streets 
 and market-places, appeals to the familiarity of 
 the nation, so completely does he feel that " all 
 power emanates from the people, and that no- 
 thing done without it is lawful." 
 
 For these reasons, therefore, he is of opinion 
 that, as in the case of those sovereigns who pre- 
 ceded him in France, as well as of those who 
 reigned around him in Europe, it is necessary 
 for his prestige to form a Court and to institute 
 a code of etiquette. He recognises at the same 
 time that the restoration of the ancient Court 
 and the ancient etiquette would be impossible ; 
 his disposition could not adapt itself to such tram- 
 mels, nor could his work be thus interfered 
 with. Such a course was clearly impossible and 
 would be dangerous and injurious. It was 
 necessary in this as on other occasions to adopt 
 
ETIQUETTE. 47 
 
 a middle course, that he might be a conciliator 
 as he had proved himself in legislation, in home 
 and foreign administration, in the control of 
 religion, in the management of landed property, 
 and in the settlement of personal property. 
 He must still draw up a definite scheme-^one 
 which shall combine the past with the present, 
 and impart to the new monarchy which he is 
 creating both the brilliancy which he aims at 
 and the splendour with which he aspires to 
 surround it, as well as that connexion with the 
 past which he thinks necessary, and which at 
 the same time shall secure to him a compara- 
 tive independence of action. This arrangement 
 should permit the sovereign to preserve the 
 freedom of his private life and his public work ; 
 should keep him in permanent contact with the 
 army, and should, lastly, allow him frequent 
 opportunities of intercourse with the nation, so 
 that he should be informed of the great move- 
 ments which arose, that he might receive the 
 special requests which the citizens had to make, 
 and thus might be in a position to repair in- 
 justice, and the misconduct of his agents. 
 
 This formula Napoleon hit upon, and we may 
 almost say that he did so without groping about, 
 
48 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 and at the first attempt. He recognises two 
 beings in his own person : one, which in physical, 
 intellectual, and moral process has wants which 
 must be respected, for which complete liberty 
 is necessary ; the other is under the control of 
 his sense of dignity, and directed by the grand 
 master of the ceremonies, a creature of spectacle 
 and pomp, whose steps are governed by eti- 
 quette, and who, as soon as he makes an official 
 appearance, is subject to all the ceremonies 
 customary among absolute monarchs. The man 
 retains his right to think, to work, to live as he 
 would, to act as he pleases ; the sovereign pre- 
 serves the surrounding necessary for his dignity, 
 but from this surrounding he only accepts sym- 
 bolic services which are the representatives 
 only of those real duties for which originally 
 every office was instituted. It is this which 
 Napoleon was fond of stating, saying that "he 
 was the first who had separated the service of 
 honour' (an expression coined in his time) "from 
 the service of necessity; that he had put aside all 
 that which was real and menial, to substitute 
 for it that which was only nominal and purely 
 decorative." 
 
 He founded this innovation on the following 
 
ETIQUETTE. 49 
 
 reasoning: "A king," said he, "does not 
 exist in nature, he exists only in civiHsation ; 
 there cannot be a naked king — -he is only a 
 king when he is dressed." True for him, 
 the theory was false as far as concerns kings 
 by Divine right. No doubt they do not exist 
 in nature, but it is because they are above 
 nature. Their power is supernatural in its 
 origin and by its transmission. It is thus 
 at least that they look on themselves, and 
 thus that those around them understand them. 
 It matters little whether they wear the badge 
 of their dignity or not — their character is 
 indelible. It is independent of the exercise 
 of their power. It does not depend on the 
 coronation which most of them received at 
 Rheims : the coronation is for them only an 
 investiture, it is only a consecration. Naked 
 they are kings to the full as much as clothed, 
 and the domestic duties which the great ones 
 of the kingdom perform in dressing them 
 or undressing them assert without contra- 
 diction the permanence of their monarchical 
 power. 
 
 In the case of Napoleon, on the contrary, 
 his character is new, he is dependent on a 
 
 VOL. I. 4 
 
50 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 triple investiture — military, national, and 
 religious. In the past he is connected with 
 nothing, in the future he leads to nothing. 
 The honours which are shown him are 
 addressed to the sovereignty with which he 
 is invested — a sovereignty the badge of which 
 he ought to wear — not to the man who 
 reserves the right to have a private life, an 
 unofficial life, without failing In his duty as 
 sovereign, without falling short of royalty as 
 did Louis XV, and still more Louis XVL 
 
 Possibly this distinction did not present 
 itself to the mind of Napoleon, or more pro- 
 bably he did not, even at St. Helena, wish 
 to express it because it would have been the 
 avowal that so far his power was inferior to 
 that of the Bourbons ; but it is the result of 
 the facts, and he was unable to escape from 
 it. When he said, " If I had been my grand- 
 son ! " and considered what would have been 
 the extent of his authority if he had held it 
 for no more than two generations, he affirmed, 
 and with remarkable vigour, how far tradition 
 was wanting in his monarchical edifice ; how 
 far, as soon as he quitted the reality of demo- 
 cratic right to seek for sources of Divine 
 
ETIQUETTE. 51 
 
 right, he found himself inferior to those 
 whom he replaced, for in that he who 
 would not recognise the impossible, knocked 
 his head against something which was outside 
 him and above him — Time, which alone con- 
 secrates dynasties and gives them in the 
 eyes of the people an air of divinity. 
 
 To reconcile that which forms the reality 
 of his power with that which up to that time 
 had been the representation of it, the emperor 
 is therefore compelled to have two existences : 
 one, of parade, has for its stage the " Apparte- 
 ment d'honneur" and the State apartments of 
 the palaces, the chapel, the theatres, the Corps 
 Ldgislatif, the Senat, Notre Dame, and the 
 H6tel de Ville, all the different scenes where 
 he had to play in public the part of emperor ; 
 the other, his real life, his personal life, his 
 life as a man, his life as a worker, his life 
 of husband and of lover, flows on between 
 the walls of the " Appartement intdrieur!' 
 There he is himself; he appears with his 
 familiar habits, his methods of work, his 
 passion for order and arrangement. It is 
 there that he must be seen if we attempt to 
 represent the man that he was capable of 
 
5 2 NA POLEON A T HOME. 
 
 being, and if we wish to form a notion of 
 his normal existence — that which enabled him 
 to be equal to his work and' to fulfil his 
 destinies — if we wish to form a notion which 
 approaches at all closely to historical truth. 
 
II. 
 
 THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION. 
 
 TO form a notion of the habits of life and 
 the famiHar manners of Napoleon in his 
 private apartments, the best plan, no doubt, 
 is to take the apartments of the Tuileries as 
 a type, and we are called on to reconstruct 
 these apartments entirely by means of docu- 
 ments of indifferent authority, or insufficient 
 for the purpose, in the almost complete absence 
 of actual representation. No more than the 
 shadow of the Palace remains in which one 
 can seek for the shadow of the Emperor. 
 Napoleon, indeed, spent days at Compiegne, at 
 Rambouillet, and at Fontainebleau, but scarcely 
 more numerous than at Schonbrunn or at 
 Potsdam ; from these places no more particulars 
 can be gathered than from the head-quarters at 
 Marrac and at Mayence, or from the imperial 
 palaces of Strasburg and of Bordeaux. It was, 
 
54 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 in fact, at the Tuileries and at Saint-Cloud 
 tliat he Hved longest, and each of these places 
 is now a blank. 
 
 It may be said that, on an average, from 
 Floreal of the year XII to April 1814, the 
 Emperor's official residence was at the Tuileries 
 for nearly three months a year. This does not 
 mean that he never left it, nor that he slept 
 there every night ; without being a wanderer 
 like Louis XIV, or still more Louis XV, who 
 was always transferring his dulness from 
 Versailles to Marly, to Choisy, to Saint-Hubert, 
 to Bellevue, to Compiegne, to Fontainebleau, 
 Napoleon was far from settled. When evening 
 came he would decide suddenly to start for 
 Malmaison or Saint-Cloud, would go occasion- 
 ally and establish himself at the Elysee, would 
 start off and pass a day or even a night at one 
 of the chateaux which he had given to his 
 companions of war, — Grosbois and Grignon, 
 for example ; and this was not noticed in the 
 official reports of his movements, it was not 
 even in the early times entered in the Journal 
 des Voyages. It used to be said, especially at 
 the beginning of his reign, that he wished to 
 keep his household perpetually on the alert, to 
 
THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION. 55 
 
 accustom it to change quarters at once, and that 
 it pleased him to add to the difficulties of the 
 Grand Marshal and the serving people. In fact, 
 it satisfied his craving for continual activity and 
 movement. But go where he would, he liked 
 to find the roojns arranged in the same order as 
 at the Tuileries ; he wished his private apart- 
 ment to be similar, with furniture made on 
 similar patterns, and arranged in the identical 
 positions. As soon as his necessaries were 
 unpacked, his portfolios open, he at once 
 became at home; he had everything he required 
 at hand, for no man had fewer different wants, 
 fewer fancies,, or was more regular. That 
 which formed the familiar surroundings of his 
 life was contained in a few chests — one might 
 even say in a few small boxes — and, however 
 great might be his magnificence, however much 
 he desired to clothe his surroundings with 
 grandeur, there remained in the Emperor much 
 of the sotis-lieutenant of former years, ready to 
 start when the trumpet sounds to horse, and 
 only wanting a few minutes to cord his baggage. 
 Thus his palaces have always the air of an inn. 
 All his personal belongings follow his person, 
 and when he has left there is no trace of his 
 
56 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 passage, nothing to indicate his tastes, nothing 
 to show his character or his habits. Beyond 
 his cipher on the furniture and hangings, his 
 coat of arms, the bees which have taken flight 
 from his imperial mantle and settled here and 
 there on the walls or on the floor, nothing 
 recalls him. From motives of economy, and 
 also because there was nothing better, nor as 
 good, to be done, these seditious badges were 
 at a later time covered with a shred of cloth, 
 and kings followed each other in the use of this 
 imperial furniture without much embarrassment, 
 for nothing of the spirit of the first occupant is 
 to be discovered in this furniture. 
 
 He took possession of these apartments in 
 the same way, and with as little fuss, as though 
 he were going into one of his head-quarters, 
 Osterode or Finckenstein, the Escorial or the 
 Kremlin. In every place he was at home — in 
 the house of Louis XIV or in that of Philip II, 
 in the house of Ivan or in that of Frederic. 
 His maps spread out, his great table placed on 
 trestles, he set to work, without the necessity 
 of any familiar surroundings to bring back the 
 current of his thoughts. That mattered little 
 to him He had a mania for order, but it was 
 
THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION. 57 
 
 satisfied at a very slight cost ; it aimed at what 
 was necessary, not at what was superfluous. 
 He thought nothing either of the richness of 
 the furniture or of the sumptuousness of the 
 decorations, but much of the arrangement of his 
 actual tools, indispensable either for his physical 
 existence or for the production of his brain. 
 It is for this reason that in his apartment the 
 arrangement, which he had himself drawn up 
 and which was contrived so as to be identical 
 in whatever place he went to, for which a 
 few screens sufficed, gives much more insight 
 towards a knowledge of the man than the 
 decoration of the rooms ; and that the positions 
 occupied by the pieces of furniture in regular 
 use reveal more than the description of the 
 furniture itself The latter does honour to the 
 maker, the other shows a manner of life. 
 
 At the Tuileries — and it was the same in 
 the other imperial residences — the portion of 
 the palace assigned to the habitation of the 
 sovereign was distributed into three descriptions 
 of apartments : — 
 
 The apartment of ceremony ; 
 
 The ordinary apartment of the Emperor ; 
 
 The ordinary apartment of the Empress ; 
 
58 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 The first two only concern us here. 
 
 The grand apartment of ceremony was 
 reserved for fetes, ceremonies, assembhes, and 
 grand audiences. In the every-day Hfe it was 
 not made use of. The first room was a concert 
 hall — the Salle des Mardchaux — which, taking 
 up with the grand staircase and the grand 
 vestibule the whole of the central pavilion, 
 formed the communication between the two 
 wings of the palace ; that on the left, containing, 
 in two stories, the apartments of the Emperor 
 and of the Empress ; and that on the right, in 
 which were situated the hall of the council of 
 state, the theatre, and, further on, in the 
 pavilion of the " Enfants de France," in the 
 fagade looking on the Rue de Rivoli, the apart- 
 ments of the Grand Marshal and of foreign 
 princes. 
 
 In leaving the Salle des Mar^chaux, the first 
 room of the state apartments, one came to a 
 first and second salon, the throne room, and 
 then the salon or state cabinet of the Emperor, 
 and finally to the Gallery of Diana. The state 
 apartments ceased there. 
 
 Similarly situated to the Gallery of Diana, 
 and having its private entrance by a staircase 
 
THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION. 59 
 
 near the " Pavilion de Flore," stretched the 
 appartement ordinaire, itself divided into the 
 apparte-ment d'honneur and the private apart- 
 ment. The appartement d'honnetir consisted of 
 a guardroom and of a first and second salon. 
 The private apartments, which were in con- 
 tinuation, comprised the Emperor's study, an 
 interior study, where in the morning Napoleon 
 gave audiences, a room which was used as a 
 topographic office, a small bath-room, a bed- 
 room, a dressing-room, a wardrobe, and an 
 antechamber. 
 
 This suite of rooms was repeated by a similar 
 suite in the story above, composed of an ante- 
 chamber, of a dining room, of a work-cabinet, 
 of two salons, of a bedroom, of a boudoir, and 
 of a wardrobe. This suite is often called the 
 appartement secret ; it was called officially by 
 the name of the " Petit Appartement de sa 
 Majeste," and could only be reached from the 
 inner suite of rooms. 
 
 To get a clear idea of an arrangement of this 
 kind, which is remarkably difficult to describe, 
 the strangeness of which a plan, however exact, 
 would scarcely explain, the best course, now that 
 the Tuileries are destroyed, is to pay a visit 
 
6o NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 to the small apartments at Versailles. There, 
 in those dark corridors, where two persons 
 can only pass sideways ; in those narrow stair- 
 cases, which turn so sharply, and which must 
 be lighted day and night ; in those rooms so 
 small and so low that the head touches the 
 ceiling — these rooms in which Louis XV, 
 Louis XVL queens, dauphins, princesses, 
 favourites of all descriptions, passed their lives, 
 it is possible to understand what the Tuileries 
 might and must have been. 
 
 At one of its extremities, as we have seen, 
 the appartement interietir was separated from 
 the staircase of the " Pavilion de Flore " by the 
 guardroom, which was occupied by the pages 
 on duty and by a sous-officier of the garde-a- 
 cheval; from this opened the first salon, into 
 which entered, of right, the colonel-general on 
 duty, the state officers of the crown ; in it 
 remained on duty the aide-de-camp of the 
 day, the chamberlain of the day, the pi^dfet, 
 and the equerry on duty ; and here were 
 received persons admitted to an audience, or 
 summoned to work with the Emperor. It was 
 the salo7i de service. The second salon, com- 
 municating on one side with the cabinet of the 
 
THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION. 6i 
 
 Emperor, on the other with the salon de 
 service, was devoted to audiences. In the 
 doorway of each of the salons stood an usher ; 
 at the door of the guardroom was a door- 
 keeper, armed, as a matter of ceremony, with a 
 halbert and sword. 
 
 At the other extremity of the appartement 
 intdrieur, to the antechamber of which access 
 was gained by passages and staircases leading 
 from the extremity of the Gallery of Diana, 
 an usher, of extreme trustworthiness, kept 
 the door. Within, a keeper of the portfolio, 
 who was a sort of clerk, and a valet-de- 
 ■chambre, remained at the disposal of the 
 Emperor. There was no other guard. In 
 the apartments there was not a single soldier. 
 The only guard which was posted in the 
 interior of the palace, called the guard of the 
 guardroom of the state apartments, was in the 
 right wing, beneath the staircase of the Salle 
 dzt Conseil d'Etat. It was there specially to 
 give the salute, and was composed of only 
 twenty men. The only sentinel posted inside 
 was under the central pavilion, in which there 
 -was a public passage to the court and garden. 
 There was, besides, a guard of forty-one men 
 
62 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 at the Pavilion de Flore ; a guard of twenty 
 men at the swing-bridge ; a guard of twenty- 
 one horse soldiers, furnishing two vedettes, at 
 the gate of the Carrottsel; a guard of seven 
 gendarmes, and a guard of nine pompiers ; but 
 none of these hundred and eighteen soldiers 
 entered the apartments. 
 
 It is true that in addition to the five door- 
 keepers, the ushers, and the valets-de-chambre, 
 adjudants superietirs, adjudants of the Grand 
 Marshal, and adjudants of the palace kept up a 
 continual watch ; but little by little their number 
 was reduced within surprising limits. Under 
 the Consulate there were at first twelve officers, 
 from the rank of chief of brigade down to that 
 of captain, who had the title of adjudants 
 supdrieitrs. There were still twelve adjtidants 
 sttp^rieiLrs to be found in the year XII — three 
 generals, six colonels, two chefs de bataillon, 
 and one captain ; but when the Empire came 
 these twelve were dispersed among the different 
 palaces as governors or under-governors, and 
 those who remained in the service did not 
 exceed four in number. In 1807 they received 
 the title of Adjoints du. Palais, and disappeared 
 in 1808, to be replaced by two marshals of the 
 
THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION. 63 
 
 lodgings and four quartermasters of the palace. 
 To the adjoints and to the quartermasters are 
 to be added the governor of the palace, whose 
 duties were almost honorary, and the sous- 
 goitvernetir, when the place was filled up, and the 
 adjudant, and we have the entire body to whom 
 the Emperor confided the safety of his person. 
 
 All these were men of extreme trustworthi- 
 ness : of the two adjoints of the Grand Marshal, 
 who possessed the rank of colonel, one, 
 Reynaud, was an exceptional soldier, of un- 
 equalled bravery, covered with wounds, who 
 had made all Bonaparte's campaigns, and 
 who, having risen to the rank of general, and 
 having been sent to Spain, had the bad luck 
 in 181 1 to be taken by the insurgents; the 
 other, element, beginning life in 1782 as 
 private in the regiment of Neustrie, had been 
 promoted by the First Consul to the staff of 
 Desaix at the same time as Savary and Rapp. 
 His duties at the palace did not prevent him 
 from having his thigh broken by a bullet in the 
 campaign of 1805. He was a Republican, a 
 self-made man, agreeable, polished, and well 
 brought up, and, like Reynaud, absolutely 
 devoted to the Emperor. 
 
64 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 Philippe de S^gur — who, both as a general 
 and as a writer, deserves a special notice in 
 the history of these times — was appointed in 
 1802. He had the rank of Captain. The 
 First Consul had him summoned to Saint- 
 Cloud, "Citizen S^gur," said he to him, "I 
 have placed you on my special staff. Your 
 duty will be to command the guard which 
 keeps watch over me. You see the confidence 
 which I place in you. You will warrant it. 
 Your merit and your talents promise you rapid 
 promotion." S^gur, who was already devoted 
 to Bonaparte, and had joined the hussars as 
 a volunteer in the campaign of 1800 (whose 
 father, among the first to come over, was 
 Conseiller d Etat, under the new form of 
 government, till he received the appointment 
 of Grand Master of the Ceremonies), was both 
 astonished and overcome by this confidence, 
 and to his last hours he deserved it. 
 
 The fourth adjoint of the Grand Marshal 
 was named Tascher, a cousin of Josephine, and 
 although the Emperor had no great opinion 
 of him, in five years (1803 — 1808) he made 
 him pass through all the ranks to that of chef 
 de bataillon. In sending him to Joseph, who 
 
THE APARTMENTS. IHEIR PROTECTION. 65 
 
 took him for aide-de-camp, he wrote that "he 
 may get practice and training, and become 
 good for something." We know not if he 
 profited by the lesson, but he got on. Colonel 
 in 1808, Count of the Empire in 1810, General 
 of Brigade in 18 14, he succeeded in every- 
 thing ; for if his Empress cousin failed him in 
 France, he had in Spain married a Clary, and 
 that could not fail to give him a social standing. 
 Having, therefore, been slighted, he attached 
 himself warmly to the Bourbons, but enjoyed 
 their favour for a short time only, having died 
 of illness at the beginning of 1 816. 
 
 The Governor of the Tuileries was changed 
 too often to gain complete authority. Caffarelli 
 was the first, but he became Minister of War 
 and of the Fleet in Italy ; Fleurieu was the 
 next, but he received it as a sort of retirement 
 after his unfortunate tenure of office at the 
 Intendance gin^rale. The last was d'Harville, 
 who, on the occasion of the divorce, had just 
 relinquished the post of Chevalier-.d' honnezi,r to 
 Josephine, and in the sinecure of the Tuileries, 
 protected from his importunate creditors, gave 
 himself as little trouble as possible. 
 
 The brave sons-goiivernetir, General Macon, 
 VOL. I. 5 
 
66 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 performed his duties for too short a time. 
 Although appointed on the 29 Brumaire, 
 year XIII, he went through the campaign of 
 1806, was summoned by the Emperor to 
 undertake the government of Leipzig, and died 
 there, of putrid fever, October 28th, 1806. 
 
