The allowance made by his Majesty for the yearly expenses of his dress
was twenty thousand francs; and the year of, the coronation he became
very angry because that sum had been exceeded. It was never without
trepidation that the various accounts of household expenses were
presented to him; and he invariably retrenched and cut down, and
recommended all sort of reforms. I remember after asking for some one a
place of three thousand francs, which he granted me, I heard him exclaim,
"Three thousand francs! but do you understand that this is the revenue
of one of my communes? When I was sub-lieutenant I did not spend as much
as that." This expression recurred incessantly in his conversations with
those with whom he was familiar; and "when I had the honor of being
sub-lieutenant" was often on his lips, and always in illustration of
comparisons or exhortations to economy.
While on the subject of accounts, I recall a circumstance which should
have a place in my memoirs, since it concerns me personally, and moreover
gives an idea of the manner in which his Majesty understood economy. He
set out with the idea, which was, I think, often very correct, that in
private expenses as in public ones, even granting the honesty of agents
(which the Emperor was always, I admit, very slow to do), the same things
could have been done with much less money. Thus, when he required
retrenchment, it was not in the number of objects of expense, but only in
the prices charged for these articles by the furnishers; and I will
elsewhere cite some examples of the effect which this idea produced on
the conduct of his Majesty towards the accounting agents of his
government. Now I am relating only private matters. One day when
investigating various accounts, the Emperor complained much of the
expenses of the stables, and cut off a considerable sum; and the grand
equerry, in order to put into effect the required economy, found it
necessary to deprive several persons in the household of their carriages,
mine being included in this number. Some days after the execution of
this measure, his Majesty charged me with a commission, which
necessitated a carriage; and I was obliged to inform him that, no longer
having mine, I should not be able to execute his orders. The Emperor
then exclaimed that he had not intended this, and M. Caulaincourt must
have a poor idea of economy. When he again saw the Duke of Vicenza, he
said to him that he did not wish anything of mine to be touched.
The Emperor occasionally read in the morning the new works and romances
of the day; and when a work displeased him, he threw it into the fire.
This does not mean that only improper books were thus destroyed; for if
the author was not among his favorites, or if he spoke too well of a
foreign country, that was sufficient to condemn the volume to the flames.
On this account I saw his Majesty throw into the fire a volume of the
works of Madame de Stael, on Germany. If he found us in the evening
enjoying a book in the little saloon, where we awaited the hour for
retiring, he examined what we were reading; and if he found they were
romances, they were burned without pity, his Majesty rarely failing to
add a little lecture to this confiscation, and to ask the delinquent "if
a man could not find better reading than that." One morning he had
glanced over and thrown in the fire a book (by what author I do not
know); and when Roustan stooped down to take it out the Emperor stopped
him, saying, "Let that filthy thing burn; it is all that it deserves."
The Emperor mounted his horse most ungracefully, and I think would not
have always been very safe when there, if so much care had not been taken
to give him only those which were perfectly trained; but every precaution
was taken, and horses destined for the special service of the Emperor
passed through a rude novitiate before arriving at the honor of carrying
him. They were habituated to endure, without making the least movement,
torments of all kinds; blows with a whip over the head and ears; the drum
was beaten; pistols were fired; fireworks exploded in their ears; flags
were shaken before their eyes; heavy weights were thrown against their
legs, sometimes even sheep and hogs. It was required that in the midst
of the most rapid gallop (the Emperor liked no other pace), he should be
able to stop his horse suddenly; and in short, it was absolutely
necessary to have only the most perfectly trained animals.
M. Jardin, senior, equerry of his Majesty, acquitted himself of this
laborious duty with much skill and ability, as the Emperor attached such
importance to it; he also insisted strongly that his horses should be
very handsome, and in the last years of his reign would ride only Arab
horses.
