The Washington bee., 1894-06-16
NAPoLEoN's HOME LIFE.
He Used His Fingers for Forks and Some
times Took His Soup After Dessert.

He Used His Fingers for Forks and SOme-
times Took His Soup After Dessert.
"After Napoleon ct le Femmes' the
industrious and indefatigable NJ. Fred
eric Mason has now given to the pub
lie another entertaining and gossipy
volume entitled Napoleon Chez lui." :"
which is published in Dentu. Herein
the author shows us the Great Con-
queror at home, the interest of the
descriptions being heightened by NJ.
de Myrbach's amusing Illustrations
including Napoleon in bed. an impe-
rial shave and His Majesty at table
before one of those mealS-c chiefly
consisting of chicken and pastry
washed down by well-watered Cham
bertin. which We're despa tched in a
Slovenly manner and in about seven
minutes.
NJ. Mason neglectS nothing He
follows the emperor from morning to
night, tells how he wore his slippers
until they were utterly dilapidated and
how he had himself bruised down with
eau de Cologne every day. making the
valet work as if he We're scrubbing 4
donkey. At $50 every morning Con-
Stant-the chief valet-entered the
Emperor's bedroom and flung the Win
d0Ws open. Meneval presented the
letters and servant brought in a cup
OF tea or orange flower water Cor
vlsart on entering was usually salut-
ed with the words. "Ah there you
are, you great quack! Have you been
killing many people lately?" While
aavlng warm bath, after Constant
had related the gossip of the day. the
emperor listened to Menevals sum-
marles OF the newspapers Next fol-
lowed the levee, or reception" at
o'clock the special audience and at II
dejeuner. At this meal the Emperor
frequently used his fingers as forks
and cared little for the order of the
service, sometimes eating soup last
He liked green haricot pods. but was
always afraid of finding hairs in them.
The meal was occasionally rather in
ternational in composition. Bonaparte
being partial to many of the dishes
popular in the countries wherein he
had conducted campaigns. Thus,
after Egypt, he becam very fond Of
pllaH and dates. He was, however,
most in favor of Italian frttered food
and pastry and liked chicken in every
cooked form
AS to his occasional calls for sol
dierS' soup and commissariat bread,
NJ. Mason believes that Napoleon
only assumed his taste in that direc-
ton for parade purposes. He was
known on one occasion to swallow a
plate OF military soup after having a
hair pulled out of it-but then the sol
dicrs were looking on Had his cook,
Dunan-a worthy descendant of Vatel
put army bouillon before him at the
Tuleries. Napoleon would probably
have flung the plate and its contents
III the head of the chef. Dunan. by
the way, was once about to resign De-
cause the Emperor refused to eat Gre
pnettes de perdreau twice in one
month. but he remained on at Du-
roc's suggestion. and Modified his
mighty master by dish of roast
fowl. Now and then the dejeuner
lasted longer than seven or eight min
utes. but only when Napoleon had
morning guests like Talma. David
or 1sabey. NJ Mason has also
good deal to say about Bonaparte's
enormous capacity for work. which
caused him often to miss the official
dinner hour, and to rise at 3 o'clock
in the morning in order to study bud
gets, ministerial reports and army re-
turns. After his second marriage
there was less freedom in the Court
Etiquette was more strictly enforced
than ever. and the Emperor became
more inaccessible and Oympian NJ.
Mason modeStly says that his book
is only intended to provide cOntribu-
tons to history. In any case. it is far
more interesting reading than many
i work of fictiOn.-LOndOn Telegraph.