 He was not replaced as soiis-gotivej'-neur sx 
 the Tuileries, where the whole of the respon- 
 sibility devolved on the adjutant, Augustin 
 Auger, a remarkable person, who, during forty- 
 seven years of military service, may perhaps 
 have seen fire during riots in Paris, but never 
 went on a campaign. A chasseur in Hainault 
 in 1768, xki&xi garde-ct-cheval m. Paris, he en- 
 tered in 1789 the paid garde-parisienne, was 
 Lieutenant of the ist Battalion of Light Infantry 
 in 1792, Captain of a squadron of cavalry of 
 the Department of the Oise in 1793, Captain 
 of the Guides of the Army of the Interior in 
 the year IV and the year V, then Captain 
 in the garde-a-cheval of the Directory. He 
 passed into the garde des consuls, where he 
 was promoted to be chef d'escadron, and 
 appointed adjtmant supdrieur the 1 5 Germinal, 
 year IX. From that time he was attached to 
 the palace of the Tuileries, which he did not 
 
THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION. 67 
 
 leave till August 27th, 1815, and then only to 
 die two months later. 
 
 Auger therefore was the ruling spirit, and 
 it was he who was really the commandant 
 of the Tuileries from 1804 to 1814 ; from 
 July 1 8th, 1808, he was assisted by the 
 four fotirriers of the palace, Deschamps, 
 Baillon, Picot, and Emery, who all came from 
 the gendarmerie ddlite, where they were lieu- 
 tenants or quarter-masters ; they had all four 
 earned decorations for their good services, and 
 had proved by their devotion that they were 
 worthy of their distinctions. 
 
 During the day, adjtidants, adjoints, or 
 fourriers made frequent rounds in the un- 
 inhabited parts of the palace. They did not 
 go, however, into the appartement ordinaire, 
 which the officers on duty sufficed to guard. 
 It might be supposed that the latter were 
 not called on for active service, but this would 
 not be true. In the year XI a man in 
 private dress entered the first antechamber. 
 Questioned by the officer on duty, a captain 
 of Voltigeitrs, as to why he kept his hat on, 
 he suddenly drew from under his great-coat 
 a sabre, with which he attempted to kill the 
 
68 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 officer. The latter put himself in an attitude 
 of defence and pinned the madman against 
 the wall. Those in the neighbouring rooms 
 rushed in hastily, and recognised the man 
 as an old quarter-master of the Giddes, to 
 whom some injustice had been done, and who, 
 mad with exasperation, had come with the 
 intention of killing the First Consul. He was 
 taken care of and cured, the matter was hushed 
 up, and Bonaparte settled a pension on his 
 would-be assassin. 
 
 At night the guardians were scarcely more 
 numerous. But it must be remarked that at 
 this time the palace was only separated from 
 the public garden by a simple terrace of no 
 great breadth, and raised only three or four 
 steps. If then a sentinel failed in his look-out, 
 an evil-disposed person could easily climb the 
 walls and get into the apartments. For this 
 reason precautionary rounds were increased. 
 One night Segur found on a window-sill a man 
 who was only waiting for a suitable moment 
 to slip inside. This was the only serious 
 alarm, and except for S^gur It would be still 
 unknown. Another time, after a state recep- 
 tion, a man was found hidden behind the 
 
ARRIVAL OF A COURIER. 
 
THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION. 69 
 
 curtains of the state cabinet. It was a poor 
 madman, an old chimney-sweep at the Tuileries, 
 who imagined that he should discover the soul 
 of his father in the fires or the lights. He 
 was taken to Charenton. These are all the 
 incidents recorded ; in spite of the facilities 
 which they would have met with, none of the 
 conspiracies formed against Napoleon aimed 
 at attacking him at the Tuileries, so great 
 was the conviction that he was well guarded. 
 We have seen that this was not the use he 
 made of his army. 
 
 At night no more than during the day did 
 the rounds enter the appartement ordinaire of 
 the Emperor. The aide-de-camp on duty 
 slept there, in the salon de service, his head 
 leaning against the door. Some time later 
 an orderly officer and a page were added. In 
 the rooms immediately outside the salon there 
 slept a brigadier and a footman. In the 
 appartement intdrieur, near the door slept a 
 mameluke ; another valet-de-chambre and a 
 gar(^on de garderobe had their chair-beds in 
 little dark closets. To gain access to the 
 Emperor when some urgent dispatch arrived, 
 the aide-de-camp knocked at the door against 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 which the mameluke lay. The mameluke 
 opened it, passed in the aide-de-camp, and 
 shut it again carefully, " so that the aide-de- 
 camp might be satisfied that no one could 
 have followed him." The aide-de-camp then 
 scratched at the door of the bedchamber. This 
 door was shut inside ; the Emperor got up and 
 opened the door only when he had recognised 
 the voice. These precautions, as he had 
 specially explained to his brother Joseph, were 
 minutely observed. " They give no trouble," 
 said he, " and succeed in inspiring confidence, 
 apart from the fact that they may in reality 
 save your life." 
 
 During nearly the whole reign the precautions 
 thus established seemed to suffice. In May 
 1806 a considerable number of the body-guard 
 of the old King, who had not emigrated, and 
 having received employment had given proofs 
 of zeal, requested to be attached to the person 
 of the Emperor, and to be reconstituted as 
 before. Napoleon refused their services. " It 
 did not seem to him suitable ; " but as they 
 were people of honour he sent them to Naples 
 to his brother Joseph, recommending them 
 warmly. At a later time, in 1808, when 
 
THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION'. 71 
 
 Jerome was thinking of establishing a body- 
 guard, the Emperor wrote to him : " I do not 
 think that you ought to have a body-guard ; it 
 is not the etiquette of our family." But on 
 December 30th, 18 12, possibly after having 
 stated the services rendered during the retreat 
 by the Escadron Sucre, and especially to guard 
 himself from the consequences of an attempt 
 similar to that of Malet, the Emperor dictated 
 the following note : "It is considered that the 
 Garde Imp^riale is not sufficiently brilliant, and 
 that its uniforms and decorations do not come up 
 to the splendour and majesty which ought to 
 surround a sovereign. It is considered that the 
 gates of the palace and the doors of the apart- 
 ments are not sufficiently guarded, either 
 because the ushers and porters do not do their 
 duty, or because they are not armed as they 
 should be. It might be well to consider a plan 
 for the formation of companies of gardes-dti- 
 corps, which, while they act as a real guard, 
 would also serve as a training-school for officers 
 of the army. A plan might also be drawn up 
 for the formation of one or several companies 
 of door keepers, who would perform duties 
 similar to the Hungarian garde-noble at Vienna, 
 
72 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 or the Hundred Swiss in Saxony. They 
 should receive a handsome uniform. The 
 gardes-du-corps might have cuirasses." 
 
 This scheme was studied with attention by 
 Duroc and by Clarke. The Emperor had it 
 brought under his notice several times, and 
 had several draft decrees drawn up by which 
 everything was arranged to the minutest 
 detail, — the constitution of the body, the 
 uniform, the duties in time of peace and of 
 war, the privileges of the officers and of the 
 guards. But little by little, in view of the 
 urgency of the situation, the idea was modified: 
 it was no longer a question of body-guards 
 " furnishing a post in the first room of the 
 apartments of the Emperor, of the Empress, 
 and the King of Rome," it was a question of 
 soldiers providing their own kit, to whom as 
 an inducement for serving, and for joining 
 the army immediately, special advantages were 
 promised. From what happened to General de 
 S^gur it may be asked whether as body-guards 
 the gardes-d' honneiir would have really pre- 
 sented the guarantees of fidelity and devotion 
 which the Emperor sought. 
 
 This scheme took nine years to draw up ; 
 
THE APARTMENTS. THEIR PROTECTION, jj, 
 
 for in spite of what certain witnesses have 
 said about it, it is doubtful whether, ahhough 
 planned a long time back, it was, as is said, 
 the fear of making the Imperial Guard dis- 
 contented which caused it to be constantly 
 postponed. The Austrian marriage and the 
 attempt of Malet suffice to explain, but not to 
 justify it. No cases exist where body-guards 
 have prevented a popular revolution from 
 making its way into a palace, but there are 
 cases where the body-guard itself has made 
 a revolution in the palace. 
 
III. 
 
 THE TOILET. 
 
 THE bed-chamber of Napoleon changed 
 its shape and size several times by 
 taking in certain adjoining space, but it always 
 occupied essentially the same position. During 
 the Consulate Bonaparte did not occupy it. 
 He shared the room of Josephine, which was 
 situated on the ground floor and communicated 
 by a narrow and dark staircase with the apparte- 
 ment intdrietir. Having made up his mind 
 during the early days of the Empire to have 
 a separate room, Napoleon, on his departure 
 for the campaign of Germany, gave orders to 
 have the room which was to serve him as a 
 state bedroom enlarged and decorated during 
 his absence, for it may be supposed that he 
 very frequently occupied in preference the 
 bedroom in the entresol of the petit apparte- 
 inent. 
 
THE TOILET. 75 
 
 The work was pushed on actively by Fontaine 
 and Percier, the architects of the palace ; they 
 covered the walls with rich hangings of Lyons 
 brocade, strained on panels enriched with gilt 
 ornariients ; carved pilasters framed the open- 
 ings and filled up the angles. The ceiling, 
 painted and gilt, showed in the covings figures 
 of Jupiter, Mars, Minerva, and Apollo, painted 
 en grisaille, with raised mouldings of gold on 
 a ground of lapis-lazuli ; the armorial bearings 
 and the cipher of the Emperor, with military 
 trophies and garlands supported by winged 
 genii, formed the ornaments of the borders. 
 The bed, raised on a platform covered with 
 velvet, occupied the floor of the room opposite 
 the windows. 
 
 There was scarcely any furniture : arm-chairs 
 of gilt wood, covered with Gobelins tapestry, 
 a sort of large English chest of drawers, with 
 brass ornaments, and nothing else. 
 
 Between six and seven o'clock in the morn- 
 ing the first valet-de-chambre of the Emperor 
 entered the bedroom. Madame de R^musat 
 has said that " the awakening of Napoleon was 
 generally sad and appeared painful ; that he 
 often suffered from convulsive spasms of the 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 Stomach, which brought on sickness." "His 
 awakening was cheerful" says Marchand ; 
 Constant, Roustam, and all those who were in 
 his service speak in the same way. It must 
 be supposed that Madame de Rdmusat, who 
 appears so well informed, must have found 
 herself there after a bad night. 
 
 The power which Napoleon possessed of 
 sleeping at will, of sleeping for only six hours, 
 — whether he took these six hours successively 
 or by intervals, — is recorded by all those who 
 approached him, as well as the faculty which 
 he had of passing at once from the deepest 
 sleep to the most lucid wakefulness. Both 
 these qualities are common to many men of 
 his temperament. 
 
 Napoleon, when he was suddenly woke up, 
 joked for a moment with his valet-de-chambre. 
 " Open the windows," said he, " that I may 
 breathe the air God made." Although chilly 
 indoors, the Emperor liked the air ; he had 
 a horror of bad smells, and of " closeness " ; 
 the smell of paint made him ill. And this pas- 
 sion for fresh air in the morning is characteristic 
 of his sensations of smell. The only perfume 
 which he liked in his rooms was that of aloe 
 
THE TOILET. 
 
 wood ; no doubt he brought this fancy back 
 with him from Egypt. It remained with 
 him till death, and he was always throwing 
 ayaloudjin on small perfume burners to purify 
 and scent the rooms in which he lived, and 
 where, till very late in the season, there was 
 a fire. 
 
 The first valet-de-chambre during almost 
 the whole Empire was Constant Vdry, who, 
 in the first instance, replaced Ambart, who 
 had become too old and a trifle silly, and 
 had retired with a pension and the post 
 of concierge at Meudon ; and then Hubert, 
 also pensioned with the conciergerie of Ram- 
 bouillet and 1,200 francs a year. Constant 
 was a Belgian ; he was born December 2nd, 
 1778, at Peruwelz, a commune which afterwards 
 formed part of the department of Jemmapes. 
 His father, who kept an inn at the baths of 
 Saint-Amand, agreed, if the story is to be 
 believed, to entrust him to a visitor at the 
 baths, a certain Comte de Lure, who undertook 
 charge of his education, but emigrated and left 
 him behind. Constant attempted to get back 
 to his native village on foot, but found it in 
 possession of the Austrians. He was picked 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 up by a certain Commandant Michau, who took 
 him into his service ; he then became servant 
 to a merchant named Gobert ; at last, thanks 
 to the acquaintance which he had made with 
 a valet of Madame Bonaparte, he entered her 
 service while the General was still in Egypt. 
 When Eugene returned from Egypt, Josephine 
 placed Constant with him ; she then took him 
 back into her own house, and, finally, on 
 starting for Marengo, the First Consul attached 
 him to his person. From that time until the 
 month of April 1814, it may be said that 
 Constant never left Napoleon ; he boasted of 
 having had only two holidays — one of three 
 days, the other of a week. It is very probable. 
 He was replaced, as is well known, in 18 14 
 by the admirable Marchand, whose fidelity and 
 devotion to his proscribed master make him 
 one of the most interesting among the exiles 
 of Saint Helena. 
 
 Constant, although he was very moderately 
 educated, wrote a "round" hand, and was 
 ignorant of orthography, was very wideawake, 
 and kept himself well informed as to all that 
 passed, thanks to his friend Veyrat, Inspector- 
 General of the Police, who sent daily by his 
 
THE TOILET. 79 
 
 hands to the Emperor a report intended to 
 check that oi ikvo. prdfet of the poHce. Constant 
 took notes, by means of which the bookseller 
 Ladvocat had memoirs drawn up, which, if 
 they ought to be consulted with caution, furnish 
 a quantity of authentic traits to any one who 
 knows how to make use of them. When, 
 however. Constant complains of the want of 
 generosity of the Emperor towards him, he 
 seems a trifle ungrateful. In addition to 
 6,000 francs wages and 2,000 francs for his 
 dress, a suite of seven rooms, a table of four 
 covers, carriage and horse and a coachman at 
 his orders, the right of entry to the four State 
 theatres ; in addition to the indemnities which 
 were assigned to him when he went with the 
 Emperor on campaign and travelling, Constant 
 received from Napoleon, from 1808 to 1814, 
 1,800 livres de rente, an annual pension of 
 6,000 francs, and sums amounting in all to 
 261,000 francs. This did not prevent him 
 from deserting at Fontainebleau, carrying off, 
 the Emperor said, a great deal of silver and 
 jewellery. 
 
 The first valet-de-chambre wore a French 
 coat of green cloth with facings and collar 
 
8o NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 enriched with gold embroidery, a waistcoat of 
 white kerseymere, black breeches, and silk 
 stockings. With some difference in the em- 
 broidery, the ushers, the valets-de-chambre of 
 the toilet and of the appartement, and the 
 wardrobe men wore the same costume. Constant 
 insinuates that this uniform was not obligatory 
 for him, and that he often wore what he pleased. 
 This is possible. 
 
 As soon as the room was aired, the Emperor, 
 who got up immediately and wrapped himself 
 in his dressing-gown, received the correspond- 
 ence from the hands of his private secretary. 
 He sat down before the fire, and opened the 
 letters himself Those which were of any 
 interest were put aside to be taken up again at 
 leisure. The others, of no importance, were 
 scattered over the carpet, and he called that 
 " his answer." He then ran through the news- 
 papers ; those narrow and scanty journals, the 
 columns of which he alone filled, and in which 
 the smallest paragraph which he had not 
 sanctioned caught his eye. He then asked 
 the names of those persons who were waiting 
 in the first salon, and mentioned those whom 
 he wished to see. The Master of the Ward- 
 
THE TOILET. 
 
 robe, who, as part of his duty, was present at 
 the toilet, and the Grand Marshal, entered 
 without waiting for orders ; the architect 
 Fontaine, and Barbier the librarian, were 
 often summoned ; and, on their proper days, 
 Corvisart, the first physician, and Yvan, surgeon- 
 in-ordinary. 
 
 Of the medical staff these were all who ap- 
 peared, although since the rise of the Empire 
 it had been organised on a complete scale, and 
 from year to year had been greatly extended. 
 The physician-in-ordinary, Jean Noel Halle, 
 scarcely ever came again after the day when, 
 at the toilet, the Emperor took it into his head 
 to pull his ears. " Sire, you hurt me ! " said 
 Halle, with temper, leaving the room quickly. 
 A member of the Institut, and professor at 
 the College de France, he nevertheless con- 
 tinued to appear in the lists for an annual 
 sum of fifteen thousand francs. 
 
 The doctors on quarterly service, two at 
 first, afterwards four, all at salaries of eight 
 thousand francs, followed the Emperor on 
 campaign ; they went by his orders to give 
 their attention to those of the sick in whom 
 he was interested, but at Paris they took their 
 
 VOL. I. 6 
 
82 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 orders from the first physician. As to the four 
 consulting physicians at three thousand francs, 
 and the oculist, they were simply honorary. 
 
 Of the surgeons, who were more numerous, 
 Yvan only appeared ; so that neither Boyer, 
 first surgeon, with a stipend of fifteen thousand 
 francs, who was created baron in 1810, with an 
 allowance of four thousand francs, nor the five 
 surgeons on quarterly service, at a stipend of 
 six thousand francs, nor the four consulting 
 surgeons, at three thousand francs, appeared at 
 the palace. The surgeons on quarterly service 
 followed on campaign, and several of them had 
 by their devotion deservedly received the legion 
 of honour. But on the contrary the doctors, 
 who in the absence of Corvisart gave their 
 attention to the Emperor, approached him only 
 exceptionally, Yvan accompanying him every- 
 where. This Yvan (Alexandre Urbain) had 
 been attached to General Bonaparte since the 
 campaign of Italy. As early as at Milan his 
 wife appeared at the Serbelloni Palace in the 
 salon of Madame Bonaparte, while he was 
 prancing in the staff of the General. From the 
 year VIII he was so far looked on as a friend 
 as to be almost alone admitted to sign the 
 
THE TOILET. 83 
 
 marriage contract of Caroline. He had, besides 
 a yearly stipend of twelve thousand francs, the 
 post of surgeon-in-chief of the Invalides, the 
 gold cross of an officer of the legion of honour, 
 the title of baron with an allowance of nine 
 thousand francs, without taking into account 
 fees which yearly varied from twenty-five to 
 thirty thousand francs. At Fontainebleau, on 
 the evening of March 14th, 18 14, after having 
 put him down for forty thousand francs on the 
 list of the two millions, the Emperor gave him 
 two hundred thousand francs and the cross of 
 commandant of the legion. Some hours after- 
 wards, Yvan, in a state of madness, went down 
 to the stables, took a horse, and made the 
 best of his way to Paris. Napoleon did not 
 forgive him. 
 
 Of all the doctors the only one in whom 
 Napoleon had confidence was Corvisart. " I 
 have confidence in the medical skill of my 
 first physician Corvisart," wrote he to Mme. 
 Montesquiou in 181 2. He had felt it ever 
 since the Consulate, when, on the recommen- 
 dation of Mme. Lannes, Josdphine induced 
 Napoleon, whose health had been for a long 
 time out of order, to see him in consultation. 
 
84 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 Corvisart, at that time forty-seven years of age, 
 was in full possession of the reputation which 
 he had acquired at the Clinical School of La 
 Charite by his new methods of investigation. 
 He applied them conscientiously to the exami- 
 nation of the condition of the Consul, examined 
 with the minutest care all the organs one after 
 the other, and discovered that Napoleon was 
 suffering from an eruption driven in, which 
 badly treated had brought on a considerable 
 falling away and disorder in the lungs. "It 
 is nothing," said he : "it is a humour driven 
 in which must be brought out." He applied 
 two blisters on the chest, which became less 
 oppressed ; the cough disappeared little by 
 little ; and, struck by the simplicity of the means 
 employed, as well as by the accuracy of the 
 diagnosis. Napoleon attached Corvisart to him 
 as his only doctor. (Barthez had the title, but 
 he lived at Montpellier, and when Napoleon 
 assigned him a stipend it was in recollection 
 of his father, Charles Bonaparte, whom Barthez 
 had taken charge of in his last illness.) From 
 the early days of the Consulate down to 1 8 1 4 
 Corvisart was therefore first physician, with 
 a stipend which amounted to thirty thousand 
 
THE TOILET. 85 
 
 francs a year, without speaking of an allowance 
 of thirty thousand francs attached to his title of 
 baron ; he was none the less constantly in want 
 of money, however extensive his practice was in 
 Paris. Married during the Revolution to a 
 girl of noble family, by whom he had a son 
 whom he wished to legitimise, he lost the child, 
 and as soon as possible obtained a divorce 
 to resume a bachelor life. Court life did not 
 please him, and the official world had no 
 attractions for him. He passed his leisure 
 time at the house of his old friend Gu^hdneuc, 
 who, as well as he, loved rough pleasantries ; 
 or in a society still more gay, in which he met 
 vaudevillistes such as Barr6 and Desfontaines ; 
 the ballet-master Desprdaux, the husband of 
 Mme. Guimard, a number of bons-vivants and 
 pretty women. Ravrio, the dealer in bronzes, 
 who composed songs in his leisure, sang the 
 virtues of the doctor — 
 
 " Quelquefois gai, toujours paillard," 
 
 and celebrated the recollections of the little 
 fetes in which Corvisart took part. They were 
 of a somewhat rough kind. 
 