There were a few of those noble animals for which the Emperor had a great
affection; among others, Styria, which he rode over the St. Bernard and
at Marengo. After this last campaign, he wished his favorite to end his
days in the luxury of repose, for Marengo and the great St. Bernard were
in themselves a well-filled career. The Emperor rode also for many years
an Arab horse of rare intelligence, in which he took much pleasure.
During the time he was awaiting his rider, it would have been hard to
discover in him the least grace; but as soon as he heard the drums beat
the tattoo which announced the presence of his Majesty, he reared his
head most proudly, tossed his mane, and pawed the ground, and until the
very moment the Emperor alighted, was the most magnificent animal
imaginable.
His Majesty made a great point of good equerries, and nothing was
neglected in order that the pages should receive in this particular the
most careful education. To accustom them to mount firmly and with grace,
they practiced exercises in vaulting, for which it seemed to me they
would have no use except at the Olympic circus. And, in fact, one of the
horsemen of Messieurs Franconi had charge of this part of the pages'
education.
The Emperor, as has been said elsewhere, took no pleasure in hunting,
except just so far as was necessary to conform to the usage which makes
this exercise a necessary accompaniment to the throne and the crown; and
yet I have seen him sometimes continue it sufficiently long to justify
the belief that he did not find it altogether distasteful. He hunted one
day in the forest of Rambouillet from six in the morning to eight in the
evening, a stag being the object of this prolonged excursion; and I
remember they returned without having taken him. In one of the imperial
hunts at Rambouillet, at which the Empress Josephine was present, a stag,
pursued by the hunters, threw himself under the Empress's carriage; which
refuge did not fail him, for her Majesty, touched by the misery of the
poor animal, begged his life of the Emperor. The stag was spared; and
Josephine placed round its neck a silver collar to attest its
deliverance, and protect it against the attacks of all hunters.
One of the ladies of the Empress one day showed less humanity than she,
however; and the reply which she made to the Emperor displeased him
exceedingly, for he loved gentleness and pity in women. When they had
hunted for several hours in the Bois de Boulogne, the Emperor drew near
the carriage of the Empress Josephine, and began talking with a lady who
bore one of the most noble and most ancient names in all France, and who,
it is said, had been placed near the Empress against her wishes. The
Prince of Neuchatel (Berthier) announced that the stag was at bay.
"Madame," said the Emperor gallantly to Madame de C---- , "I place his
fate in your hands."--"Do with him, Sire," replied she, "as you please.
It is no difference to me." The Emperor gave her a glance of disapproval,
and said to the master of the hounds, "Since the stag in his misery does
not interest Madame C----, he does not deserve to live; have him put to
death;" whereupon his Majesty turned his horse's bridle, and rode off.
The Emperor was shocked by such an answer, and repeated it that evening,
on his return from the hunt, in terms by no means flattering to Madame
de C----.
It is stated in the Memorial of Saint-Helena that the Emperor, while
hunting, was thrown and wounded by a wild boar, from which one of his
fingers bore a bad scar. I never saw this, and never knew of such an
accident having happened to the Emperor. The Emperor did not place his
gun firmly to his shoulder, and as he always had it heavily loaded and
rammed, never fired without making his arm black with bruises; but I
rubbed the injured place with eau de Cologne, and he gave it no further
thought.
The ladies followed the hunt in their coaches; a table being usually
arranged in the forest for breakfast, to which all persons in the hunt
were invited.
The Emperor on one occasion hunted with falcons on the plain of
Rambouillet, in order to make a trial of the falconry that the King of
Holland (Louis) had sent as a present to his Majesty. The household made
a fete of seeing this hunt, of which we had been hearing so much; but the
Emperor appeared to take less pleasure in this than in the chase or
shooting, and hawking was never tried again.
His Majesty was exceedingly fond of the play, preferring greatly French
tragedy and the Italian opera. Corneille was his favorite author; and he
had always on his table some volume of the works of this great poet. I
have often heard the Emperor declaim, while walking up and down in his
room, verses of Cinna, or this speech on the death of Caesar:
"Caesar, you will reign; see the august day
In which the Roman people, always unjust to thee," etc.
