Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-19
LIGHT ON NAPOLEON.
Interesting Facts From His Wallets
Memoirs.
A HARD MASTER TO SHAVE,
How the Great Warrior Was Conquered by
Tobacco Smoke.

How the Great Warrior Was Conquered by
Tobacco Smoke.
NEITHER A DRESSER NOR AN EPICURE
''No man." says the proverb, sis here
to his valet;" but this. like every other rule,
is proved by the exception. Napoleon had
a Belgian valet who for Is years was in
constant attendance upon him, and who ad-
mired MIN to the end of the chapter. This
man wrote, or professed to write, memoirs OF
his master. six octave volumes OF
about 800 pages each, which appeared
in 1880. The work, for reasons to be pres
emily explained, attracted little attention,
and has sunk into oblivion. But let me
first of all state who the valet was. His
real name was Louis Constant Wary, but
he dropped the VARY and styled himself
Constant, evidently recommendable name
for valet. He was born at Peruelz in
1778 but his father shortly afterward re-
moved to St. Armand, to keep boarding
house for visitors to the baths. One OF his
guests, the Comte de Lure, took the boy, at
IL years of age, to be companion to his sons;
but in the following year the Count, with
his family, fled from the storms of the Rev.
olution, either forgetting VARY, or recon-
mending him to the persons who
neglected the trust After many pri-
vations, the boy got back from Tours to
St. Amand, which was then occupied by
the AustrIans, and surrounded by the
French. Eventually he was introduced to
Eugene Beauhsrnais, who engaged him as
temporary valet and, on the return of his
own valet, transferred him to the service Of
his mother, Madame Bonaparte, at Malmai-
son. The lady's second husband cast a
favorable eye on the young man, and in
1900 took him with him to Italy. Thenceforth
Napoleon and Constant were scarcely sepa-
rated for fortnight, until the former, in
1914, lett Fontainebleau for Elba. At first
third in rank, Constant rose to the chief
valet.
MEMOIRS PLENTIFUL.
One would not expect lodging-house
keepers son, 15 years valet, and living
another Is years in strsitened circumstances,
to have been capable of writing I, 800 pages.
pre-eminently the country, not only of me-
moirs, but of supposititious memoirs.
No sooner was the Revolution over,
than a stream of memoirs on that
eveutful period commenced-manya authen-
tic, but many spurious; and when Napoleon
fell, he, too, became the theme of numerous
memoirs. 1t is not always easy even now to
distinguish between the forgery and the
genuine article, for the genuine article was
sometimes denounced as forgery by the
writer's descendants, ashamed of his revela-
tions. Still less easy is it to deal with books
which are medley of truth and ialsehood.
A work appeared under the name of a man
still living, and he affected to be the author;
but perhaps he had simply written a small
portion of it, or had related mis- recollec-
tions, upon which slender substratum of
fact bulky volumes were vamped up by a
literary hack. According to Querard, whose
catalogue of literary forgeries fills five good
ly volumes, the Memories de Constant
were the production of SIX men, or rather of
seven, ii we reckon Constant himself, who,
If he put pen to paper at all, assuredly
wrote the smallest portion. 1t is needless
to give their names, suffice it to
say that Constants grain Of wheat was
buried in q bushel of chaf-imperial
speeches and proclamations, narratives of
campaigns, the pretended journal of one OF
Josephine's ladies-in-waiting, and SO forth.
The audacious padding, whatever its tenn
porary success, swamped the book for pos
terity, yet the small fraction relating to Ma
poleon's habits and ways has the stamp of
truth. 1t may, indeed, be objected that we
cannot take the word of man who connived
at a fraud, bul the standard of literary
morality in France was then very low. Con-
slant, moreover, was poor, for in 1881 he
profered his services to Louis Philippe,
and he died in 1S45 anything but rich. He
yielded to the temptation of a sum of
money, probably not very large, and fol-
lowed the example of Bourrienne, if
not of other old servants of Napoleon,
who had accepted similar offers. No doubt
the value OF his testimony is thus lessened,
but in 1880 he had no conceivable interest in
misrepresenting his masters character, and
if the Constantiana are, on the whole,
favorable to Napoleon, we may take them,
not as complete picture, but as one side Of
his nature.
NAPOLEON IN PRIVATE.
Napoleon, we are told, was dressed every
morning by the valet in attendance. He
did not don a single garment himself;
eventually, however. he was induced to
shave himself 1t happened in this wise.
u
illhealth as an excuse for not accompanying
his master to Boulogpe. "Who is 20 shave
me?" asked Napoleon, for Hambard had
regularly discharged this duty. Hambard
suggested Constant, who, foreseeing this
emergency, had been diligently tax
ing lessons on bumbler chins, and
had acquired proficiency. He had
no easy task, for Napoleon, while undergo
ing the operation, would talk, read the
newspapers and fidget in his chair some
times sitting stiff as statue, and declining
to bend his bead an inch. Great care was
necessary 10 avoid cutting his face. An
other popularity was that he insisted on
one side being lathered and shaved before
the other was touched. When Constant got
free enough with him to venture on the
step, he urged on Napoleon the desirabiIity
OF his learning to shave, as he himself might
be ill or absent, and Napoleon would not
like to be operated on by a stranger.
Napoleon was, with some difficulty,
induced to try the experiment;
but of course he experimented only on
himself, and did not, therefore, acquire pro-
fessional proficiency. Very clumsy at first,
he gradually became toferably expert. On
one point, however, he was obstinate-he
persisted in moving the razor downward,
instead of upward, and occasional cuts were
the consequence.
While not lifting a finger to dress him.
self, Napoleon dispensed with assistance in
but he flung his garments all
over the room-his watch sometimes miss
ing the table or bed at which it was aimed,
and falling broken on the floor. As to
dress, he despised dandies, never wore rings,
and abominated scents, except eau de