 Corvisart, then, scarcely ever appeared at the 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 toilet except on his days of duty, Wednesday 
 and Saturday. Napoleon received him with 
 jokes : " You there, great quack ! have you 
 killed many people to-day ? " And Corvisart 
 replied in the same cue, allowed his ears to 
 be pulled and rubbed, knew how to profit by 
 an opportune moment to make a request, and 
 was one of those through whom a number of 
 alms passed. 
 
 Nor did he disdain any more for himself the 
 gains which he drew from his ofhce, for he had 
 a passion for curiosities and rarities, for pictures 
 and objects of art. His patients of both sexes 
 did not allow him to be in want of them ; wit- 
 ness that marvellous snuff-box with an ancient 
 cameo, a present from Josephine, which, be- 
 queathed by Corvisart to Mme. la Comtesse de 
 Soules, and by her to Professor Jules Cloquet, 
 appears as No. 5,293 in the collections of the 
 Cluny Museum ; above all, witness the number- 
 less presents made to him by Marie Louise. 
 But, like all true amateurs, he much preferred 
 buying to receiving. 
 
 One morning the Emperor noticed a stick 
 in Corvisart's hand. "What have you got 
 in your hand ? " said he. " It is my cane, 
 
TsAPOLEON AND CORVISART. 
 
THE TOILET. 87 
 
 Sire." "It is very ugly; it is not pretty. 
 How can a' man like you carry such an ugly 
 stick as that?" "Sire, that cane cost me a 
 great deal of money, although I got it very 
 cheap." "-Tell me, Corvisart ! what did it 
 cost ? " " Fifteen hundred francs, Sire ; it is 
 not dear." " Ah ! mon Dieu ! Fifteen 
 hundred francs ! Show me that ugly stick." 
 The Emperor took the cane, examined it in 
 detail, and discovered on the handle a little 
 gilt medallion of Jean Jacques Rousseau. 
 " Tell me, Corvisart, it is the cane of Jean 
 Jacques ; where did you get it ? No doubt 
 one of your patients made you a present of it. 
 Well, really, it is a delightful relic you have 
 there." " Pardon me. Sire, I gave fifteen 
 hundred francs for it." " Really, Corvisart, 
 you have not paid enough for it, for he was 
 a great man — that is to say, a great charlatan. 
 Really, Corvisart, he was a great man of his 
 kind ; he did some good things." And he 
 pulled Corvisart's ears, saying, " Corvisart, you 
 want to ape Jean Jacques ! " and laughed. 
 
 The chase was one of the passions of 
 Corvisart, and when he started for it he never 
 said where he was going, for fear that they 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 should send after him ; but he loved to hunt 
 at his country house of La Garenne, or at 
 Vesinet with Lannes, the son-in-law of his 
 friend Gueheneuc, shooting for its own sake 
 in the company of gay companions. One 
 morning, when the Emperor was going to shoot 
 at Saint Germain, he said to his first physician, 
 " I want you to come shooting with me ; I 
 want to see if you are a good shot." Corvisart 
 excused himself, saying that he had not got 
 his guns. The Emperor replied that he should 
 have some of his. Corvisart answered that 
 he could not use them because he was left- 
 handed ; and at last he only gave way to the 
 formally expressed desire of Napoleon. 
 
 These are scenes taken from life, which give 
 the tone of these conversations at the petit 
 lever. We hear that voice, of such beautiful 
 quality that however softly it speaks it goes to 
 the very depth of the heart ; that pronunciation 
 which possesses, as says a contemporary, a 
 character of accentuation so remarkable as to 
 be unique ; the scansion of the words, which 
 makes them sing, gives them their full value, 
 makes the long syllables ring with a resonance 
 not to be forgotten. In his moments of gaiety 
 
THE TOILET. 
 
 there was no noisy laugh ; no more than a 
 slight change of voice, a moment of irony, with 
 the merest passage of a smile in the eyes. 
 
 In the absence of Corvisart the Emperor 
 chatted with his valet-de-chainbre, took an 
 interest in what was talked of in town, listened 
 to the gossip, and amused himself with the tittle- 
 tattle of the day. This was part of the duty of 
 Constant, and afterwards of Marchand. His 
 curiosity was insatiable. They were compelled 
 to report to him all the trifling talk of the town, 
 " even the doings and quarrels of valets." 
 
 While still talking he took a cup of tea or 
 of orange-flower water, which the first valet- 
 de-chambre handed to him on the silver-gilt 
 salver from the great travelling-case. The 
 silver-gilt cup also came from the travelling- 
 case, and the Emperor made a point of not 
 being served with other vessels. He sweetened 
 the infusion himself, and if he detected the 
 slightest bad taste in it, he rejected it at once, 
 according to the advice which Corvisart had 
 given him. It was the only precaution he 
 took against poison. 
 
 Having put on red or green slippers, which 
 he used till they were completely worn out. 
 
go NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 and which he could not bear to have renewed, 
 he went generally into his bath-room, which 
 was formerly the oratory of Anne of Austria, 
 and afterwards, when the alterations of the 
 apartment took place, a little room fitted up 
 near to the bed-room. With him the warm 
 bath amounted to a passion. He often re- 
 mained in it a whole hour, continually turning 
 on the hot-water tap, and raising the tempera- 
 ture to such a point that the room was entirely 
 full of steam, so that they were obliged to open 
 the door. If urgent despatches arrived, his 
 private secretary read them to him, otherwise 
 he rapidly analysed the contents of the news- 
 papers to him. The bath, besides being agree- 
 able to him, was also necessary. Napoleon, 
 in fact, had been troubled since his infancy with 
 an obstinate constipation. As early as 1797, 
 in Italy, he had suffered from haemorrhoids, of 
 which in truth, as he wrote, he had radically 
 cured himself by the application of three or 
 four leeches ; but at the same time he also felt 
 the first attacks of a complaint which threatened 
 to become more frequent and more painful as 
 he advanced in age. On that account he re- 
 mained longer and longer in the bath, in which 
 
THE TOILET. 91 
 
 at St. Helena he came to the point of passing 
 his days, and even his nights. 
 
 On leaving the bath, he put on a waistcoat 
 of flannel, a shirt similar to that which he wore 
 at night (for his shirts of demi-hollande at sixty 
 francs, and afterwards at forty-eight francs, a- 
 piece, were all of the same pattern) ; then he 
 put on his chamber costume, composed in 
 summer of a pair of a sort of drawers with 
 feet, and of a long coat or dressing-gown of 
 white twilled dimity ; in winter of drawers of 
 stout twilled cotton with feet, and of a dressing- 
 gown of white duffle. On his head he kept 
 the bandana which he slept in, knotted over 
 the forehead, the two corners of which hung 
 down behind on his shoulders. In this costume 
 he worked for a long time with his secretary, 
 and began to dictate his letters, or even, if it 
 was a case of urgency, he received one of the 
 Ministers in the back cabinet. 
 
 During all this time the valet-de-chambre had 
 got the dressing-room ready, and the keeper 
 of the wardrobe, Charvet, had brought in the 
 garments. Of the valets-de-chambre one is 
 celebrated — Roustam the Mameluke. The 
 Emperor accepted him in Egypt from the 
 
92 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 Sheik El Becri, brought him to France, had 
 him taught at Versailles by Boutet to under- 
 stand the care of arms, and took him every- 
 where. Many of the general officers who 
 made the Egyptian expedition had a Mameluke 
 in their suite : for instance, Eugene, Murat, 
 Bessieres, and several others ; but Roustam 
 alone was popular. At every parade, in every 
 procession, he was to be seen, dressed in aston- 
 ishing costumes, loaded with embroidery, his 
 head covered with a cap of blue or crimson 
 velvet embroidered with gold and surmounted 
 with an aigrette, galloping about on a horse 
 in Oriental trappings, and making his sabre 
 rinsf. For the coronation his two costumes, 
 which Isabey designed, cost 9,000 francs. 
 Roustam, who received 2,400 francs as Mame- 
 luke, had besides 2,400 francs as assistant 
 porte arquebuse ; and his gratuities were at 
 least double his wages. After each campaign 
 3,000 francs; on new year's day, 3,000, 4,000, 
 6,000 francs; in the year XIII 500 livres' 
 annuity; at Fontainebleau, in 18 14, in addition 
 to a lottery office, 50,000 francs. When he 
 married, in 1806, the daughter of Douville, 
 valet-de-chambre of the Empress, it was Napo- 
 
THE TOILET. 93 
 
 leon who paid for his wedding dinner — 1,341 
 francs. All this did not prevent the Mameluke, 
 in 1 8 14, from following his comrade Constant 
 in his desertion. But who knows, as regards 
 these valets, what influences moved them ? 
 
 Roustam was not deficient in power of ob- 
 servation ; we may judge this from his recol- 
 lections, one of the most curious documents 
 which have been published on the period of the 
 Empire. He was brave, like his companions 
 of the squadron of Mamelukes, in which he 
 served until 1806, very alert in his duty, which 
 consisted in following the Emperor everywhere 
 in campaign, and, at the Tuileries or elsewhere, 
 in sleeping in the room immediately outside 
 that in which Napoleon slept. Every night a 
 folding bed was prepared for him. As more 
 cleanly, Duroc wished to fit him up a bed in 
 a closet ; but one night the Emperor, instead 
 of knocking, came himself to look for his 
 Mameluke, and not being able to find him 
 at first, got into a rage. The original arrange- 
 ments were then reverted to. 
 
 At first the duty of Roustam was much 
 more complicated ; it was he who at table 
 waited on the First Consul ; but when the 
 
94 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 pages came he waited no longer. Under the 
 Consulate he always appeared with the staff, 
 as is shown in the Revue dii Ddcadi, in which 
 Isabey has not failed to jalace his portrait. 
 But that displeased the officers, and, in spite 
 of the Emperor's orders to furnish him with 
 a horse, every pretext was used to prevent 
 him from mounting it. In short, little by 
 little he was ranked only as a servant like 
 the others ; but it was impossible to deprive 
 him of his prestige. Every stranger who came 
 to Paris wanted to see him. One of them 
 wrote in 1807: " Roustam has a good face, 
 and a good-natured expression, which is seldom 
 seen among his compatriots. His complexion 
 is not very dark. He is big and fat." And 
 he troubled himself about his country, and 
 about his marriage "with a pretty Parisienne." 
 At any rate, ever since his arrival in Paris, 
 Roustam was accustomed to make a sensation 
 wherever he went. , In the year VIII, the 
 loth Brumaire, at the performance of Z« Cara- 
 vane, his feelings were watched with a view 
 of making an article for the Moniteur ; they 
 printed his strange remarks : they contrived 
 to make a success for him. All the painters 
 
THE TOILET. 95 
 
 hastened to take his portrait, which was circu- 
 lated by means of engraving by thousands of 
 copies ; and Mdlle. Hortense de Beauharnais 
 profited by the circumstance that a fall from 
 his horse had prevented him from following 
 the First Consul to Marengo, to ask him for 
 sittings, and to make a fine drawing of him 
 to give to her schoolmistress. As the sittings 
 were very tedious to Roustam, she even sang 
 pretty songs to him to keep him awake. How 
 was it possible for this great child not to be 
 spoilt ? At least, unlike Constant, he had only 
 acted thoughtlessly, for in 181 5, on the return 
 from the Island of Elba, he was anxious to 
 return to the service of the Emperor ; but 
 Napoleon replied to Marchand, who had con- 
 sented to present his petition : " He is a rogue ; 
 put it in the fire, and never speak to me of 
 him." So brisk a reply from him, who at that 
 moment pardoned every thing and every one, 
 shows deep feeling, and proves to what an 
 extent he had trusted this man ; what an 
 affection — of a special kind, as for a dog — he 
 had had for him. 
 
 As to the theatrical legends, which aimed 
 at showing Roustam as a fierce man, a sort 
 
96 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 of executioner attached to the person of the 
 Emperor, is it necessary to go into them ? 
 
 General Bonaparte brought from Egypt a 
 second Mameluke, named Ali, whom he gave 
 to Madame Bonaparte. But this Ali, who was 
 horribly ugly, was even more wicked, and drew 
 his poignard on every occasion. Although 
 Josephine was full of kindness towards him, he 
 got on so badly with the whole household that 
 it ended in his being sent to Fontainebleau 
 ■as, gar ^ on d' appartement . To replace him, just 
 before 1811, the Emperor took into his service 
 Louis Etienne Saint-Denis, who was then, it 
 seems, only thirteen or fourteen years of age, 
 and who, although born at Versailles, v/as none 
 the less called Ali as soon as he entered the 
 household, and took the costume of a Mameluke. 
 Saint-Denis, called Ali, from the first accom- 
 panied the Emperor on campaign. In 18 14 
 he was shut up in Mayence, and as soon as he 
 could rejoined his master in the Island of Elba. 
 In 18 1 5 he made the whole of the Waterloo 
 campaign, embarked on the Bellerophon, and 
 took part in all the long agony of St. Helena. 
 His name is inscribed in the will. 
 
 We may well think that at the toilet his duty 
 
THE TOILET. 97 
 
 amounted to very little. But it was not so with 
 the three vakts-de-chambre, Sdndchal, Pdlard, 
 and Hubert. Sdgur has said of Hubert that 
 he was the most distinguished on account of his 
 education, his intelligence, his talents, and his 
 character. He could draw in an intelligent 
 manner, and we have a portrait of the Emperor 
 by him which is a document of interest. H ubert, 
 who with Pdlard followed his master to the 
 Island of Elba, re-entered his chambre in 1815. 
 S6n^chal and Pdlard had then been made 
 stewards of castles. 
 
 It is necessary to show by figures how 
 Napoleon treated all this little world. The 
 wages of the valets-de-chambre (2,400 francs), in 
 addition to livery at 1,200 francs, were increased 
 by an allowance of 6 francs a day on campaign, 
 with an addition of gratuities varying from 
 1,500 to 3,000 francs ahead. If one of them 
 married, the Emperor gave him 6,000 francs. It 
 is true that, if not in Paris, at least on campaign, 
 the calling was a hard one, and they ran risks. 
 
 The necessity of making provision for services 
 somewhat scattered all over Europe, at all the 
 places which the Emperor might be called on 
 to visit, explains the number of valets-de-chambre 
 
 VOL. I. 7 
 
NAPOLEON A T HOME. 
 
 attached to his toilet, to whom must still be 
 added Charvet, the keeper of the wardrobe, 
 and three valets of the wardrobe, who also took 
 their turns in going on campaign (one of them, 
 Cldment, died on the return from Russia), and 
 some gar^ons dappartement. Napoleon, from 
 the first days of his success, showed a lordly 
 desire to be waited on. In Egypt he had three 
 valets-de-chmnbre. " Valets are the men for 
 him," said Constant ; and this saying represents 
 him to the life. 
 
 He could not do with less than two to 
 shave him. Very few men at that time shaved 
 themselves, and that the Emperor should have 
 learned to shave himself was a matter of 
 astonishment. Madame de Remusat attempts 
 to give the credit of it to M. de Remusat, 
 master of the wardrobe. "He had seen," said 
 she, " the agitation, not to say the actual 
 anxiety, which Bonaparte experienced as long 
 as this operation performed by a barber lasted." 
 Constant relates more simply that after Ambart 
 left, Hubert, who succeeded him, being exceed- 
 ingly nervous and timid, could never make up 
 his mind to shave the Emperor ; that this duty 
 then devolved on him (Constant) ; that the 
 
THE TOILET. 
 
 99 
 
 necessity of having recourse day after day to 
 the same valet-de-chambre entailed on Napoleon 
 a continual restraint (for he never submitted 
 himself to a professional barber — apart from 
 etiquette, prudence forbade it) ; that he wished 
 to free himself from it, and after numerous 
 unfortunate attempts he succeeded. 
 
 Let us not be astonished ; the habit of shaving 
 oneself is very recent. In the eighteenth cen- 
 tury the perruquier played so important a part 
 in life, a part so necessary, that it was natural 
 to devolve on him this operation, which counted 
 as a trifle among his other duties. It was only 
 when the attempt was made to simplify mascu- 
 line existence by divesting it of the fripperies 
 of costume and toilet, by doing away with wigs, 
 with powder, and with the various refinements 
 of dressing the hair, by a uniformity of dress 
 which reduced it to simple clothes instead of a 
 personal adornment, and by abandoning per- 
 fumes and jewellery, that people came also to 
 wish to free themselves from the barber, as 
 afterwards they freed themselves from the hair- 
 dresser. But in the time of Napoleon and 
 even in the generation which succeeded him, 
 the men who shaved themselves were infinitely 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 rare. They got the character of eccentricity, 
 and did not fail to be considered remarkable. 
 No doubt the barber-surgeons, to keep their 
 clients together, had fostered the notion that 
 this operation was one of singular delicacy and 
 required infinite care ; for, even if any one 
 determined on doing it himself, he none the 
 less approached it with a certain apprehension, 
 and with the Emperor especially the ceremony 
 was very elaborate. 
 
 Constant presented the basin and the soap ; 
 Roustam held the large mirror of the travelling 
 case on the side of the light. The Emperor, 
 in a flannel waistcoat, flooded one side of his 
 face with lather, which he splashed all round 
 him ; then he wiped himself, took a razor with 
 a handle of mother-of-pearl inlaid with gold, 
 which had been previously dipped in hot water, 
 and began to shave himself _/r^»2 above down- 
 wards, which at first was the cause of several 
 accidents, for it seems it is a doctrine with 
 barbers that shaving should be performed yr(77;« 
 below upwards. 
 
 It has been said that Napoleon used only 
 English razors, which he had bought for him in 
 Birmingham, and which cost two guineas the 
 
SHAVING. 
 
THE TOILET. 
 
 pair. On several occasions, however, his gold- 
 smith, Biennais, furnished, for his travelling- 
 cases, razors with pearl handles ; but certain 
 boxes for six and twelve razors perhaps con- 
 tained English razors. As to the shaving soap, 
 the cakes of soap scented with sweet herbs, or 
 with orange, which Gervais-Chardin supplied, 
 seem to have been entirely French. 
 
 As soon as the Emperor had shaved one side 
 of his face every one turned round. Roustam, 
 with his mirror, passed from right to left, or from 
 left to right, following the light ; and the opera- 
 tion continued. The Emperor, before finish- 
 ing, asked every one if he was well shaved. 
 Cheerful and fond of a joke, he commonly pulled 
 the ears of his valets-de-chambre if he discovered 
 that a hair had escaped him. His beard was 
 thick, rather hard, and appears to have varied 
 in colour ; but this is supposition rather than 
 a matter of certainty. Never, at any period 
 of his life, except during his very last days at 
 St. Helena, did he miss being shaved ; a beard 
 of a week's growth was a phenomenon with 
 him. From the few hairs which have been 
 seen, preserved in collections, no decision can 
 be formed as to their colour. 
 
102 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 After he had shaved, the Emperor washed 
 his hands with almond paste and rose or Windsor 
 soap ; he washed his face with small and very 
 fine sponges, and frequently dipped his head 
 into a silver basin, which from its size might 
 have been taken for a small copper. Such was 
 the washing-stand of fifteen inches diameter 
 which was taken from the Elysee to St. Helena 
 in 1 815. Having washed his face and hands, he 
 picked his teeth very carefully with a boxwood 
 toothpick, and then brushed them for some time 
 with a brush dipped in opiate ; went over them 
 again with fine tooth-powder, and rinsed his 
 mouth with a mixture of brandy and fresh water. 
 Lastly, he scraped his tongue with a scraper of 
 silver, of silver-gilt, or of tortoiseshell. It was 
 to these minute precautions that he attributed 
 the perfect preservation of all his teeth, which 
 were beautiful, strong, and regular. During 
 the whole of his reign he never appears to have 
 had recourse, except for scaling, to Dubois, his 
 surgeon-dentist, borne on the lists for six 
 thousand francs, and the recipient of a gold 
 travelling-case, the instruments in which were 
 for the exclusive use of the Emperor. y 
 
 The other toilet instruments which Napoleon 
 
THE TOILET. 103 
 
 used also came exclusively out of his travelling- 
 cases, which Blennais, at the sign of the Singe 
 Violet, No. 283, Rue Saint-Honore, supplied. 
 In addition to the great cases containing a com- 
 plete collection of all the necessaries for work, 
 for the toilet, and for meals, such as the one 
 which he bequeathed to his son, and which was 
 given to the city of Paris by General Bertrand 
 — such, again, as the great case bought on his 
 return from Spain in January 1809 — he had 
 dressing-cases of a much more moderate size 
 and weight ; cases for packing, which would go 
 into a holster, and of which he made use on 
 campaign when separated from the baggage. 
 
