A thousand similar traits might be cited of the good nature blended with military roughness which characterized General Junot. Some of another sort which did less honor to his brains might also be cited. He was so unaccustomed to self-restraint that he often fell into rages which more frequently than not resulted in his forgetting his rank and the reserve it should have imposed on him. Everybody has heard of his adventure in the gambling-house where he tore up the cards, upset the furniture, and beat the bankers and croupiers to indemnify himself for the loss of his money. The worst of it was that he was governor of Paris at the time. On being informed of this scandal, the Emperor sent for him and asked in great anger if he had sworn to live and die a fool. This might, in the sequel, have been taken for a prediction, when the unhappy General died in a fit of mental alienation. He replied in not very measured terms to the reprimands of the Emperor and was sent to the army of England, perhaps to give him time to cool down. It was not merely in gaming-houses that the governor of Paris thus compromised his dignity. Other adventures of a still gayer kind have been related to me, but I must forbid myself to repeat them. The fact is that General Junot piqued himself far less on respecting the proprieties than upon being one of the most skilful shots with the pistol in the army. When riding in the country, he would often spur his horse to a gallop, holding a pistol in each hand, and he never failed of his aim as he passed the heads of the ducks and fowls he selected as targets. He cut off a little branch of a tree at twenty-five paces, and I have even heard (I am far from guaranteeing the reality of this feat) that he had once, with the consent of the party whose life his imprudence thus imperilled, shot through the middle a clay pipe scarcely three inches long, which a soldier was holding between his teeth.

In the first journey that Madame Bonaparte made to Italy to rejoin her husband, she stopped for some time in Milan. At this time she had in her service a chambermaid called Louise, tall and very handsome, and who bestowed many well-paid-for favors on the brave Junot. As soon as her waiting on her mistress was finished for the day, Louise, still more adorned than Madame Bonaparte, would drive through the city and the environs in an elegant equipage, and often eclipsed the wife of the Commander-in-Chief. On their return to Paris, the latter obliged his wife to dismiss the fair Louise who, abandoned by her inconstant lover, fell into great poverty. I have since often seen her come to the Empress Josephine to ask assistance, which was always kindly granted. This young woman, who had dared to rival Madame Bonaparte in elegance, ended, I believe, by marrying an English jockey who made her very unhappy, and she died in the most miserable condition.

The First Consul of the French Republic, on becoming Emperor of the French, could no longer content himself in Italy with the title of President. Hence deputies from the Cisalpine Republic again crossed the mountains, consulted together in Paris, and offered His Majesty the title of King of Italy, which he accepted. A few days after his acceptance the Emperor set out for Milan, where he was to be crowned. I returned with the greatest pleasure to that beautiful country, of which I had retained the most agreeable souvenirs in spite of the fatigues and dangers of war. The circumstances were now very different. It was as a sovereign that the Emperor was about to cross the Alps, Piedmont, and Lombardy, every gorge, every river, and every defile of which it had been necessary to carry by force of arms on our first journey. In 1800, the escort of the First Consul was an army; in 1805, it was a wholly pacific cortege of chamberlains, pages, ladies of honor, and officers of the palace.

Before his departure the Emperor held at the baptismal font at Saint-Cloud, with Madame-Mère as godmother, Prince Napoleon-Louis, second son of Prince Louis, His Majesty's brother. All three of the sons of Queen Hortense had the Emperor for godfather, if I mistake not. But the one he liked best was the eldest of the three, Prince Napoleon-Charles, who died at the age of five, Prince-Royal of Holland. I shall speak later on of this lovely child, whose death was the despair of his father and mother, one of the Emperor's greatest chagrins, and may be considered as the cause of the gravest events.

After the baptismal festivities, we started for Italy. The Empress Josephine made the journey. Whenever it was possible, the Emperor liked to take her with him. For her part, she would have liked always to accompany her husband, whether it were possible or not. The Emperor usually was bent on keeping his journeys very secret, and he would ask at midnight for horses to go to Mayence or to Milan, precisely as if it were a matter of an excursion to Saint-Cloud or Rambouillet.

I do not know on which of these journeys it was that His Majesty had decided not to take the Empress Josephine. The Emperor dreaded less that train of ladies and women who formed the suite of Her Majesty, than the annoyances occasioned by the packages and cases by which they were ordinarily accompanied. He wanted to travel faster and without pomp, and to spare the cities through which he passed an enormous increase of expense. Hence he ordered that everything should be in readiness for a start at one o'clock in the morning, an hour at which the Empress was usually asleep; but in spite of all precautions, some indiscretion made the Empress aware of what was going on. The Emperor had promised that she should accompany him on his next journey. And yet he had deceived her and was going without her! . . . At once she called her women; but impatient with their slowness, Her Majesty sprang out of the foot of the bed, slipped on the first article of clothing that came under her hand, ran out of the chamber in slippers and without stockings. Crying like a little child that is being taken back to school, she ran through the apartments, descended the stairs with rapid steps, and threw herself into the Emperor's arms just as he was about getting into the carriage. It was high time, for in another minute he would have been off. As nearly always happened when he saw his wife in tears, the Emperor was moved; she perceived it, and already she was crouching down in the bottom of the carriage; but Her Majesty was not half dressed. The Emperor covered her with his pelisse, and before starting himself gave orders that at the first relay his wife should find all that she might need.