At the theater of Saint-Cloud, the piece for the evening was often made
up of fragments and selections from different authors, one act being
chosen from one opera, one from another, which was very vexatious to the
spectators whom the first piece had begun to interest. Often, also,
comedies were played; on which occasions there was great rejoicing in the
household, and the Emperor himself took much pleasure in them. How many
times have I seen him perfectly overcome with laughter, when seeing
Baptiste junior in 'les Heritiers', and Michaut also amused him in 'la
Partie de Chasse de Henry IV'.
I cannot remember in what year, but it was during one of the sojourns of
the court at Fontainebleau, that the tragedy of the Venetians was
presented before the Emperor by Arnault, senior. That evening, as he was
retiring, his Majesty discussed the piece with Marshal Duroc, and gave
his opinion, adducing many reasons, in support of it. These praises,
like the criticisms, were all explained and discussed; the grand marshal
talking little, and the Emperor incessantly. Although a poor judge
myself of such matters, it was very entertaining, and also very
instructive, to hear the Emperor's opinion of pieces, ancient and modern,
which had been played before him; and his observations and remarks could
not have failed, I am sure, to be of great profit to the authors, had
they been able like myself to hear them. As for me, if I gained anything
from it, it is being enabled to speak of it here a little (although a
very little), more appropriately than a blind man would of colors;
nevertheless, for fear of saying the wrong thing, I return to matters
which are in my department.
It has been said that his Majesty used a great quantity of tobacco, and
that in order to take it still more frequently and quickly, he put it in
a pocket of his vest, lined with skin for that purpose. This is an
error. The Emperor never took tobacco except in his snuff-boxes; and
although he wasted a great quantity of it, he really used very little, as
he took a pinch, held it to his nose simply to smell it, and let it fall
immediately. It is true that the place where he had been was covered
with it; but his handkerchiefs, irreproachable witnesses in such matters,
were scarcely stained, and although they were white and of very fine
linen, certainly bore no marks of a snuff-taker. Sometimes he simply
passed his open snuff-box under his nose in order to breathe the odor of
the tobacco it contained. These boxes were of black shell, with hinges,
and of a narrow, oval shape; they were lined with gold, and ornamented
with antique cameos, or medallions, in gold or silver. At one time he
used round tobacco-boxes; but as it took two hands to open them, and in
this operation he sometimes dropped either the box or the top, he became
disgusted with them. His tobacco was grated very coarse, and was usually
composed of several kinds of tobacco mixed together. Frequently he
amused himself by making the gazelles that he had at Saint-Cloud eat it.
They were very fond of it, and although exceedingly afraid of every one
else, came close to his Majesty without the slightest fear.
The Emperor took a fancy on one occasion, but only one, to try a pipe, as
I shall now relate. The Persian ambassador (or perhaps it was the
Turkish ambassador who came to Paris under the Consulate) had made his
Majesty a present of a very handsome pipe such as is used by the
Orientals. One day he was seized with a desire to try it, and had
everything necessary for this purpose prepared. The fire having been
applied to the bowl, the only question now was to light the tobacco; but
from the manner in which his Majesty attempted this it was impossible for
him to succeed, as he alternately opened and closed his lips repeatedly
without drawing in his breath at all. "Why, what is the matter?" cried
he; "it does not work at all." I called his attention to the fact that
he was not inhaling properly, and showed him how it ought to be done; but
the Emperor still continued his performances, which were like some
peculiar kind of yawning. Tired out by his fruitless efforts at last, he
told me to light it for him, which I did, and instantly handed it back to
him. But he had hardly taken a whiff when the smoke, which he did not
know how to breathe out again, filled his throat, got into his windpipe,
and came out through his nose and eyes in great puffs. As soon as he
could get his breath, he panted forth, "Take it away! what a pest! Oh,
the wretches! it has made me sick." In fact, he felt ill for at least an
hour after, and renounced forever the "pleasure of a habit, which," said
he, "is only good to enable do-nothings to kill time."