 The care which he took of his person, his 
 over-scrupulous cleanliness, the desire which he 
 displayed for large quantities of water to wash 
 in, accorded little with the habits of his time. 
 Madame de Remusat declares that " he had 
 no idea whatever of the decency which good 
 education generally implants in every well 
 brought up person." There is no doubt that 
 he felt no embarrassment in letting himself be 
 seen undressed, nor in making his toilet in the 
 presence of his intimate servants, or even, if 
 necessary, before the whole army, as he did, for 
 
104 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 example, at the Island of Lobau ; but he never 
 for a moment had the idea that there was any- 
 thing indecent in it. The custom of camps, 
 where the general is always visible to his aides- 
 de-camp in whatever costume he happens to 
 be, had no doubt disposed him to look on such 
 modesty as hypocrisy. Perhaps also the Greek 
 blood of the Kalomeroi, his ancestors, was not 
 opposed to that feeling of ease — if one may say so 
 — in nudity, which is found in him, as in several 
 of his race. The nude in sculpture, in painting, in 
 nature, did not shock them ; it appeared antique. 
 Having thus washed, the Emperor, with very 
 great carefulness, trimmed his nails with scissors, 
 which he insisted on having very sharp and 
 accurate. He had beautiful hands, was aware 
 of it, and took care of them in consequence. 
 If the scissors did not cut to his fancy he broke 
 them on the marble. On this account Biennais 
 supplied them by the dozen. The profession 
 of " manicure " had quite recently been invented 
 by some of those women who had been ruined 
 by the Revolution ; but Napoleon never em- 
 ployed a manicure, while for chiropodist he had 
 a certain Tobias Koenig, a German Jew, who 
 had obtained permission to wear a sword, and 
 
THE TOILET. 105 
 
 a coat embroidered like those of the valets-de- 
 ckambrc: Koenig, who was a very little man, 
 and kept much of his German accent, came 
 once a fortnight to the toilet. Napoleon had 
 seldom any necessity for his services, but he 
 amused himself by asking him a string of ques- 
 tions about his clients, and for that Koenig was 
 paid two thousand four hundred francs. 
 
 Another artist came once a week. This was 
 Duplan, hairdresser to Their Majesties ; " the 
 only man who knew how to cut the hair," said 
 the Emperor ; " the only man who knew how 
 to dress the hair," said Josephine. She had so 
 thoroughly convinced Napoleon of his talents 
 that after the divorce nothing would do but that 
 Duplan should be attached exclusively to the 
 new Empress. He was paid 4,000 francs wages 
 on the list of the household, 6,000 francs allow- 
 ance from the privy purse of Marie Louise, 
 6,000 francs (afterwards 12,000) allowance from 
 the Emperor's privy purse, and 1,166 francs 
 a month from the treasury of the theatres. It 
 became necessary to do this to induce him to 
 give up his private connection, for Josephine 
 allowed him to dress hair for his general cus- 
 tomers, which Napoleon expressly forbade when 
 
io6 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 he placed him at the service of Marie Louise. 
 Consequently, in spite of his salary of 40,000 
 francs, Duplan made out that he lost by the 
 arrangement, and did not hesitate to ask for 
 gratuities, some of which reached to 12,000 
 francs. He, too, succeeded in amusing the 
 Emperor by telling him the gossip of the day. 
 It stood him in good stead ; he made his 
 fortune, and his son, under the Second Empire, 
 was an influential deputy. 
 
 The Emperor's hair was not black but auburn. 
 For the exact colour we must without doubt 
 not depend upon those specimens which, having 
 been preserved under glass, have possibly lost 
 their colour by exposure to light ; but there are 
 specimens which have been carefully wrapped 
 up, and have remained so since the time they 
 were taken from his head. These tend almost 
 to a dark flaxen, in keeping with the blue — 
 rather deep blue — eyes. 
 
 It was only at the end of the Consulate 
 that he made up his mind to wear his hair 
 quite short at the neck, and we may suppose 
 that the reason must have been the very early 
 baldness which is already foreshadowed in 
 Gerard's fine portrait of 1803. In Italy he 
 
THE TOILET. 107 
 
 wore his hair quite long, flowing over his 
 temples, a few locks only tied up into a pig- 
 tail with a ribbon. The whole of his head was 
 at that time slightly powdered. On coming 
 back from Italy he gave up powder at Jose- 
 phine's request ; but he kept his hair long 
 during the passage from Toulon to Alexandria. 
 At Cairo, possibly even at the battle of the 
 Pyramids, his hair was shorter. The hair on 
 the temples has disappeared — all that light and 
 floating veil which surrounded his face — and 
 except at the back his hair is cut pretty close ; 
 but not so much as might be fancied — witness 
 a series of busts executed on his return to 
 France, from nature, which still show some 
 long locks falling over the forehead, covering 
 three-quarters of the ears, and encroaching 
 considerably on the collar. At the same time 
 the First Consul allowed his whiskers to grow 
 as far as a third of the cheeks, which went 
 down lower than the lobe of the ear, and 
 appear to be pretty thick. These whiskers 
 disappeared at the same time that the hair 
 became shorter at the back ; but it was only 
 quite at the end of the Consulate that Bonaparte 
 became " /^ Tondu" (the shorn), as the soldiers 
 
 c- 
 
io8 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 called him. Gradually from that time the 
 forehead became bare ; so much so that in 
 some of the unflattered sketches of the end 
 of the Empire, we see that he brings the hair 
 forward, and that the long lock which gives 
 so lively a character to his face comes from 
 a distance. 
 
 Having attended to his nails. Napoleon took 
 off his flannel jacket, had some eau-de-Cologne 
 poured on his head, and with a stiff brush 
 himself brushed his chest and arms. The valet- 
 de-chambre afterwards scrubbed his back and 
 shoulders with the brush, and then applied 
 friction to the whole of his body, pouring on 
 it phials full of eau-de-Cologne. This habit 
 of rubbing, which Napoleon had, as he said, 
 brought from the East, and to which he partly 
 attributed his health, seemed to him most 
 important. They were not allowed to do it 
 gently. " Harder," said he to the valet-de- 
 chambre ; " harder ! as though you were rubbing 
 an ass ! " 
 
 Like the baths, the rubbing and the brush 
 were calculated in his case to keep the skin 
 in such a condition as to be always able to 
 perform its functions. " In his case," said one 
 
THE TOILET. log 
 
 of his physicians, "as soon as the tissue of 
 the skin became thickened by any cause, the 
 commencement of irritation with more or less 
 serious results showed itself, and the cough and 
 other symptoms declared themselves violently." 
 These symptoms yielded to the re-establish- 
 ment of the action of the skin. The violent 
 perspirations which he brought on, partly by 
 baths of great duration, partly by means of 
 a great excess of covering on his bed, warmed 
 till it was scarcely bearable, partly by rides 
 on horseback of sixty kilometres, had the same 
 object. After great fatigues he condemned 
 himself, always with the same object, to twenty- 
 four hours of absolute rest. Lastly, his tem- 
 perament manifested a very singular peculiarity 
 recurring periodically, which had an ascer- 
 tained influence on his health, the cessation 
 of which, at St. Helena, coincided with the 
 aggravation of his unhealthy state. " I shall 
 be cured if I perspire, and if the wounds which 
 I • have on my thigh re-open," said he on 
 January 22nd, 182 1, three months before his 
 death ; but " nature no longer answered to the 
 promptings of his will." 
 
 Having been thus bathed, washed, and 
 
1 1 NA POLE ON A T HOME. 
 
 rubbed, the Emperor dressed himself. He put 
 on his flannel waistcoat, over which, after 1808, 
 he wore on campaign, suspended by a black 
 cord, a little heart of black satin of the size 
 of a large hazel-nut. Under the silken envelope 
 was another envelope of skin, in which was 
 enclosed poison prepared according to the 
 formula which was given by Cabanis to Con- 
 dorcet, and v/hich appeared to be infallible. 
 Later, in 18 12, the Emperor substituted for 
 this poison another prepared by Yvan, according 
 to a different formula, and this poison played 
 him false in 18 14; but at the time of his 
 departure for Spain he took precautions so as 
 not to fall alive into the hands of the enemies 
 of France. If in 1 8 1 5, after Waterloo, although 
 in possession of a means of death, the effect 
 of which he knew, and which he carried about 
 constantly on his person in a bag formed in 
 his braces, he did not choose to make use 
 of it, it was because he thought it well that 
 his destinies should be fulfilled, and that he 
 might furnish with this prodigious example of 
 human vicissitudes the sole revenge which his 
 martyrdom and death could procure for con- 
 quered France against victorious England. 
 
THE TOILET. in 
 
 Then came the shirt. Afterwards Constant 
 put on his feet very Hght merino socks, over 
 which he drew stockings of white silk, kept 
 up by elastic garters ; he handed to him a 
 pair of drawers of very fine linen, or twilled 
 cotton, and a pair of knee-breeches of white 
 kerseymere, fastened at the knee with a small 
 gold buckle. At times when, instead of shoes 
 with gold buckles, Napoleon was going to 
 put on soft riding boots, he wore very tight 
 pantaloons of white kerseymere or of knitted 
 cotton. The knee-breeches or pantaloons were 
 held up with elastic braces. 
 
 It was Chevalier, his tailor, who supplied the 
 flannel waistcoats at 40 francs each ; his shirts 
 came from the great linendrapers Mdes. Lolive, 
 de Beuvry&Co., RueNeuve-des-Petits-Champs, 
 who also supplied the stocks of black twill, at. 
 8 Yrancs apiece. The silk stockings, from 
 Panier's, cost 18 francs the pair; but Napoleon 
 complained of it. "Why dearer for me than 
 for any one else ? " said he. " I don't understand 
 that. Ought I to be robbed ? " His shoes, as 
 well as his boots, were very easy, a centimetre 
 longer than his foot, which measured exactly 
 26 centimetres, half a centimetre broader at the 
 
1 1 2 NAPOLEON A T HOME. 
 
 middle of the sole, which measured 7 centimetres. 
 Further, the shoes with ' gold buckles, which 
 Jacques, Rue Montmartre, supplied, were lined 
 with silk, and care was taken to have them 
 worn into shape for three days by a young 
 man of the wardrobe named Joseph Linden, 
 who had exactly the same foot as the Emperor. 
 The shoes cost generally 15 francs a pair. 
 Sometimes, but very rarely, and no doubt on 
 campaign. Napoleon appears to have worn 
 clogs over his shoes. For hunting, as he 
 always did when he rode on horseback, he put 
 on over his silk stockings riding boots with 
 linings either of morocco or of silk plush, 
 which received every day a fresh dressing. 
 He was thus able to change them for shoes 
 without having to change his stockings. 
 These boots, which cost 80 francs the pair, 
 were fitted with little silver- spurs, scarcely 
 more than a centimetre in length, some of 
 which were very much worn out. Napoleon 
 had twelve pairs, and the valets-de-ckambre 
 knew on what occasions such or such a 
 pair had been worn ; thus, the spurs of the 
 campaign of Dresden and of the campaign 
 of France, which Napoleon offered to Las 
 
THE TOILET. 113 
 
 Cosas saying, "Take them, mon cher, I used 
 them at Champaubert." 
 
 Having put on his shoes and a very thin 
 cravat of muslin, and over it a stiff stock of 
 black silk, very high and broad, and with 
 a flap in front, Napoleon put on a round 
 waistcoat of white kerseymere ; a waistcoat 
 coming lower down than the waistcoats of 
 to-day. This waistcoat was reckoned, with the 
 knee-breeches, at 85 francs by the usual tailor 
 Chevalier, at 64 francs by Lejeune, who in 18 15 
 replaced Chevalier. The Emperor changed 
 his waistcoat and knee-breeches every morning, 
 only wearing them when clean, and having 
 them washed only three or four times. Careful 
 as he was of his person, he was very little so 
 of his clothes. He wiped his pen on his 
 breeches, or he splashed the ink about by 
 tossing his pen on his writing table. This did 
 not make him change them during the day, 
 any more than his silk stockings, although he 
 had the habit of rubbing one leg with the heel 
 of the shoe of the other foot when it itched. 
 The renewing of the waistcoats and knee- 
 breeches was a serious matter. Forty-eight 
 were to be supplied yearly, and they ought to 
 
 VOL. I. 8 
 
114 2^A POLE ON A T HOME. 
 
 have lasted three years, but there was always 
 a deficiency. In 1811, on going through the 
 wardrobe, there were only seventy-four instead 
 of one hundred and forty-four ; the others must 
 have been put aside. 
 
 Over his waistcoat he buckled on his sword- 
 belt. The shape of this belt changed at different 
 times. The Emperor tried a belt with buckles 
 in the form of shields, ornamented with eagles' 
 heads, charged with the initial letter N, and 
 each one furnished with an S hook in the form 
 of a serpent ; he had belts of purple silk, belts of 
 black leather, belts of deerskin lined with gold ; 
 he even used light crossbelts worn over his 
 shirt and under his waistcoat, in which the 
 sword was slipped into a simple loop of white 
 leather. But in the general way his sword 
 belt, which he took off in his cabinet, was worn 
 over or under the waistcoat. 
 
 Napoleon had only two swords in constant 
 use, both with gold hilts, with sheaths of 
 tortoiseshell mounted in gold. On the hilt 
 of one, in the middle, was represented an Iron 
 Crown surrounded with a wreath of laurel, and 
 on each side the heads of Minerva and Hercules 
 in medallions enriched with arabesques. The 
 
THE T0ILE2. 115 
 
 pommel terminated with a helmet and was 
 formed of an owl ; the bow, ornamented with 
 eagles and bees, was finished off with a small 
 antique lion's head ; the guard, consisting of 
 a reversed shell, was chased with a shield 
 charged with an eagle grasping thunderbolts ; 
 on the edge of the shield were placed sixteen 
 bees, as many as there were cohorts in the 
 Legion of Honour ; the blade of cast steel was 
 incrusted with ornament. Biennais supplied 
 this sword, which cost 5,700 francs. 
 
 One might be tempted to suppose that the 
 Emperor had more than two swords in general 
 use ; but only two are to be found in the 
 different inventories. No doubt he had swords 
 of ceremony, but in very small number. In 
 181 1 he possessed in all four swords: the two 
 in general use, a sword of French pattern of 
 silver gilt, and a sword with a straight blade 
 and an ivory hilt. The sword which the 
 Emperor wore at Austerlitz, that which after 
 that day he had almost constantly at his side, 
 which he bequeathed to his son and which 
 General Bathier, who had charge of it, offered 
 to King Louis Philippe, is preserved in the 
 cella of the tomb at the Invalides. 
 
n6 NAPOLEON Al HOME. 
 
 On his waistcoat Napoleon wore the grand 
 cordon of the Legion of Honour ; it was only 
 on occasions of state that he wore it upon 
 his coat. 
 
 Finally, the Emperor was handed his coat, 
 generally the coat of the chasseur a cheval of his 
 guard ; on Sundays, and for ceremonies when 
 he did not put on state dress, the coat of the 
 foot grenadiers. The grenadiers' coat was of 
 royal blue cloth ; the collar blue, without piping ; 
 the lapels white, cut square, without piping ; 
 the cuffs scarlet, without piping ; the flaps 
 white, with three points ; the lining scarlet, 
 without piping, turned back, caught up and 
 decorated with four grenades embroidered with 
 gold on white cloth ; the cut of the pocket 
 longways, marked by an edging of scarlet ; 
 the gilt buttons bore an eagle crowned. The 
 coat of the chasseurs a chevalvfa.a of green cloth, 
 lapels pointed, lining of the same cloth ; collars 
 and cuffs (pointed) red ; gussets in the folds, 
 green, piped with red ; facings ornamented 
 with hunting-horns embroidered in gold ; hussar 
 buttons bearing an eagle crowned. Certain 
 coats — among others the one at the museum 
 at Sens — have the buttons round and plain. 
 
THE TOILET. 117 
 
 It was in Vendemiaire, year IX, that the 
 First Consul began to wear these uniforms. 
 At Morfontaine, at the house of Joseph 
 Bonaparte, he saw a coat folded up on an arm- 
 chair. He took it up and unfolded it ; it was 
 the coat of a colonel of the consular guard. 
 " I should like to try it," said he, and undressing, 
 he put it on. " It is a very handsome coat," 
 said he, looking at himself in the glass. " I do 
 not know a finer, unless it is my coat of officer 
 of artillery." From that moment he adopted 
 it for common use — for on ceremonial occasions 
 he put on the coat of a general or consul 
 — and during the Empire he wore no other. 
 It was perhaps in imitation of Frederic II., 
 who never wore anything but military uniform, 
 and by preference that of his foot guards. This 
 had become traditional among those sovereigns 
 who were his admirers. In 18 15 Napoleon 
 occasionally put on the uniform of the national 
 guard, but he never wore it during the 
 Consulate, although it has been asserted ; the re- 
 semblance between the two coats of the national 
 guard and the foot grenadiers may have caused 
 the confusion. 
 
 Light and somewhat small epaulettes, with 
 
1 1 8 NA POLE ON A T HOME. 
 
 the body quite plain, the edge narrow and with 
 bullion fringe, were all passed through the loop 
 of the coat, which, as regards decorations, was 
 embellished only with the badge of the grand 
 eagle of the Legion, embroidered in silver, and 
 with the two decorations of the Legion of 
 Honour and of the Iron Crown. The badge 
 of the Legion which the Emperor wore was, 
 up to the time of Austerlitz, the decoration in 
 silver of a legionary, not surmounted with the 
 crown, which was not added till April 1806. 
 After Austerlitz, he assumed the gold eagle of 
 an officer, and kept it up to his death. From 
 June 5th, 1805, he always wore at the same 
 time as the Legion of Honour, the gold decora- 
 tion of his order of the Iron Crown ; it was the 
 Lombard crown, ornamented with a medallion 
 of the crowned profile of the founder, sur- 
 mounted with an eagle, and suspended to an 
 orange ribbon with green edging. He never 
 wore the insignia of the order of the Three 
 Fleeces, founded by him August 15th, 1809, 
 the decoration of which was only projected ; 
 and only two or three portraits are known in 
 which he is represented with the cordon or the 
 star of the order of the Reunion, instituted 
 
THE TOILET. 119 
 
 October 1 8th, 1811. Nevertheless, in certain 
 clusters {jeux) of decorations which belonged 
 to him, the blue ribbon of the Reunion is found 
 attached to the same bar as those of the Iron 
 Crown and the Legion. It is probable that 
 he wore it at least during his voyage of 181 1 
 in the United Provinces, for the two portraits 
 mentioned are by Dutch painters. 
 
 The coat of the " chasseur a, cheval" cost 200 
 or 210 francs ; the pair of epaulettes 148 francs ; 
 the badge of the legion 62 francs. The 
 grenadier coat, which was dearer, amounted to 
 240 or 250 francs. The tailor Chevalier had 
 a constant tendency to raise his prices. Thus, 
 in 1813 we find another tailor, Lejeune, sending 
 in grenadiers' coats, with epaulettes and badge, 
 at 340 francs, and chasseurs' coats, complete, 
 at 330 francs. This was the result of the 
 administration of M, de Turenne, the new 
 master of the wardrobe. 
 
 The Emperor had, in fact, on August 19th, 
 181 1, given M. de Remusat to understand 
 that "he had nothing more to do with his 
 wardrobe." It was most unseemly that trades- 
 men should come to him to demand payment 
 of their bills. "While I was at Saint-Cloud," 
 
A\4 POLEON A T HOME. 
 
 said he, " in my calhhe, with the Empress at 
 my side, and in the midst of an immense 
 concourse of people, I found myself called upon 
 all of a sudden in the Eastern fashion, as if I 
 had been the sultan going to mosque, by a man 
 who had worked for my person and claimed a 
 considerable sum, the payment of which had 
 been refused him for a long time." 
 
 Whether by bad management or by malver- 
 sation, M. de Remusat had allowed debts to 
 accumulate, and that without keeping up the 
 wardrobe as it should have been. If it was 
 negligence it was the more culpable, for he 
 owed his position, and that of his wife, entirely 
 to the Emperor. Raised by him from obscurity, 
 almost from misery ; placed at first among the 
 servants of the Consul, then elevated to the 
 dignity of Chamberlain, and even of First 
 Chamberlain ; invested with the title of Count, 
 and tacitly authorised to use a particle to which 
 he had no right whatever ; loaded with those 
 pecuniary benefits which are honourable to the 
 man who remains faithful, and dishonourable to 
 him who betrays his trust (among others a gra- 
 tuity of 200,000 francs on the Emperor's order, 
 dated Messidor 28, year XII), he was not one 
 
THE TOILET. 121 
 
 of those men whose too vast brain refuses to 
 bring itself to bear on the every-day arrange- 
 ments of a household ; and he had proved that, 
 if he was prodigal when his master was con- 
 cerned, he was as niggardly as possible when 
 it was a question of his own purse. M. and 
 Madame Remusat, in addition to their salaries for 
 different offices, salaries amounting to 42,000 
 francs without perquisites, presents, privileges 
 of the Directorship of the Theatres, and the rest, 
 received in November 1807, for housekeeping 
 and the reception of strangers, an allowance from 
 the secret funds at first of 2,000 francs a month, 
 and then, almost immediately, of 5,000. They 
 received the whole of that sum in 1807 and 
 
 1808, which did not prevent them in October 
 1808 "from seriously thinking about receiving 
 more people and fulfilling the intentions of the 
 master." Seeing what use was made of his 
 generosity, Napoleon, by way of warning to 
 them, reduced the gratuity to 36,000 francs in 
 
 1809, and to 24,000 in 1810. It is true that 
 the First Chamberlain and his wife might, from 
 1808, have been caught in the very act of con- 
 spiracy, and that after that time their opposition 
 was increased. In 181 1 was discovered the 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 affair of the deficiency of 16,000 francs in 
 the toilet, and the Emperor, while leaving 
 M. Remusat his place as First Chamberlain, 
 withdrew his title of Master of the Wardrobe. 
 