Leaving the Empress at Fontainebleau, the Emperor went on to Brienne, where he arrived at six in the evening. Mesdames de Brienne and de Loménie and several ladies of the city were awaiting him at the foot of the château steps. He entered the salon and gave a most gracious reception to all who were presented to him. Thence he passed into the gardens, conversing familiarly with Mesdames de Brienne and de Loménie, and recalling with a surprising fidelity of memory the least particulars of the sojourn he had made in childhood at the military school of Brienne.

His Majesty admitted his hosts and several persons of their circle to his table. After dinner he played whist with Mesdames de Brienne, de Vandeuvre, and de Nolivres; and at the game as at the table, the conversation of the Emperor appeared animated and interesting, and he displayed a gaiety and affability which charmed everybody.

His Majesty spent the night at the château of Brienne, and rose early to go and visit the field of La Rothière, formerly one of his favorite excursions. He took the greatest pleasure in going over these places where he had passed his earliest youth. He pointed them out with a kind of pride, and each of his movements, each of his reflections, seemed to say: "See where I started from, and where I have arrived."

His Majesty walked ahead of the persons who accompanied him, and pleased himself by being the first to name the different places where he found himself. A peasant, seeing him thus at a distance from his suite, called out to him familiarly: "Eh! citizen, will the Emperor be along presently?" "Yes," replied the Emperor himself; "be patient."

The evening before, the Emperor had asked Madame de Brienne about Mother Marguerite, as an old woman was called who occupied a thatched cottage in the middle of the wood, and to whom the pupils of the military school had been accustomed to pay frequent visits. His Majesty had not forgotten this name, and seemed as much pleased as surprised to find that she who bore it was still living. Continuing his morning ride, the Emperor galloped to the door of the cottage, alighted from his horse, and entered the house of the good peasant. The sight of the latter had been enfeebled by age; and besides the Emperor had changed so much that, even with good eyes, it would have been difficult for her to recognize him. "Good day, Mother Marguerite," said the Emperor, bowing to the old woman, "are you not curious to see the Emperor?" "Yes indeed, my good sir; I am very curious, so much so that here is a little basket of fresh eggs that I am going to carry to Madame; and then I will rest at the château to try and see the Emperor. The trouble is, I shall not see him so well to-day as of old when he came to drink milk at Mother Marguerite's. He was not the Emperor then; but it's all the same; he made the others march; faith! you ought to see him. The milk, the eggs, the brown bread, the broken dishes, he took care that I should be paid for them, and he began himself by paying his own scot.'' —"How! Mother Marguerite," returned the Emperor, smiling, "you have not forgotten Bonaparte?" "Forgotten, my good sir; do you suppose one forgets a young man like that, who was good, serious, and even sad sometimes, but always good to poor people? I am only a peasant woman; but I could have predicted that that young man would make his way.—"He has not made it very badly, has he?" "Faith! no."

While this short dialogue was going on, the Emperor had at first turned his back to the door, and consequently to the light, which could only enter there. But His Majesty had gradually approached the old woman, and when he was close to her, the Emperor, whose face was then illumined by the light from outside, began to rub his hands and to say, trying to recall the tone and manners of his early youth when he came to the peasant's house: "Come, Mother Marguerite! some milk and some fresh eggs; we are dying with hunger." The good woman seemed trying to collect her memories, and began to look at the Emperor with great attention. "Well, mother, you were very sure just now of recognizing Bonaparte? We two are old acquaintances." While the Emperor was saying these last words to her, the peasant had fallen at his feet. He lifted her with the most touching kindness, and said: "Truly, Mother Marguerite, I have a schoolboy's appetite. Have you nothing to give me?" The good woman, who was beside herself with happiness, served His Majesty with eggs and milk. His repast finished, His Majesty gave his old hostess a purse full of gold, saying: "You know, Mother Marguerite, that I like to have people pay their scot. Adieu, I shall not forget you." And, while the Emperor was remounting his horse, the good old woman on the threshold was promising with tears of joy to pray to God for him.