The only requirements the Emperor made as to his clothing was that it
should be of fine quality and perfectly comfortable; and his coats for
ordinary use, dress-coats, and even the famous gray overcoat, were made
of the finest cloth from Louviers. Under the Consulate he wore, as was
then the fashion, the skirts of his coat extremely long; afterwards
fashion changed, and they were worn shorter; but the Emperor held with
singular tenacity to the length of his, and I had much trouble in
inducing him to abandon this fashion, and it was only by a subterfuge
that I at last succeeded. Each time I ordered a new coat for his
Majesty, I directed the tailor to shorten the skirts by an inch at least,
until at last, without his being aware of it, they were no longer
ridiculous. He did not abandon his old habits any more readily on this
point than on all others; and his greatest desire was that his clothes
should not be too tight, in consequence of which there were times when he
did not make a very elegant appearance. The King of Naples, the man in
all France who dressed with the most care, and nearly always in good
taste, sometimes took the liberty of bantering the Emperor slightly about
his dress. "Sire," said he to the Emperor, "your Majesty dresses too
much like a good family man. Pray, Sire, be an example to your faithful
subjects of good taste in dress."--"Would you like me, in order to please
you," replied the Emperor, "to dress like a scented fop, like a dandy, in
fine, like the King of Naples and the Two Sicilies. As for me, I must
hold on to my old habitudes."--"Yes, Sire, and to your 'habits tues',"
added the king on one occasion. "Detestable!" cried the Emperor; "that
is worthy of Brunet;" and they laughed heartily over this play on words,
while declaring it what the Emperor called it.
However, these discussions as to his dress being renewed at the time of
his Majesty's marriage to the Empress Marie Louise, the King of Naples
begged the Emperor to allow him to send him his tailor. His Majesty, who
sought at that time every means of pleasing his young wife, accepted the
offer of his brother-in-law; and that very day I went for Leger, King
Joachim's tailor, and brought him with me to the chateau, recommending
him to make the suits which would be ordered as loose as possible,
certain as I was in advance, that, Monsieur Jourdain [a character in a
Moliere comedy] to the contrary, if the Emperor could not get into them
easily, he would not wear them. Leger paid no attention to my advice,
but took his measure very closely. The two coats were beautifully made;
but the Emperor pronounced them uncomfortable, and wore them only once,
and Leger did no more work for his Majesty. At one time, long before
this, he had ordered a very handsome coat of chestnut brown velvet, with
diamond buttons, which he wore to a reception of her Majesty the Empress,
with a black cravat, though the Empress Josephine had prepared for him an
elegant lace stock, which all my entreaties could not induce him to put
on.
The Emperor's vest and breeches were always of white cassimere; he
changed them every morning, and they were washed only three or four
times. Two hours after he had left his room, it often happened that his
breeches were all stained with ink, owing to his habit of wiping his pen
on them, and scattering ink all around him by knocking his pen against
the table. Nevertheless, as he dressed in the morning for the whole day,
he did not change his clothes on that account, and remained in that
condition the remainder of the day. I have already said that he wore
none but white silk stockings, his shoes, which were very light and thin,
being lined with silk, and his boots lined throughout inside with white
fustian; and when he felt an itching on one of his legs, he rubbed it
with the heel of his shoe or the boot on the other leg, which added still
more to the effect of the ink blotches. His shoe-buckles were oval,
either plain gold or with medallions, and he also wore gold buckles on
his garters. I never saw him wear pantaloons under the Empire.