 In order to justify her husband, Madame de 
 Remusat alleges that the 40,000 francs which, 
 said she, were borne on the budget for the 
 Emperor's toilet, could not possibly suffice. 
 The amount which Madame de Remusat men- 
 tions here is false. From the year XI to 18 14 
 the toilet stood on the budget for 20,000 francs 
 only ; and from the moment when the ward- 
 robe was administered by another than M. de 
 Remusat this amount was amply sufficient. This 
 other person, M. le Comte de Turenne d'Aynac, 
 possessed at the same time a real devotion to 
 the person of the Emperor, as well as qualities 
 which were entirely absent in his predecessor — 
 order and economy in his service. Besides this, 
 he was brave, as he had proved in the cam- 
 paigns which he had gone through as an orderly 
 officer ; he was clever and well informed, and 
 his stories amused the Emperor, who had nick- 
 named him, on account of his Anglomania, 
 " Milord Kinsester." In addition to this, his 
 duty as Master of the Wardrobe had been 
 
THE TOILET. 123 
 
 greatly simplified by Napoleon, who, having 
 settled up the arrears, had had drawn up, in 
 accordance with current prices, a detailed re- 
 gulation of his requirements, with a complete 
 inventory ; he then settled how long the articles 
 were to last, the giving of orders, and the 
 retrenchments which were to be made, as he 
 would have done in the case of one of his 
 regiments. 
 
 When the Emperor had completed his toilet 
 and prepared to leave his apartment, he took 
 his hat, which the first valet handed to him, in 
 his left hand. This hat, of black beaver, without 
 border or lace, ornamented only with a small 
 tricoloured cockade attached to a loop of black 
 silk, was supplied by Poupard & Co., Palais du 
 Tribunal, and cost 60 francs. Four were to 
 be bought yearly, and each was to last three 
 years. It was broad, of a comparatively soft 
 beaver, and the crown was lined with quilted 
 satin. In spite of this, it had still to be stretched 
 before the Emperor, whose head was extremely 
 sensitive, could wear it. This head-dress must 
 have been singularly inconvenient, for when it 
 had been exposed for a long time to the rain 
 the beaver got soaked, and the flaps before and 
 
124 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 behind fell on his face and shoulders ; but yet 
 Napoleon was constant to it. It was his special 
 distinction, and every one knew him by it. 
 
 It was only about the year 1802 that he 
 adopted it, at the time when Isabey painted his 
 portrait, on foot, at Malmaison. As long as 
 the Consulate lasted no doubt he used it only 
 on campaign and in private. On state occa- 
 sions he had an embroidered hat, without plume. 
 During the Empire he had a sort of leaning for 
 a brass helmet, gilt. One, at least, was to be 
 found in his wardrobe. In private clothes he 
 wore a round hat ; but it may be affirmed that 
 he only wore private clothes on very rare occa- 
 sions, for expeditions incognito. Thus, at the 
 Tuileries he had no other hat than his petit 
 ckapeau ; but, on the other hand, he always had 
 it either in his hand or on his head whenever 
 he went from one room to another. He took 
 it by the front flap, and often waved it about in 
 conversation. When he was angry, or wished 
 to appear so, he threw it on the ground and 
 kicked it with his foot. 
 
 After his hat the Emperor received from his 
 valet-de-chambre a handkerchief on which some 
 eau-de-Cologne was poured, which he placed to 
 
THE TOILET. 125 
 
 his lips, then to his forehead, and passed lightly 
 over his temples. This handkerchief was of 
 very fine lawn, marked, like all the linen sup- 
 plied by Mdlles. Lolive & de Beuvry, with 
 a crowned N. A few had printed borders of 
 different colours. They cost invariably 1 2 francs 
 each. Napoleon then took an eyeglass, a 
 bonbonniere in which was liquorice mixed with 
 aniseed, and a snuff-box. He never left his 
 room till he had stowed away these different 
 things in the pockets of his uniform. This 
 habit was so well known to those around him 
 that, at table, if he felt about fruitlessly in one 
 of his pockets without finding what he wanted, 
 the maitre d' hotel rushed off and at once brought 
 back the desired article. " Why, Dunan," said 
 the Emperor to him one day, "you must be a 
 sorcerer always to know what I have forgotten !" 
 " Sire," replied Dunan, " I have noticed that 
 your Majesty always has his pocket-handker- 
 chief in the right pocket, and his snuff-box in 
 the left pocket." 
 
 The pocket eyeglasses, which were supplied 
 by Lerebours, the celebrated optician of the 
 Place du Pont-neuf, measured 18 to 21 lines, 
 cost from 180 to 220 francs, and were usually 
 
126 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 of silver gilt. Although Napoleon was in- 
 finitely less short-sighted than his brothers 
 Lucien and Jerome, he still had short sight, and 
 had the constant habit, not only on campaign, 
 but at Paris, of using an eyeglass or a binocular. 
 
 The bonbonnieres were little round boxes of 
 crystal or tortoiseshell, mounted in gold, some 
 with a portrait, that of Madame Mere or of 
 Queen Caroline. The liquorice was cut, or 
 rather broken up, into extremely small pieces, so 
 as simply to perfume the mouth and to melt 
 at once without blackening the saliva. It was 
 the only indulgence he allowed himself, and 
 this was a perfume. 
 
 As to his snuff-boxes, Napoleon had them 
 of all kinds, which were presented to him by 
 the Pope, the Sultan, the Empresses Josephine 
 and Marie Louise, his mother, his sisters-in-law 
 Catherine and Julie, and his sister Caroline. 
 Some of those in the wardrobe dated from the 
 earliest times of the Consulate, for he preserved 
 small objects of this kind to which any recollec- 
 tion or association was attached. Thesnuff-box 
 which he carried in Italy will be remembered, 
 the lid of which was adorned with a portrait 
 of his Josephine, as well as the superstitious 
 
THE TOILET. 
 
 fear he experienced when he broke the glass of 
 it. In Messidor, year IV, while still in Italy, 
 he lost his snuff-box and at once wrote to 
 Josephine : " I beg you to choose rather a flat 
 one for me, and to have something pretty 
 inscribed on the top with your hair." 
 
 Throughout his life he never made use of 
 sumptuous snuff-boxes studded with diamonds, 
 cut out of rare stones, or carved at great 
 expense ; those which he preferred were oval 
 snuff-boxes, narrow, with hinges, of tortoise- 
 shell or even of wood, lined with gold and 
 ornamented with cameos or antique coins. For 
 example, an oval snuff-box, long, of tortoise- 
 shell lined with gold, ornamented with four 
 silver medals representing Regulus, Sylla, 
 Pompey, and Julius Csesar ; an oval snuff-box, 
 of tortoiseshell, lined with gold with a medallion 
 painted by Isabey, representing the King of 
 Rome ; another with the portrait of Marie 
 Louise, which was sent to him from Vienna at 
 the time of the marriage, — were in common 
 use. This idea of the medals is not a mere 
 chance ; it would seem that he wished to have 
 his models, the great leaders of nations, 
 constantly before his eyes : Alexander, Peter 
 
128 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 the Great and Charles XII, Charles V and 
 Francis I, Frederic II, Augustus, Caesar, and 
 Timoleon ; as well as the founders of dynasties, 
 Demetrius Poliorcetes, Antiochus, Mithridates, 
 Phraates II, and Constantine. 
 
 Oval snuff-boxes had the advantage that he 
 could open them with one hand and without 
 loss of time, as with round or square ones. 
 
 The snuff was ground very coarsely, com- 
 posed of several sorts mixed, and supplied at 
 the price of 3 francs to 3 francs 50 centimes 
 a pound by Ancest or Robillard. It was kept 
 in great pots of glazed stoneware, or in locked 
 boxes of which the first valet alone had the 
 key. Precautions were taken since the time 
 when at La Malmaison the Consul found on 
 a piece of furniture within his reach a snuff-box 
 completely like his own, filled with poisoned 
 snuff. After that no one but Constant had 
 anything to do with his snuff. 
 
 One evening, at the moment when the 
 Emperor was leaving table, a chamberlain 
 noticed that the snuff-box was empty and 
 hastened to have it filled. The Emperor took 
 it, opened it, and threw the contents into the 
 fire and made a sign to his maitre d' hotel to 
 
THE TOILET. 129 
 
 give him some snuff. This was not mistrust, 
 but a way of pointing out that each person 
 in his household had his own duty, and that 
 officious attentions did not please him. 
 
 Napoleon consumed a great deal of snuff, 
 and yet he took very little ; but he took large 
 pinches, which he passed under his nose without 
 drawing them in, and then dropped at once. 
 He often passed his open snuff-box backwards 
 and forwards under his nose. His pocket- 
 handkerchiefs were, so to speak, never soiled. 
 It is somewhat in the same manner that he 
 tried smoking. Not taking the pinch of snuff, 
 but contenting himself with smelling it, so he 
 also affected to smoke tobacco without inhaling, 
 and rejecting it ; or rather, he simply took a 
 lighted Oriental pipe, put the amber mouth- 
 piece between his lips, and when the smoke 
 came out he began to cough and to spit, saying, 
 " Pouah ! Pouah ! Take away this nasty 
 thing ! " And from that time he never tried 
 again. The pipesticks of jasmine wood, with 
 mouthpieces of amber set with precious stones, 
 which he brought from Egypt, and which he 
 showed to Moreau, Rue de la Victoire, a few 
 days after Brumaire, remained, however, in the 
 
 VOL. I. 9 
 
130 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 wardrobe, where they were found in August 
 1811. 
 
 It does not appear that the Emperor habi- 
 tually carried a watch. If by chance he carried 
 one, he took but Httle care of it, and in un- 
 dressing he sent his watch flying like everything 
 else that he had about him ; if he happened 
 to get in a passion, or to wish to simulate it, 
 he threw his watch on the floor with violence, 
 as he did with his hat ; but the watch would 
 not stand such treatment, therefore repairs were 
 very frequent. 
 
 The watches which the Emperor had in his 
 wardrobe, which he might have used, were 
 repeaters, without ornament or initial, simply 
 in a gold case, with glass over the face. Two 
 were of silver, striking. They had been 
 supplied by Lepine, Breguet, and Magnier. 
 Some had belonged to him ever since the 
 Italian campaign. This was the case with 
 the one he gave to the Grand Marshal at 
 St. Helena with the remark : '• Take it, 
 Bertrand ! it struck two o'clock at night at 
 Rivoli when I gave Joubert orders to attack ! " 
 
 As to money. Napoleon never took any with 
 him. If he went out and wanted to give some 
 
THE TOILET. 131 
 
 trifling alms, he addressed himself to the aide- 
 de-camp, to the equerry, or to the chamberlain 
 on duty ; in fact, to the first person who came 
 to hand. 
 
 Indoors, he had in a drawer of his table 
 rouleaus of gold for trifling assistance ; if it 
 was a question of a large sum he scrawled a 
 draft on the treasurer-general or gave orders 
 to the secretary to pay it from the petty cash. 
 
 At nine o'clock punctually, the toilet being 
 complete, the official day began. 
 
IV. 
 
 THE MORNING LEVEE. 
 
 A FEW moments before nine o'clock there 
 was a scratching at the door. It was the 
 chamberlain -of the day, in a coat of scarlet silk, 
 embroidered with silver, with white waistcoat 
 and knee-breeches, wearing on the right-hand 
 pocket of his coat a large knot of green silk 
 ribbon, with stripes and tassels of gold, to 
 which was attached a key without any bit, 
 the bow of which exhibited an escutcheon with 
 the letter N, surmounted with a crowned eagle. 
 This chamberlain, like all the officers- on duty, 
 whether civil or military, was always in uniform. 
 The Emperor would not have tolerated- — still 
 less would he have ordered — that under pretext 
 of convenifence the persons attached to his 
 household should divest themselves of their 
 marks of office and appear in private dress. 
 On the other hand, from the year 1807, any 
 one who was not on duty, but who was invited 
 
THE MORNING LEVEE. 133 
 
 to any festivity, was expected to present him- 
 self in a silk or velvet suit a lafran^aise. It 
 was one of the means of advancing the manu- 
 factures of Lyons. 
 
 The Chamberlain then, who had a room 
 at the Tuileries, and was able to dress him- 
 self there, had, since the morning, satisfied 
 himself that the ushers and the valets-de-chambre 
 of the appartement had done their duties, and 
 that everj'-thing was in its place, and all the 
 men at their posts. At the desired hour he 
 came to the salon de service, and, having crossed 
 the second salon, scratched at the door of the 
 bedroom. A valet-de-chambre of the appkrte- 
 ment, after having taken the Emperor's orders, 
 ushered him in, and handed to him the list of 
 the persons who attended the lev^e. Then, 
 recrossing the salon, each door of which was 
 kept by two ushers in a French coat of green 
 cloth, embroidered with gold on the collar and 
 on the facings, with red waistcoat and black 
 knee-breeches, he returned to the salon de 
 service, into which, by right of their privilege, 
 the grand officers of the crown and the officers 
 of the household whose day of attendance it 
 was had entered. 
 
134 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 These consisted of the Grand Chamberlain, 
 whose uniform differed from that of the Cham- 
 berlain only in the richness of its embroidery, 
 and his insignia of office only in the dimensions 
 of his key ; and with him came the Second 
 Chamberlain, who was entrusted with the 
 service of the state apartments. Then came 
 the Grand Equerry, and the Equerry in a coat 
 of bright blue, the Grand Master and the 
 Master of the Ceremonies in violet. The 
 Grand Master had a key similar to that of 
 the Grand Chamberlain. The Grand Hunts- 
 man and the Lieutenant of the Hunt in green ; 
 the Prefect of the Palace (the Grand Mardchal 
 having assisted at the toilet) in purple ; the 
 Grand Almoner and the Almoner of the day 
 in cassocks, according to their ecclesiastical 
 rank ; then the Intendant Gindral and the 
 Treasurer of the Crown ; lastly, the colonel- 
 general on duty, in the uniform of the corps 
 of which he was in command ; grenadiers or 
 chassettrs a pied, chasseurs or artillery, with an 
 aiguillette, the distinctive sign of the Guard, 
 which also was worn by aides-de-camp on their 
 uniforms of general or colonel. 
 
 At nine o'clock precisely the Emperor came 
 
THE MORNING LEVAe. 135 
 
 out of his private apartment. If he was ready 
 eariier, he waited for the clock to strike before 
 having the doors opened. He entered his 
 salon at the same time as the household on 
 duty, introduced by the chamberlain of the 
 day. Unless under exceptional circumstances, 
 or because Napoleon wished, from motives of 
 policy, to allow some decision which he had 
 come to, or some piece of news, to leak out 
 — unless there was some necessity to set the 
 absent right by addressing those who were 
 present, or again, unless the Abb6 de Pradt, 
 his almoner, was at the lever', and Roman 
 affairs required attention, the audience was 
 short and almost silent, and the Emperor con- 
 fined himself to giving the necessary orders 
 very briefly. 
 
 If he took one of the grand officers aside, 
 it was because he looked on him as the repre- 
 sentative of some constituted body, or of a 
 class of individuals. Thus, Sdgur, the Grand 
 Master of the Ceremonies, or Daru, the In- 
 tendant Gindral, both belonging to that second 
 class of the Institut which represented the 
 Acaddmie Fran^aise, generally took this charge 
 for the Academy ; but they were not intended 
 
136 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 to take the very direct speeches of the Emperor 
 as addressed to them individually. The effect 
 which he aimed at was attained so soon as he 
 knew that what passed at the lever would be 
 talked about in Paris. 
 
 Except on such occasions, as far as regards 
 those on duty, the leijer consists rather in 
 giving orders. Everything about it is military 
 — in fact, cold and formal. No little stories are 
 told, no good things repeated, no familiarity 
 slips in, no kind expressions find a place. 
 They are in attendance to receive orders and 
 to hand in their reports. It is for this purpose 
 that Napoleon understands their attendance at 
 the levers, and expects them to be punctual. 
 If any one arrives late, it is necessary to be 
 prepared with some happy excuse, such as that 
 attributed to S^gur in 1809 : " It was impossible 
 to get along the streets on account of the crowd 
 of kings which I fell in with." 
 
 Those on duty having been dismissed with 
 a slight bow, the chamberlain of the day in- 
 troduced the Grandes Entrdes. Those who 
 enjoyed this privilege were the princes of the 
 Imperial family and of the Empire, cardinals, 
 the great officers of the Empire, the officers 
 
THE MORNING LEVEE. 137 
 
 of the Empress's household, princes and prin- 
 cesses, with the presidents of the great bodies 
 of the State, and the chief authorities of Paris. 
 All these alighted at the bottom of the staircase 
 of Flora, for their carriages entered the court 
 of the palace, and they were almost the only 
 carriages which did. They had been recognised 
 on entry by the porter of the interior, Nivernais, 
 passed up the stairs, and on the landing had 
 been saluted with the halberd, according to 
 their rank, by the porter of the apartment. 
 They passed across the salle des gardes, that 
 hall which Fontaine and Percier had just 
 decorated, in which, on a ceiling of wonderful 
 richness, is depicted Mars in his war chariot. 
 On their approach, the pages, out of respect 
 to them, rise from their benches, which were 
 formerly covered with simple Utrecht velvet, 
 but now with tapestry of the Savonnerie ; then 
 the doors of the salon de service having been 
 opened on their approach by an usher, they 
 settle down there to wait the Emperor's good 
 pleasure. 
 
 There was nothing to do but to stand and 
 exchange commonplaces, nothing even to please 
 the eye. Except the furniture, chairs, and 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 folding Stools of wood gilt, covered with tapestry 
 of Beauvais, with valances also of the same 
 material — for tapestry also has its own degrees 
 of rank, Gobelins for the Emperor, Beauvais 
 for the household, Savonnerie for the pages — 
 the whole decoration has remained the same as 
 in the time of Louis XIV, with Maria Theresa, 
 painted by Nocret, under the guise of Minerva, 
 on the ceiling, and on the walls great ugly 
 landscapes which have become almost black. 
 The general effect is depressing. There is but 
 little light in the apartments. It reminds one 
 of the saying of Roederer to the First Consul, 
 "This is melancholy. General!" "Yes," 
 answered he, " like greatness." 
 
 Every one is in the costume of his station, 
 the uniform of his rank or of his office, wearing 
 his orders, in silk stockings and in shoes. The 
 princes of the Imperial family, who are also 
 kings, appear in the costume of French princes ; 
 Cambaceres does not fail to dress himself in the 
 grand violet coat of arch-chancellor, Lebrun in 
 the black coat of arch-treasurer ; the vice-grand 
 elector Talleyrand, when he sets aside his scarlet 
 coat of grand chamberlain, wears a deep red 
 coat ; each wears a sword at his side, the 
 
THE MORNING LEVEF. 139 
 
 hilt and pommel of which are formed of an 
 eagle with outstretched wings, while the pearl 
 handle is grooved and surmounted with a 
 knob formed of two lions' heads. Ministers, 
 senators, deputies, tribunes, prefects, and gene- 
 rals wear blue coats distinguished by the 
 difference of the embroidery ; the officers of 
 the household of the Empress and of the princes 
 are in the costumes of varied colours assigned 
 to the service to which they belong. It is a 
 wonderful picture, which, on certain occasions, is 
 rendered even more brilliant by the presence of 
 the princes of the Confederation of the Rhine in 
 the uniform of their troops. 
 
 The grandes entries are summoned, and, 
 following the order of their rank, the cham- 
 berlain ushers the favoured ones into the salon 
 of the Emperor, the six armchairs and the 
 twelve chairs of which, of gilt wood, are covered 
 with Gobelins tapestry, the curtains and the 
 portieres of the same manufacture, the furni- 
 ture of gilt wood. The ceiling represents the 
 triumph of Minerva, always represented by 
 Maria Theresa. A circle is formed. The 
 Emperor passes along it, and speaks to almost 
 every one of the persons present, for he likes his 
 
140 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 lever to be numerous ; he is not pleased when 
 people stop away, and it is by their assiduity 
 in attending this early ceremony that some of 
 them succeed in escaping those suspicions which 
 their conduct ought to arouse. Talleyrand, 
 even in those days when he seems to be in the 
 deepest disgrace, is the first to arrive, the last 
 to leave. The first shock is over, and he has 
 been neither arrested nor shot ; he returns 
 therefore every morning ; the Emperor does 
 not speak to him ; people give him the cold 
 shoulder, and leave an empty space around him ; 
 but he remains, and, obtruding his impassive 
 countenance, waits, reckoning on the easy 
 forgetfulness which Napoleon has for injuries. 
 And he is justified in the end. 
 
 The Emperor, however, talks much more to 
 those persons who are not constant attendants, 
 to functionaries and general officers whom he 
 has ordered the chamberlain on duty to summon 
 to the lever, and from whom he wishes to get 
 some information. 
 