At his levee His Majesty had been speaking with some one of the possibility of finding some of his old acquaintances, and an anecdote concerning General Junot had been related which greatly diverted him. The General on his return from Egypt finding himself at Montbard, where he had spent several years of his childhood, had diligently hunted up his companions in school and boyish tricks, and had found several with whom he chatted in a gay and familiar spay about his early frolics. Afterwards they went to revisit the different localities, each of which awakened in them some souvenir of their youth. On the public square of the city, the General perceived an old man walking along with a magisterial air and carrying a large cane. He immediately ran up to him, threw his arms about his neck, and almost stifled him with repeated caresses. The promenader, disengaging himself with difficulty from these ardent embraces, gazed in wonder at General Junot, not knowing to what he should attribute such expressive tenderness on the part of a military man wearing the uniform of a superior officer and all the marks of high rank. "What!" cried the latter, "don't you recognize me?" "Citizen general, I beg you to excuse me, but I have not an idea."—"Zounds! my dear master, have you forgotten the laziest, the most unruly, the hardest to discipline of all your pupils?" "A thousand pardons, might you be M. Junot?"—"Himself," replied the General, renewing his embraces and laughing with his comrades at the singular marks by which he had been recognized. As for His Majesty the Emperor, if the memory of one of his old masters had failed him, it would not have been by such signs that it would have been revived; for everybody knows that he distinguished himself at the Military School by his assiduity at his tasks and the regularity and gravity of his conduct.

A meeting of the same sort, saving the difference of souvenirs, awaited the Emperor at Brienne. While he was visiting the old Military School, which had fallen into ruins, and pointing out to those who surrounded him the site of the study-halls, dormitories, refectories, etc., some one presented to him an ecclesiastic who had been sub-prefect of one of the classes of the school. The Emperor recognized him at once, and uttered an exclamation of surprise. His Majesty conversed for more than twenty minutes with this gentleman, and left him penetrated with gratitude.

Before leaving Brienne to return to Fontainebleau, the Emperor obtained from the mayor a note of the most pressing needs of the commune, and on his departure left a considerable sum for the poor and the hospitals. At Troyes, as in every place he passed through, the Emperor left marks of his generosity. The widow of a general officer, retired at Joinville (I am sorry to have forgotten the name of this venerable lady who was more than an octogenarian), came to Troyes, in spite of her age, to ask assistance from His Majesty. Her husband having served only before the Revolution, his retiring pension had been withdrawn by the Republic, and she was in the greatest destitution. The brother of General Vouittemont, mayor of a commune in the neighborhood of Troyes, had the kindness to consult me as to the measures he ought to take in order to introduce this lady to the Emperor, and I advised him to have her inscribed on the list of His Majesty's private audiences. I myself took the liberty of speaking of Madame de —— to the Emperor, and the audience was granted. I do not pretend to claim the merit of this; for His Majesty was easily accessible when travelling.

When the good lady came to her audience with M. Vouittemont, whose municipal scarf gave him the right of entry, I happened to meet them. She stopped to thank me for the very slight service which she claimed I had rendered her, and told me she had been obliged to pawn the six silver forks and spoons she still had left in order to defray the expenses of her journey, that on arriving at Troyes in a wretched farm carryall, covered with a cloth thrown over the hoops, and which had shaken her up dreadfully, she had been unable to find any room in the taverns, which were all crowded on account of the presence of Their Majesties, and would have been obliged to sleep in her carryall but for the obligingness of M. Vouittemont, who had resigned his room and offered her his services. In spite of her more than eighty years and her distress, this worthy lady told her story with an air of gentle gaiety, and as she ended it, she cast a grateful look at her guide, on whose arm she was leaning.

At this moment the usher came to tell that her turn had arrived, and she went into the audience room. M. Vouittemont waited for her while chatting with me. When she returned, she told us, restraining her emotion with great difficulty, that the Emperor had kindly taken the memoir she presented, read it attentively, and immediately handed it to a minister who was near him, recommending him to do what was right about it before night. She received the next morning the brevet for a pension of three thousand francs, the first year of which was paid that very day.

At Lyons, where Cardinal Fesch was archbishop, the Emperor stayed at the archiepiscopal palace. During the sojourn of Their Majesties, the Cardinal put himself to much trouble in order that his nephew should have whatever he might desire without the least delay. In his ardor to please, Monsignor addressed himself to me several times a day, so as to be sure that he lacked nothing. Hence everything went well, and even very well. The Cardinal's zeal was noticed by all the members of the household. For my part, I thought I observed that this zeal acquired new force whenever there was question of paying all the expenses occasioned by the visit of Their Majesties, which were considerable. His Eminence obtained, I think, very good interest on his advance of money, and his generous hospitality was largely indemnified by the generosity of his guests.

