d there was every
opportunity of introducing poison; but in spite of all this, never did
such an idea enter the minds of the people in his service, whose devotion
and fidelity to the Emperor, even including the very humblest, surpassed
any idea I could convey.

The habit of eating rapidly sometimes caused his Majesty violent pains in
his stomach, which ended almost always in a fit of vomiting.

One day the valet on duty came in great haste to tell me that the Emperor
desired my presence immediately. His dinner had caused indigestion, and
he was suffering greatly. I hurried to his Majesty's room, and found him
stretched at full length on the rug, which was a habit of the Emperor
when he felt unwell. The Empress Josephine was seated by his side, with
the sick man's head on her lap, while he groaned or stormed alternately,
or did both at once: for the Emperor bore this kind of misfortune with
less composure than a thousand graver mischances which the life of a
soldier carries with it; and the hero of Arcola, whose life had been
endangered in a hundred battles, and elsewhere also, without lessening
his fortitude, showed himself unequal to the endurance of the slightest
pain. Her Majesty the Empress consoled and encouraged him as best she
could; and she, who was so courageous herself in enduring those headaches
which, on account of their excessive violence, were a genuine disease,
would, had it been possible, have taken on herself most willingly the
ailment of her husband, from which she suffered almost as much as he did,
in witnessing his sufferings. "Constant," said she, as I entered, "come
quick; the Emperor needs you; make him some tea, and do not go out till
he is better." His Majesty had scarcely taken three cups before the pain
decreased, while she continued to hold his head on her knees, pressing
his brow with her white, plump hands, and also rubbing his breast. "You
feel better, do you not? Would you like to lie down a little while? I
will stay by your bed with Constant." This tenderness was indeed
touching, especially in one occupying so elevated a rank.

My intimate service often gave me the opportunity of enjoying this
picture of domestic felicity. While I am on the subject of the Emperor's
ailments, I will say a few words concerning the most serious which he
endured, with the exception of that which caused his death.

At the siege of Toulon, in 1793, the Emperor being then only colonel of
artillery, a cannone