n he declined to see Grouchy before 8 a.m. Yet his review of the
troops and his long discussions on Parisian politics were clearly due,
not to torpor, but to the belief that he had sundered the allies, and
could occupy Brussels at will; for when he found out his mistake, he
showed all the old energy, riding with the vanguard from Quatre Bras
to La Belle Alliance through the violent rain.

Whatever, then, were his ailments, they were not incompatible with
great and sustained activity. What were those ailments? He is said to
have suffered from intermittent affections of the lower bowel, of the
bladder, and of the skin, the two last resulting in ischury (Dorsey
Gardner's "Quatre Bras, Ligny, and Waterloo," pp. 31-37; O'Connor
Morris, pp. 164-166, note). The list is formidable; but it contains
its own refutation. A man suffering from these diseases, unless in
their earliest and mildest stages, could not have done what Napoleon
did. Ischury, if at all pronounced, is a bar to horse exercise.
Doubtless his long rides aggravated any trouble that he had in this
respect, for Petiet, who was attached to the staff, noticed that he
often dismounted and sat before a little table that was brought to him
for the convenience of examining maps; but Petiet thought this was
due, not to ill health (about which he says nothing), but to his
corpulence ("Souvenirs militaires," pp. 196 and 212). Prince Jerome
and a surgeon of the imperial staff assured Thiers that Napoleon was
suffering from a disease of the bladder; but this was contradicted by
the valet, Marchand; and if he really was suffering from all, or any
one, of the maladies named above, it is very strange that the surgeon
allowed him to expose himself to the torrential rain of the night of
the 17th-18th for a purpose which a few trusty officers could equally
well have discharged (see next chapter). Furthermore, Baron Larrey,
Chief Surgeon of the army, who saw Napoleon before the campaign began
and during its course, _says not a word about the Emperor's health_
("Relation medicale des Campagnes, 1815-1840," pp. 5-11).

Again, the intervals of drowsiness on the 15th and 18th of June, on
which the theory of physical collapse is largely based, may be
explained far more simply. Napoleon had long formed the habit of
working a good deal at night and of seeking repose during a busy day
by brief snatches of slumber. The habit grew on him at Elba; and this,
together with his activity since day