 When the necessity arises of administering a 
 rating to one of his Ministers, he is not in the 
 habit of restraining himself because there is a 
 crowd of people, and the lesson will therefore 
 
THE MORNING LEVEE. 141 
 
 be less clear and less forcible ; but now, as on 
 every occasion, he only talks about business, 
 and does not waste time on trifles. No con- 
 versation takes place which does not concern 
 administration or politics, which touches on 
 gallantry or concerns arrangements for amuse- 
 ment ; questions which often disconcert by their 
 precision and their minuteness, and require a 
 clear answer, a simple figure, an explanation as 
 short as possible ; a skill in examination like 
 that of a judge, the results of which his memory 
 records more perfectly than any registrar ; an 
 attention always awake, which nothing wearies, 
 and which travels over the Empire and over 
 Europe with as much ease as it would over 
 a district of a thousand souls, and which, 
 absolutely without preparation, and without 
 consulting a note, travels from Escaut to the 
 Danube, from Napoleonville to Erfurt, always 
 equally ready, equally imperious, without hesi- 
 tation, without correcting himself, wresting 
 human nature in this way in order to extract 
 facts which help forward his designs. This is 
 the spectacle which he offers every morning, 
 which day by day forces more strongly on those 
 who are present the habit of thinking no more 
 
142 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 themselves, so completely does he make it his 
 business to think for all. 
 
 The lever does not last long, as might be 
 supposed, for there is no idle talk ; and if the 
 Emperor has a wish to get to the bottom of 
 a question, or if some great functionary has 
 doubtful points to submit to him, it will be at 
 a private audience. 
 
 These audiences begin as soon as the lever 
 has been dismissed with a bow : they are given 
 in the same room, for it cannot be too often 
 repeated that no one enters the study. In the 
 first place are those personages who, having the 
 grandes entrdes, have shown at the lever a wish 
 to speak to the Emperor. Then come all those 
 who have asked and obtained an audience. 
 The chamberlain of the day has in his hands 
 a list from which he does not depart, for the 
 Emperor has an exact copy before him, and 
 will allow of no alteration by favour ; but there 
 are fools — M. de Remusat, for example. One 
 day, at Saint-Cloud, Count Dubois, Pr&fet of the 
 Police, stepping into his carriage in the court of 
 the chateau, on coming away from an audience 
 with the Emperor, heard himself called from 
 the balcony by Napoleon, who had omitted an 
 
THE MORNING LEVEE. 143 
 
 important order. Dubois returned in haste, 
 but in the salon de service he found M. de 
 Remusat, the chamberlain of the day, who 
 refused to let him go in. Dubois protested and 
 explained ; but M. de Remusat would listen to 
 nothing. He only knew his orders. During 
 this time the Emperor began to be astonished, 
 then got impatient, and finally opened the 
 door and found Dubois in hot dispute with this 
 refractory chamberlain. It is asserted that the 
 Emperor made an offensive remark about the 
 intellect of M. de Remusat. Who knows if 
 some other word would not have hit the mark 
 better ? The talk was all about Fouche, the 
 lover of Madame de Remusat, whom she had 
 just reconciled with her other lover, M. de 
 Talleyrand ; and it was therefore quite natural 
 that the First Chamberlain should try to avoid 
 making orders given against his accomplice by 
 the Emperor more stringent. 
 
 Except in the case of the Ministers and the 
 functionaries whom he retained after the lever, 
 it was seldom that in these morning audiences, 
 all of which were very short, anything passed 
 about general affairs. In most cases they are 
 persons who wish to present some personal 
 
144 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 request ; and the Emperor knows so far in 
 advance what it will be about, that he seldom 
 gives an audience except when he has made 
 up his mind to grant the favour which will be 
 asked. Sometimes, however, it pleases him 
 to exhibit to all who happen to be present, 
 his worst enemies in his ante-chambers in the 
 position of suppliants, and then he makes them 
 wait some time for their turn of favour ; for it 
 is a matter of concern to him that it should be 
 generally known that if a certain conspirator 
 has been pardoned, such a prisoner released, 
 or such an exile recalled, at least the step has 
 been the result of solicitation ; and he is of 
 opinion that the authenticated presence in his 
 palace of a member of a family will oblige those 
 allied to it to preserve a certain discretion in 
 their designs. 
 
 It would astonish people much if a complete 
 list were given of those of both sexes who 
 obtained audiences, and, in consequence, favours. 
 In addition to the princes of the House of Bour- 
 bon — and, again, there were some of them even 
 who received important assistance and a regular 
 allowance — most of the families of the ancient 
 noblesse owe to the kindness of the Emperor 
 
AN AUDIENCE. 
 
THE MORNING LEVEE. 145 
 
 alone the gracious gifts of landed estates which 
 at the present day still form their fortune. 
 Although some of these restitutions were justi- 
 fied by services rendered in war, the larger part 
 were an encouragement for services at court, 
 and all were solicited and obtained in this 
 manner. 
 
 The Emperor received standing upright before 
 the fireplace, in which till very late in the 
 season a roaring fire was kept up ; this he was 
 always knocking with the heel of his shoes. 
 His clear eyes, of a blue which changed colour, 
 at times almost black, when he concentrated 
 his attention, at other moments of steely grey, 
 when seized with emotion or anger, so bright 
 then that they seemed like molten metal, 
 fastened attentively on the person who ad- 
 dressed him, whom he heard to the end. He 
 then put some short questions, at times not 
 over courteous if it was a woman. He had not 
 learned the art of talking to ladies, and was 
 not happy in his manner with them : some 
 got angry and answered sharply. He bore 
 them no grudge, and was amused at it. It was 
 very unusual for a woman to leave his salon 
 without carrying away with her, in addition to 
 
 VOL. I. 10 
 
145 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 the favour which she had come to ask, some 
 sharpness of feeling against him who had 
 granted it to her. As to men, some are 
 mentioned who, as the result of an audience, 
 became devoted to him. They were rare. 
 
 The demands for money which were made 
 to him were as frequent as the requests for the 
 remission of a sentence or for restitution. In 
 most cases he gave, sometimes he lent, and 
 then the loan appeared on the accounts of the 
 Intendant-Gdndral. It was a mere question 
 of account, for the creditor never reclaimed the 
 debts. Most frequently, on the occasion of a 
 baptism or a marriage, he put the note at the 
 bottom of a basket, covered it with some jewel 
 or sweetmeat, and sent it to the debtor. Some, 
 however, he did not lose sight of, and had kept 
 on the accounts up to 1815. 
 
 If the sum granted was important he scrawled 
 an order on the Treasury ; if smaller, he took 
 a rouleau from his drawer, or, calling his 
 secretary, had it paid out of the petty cash. 
 He did not like to be thanked, and would not 
 allow it even from those most familiar with 
 him, those whom it was his pleasure to load 
 with kindnesses without the trouble of asking 
 
THE MORNING LEVi.E. 147 
 
 for anything. He either sent them away with 
 the gratuity, or he slipped into their hand a 
 scrap of paper, and on that paper a figure — a 
 big figure — of money, to be drawn from Esteve. 
 There was never any familiarity, — he kept 
 to his rank ; to show that the audience was 
 finished, in most cases a sign of the head, 
 sometimes a glance at the list on the table, 
 sufficed. He never gave his hand. A century 
 ago shaking hands was a mark of equality, 
 and was scarcely ever used by a superior to 
 an inferior ; and as to kissing hands, which the 
 Bourbons re-established. Napoleon thought it 
 a little degrading. There were, therefore, none 
 of those external marks so freely used later, 
 which became so commonplace. On a single 
 occasion, it seems, his feelings carried him 
 away. It was in 181 5, at the beginning of the 
 Hundred Days. When M. Mole entered his 
 salon — that Mole for whom he proved his 
 confidence and personal esteem by appointing 
 him, at twenty-nine years of age, Councillor of 
 State and Director-General of Bridges and 
 Roads, at thirty-three years Grand Judge and 
 Minister of Justice, reserving for him the 
 succession to Cambaceres, Arch-Chancellor and 
 
148 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 Grand Dignitary — on that day then he went up 
 to Mole, pressed his hand and embraced him. 
 It is, we may believe, one of the few cases 
 where, in one of his own palaces, he thus put 
 aside his Imperial dignity. " Otherwise," as 
 he said, "he would have been clapped on the 
 shoulder every day." 
 
V, 
 
 DEJEUNER. 
 
 AT half-past nine the lever and the audiences 
 should have come to an end, for it is the 
 hour fixed for dijeiLuer, but most frequently the 
 audiences lasted till eleven o'clock, the Prdfet 
 of the palace is waiting, and the ddjeuner gets 
 cold. No precaution is taken against poison ; 
 the regulation indeed says that dishes from 
 the kitchen and of confectionery are to be 
 brought in covered, as well as the water, the 
 bread, and the wine, and that as soon as the 
 table is laid out a maitre d 'hotel was always to 
 remain in charge ; but as the table, a very small 
 round table of mahogany, cannot be placed 
 in ^h&_ salon in which the Emperor is giving 
 audience, the ddjeuner, on silver plates, with 
 covers surmounted with an eagle, and placed 
 on dishwarmers filled with hot water, which 
 is renewed as required, goes on simmering 
 
 149 
 
ISO NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 in a corner of the ante-chamber until the 
 Emperor gives notice that he wishes to eat. 
 The small table is then quickly arranged and 
 covered with a napkin by the carver ; the 
 Prdfet of the palace, in a fine coat of amaranth 
 embroidered with silver, walks before the 
 Emperor, and stands near to the table, the 
 service of which is performed by the mattre 
 d'hotel of the Emperor, Guignet, known as 
 Dunan. 
 
 This Guignet is of a family all of whom 
 have been employed in the service of the 
 king and of the princes of the house of 
 Bourbon. Another Guignet was still valet-de- 
 chambre to Louis XVIII ; a female Guignet 
 was in charge of the linen of Marie Antoinette. 
 Guignet, called Dunan, was himself the son 
 of a cook of the Prince de Conde, and having 
 served his apprenticeship at the Palais Bourbon, 
 became chef to the Due de Bourbon when 
 on his travels, followed him into emigration 
 and was then his cook. Wearied out with the 
 travels of the army of Conde, he found a place 
 with the Prince Louis de Rohan, then suc- 
 ceeded in re-entering Paris, and was favourably 
 received in the household of the First Consul, 
 
DEJEUNER. 151 
 
 in which he became mattre d' hotel after Lecler 
 obtained the place of custodian at Versailles. 
 Dunan had a yearly salary of 6,000 francs, 
 besides frequent gratuities, the largest in 18 10 
 of 3,000 francs. In this royalist origin he was 
 not exceptional. Most of the principal servants, 
 the ushers, and the grooms were brought up 
 as he had been, and it is curious to find the 
 same names among the servants of the Pretender 
 at Hartwell, and among those of the Emperor 
 at the Tuileries. 
 
 The maitre d'koiel, in a green coat em- 
 broidered with silver (a coat which cost 500 
 francs), with a white waistcoat, black knee- 
 breeches, white silk stockings, and shoes with 
 buckles, presented his 77i,enu the evening before 
 to the first controlling maitre d' hotel, who 
 discussed it in the office of the Control, sub- 
 mitted it to the Prdfet of the palace on duty, 
 and gave the orders to the appointed and 
 sworn purveyors. The articles of food were 
 delivered, carefully packed, at the office of the 
 Control by porters who were known there 
 and approved. The articles were weighed, 
 examined, and measured by a sub-controller, 
 then passed on to the maitre d' hotel, who 
 
152 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 personally superintended the execution of his 
 menu. 
 
 This menu, by the Emperor's orders, was very 
 limited, and gave no room for the imagination 
 of Dunan to display itself. In 1810 the ddjeuner 
 was to consist of one soup, three entrees, two 
 entreinets, two dishes of dessert, a cup of coffee, 
 two rolls of bread, and for drink a bottle of 
 Chambertin. At a later time the menu was still 
 further reduced, and consisted of two soups, 
 a roast, one entremets, two hors d'oeuvre, four 
 plates of dessert (compote, fruit, cheese, and 
 sweetmeats), and coffee. 
 
 The Emperor allowed these to be put before 
 him, but he never touched so many dishes. 
 He ate very quickly, not over cleanlily, often 
 putting his hand in the dish and making many 
 splashes on his clothes. He followed no 
 particular order, but passed from the eiitremets 
 to the hors d'cEUvre, and then returned to the 
 roast. He restricted himself to none of the 
 rules usual in a classic repast, and masticated 
 large mouthfuls very imperfectly in his haste 
 to be done. The meal usually lasted no more 
 than seven or eight minutes. What he pre- 
 ferred was fowl, with any kind of sauce, potdet 
 
DEJEUNER. 153 
 
 sautd a la proven(^ale — without garlic, for garlic 
 disagreed with him — fowl a Vitalienne, a la 
 tartare, a la marengo, fowl fricasseed, saute, or 
 roasted. He was very fond of fried things and 
 of pastry, vol-au-veitis, bouchdes a la reine, and 
 petites hmbales a la milanaise ; also of boii-dins 
 a la Richelieu, quenelles of poultry au consommd, 
 and above everything of macaroni in the Italian 
 way with Parmesan cheese. Of fish he placed 
 before everything red mullet from the Medi- 
 terranean — that was one of his treats. After 
 Egypt, for a long time the usual dishes of his 
 table were plUau and dates, but this was one 
 of the fancies, not of his appetite, but of his 
 imagination ; just as when he used to believe, 
 with great sincerity, that he preferred the 
 soldiers' soup to delicately made soups, and 
 valued above all vegetables, potatoes, haricots, 
 and lentils. 
 
 Those who served him did not willingly 
 admit such tastes, for it was the time when 
 the great French cuisine still had its traditions, 
 when it was still a point of honour with the 
 ■maitres d' hotel, and when the composition of 
 a me7tu was an honour or a dishonour to its 
 author. 
 
154 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 So that when the Emperor asked Dunan 
 why he never gave him pork cr^phiettes (a sort 
 of sausage), Dunan replied that it was because 
 they were indigestible, but " really," said he, 
 " because he thought them scarcely consistent 
 with good living, and scarcely of a nature to do 
 honour to the Imperial cuisine!' The next day 
 he sent up CT^pinettes of partridge, and the 
 Emperor found them excellent, and eat heartily 
 of them. It was in this as with his clothes ; 
 "The pay of a captain is enough for me," he 
 was fond of saying. And in the course of the 
 night, the morning, and the day, he changed 
 his linen and his dress three times in twenty- 
 four hours ! 
 
 Very fastidious, he would scarcely eat French 
 beans, of which he was very fond, for fear of 
 finding them stringy, which he said had the 
 same effect on him as hairs, and the mere 
 thought of hairs in what he ate turned his 
 stomach. At Cherbourg, however, in May 1 8 1 1 , 
 having taken a fancy to go and breakfast on 
 the mole, he stopped at a guard-house and had 
 some of the ammunition bread and the soldiers' 
 soup brought him ; the first thing he found in 
 the soup was a long hair. In spite of his 
 
DEJEUNER. 15.5 
 
 turning against it he took out the hair and ate 
 the soup. But the soldiers were looking at him. 
 
 Of roast meat he looked out for the part 
 which was most done, " the brownest," and he 
 had a horror of underdone meat. The dishes 
 at dejeuner were all served up at once, and 
 he took off the covers himself from the dishes, 
 which were at once removed when the contents 
 did not please him. When it pleased him 
 too much, he scolded ; " Monsieur," said he 
 to his maitre d' hotel, "you can see plainly that 
 you make me eat too much, and I don't like 
 that. It makes me uncomfortable. I only wish 
 to have two dishes served." 
 
 Sometimes he was capricious, which now 
 and then was followed by loss of temper. 
 Dunan, having seen that the crepinettes of 
 partridge pleased his master, a month after- 
 wards put them again on the menu. The 
 Emperor uncovered the dish, got in a rage, 
 pushed the table away, upset it on the carpet, 
 and retired to his study. The servants hastened 
 to clear away the table service, and Dunan, 
 like a worthy descendant of Vatel, went at 
 once to the Grand Marshal to give his re- 
 signation. Duroc consoled him, sent him back 
 
156 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 again, and told him to prepare a second meal. 
 In fact the Emperor asked for it. Roustam 
 handed the ddjeunev to the Emperor, who 
 called for his niaitre £ hotel. Dunan arrived 
 very mortified, and served a roast fowl. Napo- 
 leon complimented him on it, gave him a few 
 taps on the cheek, and said, " Ah ! Dunan, 
 you are happier as my maitre d' hotel than I 
 am as Emperor." He had these ways, which 
 were like excuses, even to a 7naitre d'hotel 
 or a valet-de-chambre, after his short outbursts 
 of anger, or rather his fits of impatience, which 
 resulted from causes quite removed from the 
 immediate object which provoked them. 
 
 The Emperor scarcely ever drank anything 
 but Chambertin, mixed with a great deal of 
 water. He had no cellar of wine, either at 
 the Tuileries or in any of the palaces. The 
 supply was contracted for by wine merchants 
 named Soup6 & Pierrugues, carrying on 
 business at No. 338, Rue St. Honore, who 
 undertook to furnish the required quantities, 
 not only at Paris and in the Imperial chateaux, 
 but also on campaign. One of them, for that 
 purpose, always accompanied headquarters. 
 They delivered the wines and liquors in bottles 
 
DEJEUNER. 157 
 
 of a uniform shape, manufactured at Sevres, 
 and marked with a crowned N. They were 
 only paid for the bottles consumed. 
 
 The Chambertin of five or six years old 
 which the Emperor drank, cost, like the 
 Romance, Clos-Vougeot, Montrarchet of the 
 same date, and the Lafitte of ten or twelve 
 years, six francs a bottle. The Emperor was 
 so accustomed to Chambertin that he had 
 great trouble at St. Helena to habituate him- 
 self to claret, so that it was one of the petty 
 sufferings of his captivity. From the time 
 of the Egyptian campaign it was the wine 
 which he drank solely, as he himself testifies. 
 When, after the victory of Elchingen, he went 
 on to sleep at Ober-Falheim, where he found 
 that all his baggage was pillaged, even to his 
 Chambertin, he remarked gaily that up to that 
 time he had not been deprived of it, even in 
 the midst of the sands of Egypt. After all, this 
 indulgence is the only one he was known to 
 .have, and it was kept within limits, for he never 
 exceeded the half bottle. No other wine was 
 served at dejeuner, and no liqueur after ddjeuner. 
 There appeared on the Emperor's table a 
 service of silver plate, chased, and decorated 
 
158 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 with the Imperial arms. Some of the silver, 
 however, dating from the Consulate, was marked 
 with a B. With the exception of the dish- 
 covers, generally surmounted with an eagle, 
 the silver in common use was very plain, and 
 kept to the ordinary patterns ; the salt-cellars, 
 for instance, were shells, or swans, or orna- 
 mented with a caduceus, the oil-cruets were in 
 the shape of swans. With the exception of the 
 salt-spoons of silver gilt, everything was of 
 silver. Silver gilt was only used at dinner on 
 Sundays, and on grand occasions, contrary to 
 the practice of the princesses, who were always 
 served on silver gilt. 
 
 But there was no lack of plate. From the 
 time of the Egyptian campaign, General Bona- 
 parte had for his own use a service of plate, 
 very light and portable, which afterwards served 
 as a pattern for what was called the hunting 
 service ; but he had only a few specimens left, 
 all the General's baggage having been stolen 
 between Frejus and Aix. During the Con- 
 sulate, he was at first compelled to be satisfied 
 with little, and he was only able to supply 
 himself by degrees. The service supplied by 
 Biennais in the year X did not consist of 
 
DEJEUNER. 159 
 
 enough large pieces, and he was obliged at 
 every grand dinner to hire. As to the table 
 service, a set of white and gold porcelain was 
 used, marked with a B in gold, supplied by 
 S6journant, and costing, including cups and 
 saucers with garlands of laurel, carafes, and 
 glasses richly cut, marked with a B, 23,463 
 francs 30 centimes. Little by little it increased, 
 and in the year XIII, besides the splendid 
 service of silver gilt presented on the occasion 
 of the coronation by the city of Paris, the 
 Emperor possessed a service of silver gilt for 
 twenty-four covers ; a new set of silver all 
 marked with the letter B, with ninety-six dishes 
 for eiitremets, ninety-six entrde dishes, thirty- 
 two dishes for roast meats, and the rest in 
 proportion ; but for dessert as yet he only 
 had the forks and spoons and accessories of 
 silver gilt. As a centre-piece it was necessary 
 to borrow from the Garde meitble an Apollo 
 driving the four horses of the sun, which on 
 occasions was accompanied by various statuettes 
 of Hercules performing his labours. In 1806, 
 the silver plate, increased by a series of purchases, 
 reached to the weight of 24,449 hectogrammes. 
 Completed definitely in 181 1, it was reckoned, 
 
i6o NAPOLEON AJ HOME. 
 
 in the palaces of France only, at a value of 
 2> 1 93. 30 1 francs 48 centimes, without counting 
 843,791 francs 74 centimes in Tuscany, in 
 Rome, and in Holland. 
 
 Napoleon always took his dijeuner alone, 
 except during the very short time between his 
 second marriage and the confinement of the 
 Empress. Josephine never took dejeuner with 
 him, and after the birth of the King of Rome 
 the Emperor resumed his solitary habits, which 
 suited him better. From the birth of his son, 
 the goiivernante of the children of France, 
 Mme. de Montesquiou, was ordered to bring 
 the child every day at the time of dejeuner. 
 He took him on his knees, made him taste 
 his reddened water, and put to his lips a little 
 of any gravy or sauce which came to hand. 
 Mme. de Montesquiou remonstrated, the Em- 
 peror burst out laughing — it was for his son, 
 and with his son, that he had his only noisy 
 gaiety — and the infant king laughed with him. 
 The Empress was often present, and was 
 amused also at these little scenes. 
 
