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MADAME DE KEMUSAT'S CHARAC
TER OF NAPOLEON.
Napoleon, she tells us, could not speak
good French, nor pronounce his words
well. Ho had no graces of manner. He
did not know how to come into a room,
nor how to tako his seat, nor how to speak
tn a lady. He could not bear the trouble
of dressing himself carefully, nor of al
lowing others to dress him. He would
poke the lire with Ilia feet, and scatter the
ashes over the room. In his passions
witli Josephine, when she had so much
reason to be jealous and was indis
creet enough to reproach him, he would
break the furniture of the room to pieces.
He was ravenousathis meals, having all the
dishes on the table at once, and partak
ing of one dish after another without ob
serving the order of the courses. He
could not dance, except very badly, and
in all ball rooms or drawing rooms ho
would pull people about and make re
marks on their toilettes which broughtthe
color into tho cheeks of the ladies to
whom ho spoke. In the clays of liis Im
perial magnificence, when the Court had
to proceed in state from one part of the
palace to another, he would walk so fast
as to destroy all the decency of tho pro
cession, making the ladies and great
officers shuffle along in their grand dresses
and trains, as if they wore escaping from
a fire. Talleyrand once said to him that
good taste was his mortal enemy, and that
if ho could have destroyed it by cannon it
would long ago have ceased to exist. He
was dirty in his habits, as his clothes boro
witness. We have already mentioned
that he played chess without regarding
the rules of the game. Once he must
needs drive a " wagonette," four in hand,
himself, and, with his usual clumsiness,
he drove violently against a gate-post, and
put the Empress and others under his
charge in some peril. He liked to ride at
full speed down a steep hill, regardlessof the
nerves of those who had to follow him.
But there were worse forms sometimes
taken by his headstrong wilfulness. He
had a snobbish delight in making
mischief, in repeating to you -what some
one else had said-or not said-against
you in confidence. He would go about in
liis masked balls and insinuate to husbands
to suspect their wives, and then he was
angry if any disturbance ensued. If he
was challenged liimself, he immediately
showed who he was, and would allow no
liberty. Ho would sometimes boast of
those so-called " successes," which even
the most profligate gentlemen never re
veal. It was his plan to separate people,
that they might depend on him alone ;
to destroy characters and reputations,
that he alono might shine ; to make
people compromise themselves in public,
that ho might be more secure of their
service. His meanness was indescribable.
The Month.
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