The crossing of Mont Cenis was not nearly as difficult as that of Mont Saint-Bernard had been. However, the road ordered by His Majesty was not yet begun. The carriages had to be taken to pieces at the foot of the mountain and transported on muleback. Their Majesties crossed the mount partly on foot and partly in litters of the greatest beauty, which had been prepared at Turin. That of the Emperor was lined with crimson satin and trimmed with gold galleon and fringe; that of the Empress with blue satin with silver fringe and trimmings. The snow had been carefully swept up and removed. On arriving at the convent, they were received with much cordiality by the good monks. The Emperor, who held them in singular esteem, conversed a good deal with them and did not go away without leaving behind many and rich tokens of his munificence. Hardly had he arrived at Turin when he issued a decree relative to the improvement of their hospice, and he continued to aid them until his downfall.

 Their Majesties halted for some days at Turin, where they inhabited the former palace of the kings of Sardinia, which was made an imperial residence by a decree issued during our actual stay, as also the chateau of Stupinigi, situated at a little distance from the city.

The Pope rejoined Their Majesties at Stupinigi. The Holy Father had quitted Paris almost at the same time that we did, and before his departure had received magnificent presents from the Emperor. There was an altar of gold, with the most richly wrought chandeliers and sacred vessels, a superb tiara, Gobelin tapestries and Savonnerie carpets, and a statue of the Emperor in Sèvres porcelain. The Empress had likewise presented His Holiness with a vase of the same manufacture, ornamented with paintings by the best artists. This masterpiece was at least four feet high and two and a half feet wide at the opening. It had been made expressly to be offered to the Holy Father, and represented, as well as I can remember, the ceremony of the coronation.

Each of the cardinals of the Papal suite had received a box of beautiful workmanship, with the portrait of the Emperor enriched with diamonds; and all the persons in the service of Pius VII. had had more or less valuable presents. All of these different objects had been successively brought into the apartments of the Emperor by the purveyors, and I had taken note of them, by His Majesty's orders, as fast as they arrived.

On his side, the Holy Father had also caused very beautiful gifts to be accepted by all officers of His Majesty's household who had done him any personal services during his stay in Paris.

From Stupinigi we went to Alexandria. The day after his arrival the Emperor rose very early, visited the fortifications of the city, went over all the positions of the battle-field of Marengo, and did not return to the house until seven o'clock in the evening, after having tired out five horses. Some days later, he wished the Empress to see this famous plain, and, by his orders, an army of twenty-five or thirty thousand men was there assembled. In the morning of the day fixed for the review of these troops, the Emperor issued from his apartment clad in a long-waisted blue coat with tails, much worn and even torn in various places. These holes were the work of moths and not of balls, as has been wrongly said in certain Memoirs. His Majesty had on his head an old hat bordered by a wide gold band, blackened and ravelled by time, and at his side a cavalry sabre such as were worn by the generals of the Republic. They were the coat, hat, and sabre he had worn the very day of the battle of Marengo. I afterwards lent this suit to M. David, first painter to His Majesty, for his picture of the crossing of Mont Saint-Bernard. A vast amphitheatre had been erected in the plain for the Empress and the suite of Their Majesties. The day was magnificent, as nearly all the days of May are in Italy. After having gone through the lines, the Emperor sat down beside the Empress, and distributed crosses of the Legion of Honor to the troops. Afterwards he laid the first stone of the monument he had ordered to be raised in the plain to the memory of the heroes who had died in the battle. When His Majesty, in the short speech he made on this occasion to his army, pronounced in a loud but profoundly moved voice the name of Desaix, who died gloriously here for the country, an audible shudder of anguish was heard in the ranks of the soldiers. For my part, I was affected to tears, and with my eyes fixed upon this army, these flags, that costume of the Emperor, I had to turn from time to time toward the throne of the Empress to rid myself of the notion that we were still living on the 14th of June, of the year 1800.

I think that it was during this sojourn in Alexandria that Prince Jérôme Bonaparte had an interview with the Emperor in which the latter addressed some serious and sharp admonitions to his young brother. Prince Jérôme came out of the cabinet in visible agitation. The Emperor's dissatisfaction arose from the marriage contracted by his brother, at the age of nineteen, with the daughter of an American merchant. His Majesty had broken this marriage on the ground of minority, and had issued a decree forbidding officers of the civil state to place upon their registers the transmission of the act of celebration of the marriage of M. Jérôme to Miss Patterson. For some time the Emperor treated him coldly and kept him at a distance; but a few days after the interview at Alexandria, he sent him to Algiers to reclaim, as subjects of the Empire, two hundred Genoese retained in slavery. The young prince acquitted himself very happily of this humane errand, and returned to the port of Genoa in August with the captives whom he had delivered. The Emperor was satisfied with the manner in which his brother had followed his instructions, and he said on this occasion that "Prince Jérôme was very young, very giddy, that he needed some lead in his brains, but that nevertheless he expected to make something of him." This brother of His Majesty belonged to the small number of persons whom he particularly loved, although he had often given him very just reasons for being angry with him.