 Such scenes were familiar to the Emperor, 
 who for a long time past liked to have his 
 nephews brought to him at his dejeuner. The 
 
DEJEUNER. i6i 
 
 picture by Ducis is well known, in which he is 
 represented as surrounded with all the children 
 of the family, who play around him while he 
 breakfasts. It is really at Saint-Cloud ; but 
 when, on February 27th, 1809, Baron Lejeune 
 arrived from Spain bearing the news of the 
 taking of Saragossa, and was received at the 
 Tuileries, he found the Emperor seated near a 
 small table, having on his knees a pretty child 
 of three years old. Both of them were taking 
 their meal from the same fork, and during the 
 conversation the Emperor kept caressing the 
 child, the eldest son of King Louis. After his 
 meal the Emperor took coffee. The child, who 
 had stretched out his little arms to take the cup 
 and drink also, was surprised at the bitterness 
 of the liquid, and made a grimace and pushed 
 away the cup. The Emperor laughed heartily, 
 and said to his nephew, " Ah ! your education 
 is not complete yet, for you don't know how to 
 dissimulate." 
 
 Sometimes, when teased, the child resisted. 
 One day, when he had the two sons of Louis to 
 ddjeimer, he made the eldest turn his head away, 
 and then took away his boiled egg. The boy, 
 who was three years old, took up his knife and 
 
 VOL. I. II 
 
1 62 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 said to the Emperor, " Give me back my egg, 
 or I will kill you!" "What, you rascal! you 
 want to kill your uncle?" The child did not 
 give up. " Give me back my egg, or I will kill 
 you ! " And the Emperor gave back the egg, 
 saying to his nephew, " You will be a famous 
 fellow." 
 
 With the brother of Napoleon Louis, who 
 died, Napoleon Charles, he had games of quite 
 a different sort. He took him in his arms, 
 showed him the garden, and said, " Whose 
 garden is that?" "My uncle's." He pulled 
 his ears, and said, " When I am gone it will be 
 yours. I hope you will have a good inherit- 
 ance." He let him do just as he liked, delighted 
 to hear him cry out when he saw soldiers in the 
 garden, "Vive Nonon the soldier!" amusing 
 himself with the fables which he made him 
 recite, playing with him to the extent of holding 
 him on his knee and giving him lentils to eat 
 one by one, having the same weakness for him 
 as in 1804, when he had him brought to Mal- 
 maison during dinner, put him on the table, 
 and laughed like a madman to see him help 
 himself from the dishes and upset everything 
 around him. 
 
DEJEUNER. 163 
 
 With the children of Caroline and Elisa these 
 pleasantries succeeded less. Less accustomed 
 to his ways, less respectful towards their uncle, 
 less brought up to love him, and surrounded 
 by more servile attendants, they sometimes got 
 angry, as little Achille Murat, whose ears he 
 pulled, and who rushed at him with clenched 
 fist, crying out, " You are a naughty, wicked 
 man ! 
 
 Other children — little Leon, the little Wa- 
 lewski — were sometimes brought to him at 
 ddjeuner. With these also he was connected, 
 and it was natural that he should put himself 
 out for them ; but the children of his servants, 
 like the son of Roustam, whom he caressed, 
 from whom he provoked retorts and the familiar 
 " tutoiementr and whose ears he gaily rubbed, 
 could only have amused him because he had 
 a love of children to a remarkable degree. 
 He possessed it so strongly, in fact, that in 
 his laws he put their interests in the very fore- 
 most place ; and if he had the power of refusing 
 very little to women, there is no example, so 
 to speak, that when a child was employed to 
 ask him a favour, he repulsed him. 
 
 It was not children only who were admitted 
 
1 64 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 to Napoleon's ddjeuner ; it was the time when 
 he received artists and savants. Talma was 
 one of the familiar visitors, and the Emperor 
 talked with him about dramatic art, and was 
 pleased to give him advice, advice which was 
 well paid for ; for from 1 806 to 1 8 1 3 Talma 
 received from the treasury of the theatres as 
 gratuities, in excess of his regular salary, the 
 sum. of 195,200 francs. Another was Denon, 
 the Director-General of Museums, to whom 
 Napoleon discoursed about the pictures which 
 he wished to see executed, of the taste for art 
 which he desired to develop in the nation, and 
 who fulfilled in so distinguished a manner the 
 duties formerly assigned to the Director-General 
 of Royal Buildings. 
 
 At first — that is to say, at the time of the 
 expedition to Egypt — when Denon, presented 
 to Madame Bonaparte by Madame de Cresny, 
 his mistress, begged to accompany the General, 
 Bonaparte had a strong repugnance to him. 
 In the first place he mistrusted this Madame 
 de Cresny, who was very intimate with 
 Josephine, rendered her little services of a very 
 doubtful character, and received from her more 
 substantial services ; then he had no fancy for 
 
DEJEUNER. 1 6s 
 
 womanly men, who took women to protect them. 
 Thus the Chevalier de Non, at the time when 
 he was Gentleman-in-Ordinary and Secretary 
 of the Embassy, had done nothing else but 
 push himself forward by means of women. 
 What is known about him is not his cautious 
 and patriotic diplomacy which was the cause of 
 his disgrace at Naples. It was his pretty little 
 story, " Point de Lendemain " ; his amours with 
 Queen Maria Carolina ; his obscenities, which 
 with such ability and such freedom he scribbled 
 at every corner ; his satyr's head, which, in 
 spite of its ugliness, had never met with cruelty 
 from a woman. It was necessary, therefore, 
 for all the world to busy itself to induce the 
 General-in-Chief to take such a person with him. 
 But soon, during the voyage, and afterwards, 
 while in Egypt, he was delighted with his lively 
 conversation, so able and so full of information ; 
 with that indefatigable curiosity which impelled 
 Denon to risk his life to obtain a sketch ; with 
 that keen sight, so true and so graphic for 
 contemporary facts ; with that encyclopeedic 
 information which made him one of the best 
 judges of art, the most competent man to carry 
 through an immense enterprise — that of substi- 
 
1 66 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 tuting for the subjects of antiquity or of pure 
 imagination, which artists insisted on treating, 
 subjects taken from the history of their own 
 time. In these conversations of the Emperor 
 with Denon were laid down with precision the 
 subjects of the paintings and the statues which 
 the Emperor caused to be executed. To collect 
 the materials, Denon, accompanied by skilful 
 painters, followed headquarters on campaign, 
 and caused to be drawn under his own eyes, or 
 drew himself, the most interesting scenes. He 
 also went through the museums of conquered 
 towns, and chose the pictures which completed 
 the Musee Napoleon. He afterwards went, 
 furnished with full powers, to Italy, and brought 
 back unique works of art, or made propositions 
 for the purchase of the most important collec- 
 tions. Nothing escaped him, and, owing to him, 
 nothing escaped the Emperor, whose enthusiasm 
 from that time was kindled. He never lost the 
 scent, but followed up the pursuit with an ardour 
 which is astonishing. It is neither the fault of 
 Napoleon nor the fault of Denon that we do 
 not see at the Louvre, near the Borghese 
 statues, by the side of the Aldobrandine Nup- 
 tials, the complete series of the ^Egina marbles. 
 
DEJEUNER. 167 
 
 Fontaine the architect — in whose honesty 
 and straightforwardness Napoleon had entire 
 confidence, the only man since Mansard who 
 had succeeded in being grand, even in a small 
 space, the only one who in a new style had 
 discovered a method of interior decoration at 
 once severe and majestic — brought his plans 
 for the ideal palace, the palace of dreams which 
 the Emperor delighted to think of, to arrange 
 and to build on paper, and in which he tried to 
 unite and combine all the conveniences of his 
 different headquarters — the palaces of all the 
 sovereigns of Europe. 
 
 Then came his companions of Egypt, always 
 welcome : Berthollet the chemist, generally short 
 of money, and who never left without carrying 
 some off; the two geometricians, Costaz and 
 Monge, the latter especially, on whom the 
 Emperor had conferred, together with the title 
 of Comte de Peluse, the high dignities of the 
 Senate and the Legion of Honour. 
 
 It was at ddjeuner, too, that sometimes the 
 official painters were admitted to make a sketch 
 from him — for instance, Gerard. David holds 
 the position of first painter, the duties of which 
 he chose to understand as a sort of dictatorship 
 
1 68 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 in art, which gives him the right of presenting 
 himself. As for Isabey, if he appears, it is 
 much less in the capacity of painter of miniatures 
 than as a designer, as the inventor of coats of 
 arms, and arranger of the ceremonies ; but the 
 favour which he enjoyed at the time of the 
 Consulate has somewhat passed away, and, in 
 consequence of certain familiarities which he 
 indulged in, he lost the altogether exceptional 
 position which he might have taken in the 
 household. 
 
 With these men, all possessed of talent, of 
 -intellect, and of knowledge, the Emperor loved 
 to let the activity of his mind expatiate oh all 
 manner of subjects ; and each of those who 
 was admitted to these interviews, and who, like 
 Isabey, Monge, Fontaine, and Talma, have left 
 some written record, bear witness to the grace, 
 the amiability, and the gaiety which Napoleon 
 possessed, the grasp of the subject with which 
 he spoke, and the power with which he stored 
 up even the most trifling facts in his retentive 
 memory. 
 
 Often, when he had no one else to exchange 
 a word with, he plied with questions the Pr^fet 
 of the palace, who, erect, with his hat under his 
 
DEJEUNER. 
 
 arm, stood looking at the maitre d' hotel waiting 
 at table. " Where was that bought ? How 
 much did that cost ? " And when he received 
 an answer, he often said, "It was much cheaper 
 when I was a sub-lieutenant. I will not pay 
 dearer than others." 
 
 He was compelled to pay, however, when he 
 had in his kitchens — those stifling kitchens of 
 the Tuileries, in which all seasons were alike, 
 " where no one could decay on account of the 
 coal smoke " (it was Fontaine who said this) 
 — artistes such as Farcy, first chef; Lecomte, 
 f/^^; Lebeau, head pastrycook, who was, it is 
 said, "the regenerator of French pastry," and 
 who, on entering the household of the First 
 Consul, made a sensation by the pretty pieces 
 montees of which he was the inventor. At 
 his Quintidi dinners (Quintidi was the fifth 
 day of the Republican week of ten days), a 
 passage of the bridge of Lodi, a passage of the 
 Tagliamento, and especially a passage of the 
 bridge of Arcole, of barley-sugar, biscuit, pastry, 
 and nougat had been much admired as the 
 works of an artist. Lebeau made all the pastry, 
 even for the grand balls. Before he came the 
 pieces montees only were supplied by Bailly, 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 pastrycook, Rue Vivienne. We are unable to 
 authenticate an anecdote relating to the price 
 o^ ?LVol-azi-vent, bought out of the house, and 
 sent up by Rechaud ; who, besides, was not 
 viaitre d' hotel to Napoleon, but to Josephine. It 
 would seem to have been singularly imprudent 
 to have dishes from a pastrycook which were 
 intended for the Imperial table, especially dishes 
 requiring pastry-crust ; and this explains why 
 Lebeau is one of the few servants in the 
 kitchen who remained from the beginning to 
 the end of the reign. 
 
 The cooks changed very frequently. Was 
 this on account of the bad ventilation of the 
 kitchen, or on account of the rigid economy 
 established in the household, which strictly 
 tied them down to wages of 2,400 francs ? 
 After Gaillon, who accompanied the General 
 to Egypt, and who was pensioned off with the 
 place of clerk of the kitchen at Fontainebleau ; 
 after Danger, who also made the Egyptian 
 expedition, and who had even run the risk of 
 losing his life when on the way back the plate 
 was stolen at six leagues from Aix, in Provence 
 — we find successively, after 1802, Venard de 
 la Borde, Coulon, Farcy, La Guipiere — the 
 
DAjEUNER.. lyi 
 
 artist whom Murat attached to his person and 
 who died on the return from Russia — Debray, 
 Lecomte, Heurtin, Lacombe, Lemoigne ; 
 Ferdinand was cook at the Island of Elba. A 
 man named Dousseau was chef de C7nsi7ie during 
 the Hundred Days. As we see, there was a 
 constant change ; but it must be added that 
 among these names are comprised, besides 
 those of c/ze/s de cttisine properly so called, 
 those of chefs of special departments, who, when 
 a campaign began, were dispersed among the 
 different detachments of the household in such 
 a manner that the Emperor found a complete 
 service in almost every place to which he went. 
 It spite of these, frequent changes, it was in 
 the old Imperial household that was found, after 
 ten fruitless attempts, a man sufficiently devoted 
 to go to St. Helena. This was Chandelier, 
 page rotissetLT in 1813, who passed into the 
 household of Princess Pauline, and who, as 
 soon as the proposition was made, accepted 
 eagerly the mission of devotion which was 
 offered him. He shared with the other ser- 
 vants the cares which the exile required ; and 
 his name, thenceforth immortal, is inscribed in 
 the will. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE emperor's STUDY. 
 
 IT was very rarely that the Emperor pro- 
 longed his ddjeuner ; it was only on the 
 days when, as he said, he felt the necessity of 
 shutting up his study, and of giving his brain 
 a little repose. On most occasions, after he 
 had taken his usual cup of coffee, he returned 
 to his private apartments ; but often before 
 setting to work he went down the little staircase 
 and paid a short visit to the Empress. With 
 Josephine, the visit coincided with the moment 
 when she was having ddjeuner with the ladies 
 whom she had invited, and this little excitement 
 amused the Emperor for a few moments. 
 With Marie Louise, whose life was much duller, 
 conversation soon came to an end. Napoleon, 
 who sat down on an armchair, allowed himself 
 to drop off to sleep for a few moments. In the 
 
 case of either of them it was a mere appearance 
 
 172 
 
NIGHT-WORK, 
 
THE EMPEROR'S STUDY. 173 
 
 which he made, for business was waiting, and 
 nothing stood in the way of work. 
 
 The room which Napoleon made into his 
 study was of moderate size. It was lighted by 
 a single window made in a corner and looking 
 into the garden. The principal piece of 
 furniture, placed in the middle, was a magni- 
 ficent bureau, loaded with gilt bronze, and 
 supported by two griffins. The lid of the table 
 slided into a groove, so that it could be shut 
 without disarranging the papers. Under the 
 bureau, and screwed to the floor, was a sliding 
 cupboard, into which every time the Emperor 
 went out was placed a portfolio of which he 
 alone had the key. The armchair belonging 
 to the bureau was of antique shape ; the back 
 was covered with tapestry of green kerseymere, 
 the folds of which were fastened by silk cords, 
 and the arms finished off with griffins' heads. 
 The Emperor scarcely ever sat down in his 
 chair except to give his signature. He kept 
 habitually at the right of the fireplace, on a small 
 sofa covered with green taffeta, near to which 
 was a stand which received the correspondence 
 of the day. A screen of several leaves kept 
 off the heat of the fire. At the further end 
 
174 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 of the room, at right angles in the corners, 
 were placed four bookcases, and between the 
 two which occupied the wall at the end was a 
 great regulator clock of the same kind as that 
 furnished in 1808 by Bailly for the study at 
 Compiegne, which cost 4,000 francs. 
 
 While he was still First Consul Napoleon 
 had thought of having made, either in this 
 room or in the neighbouring salon, a book- 
 case composed of sixteen divisions, sixty-six 
 feet in length, and capable of holding ten 
 thousand volumes. The catalogue of the books 
 in the private study, recently published, does not 
 seem to amount to so considerable a number ; 
 but the books enumerated could not in any case 
 have been contained in the four bookcases 
 which we see represented. There were books 
 also in the back study, books in the cabinet of 
 the keeper of the portfolio, along the side of the 
 bedroom, and books also in the little apartment. 
 
 Opposite the fireplace, a long closet with 
 glass doors, breast high, with a marble top, 
 contained boxes for papers, and carried the 
 volumes to be consulted and the documents 
 in use ; no doubt also the equestrian statuette 
 of Frederic II., which the Emperor constantly 
 
THE EMPERORS STUDY. 175 
 
 had under his eyes. This statuette was the 
 only work of art which he ever personally 
 desired to have. 
 
 In the recess of the window was the table of 
 the private secretary. The room was furnished 
 with a few chairs. At night, to light his 
 bureau, Napoleon used a candlestick with two 
 branches, with a great shade of sheet iron of 
 the ordinary kind. 
 
 The study led into the back study, which 
 was furnished with a few chairs covered with 
 green morocco, and a secretaire with cylindrical 
 lid, adorned with ornaments of bronze gilt and 
 veneered with marqueterie of rosewood repre- 
 senting instruments of music. The decoration 
 of this room recalled its former use as a boudoir. 
 All the subjects painted in it alluded to female 
 occupations, over which, from the ceiling, 
 presided the Queen Maria Theresa, under the 
 guise of Minerva. All along the walls ran 
 a dwarf bookcase. It was in this room that 
 the Emperor generally received his Ministers, 
 and that he granted audience before the lever, 
 during the day and in the evening. It cannot 
 be too often repeated that a stranger never 
 entered the study. 
 
176 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 We ought to have very accurate information 
 on the decoration of this study, of which four 
 pictures at least profess to give the appearance. 
 In many respects those of Gerard, of David, 
 and of Vigneron agree, but that by Garnier, 
 which Meneval says was made from nature, 
 and which is engraved in the work of Landon, 
 baffles one completely. In it we see busts 
 placed in front of bookcases, statues standing 
 at the end of the room, divided by columns 
 into two unequal parts, bas-reliefs, the whole 
 a combination of magnificence appropriate to 
 a study arranged for display, and not to a study 
 for real work. Meneval states that he had 
 seen this picture again at the house of the 
 Comte Le Marois, who came across it by 
 chance and bought it. Now at the sale of 
 the Comte Le Marois there was a portrait of 
 Napoleon by Garnier, exactly of the same 
 general idea as in the picture engraved by 
 Landon, but without any accessories, and 
 showing nothing of the study. Either Meneval 
 had not seen again, in spite of what he says, the 
 portrait bought by M. le Marois, or his memory 
 deceived him ; but, in any case, the study which 
 Garnier represented, and which may be seen 
 
THE EMPEROR'S STUDY. 177 
 
 in the engraving in Landon, is not that of the 
 Tuileries. Such as the study at the Tuileries 
 was under the Empire, such it remained under 
 the Restoration, and all the descriptions which 
 exist of it agree. The furniture, as we have 
 seen, was bare. As to the decoration, it was 
 just as it was in the time of Maria Theresa. 
 In the panels, fortunately three-quarters hidden 
 by the bookcases, were seven landscapes of 
 Francisque Milet, in the style of Poussin, 
 landscapes of a disproportionate height, and 
 very indifferent, which have turned so dark that 
 nothing is to be made out of them. The other 
 paintings, somewhat less dark, were by Nocret ; 
 the painting of the chimney-piece, entirely 
 mythological ; the subject was Minerva to 
 whom Mercury presented different women who 
 rendered her homage. Minerva was Maria 
 Theresa. On the ceiling Minerva again, crowned 
 by glory and surrounded with the genii of 
 the arts ; in the pendentives, between Milet's 
 landscapes, allegorical medallions, — Sweetness, 
 Fidelity, Candour, Faith, Sculpture, and Archi- 
 tecture. One must be as indifferent to sur- 
 rounding objects as the Emperor to pass one's 
 life in such a sumptuous and depressing abode 
 VOL. I. 12 
 
178 KAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 and not to experience a morbid desire to alter 
 its appearance. 
 
 In the topographic study which adjoined there 
 was no luxury ; nothing but great tables and 
 pigeon-holes in which the maps were arranged 
 in perfect order. The room was very low, for 
 after he had asked for Argand lamps to light 
 up the range of pigeon-holes, the director of 
 the office had to beg for smoke-consumers to 
 protect the ceiling from the great heat of the 
 lamps. 
 
 There were two little rooms besides ; one, 
 occupied day and night by the keeper of the 
 portfolio, had pictures by Noel Coypel, and a 
 ceiling by the same painter representing Aurora 
 surrounded by loves ; the other, the ante- 
 chamber, with a cabinet for the servants of 
 the wardrobe, opened with a wicket gate, 
 guarded by an usher of the Cabinet, on to 
 the corridors of the Tuileries, and by another 
 door into the back cabinet. The keeper of 
 the portfolio on duty wore a coat, waistcoat, 
 and knee-breeches of black kerseymere, with 
 thirty-four frogs on the coat ; the usher was 
 in the same costume as his colleague of the 
 Apartment of Honour. 
 
THE EMPEROR' S STUDY. 
 
 179 
 
 Such was the theatre; and such were the 
 actors. The principal companion of Napoleon 
 was the private secretary, called Secretary of the 
 Portfolio in 1806 ; the post was filled by Bour- 
 rienne up to 1802, by Meneval from 1802 to 
 1813, by Fain from 1813 to 1814. Fain had 
 served his apprenticeship under Meneval, and 
 supplied his place when required after 1806. 
 These three men were the most advanced in the 
 confidence and intimacy of Napoleon. It was 
 not without grief that he parted company with 
 Bourrienne, and up to the end treated him 
 with a gentleness which is surprising. 
 