Owing to the Emperor's tenacity to old customs, his shoemaker in the
first days of the Empire was still the same he employed at the military
school; and as his shoes had been made by the same measure, from that
time, and no new one ever taken, his shoes, as well as his boots, were
always badly made and ungraceful. For a long time he wore them pointed;
but I persuaded him to have them 'en bec de canne', as that was the
fashion. At last his old measure was found too small, and I got his
Majesty's consent to have a new one-taken; so I summoned the shoemaker,
who had succeeded his father, and was exceedingly stupid. He had never
seen the Emperor, although he worked for him; and when he learned that he
was expected to appear before his Majesty, his head was completely
turned. How could he dare to present himself before the Emperor? What
costume must he wear? I encouraged him, and told him he would need a
black French coat, with breeches, and hat, etc.; and he presented himself
thus adorned at the Tuileries. On entering his Majesty's chamber he made
a deep bow, and stood much embarrassed. "It surely cannot be you who
made shoes for me at the l'ecole militaire?"--"No, your Majesty, Emperor
and King, it was my father."--"And why don't he do so now?"--"Sire, the
Emperor and King, because he is dead."--"How much do you make me pay for
my shoes?"--"Your Majesty, Emperor and King, pays eighteen francs for
them."--"That is very dear."--"Your Majesty, Emperor and King, could pay
much more for them if he would." The Emperor laughed heartily at this
simplicity, and let him take his measure; but the Emperor's laughter had
so completely disconcerted the poor man that, when he approached him,
his hat under his arm, making a thousand bows, his sword caught between
his legs, was broken in two, and made him fall on his hands and knees,
not to remain there long, however, for his Majesty's roars of laughter
increasing, and being at last freed from his sword, the poor shoemaker
took the Emperor's measure with more ease, and withdrew amidst profuse
apologies.
All his Majesty's linen was of extremely fine quality, marked with an "N"
in a coronet; at first he wore no suspenders, but at last began using
them, and found them very comfortable. He wore next his body vests made
of English flannel, and the Empress Josephine had a dozen cashmere vests
made for his use in summer.
Many persons have believed that the Emperor wore a cuirass under his
clothes when walking and while in the army. This is entirely false: the
Emperor never put on a cuirass, nor anything resembling one, under his
coat any more than over it.
The Emperor wore no jewelry; he never had in his pockets either purse or
silver, but only his handkerchief, his snuff-box, and his bonbon-box.
He wore on his coat only a star and two crosses, that of the Legion of
Honor, and that of the Iron Crown. Under his uniform and on his vest he
wore a red ribbon, the ends of which could just be seen.
When there was a reception at the chateau, or he held a review, he put
this grand cordon outside his coat.
His hat, the shape of which it will be useless to describe while
portraits of his Majesty exist, was-extremely fine and very light, lined
with silk and wadded; and on it he wore neither tassels nor plumes, but
simply a narrow, flat band of silk and a little tricolored cockade.
The Emperor purchased several watches from Breguet and Meunier,--very
plain repeaters, without ornamentation or figures, the face covered with
glass, the back gold. M. Las Casas speaks of a watch with a double gold
case, marked with the cipher "B," and which never left the Emperor. I
never saw anything of the sort, though I was keeper of all the jewels,
and even had in my care for several days the crown diamonds. The Emperor
often broke his watch by throwing it at random, as I have said before, on
any piece of furniture in his bedroom. He had two alarm-clocks made by
Meunier, one in his carriage, the other at the head of his bed, which he
set with a little green silk cord, and also a third, but it was old and
wornout so that it would not work; it is this last which had belonged to
Frederick the Great, and was brought from Berlin.
The swords of his Majesty were very plain, with gold mountings, and an
owl on the hilt.
The Emperor had two swords similar to the one he wore the day of the
battle of Austerlitz. One of these swords was given to the Emperor
Alexander, as the reader will learn later, and the other to Prince Eugene
in 1814. That which the Emperor wore at Austerlitz, and on which he
afterwards had engraved the name and date of that memorable battle, was
to have been inclosed in the column of the Place Vendome; but his Majesty
still had it, I think, while he was at St. Helena.
He had also several sabers that he had worn in his first campaigns, and
on which were engraved the names of the battles in which he had used
them. They were distributed among the various general officers of his
Majesty the Emperor, of which distribution I will speak later.
When the Emperor was about to quit his capital to rejoin his army, or for
a simple journey through the departments, we never knew the exact moment
of his departure. It was necessary to send in advance on various roads a
complete service for the bedroom, kitchen, and stables; this sometimes
waited three weeks, or even a month, and when his Majesty at length set
out, that which was waiting on the road he did not take was ordered to
return. I have often thought that the Emperor acted thus in order to
disconcert those who spied on his proceedings, and to baffle their
schemes.
The day he was to set out no one could discover that fact from him, and
everything went on as usual. After a concert, a play, or any other
amusement which had collected a large number of people, his Majesty would
simply remark on retiring, "I shall leave at two o'clock!" Sometimes the
time was earlier, sometimes later; but he always began his journey at the
designated hour. The order was instantly announced by each of the head
servants; and all were ready at the appointed time, though the chateau
was left topsy-turvy, as may be seen from the picture I have given
elsewhere of the confusion at the chateau which preceded and followed the
Emperor's departure. Wherever his Majesty lodged on the journey, before
leaving he had all the expenses of himself and of his household paid,
made presents to his hosts, and gave gratuities to the servants of the
house. On Sunday the Emperor had mass celebrated by the curate of the
place, giving always as much as twenty napoleons, sometimes more, and
regulating the gift according to the needs of the poor of the parish. He
asked many questions of the cures concerning their resources, that of
their parishioners, the intelligence and morality of the population, etc.
He rarely failed to ask the number of births, deaths, marriages, and if
there were many young men and girls of a marriageable age. If the cure
replied to these questions in a satisfactory manner, and if he had not
been too-long in saying mass, he could count on the favor of his Majesty;
his church and his poor would find themselves well provided for; and as
for himself, the Emperor left on his departure, or had sent to him, a
commission as chevalier of the Legion of Honor. His Majesty preferred to
be answered with confidence and without timidity; he even endured
contradiction; and one could without any risk reply inaccurately; this
was almost always overlooked, for he paid little attention to the reply,
but he never failed to turn away from those who spoke to him in a
hesitating or embarrassed manner. Whenever the Emperor took up his
residence at any place, there were on duty, night and day, a page and an
aide-decamp, who slept on sacking beds. There was also constantly in
attendance, in an antechamber, a quartermaster and sergeant of the
stables prepared to order, when necessary, the equipages, which they took
care to keep always in readiness to move; horses fully saddled and
bridled, and carriages harnessed with two horses, left the stables on the
first signal of his Majesty. These attendants were relieved every two
hours, like sentinels.
I said above that his Majesty liked prompt replies, and those which
showed vivacity and sprightliness. I will give two anecdotes in support
of this assertion. Once, while the Emperor was holding a review on the
Place du Carrousel, his horse reared, and in the efforts his Majesty made
to control him, his hat fell to the ground; a lieutenant (his name, I
think, was Rabusson), at whose feet the hat fell, picked it up, and came
out from the front ranks to offer it to his Majesty. "Thanks, Captain,"
said the Emperor, still engaged in quieting his horse. "In what
regiment?"--"Sire?" asked the officer. The Emperor, then regarding him
more attentively, and perceiving his mistake, said to him, smiling, "Ah,
that is so, monsieur; in the Guard."
The new captain received the commission which he owed to his presence of
mind, but which he had in fact well earned by his bravery and devotion to
duty.
At another review, his Majesty perceived in the ranks of a regiment of
the line an old soldier, whose arms were decorated with three chevrons.
He recognized him instantly as having seen him in the army of Italy, and
approaching him, said, "Well, my brave fellow, why have you not the
cross? You do not look like a bad fellow."--"Sire," replied the old
soldier, with sorrowful gravity, "I have three times been put on the list
for the cross."--"You shall not be disappointed a fourth time," replied
the Emperor; and he ordered Marshal Berthier to place on the list, for
the next promotion, the brave soldier, who was soon made a chevalier of
the Legion of Honor.