 Meneval, much less acute, much less in- 
 telligent than Bourrienne, possibly somewhat 
 simple, but of very exceptional assiduity, of 
 absolute probity, and of well-tried discretion, 
 was the servant who suited him. He possessed 
 the gift of real and constant presence. With 
 a salary of 24,000 francs, the position and 
 appointments of Master of Requests, the title 
 of Baron, and an annual allowance of 30,000 
 francs, he was a person unknown to the Court, 
 so completely that in 18 13 many of the cham- 
 berlains did not know him ; he passed his 
 whole life between the private apartments, the 
 
i8o NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 secret apartment, and the four rooms which 
 he inhabited at the Tuileries, on the dark 
 corridor, by the side of Constant, on the 
 servants' story. For him there was no going 
 to the theatre, no leave of absence, no hoHdays, 
 no acquaintances — it was the life of a cloister. 
 
 Fain, who from the month of February 
 1806 had the title o'i secrdtaire archiviste, was 
 accustomed to this kind of life when he was 
 called on to fill Meneval's place in 1813. His 
 power of mind was superior to that of his 
 colleague, and his books show it. They are 
 at the same time rigorously honest, perfectly 
 truthful, and scrupulously accurate. Fain, who 
 received a pension from the Emperor in August 
 1808, received 18,000 francs a year on the 
 lists, an allowance of 20,000 francs was attached 
 to his title of Baron, and he received besides 
 gratuities of considerable sums on different 
 occasions (18,000 francs in August 1808, 
 100,000 francs June 27th, 18 13, 50,000 francs 
 in April 18 14, etc.). Meneval and Fain, to 
 whom no doubt must be added a clerk of the 
 archives of the name of Bary, at a salary of 
 6,000 francs a year, actually formed the whole 
 staff of the Cabinet. 
 
THE EMPEROR'S STUDY. i8i 
 
 Meneval had as servants of the office the 
 keepers of the portfoHo, Landoire and Hangel, 
 who, armed with sabres, the pattern of which 
 the Emperor himself had fixed on, accompanied 
 him on campaign, taking duty by turns. They 
 received a salary of 4,800 francs, and numerous 
 gratuities (of 2,000 to 6,000 francs). They 
 too were held in the most intimate and complete 
 confidence, having been in the service ever 
 since the Consulate at least. Fain had a clerk 
 at 1,500 francs, named Ribert, a supernumerary. 
 
 In addition to Meneval and Fain, the 
 Emperor from 1806 to 1809 had a secretary to 
 report on petitions named Dechamps, a special 
 protegd of the Empress Josephine and her private 
 secretary ; he was by calling a poet, and under- 
 took any of the duties of that walk in life, from 
 the words of Ossian or the bards, an opera in 
 five acts, to those of La Succession, a comic 
 opera in one act. Napoleon assigned him a 
 salary of 12,000 francs ; but he never appears 
 to have required his services. 
 
 Much more important, although only occa- 
 sionally, and not at first, were the Secre- 
 taries of the Cabinet. When the Emperor 
 instituted these offices on Vend^miaire 30th, 
 
NAPOLEON A I HOME. 
 
 year XIII, it was his intention that the two 
 Secretaries of the Cabinet, both of them Coun- 
 cillors of State, should be the immediate re- 
 cipients of his views, one on everything which 
 concerned the army and the fleet, the other on 
 everything which belonged to the interior and 
 to finance. He only appointed one of these 
 officers, Clarke, whose intellect he had valued 
 from the time of the first Italian campaign, 
 during which also he had the opportunity of 
 forming an idea of his character. 
 
 Clarke was of an ancient Irish family, for 
 a long time attached to the service of France ; 
 his great uncle, M. de Lee, had been lieutenant- 
 general and Cordon rouge ; his father was a 
 major in Bulkeley's regiment, with a colonel's 
 commission ; his uncle, M. Shee, was secretary 
 general of hussars, and a favourite of the Duke 
 of Orleans, who was most active in helping 
 forward his career. The protection of the 
 Duke of Fitz-James had put him in the way 
 of two pensions, one of 300, the other of 
 200 livres ; but the protection of Shee procured 
 him the rank of captain substitute in the regi- 
 ment of Orleans Dragoons. As for himself, he 
 possessed that which leads on to success even 
 
THE EMPEROR'S STUDY. 183 
 
 more than ambition — the faculty of conveniently 
 dropping his protectors when they had ceased 
 to be useful. In this way he let slip the Duke 
 of Orleans, Custine, Carnot, and his own wife, 
 " a citoyenne above the average," as he boasted, 
 that he had married during the Revolution, 
 who served him as a certificate of civisme, and 
 whom he divorced as early as 1795 ; in the 
 same way he dropped everybody and every- 
 thing. At this moment he was all for Bona- 
 parte or for Napoleon, and to obtain employment 
 he neglected no opportunity, nor any applica- 
 tion, at the risk even of seeming importunate. 
 He succeeded in getting this place and this 
 title, with the large salary of 25,000 francs ; 
 but the inconvenience of having to go and look 
 for him when he wanted to dictate to him soon 
 brought the Emperor back to Meneval, and, 
 in the course of the campaign of 1805, in which 
 Clarke had followed him, he appointed him 
 Governor of Vienna; he then entrusted him with 
 different missions ; in 1806 made him Governor 
 of Berlin, and finally Minister of War in 1807. 
 
 The two posts of Secretaries of the Cabinet 
 remained vacant up to the month of February 
 1809. At that time, on the proposition of 
 
i84 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 M. Maret, one was given to M. I^douard 
 Mounier, auditor of the Council of State since 
 1806, and son of Mounier of the Constituent 
 Assembly. But, while the salaries were kept 
 at 25,000 francs, the original powers were 
 greatly narrowed. Mounier became the chief 
 of the office of translators attached to the 
 Cabinet. This office, situated on the Carrousel, 
 in one of the houses not yet pulled down, had 
 extended so greatly in 18 12 as to employ ten 
 persons (there were eight in 1809), having 
 salaries amounting to 33,100 francs. The ex- 
 traordinary expenses of translation amounted, 
 beyond this, to 28,800 francs annually. 
 
 Mounier was admirably prepared for such a 
 work. Brought up in that curious institution 
 of the Belvedere, which his father founded at 
 Weimar during his emigration, he had a wonder- 
 ful acquaintance with English, German, and 
 Italian, and knew the greater jDart of the 
 European languages. Calling to his side his 
 former teacher Duvau, who wrote German like 
 a German, he organised his office in such a 
 manner that the Emperor was kept constantly 
 au courant of all that was printed and pub- 
 lished throughout Europe. He accompanied 
 
THE EMPEROR'S STUDY. 185 
 
 head-quarters in the campaigns of 1809, 18 12, 
 and 1 8 13. He received in 1809 the decoration 
 of Knight of the Legion of Honour, in 18 10 
 the title of Baron, an allowance of 10,677 francs 
 from the domains of Swedish Pomerania, and 
 the rank of Master of Requests ; in 1 8 1 1 a 
 share in xhe. Jottrnal de l' Empire ; in 18 13 the 
 Gold Eagle of the Legion, the decoration of 
 Commander of the Reunion, and the post of 
 Intendant of the Crown Buildings. This proves 
 that the Emperor appreciated his services. It 
 remains to be ascertained if he was as trustworthy 
 as he was intelligent. The greater part of the 
 translators introduced by him, such as Gour- 
 billon and Duvau, were suspected ; he himself 
 was of doubtful fidelity. He had been attached 
 too closely to Napoleon's person for the Restora- 
 tion not to overwhelm him with favours out of 
 gratitude for former services. 
 
 The second place of Secretary of the Cabinet 
 was not occupied till 18 10, and then by M. 
 Deponthon. one of the most distinguished 
 Engineer officers, who made his first appearance 
 with the army of Italy, made all the campaigns, 
 and was attached by the Emperor to his 
 service as orderly officer in 1806. Compelled 
 
1 86 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 by the regulations to dismiss him from his 
 military household when he conferred on him 
 the rank of Chef de Bataillon, Napoleon had 
 none the less kept him at hand, employed 
 him on missions, and thought of this way of 
 keeping near to him a valuable auxiliary who 
 could see and could report. 
 
 Thus the two Secretaries of the Cabinet did 
 not work in the Cabinet, Mounier having his 
 office outside the palace, and Deponthon being 
 most frequently travelling. But there remained 
 two elements necessary for the development of 
 Napoleon's ideas — maps and books ; the Topo- 
 graphic Office furnished the one, the library 
 provided the other. 
 
 The chief of the Topographic Office, whom 
 the Emperor was wont to consult at all hours, 
 was, without contradiction, one of the most 
 eminent men in his department who ever 
 existed. Since the siege of Toulon the Emperor 
 had been acquainted with this Bacler d'Albe, 
 who even before the Revolution showed a 
 special talent as a draughtsman and constructor 
 of plans, and who had just passed seven years 
 in the Alps to study their cartography and to 
 paint the most picturesque spots. Bonaparte 
 
THE EMPEROR'S STUDY. 187 
 
 appointed him assistant on the staff of the 
 artillery, and as soon as he was appointed com- 
 mander of the army of Italy he put Bacler 
 d'Albe in charge of his topographic cabinet. 
 He advanced him step by step until he made 
 him in 18 13 General of Brigade, after having 
 conferred on him the title of Baron in 1809, 
 with an allowance of 10,000 francs, not to speak 
 of very frequent gratuities. 
 
 Bacler d'Albe was not only occupied, both in 
 Paris and on campaign, in constantly registering 
 on the map the movements accomplished by the 
 armies by sticking in it pins of different colours, 
 and by the same method under the direct orders 
 of the Emperor in laying out operations for the 
 future ; for Napoleon he was, if one may so 
 speak, the realiser of the map. Endowed with 
 a magical facility, he was capable of represent- 
 ing, simply from the map and without the 
 mistake of a line, the panorama of the places 
 where the Emperor reckoned on giving battle. 
 On these hatchings, on these curves, on these 
 points of black or white, he saw, and made 
 others see, existing as in nature, not an abstract 
 country, but, as it were, the living country of 
 future campaigns. He at once invented or 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 rediscovered that method so justly in. favour at 
 the present day ; he applied genius to it, and 
 as a painter he has left some representations of 
 his times which are among the most interesting 
 to be met with. 
 
 Under the orders of Bacler d'Albe were two 
 geographical engineers, but of moderate cele- 
 brity, Duvivier and Lameau, who after 1814 
 resumed their rank of captains in the corps 
 from which they came. In 1813 he had as 
 deputy-chief of the office only a former officer 
 of the staff of the Emperor, Athalin, who after- 
 wards was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Orleans, 
 lieutenant-general, and peer of France. 
 
 The library had apparently two librarians ; 
 but one of them was there only for the honour 
 and the salary — the Emperor never asked for 
 any service from him. He appointed the Abbe 
 Denina of Turin his librarian because Denina 
 had filled this post, or rather, had had this title, 
 under Frederic II. Thought of the King of 
 Prussia took possession of the Emperor's mind. 
 The study which he made of his campaigns 
 since, his youth, and which he resumed at 
 St. Helena ; the style of dress which he had 
 taken from him ; the statuette of Frederic, the 
 
THE EMPEROR'S STUDY. 189 
 
 only ornament of his study ; the veneration in 
 which he held the trophies carried off from 
 Berlin ; the visit to his tomb,— all these, even 
 to the choice of Denina as librarian, show his 
 admiration for him whom he called " the 
 tactician par excellence." 
 
 The other librarian, during the whole of the 
 Consulate and down to September 9th, 1807, 
 was Ripault. Ripault was a man of great 
 worth, who had accompanied Bonaparte Into 
 Egypt. It was he who formed the libraries 
 of the Tuileries, of Laeken, of Malmaison, of 
 Saint-Cloud, of Fontainebleau, of Rambouillet, 
 and the little libraries of the study in all the 
 residences. Besides this duty, from the year XI 
 he was charged with the analysis of all journals 
 which were not political ; of all books, pamphlets, 
 plays, bills, placards which appeared during the 
 ten years, with a report of literary and religious 
 assemblies, and of any law proceedings which 
 attracted attention. He was the supplier of 
 information to Bonaparte, who wished, by means 
 of his report alone, to know everything that 
 passed in the world of letters and elsewhere. 
 
 Ripault, worn out, retired in 1807. His suc- 
 cessor, a much better known man, was Barbler, 
 
NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 the celebrated bibliographer, who combined 
 with the functions of librarian to the Emperor 
 those of librarian to the Council of State. With 
 Barbier, Napoleon could be easy. There was 
 not a book with which he was not acquainted, 
 and which he could not procure ; not a question 
 which he left without answer ; not a scheme of 
 forming a library, wherever it might be and for 
 whatever purpose, which he hesitated to under- 
 take. If Napoleon wanted to form his portable 
 libraries, start a library for the Enfantsde France, 
 make a collection of the classics of which a few 
 copies only were printed ; if he wanted new 
 novels, or ancient works, everything which had 
 appeared on any question, everything which had 
 been printed throughout the world on a particular 
 country, the answer was ready — very precise, 
 very clear, very complete, with an estimate of 
 the cost, If required ; with maps. If maps were 
 necessary. And, side by side with the work of 
 the library, Barbier was also fitted for other 
 occupations, especially In all that concerned the 
 University and the Catholic Church, for he had 
 been in orders ; and, although he had divested 
 himself of the priesthood at the Revolution, he 
 none the less remained Catholic in his own way. 
 
THE EMPEROR' S STUDY. 191 
 
 in the way in which France of a former time 
 was Catholic, from the King to the last of the 
 secular clergy. He held that outside the Gallican 
 doctrines, summed up in the four propositions, 
 there could be neither security for the State, 
 nor guarantee for the Church, which would soon 
 be given over, in consequence of ultramontane 
 exaggerations, to the practice of a devotion which 
 was almost idolatry. Against these practices, 
 and those who propagated them, Barbier did 
 not cease to be filled with indignation ; and his 
 views on all these points so closely coincided 
 with those of the Emperor that he became an 
 excellent auxiliary to him, one of the most 
 valuable suppliers of arguments whom Napoleon 
 ever came across. Barbier succeeded in giving 
 a special character to this Cabinet, which was 
 at once the most restricted in the number 
 employed and the most complete in the choice 
 of the persons of which it was composed. 
 
 Every one in it had his speciality, and 
 Napoleon spared nothing to furnish each with 
 the tools necessary for his department. As to 
 maps, he bought all the collections which were 
 brought under his notice, even plans in relief, 
 as the one of Switzerland by General Pfiffer, 
 
192 i\M POLEON A T HOME. 
 
 which was not to be had without paying a good 
 price ; and in the same way he paid liberally 
 for the plans of his old campaigns ; for keeping 
 up to date the maps of states to which war 
 might take him ; or for such traces as could 
 be found of the successive itineraries which 
 conquerors had followed in invading this or that 
 country. He shrank from no expenditure when 
 the utility of it was proved to him — but no 
 luxury. In the miaps which were engraved by 
 his orders — except in the atlas of the campaigns 
 of Italy — there were no more of those fine 
 title-pages in which the designer had full scope, 
 and placed the agreeable and charming side of 
 art side by side with technical work. Thus, 
 the map of the hunting grounds which he had 
 completed and corrected has only a simple 
 and commonplace title. The grand voyages 
 of discovery, such as that of M. Freycinet to 
 southern lands, for example, the publication 
 of which he paid for, have atlases entirely 
 geographical, in which nothing is done to please 
 the taste. The maps which he used himself 
 were mounted on strong and thick linen, en- 
 closed in cardboard cases covered with sheep- 
 skin of ordinary character. 
 
THE EMPERORS STUDY. 193 
 
 The same with books. He had everything 
 bought that appeared, but treated them without 
 respect, simply as working instruments. The 
 bindings, more generally of calf of indifferent 
 quality, are impressed on the sides with the 
 Imperial arms, and with the name of the library 
 to which they belong ; but this is done with- 
 out taste and without elegance. The only 
 well-bound books to be found with his arms 
 are dedication copies, or works which he had 
 bound for presents. In that case, and when 
 it was a question of showing his munificence, 
 he spared nothing. 
 
 The books printed by his orders at the 
 Imperial press, the great works intended to 
 be offered to sovereigns or to dignitaries, will 
 bear comparison with the most sumptuous 
 work which the Imperial press has ever pro- 
 duced. Nothing equals the " Iconographie 
 Grecque," or " Romaine," the " Description 
 de r:fegypte," the " Paris " of Baltard, the 
 "Fetes du Sacre " and " du Manage" of 
 Percier and Fontaine, especially the grand 
 book of the "Sacre" by Isabey. As to the 
 bindings, we can judge of the magnificence 
 which was employed by the copy of the 
 
 VOL. I. 13 
 
194 NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 " Musee Frangais," preserved in the department 
 of engravings at the Hbrary of the palace at St. 
 Petersburg. Each volume cost 1 1 ,000 francs. 
 
 It is true that such books are scarcely port- 
 able, and it was that quality which the Emperor 
 esteemed most highly in books for his own 
 use, to the point of wishing to have books 
 printed without any margin for his travelling 
 library. There can be no better proof that 
 it was the quality of their contents which he 
 esteemed in books, and not their outward ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 Of this he gave many other proofs ; he cut 
 the leaves of the pamphlets and novels with 
 which they filled up his carriage on each journey 
 with his finger, and having run through them 
 threw them out of the door. At Paris and in 
 the palaces they went into the fireplace. If 
 a book interested him particularly he covered 
 the margin with notes either in pencil or ink. 
 
 But, beyond pamphlets and novels, every- 
 thing which showed the slightest degree of 
 utility was rigidly and strictly kept. No book 
 was allowed to get lost ; the most minute 
 precautions were taken. After having been 
 entered in the catalogue, the book was stamped 
 
THE EMPERORS STUDY. 195 
 
 " Cabinet de £ E^npereurT At St. Helena, in 
 the absence of a stamp, a seal smeared with 
 ink was used. 
 
 For classing them in the cases the arrange- 
 ment was absolute and methodical ; the library 
 to which he was most accustomed, that of 
 Malmaison, served as a type. In all the 
 palaces the books had to be arranged as at 
 Malmaison. The books of one palace did not 
 do duty elsewhere ; if he carried any of them 
 away on campaign he was careful to return 
 them. The books which he carried off from 
 Fontainebleau to the Island of Elba he restored 
 on his return. A volume of the Histoire de 
 France, a volume worth fifteen sous, which he 
 borrowed from the library at Vienna in 1809, 
 and which could not be found, tormented him 
 for several days, and he had the entire work 
 bought to replace the missing volume. Any 
 book which he had seen and read never went 
 out of his memory ; if the librarian could not 
 find it at once. Napoleon described the binding 
 minutely, mentioned the colour of the sides 
 and back, pointed out the place where the 
 volume might have been placed, and in which 
 book-case it ought to be found. 
 
196 NAPOLEON AT HOME 
 
 With papers it is just the same — no luxury. 
 Since his accession he had renounced those 
 admirable headpieces which Roger had en- 
 graved for the Consular letters and decisions, 
 those vignettes which show so delightful a 
 feeling for art in the midst of the most serious 
 matters. Now perfectly plain paper or parch- 
 ment is used even for brevets and letters 
 patent, for decrees and reports. It is only the 
 fancy of the papermakers which insists on 
 the double watermark ; on one side the head 
 of the Emperor crowned with laurels, on the 
 other the Imperial eagle. His letter paper is 
 gilt at the edges because that is etiquette ; it 
 is thick and strong ; but papers with fancy 
 edges, which at that time formed one of the 
 feminine elegancies, were not to be found in 
 his possession. 
 
 On the other hand, no one knew so well as 
 he how to sort papers, documents, and state- 
 ments. Lists were to be all of like dimen- 
 sions, clothed in uniform bindings, arranged 
 in identical order. The same with estimates. 
 There are portfolios in which all papers are 
 arranged by the Minister, the key of which 
 he alone has ; other portfolios travel from the 
 
THE EMPEROR'S STUDY. 197 
 
 Ministers to the Tuileries ; the Minister has 
 a key, he has another. And it is he who 
 combines and arranges these portfoHos. 
 
 For foreign armies and fleets he has boxes 
 with compartments in which sHde cards in- 
 scribed with the regiments and vessels. He 
 himself ordered Berthier to get these boxes 
 (perhaps from details furnished by Mme. 
 Campan, whose father, M. Genet, introduced 
 this system to the department of Foreign 
 Affairs under Louis XVI), and he paid Biennais 
 the sum of 2,000 francs for these boxes out of 
 the petty cash. 
 
 On all subjects he has a collection of in- 
 formation of the same order, dictionaries of 
 individuals arranged by classes or by states. 
 One of the Emperor's nephews relates that 
 every day Napoleon received and carried about 
 on his person, written on a very small piece 
 of paper, a statement of that which he called 
 the fortune of France, and also the state of his 
 own fortune, — that fortune which was only one 
 of the reserves of the nation. He had this 
 paper in his pocket and consulted it many 
 times during the day. 
 
 It is this machinery, this spirit of order 
 
igS _ NAPOLEON AT HOME. 
 
 and method which he brings to bear on every- 
 thing, that choice of those around him, which 
 alone are capable, not of explaining, but of 
 rendering credible, the amount of work which 
 Napoleon got through, and which is actually 
 ten times more important than one imagines ; 
 for he was not content to grasp the whole, he 
 entered into the smallest detail, and for fourteen 
 years it was he who thought for eighty millions 
 of men. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.