function of pure impatience, fr ustration and intolerance. Woe betide any
servant who placed something on the right-hand side that belonged on
the left or misplaced his toiletries. He would always tear off any clothes
that constricted him, throw them on the fire and then hit whoever had
laid them out for him or dressed him. At night he would often throw his
clothes all over the floor, then slap the person nearest to him as
'punishment' fo r the chore of having to divest himself. Sometimes he
played a game, shouting 'lands' as he took off one item of clothing,
'castles' when he took off another, and so on through 'provinces,
kingdoms, republics, etc.
The same impatience explained why he always bolted his food,
sometimes with the consequence of stomach cramps or vomiting.
Napoleon's eating habits have always compelled astonishment. No meal
with him ever lasted more than twenty minutes, for he would
immediately rise from the table when he had finished dessert. He liked to
eat little, fast and often, and expected his favourite fo od to be ready at any
hour of day or night. Duroc made sure that his favourite repast - a roast
chicken - was always to hand and kept a careful inventory of the beloved
fowl. Another favourite Bonaparte dish was potatoes fr ied with onions.
He drank little wine and always unmixed, his favourite tipple being a
glass of Chambertin. Napoleon would demolish his food in silence and at
express speed, sometimes eating the courses in reverse order and even
eating with his fingers if he had pressing matters on his mind. At home
he would dine with Josephine or with favourites such as Duroc, Berthier
and Caulaincourt. In the field he would take a fr ugal lunch in the saddle
or eat with the officer commanding the unit he was visiting. Although
dinner was supposed to be at 6 p.m., often he would not eat until nine or
ten or even midnight.
Another Bonaparte peculiarity was his insistence on always having a
fire lit, winter or summer. Forever complaining of the cold, he would kick
the blazing logs while he talked. Hot baths were another prerequisite - so
hot that his staff wondered any man could get into the water. He hated
cats - to the point of genuine ailourophobia - and had the most acute
sense of smell that caused him agony on the battlefield, when the stench
of burned and rotting bodies assailed his nostrils. A fu rther mania was a
horror of open doors. Anyone entering his room had to open the door
just wide enough to squeeze through, then hold the door tight shut by the
handle, sometimes doing so with hands behind the back, until dismissed.
These quasi-neurotic symptoms seem to have been the response of an
over-stressed organism. Nobody reviewing Napoleon's daily routine can
doubt that he taxed physical and mental strength to the limit. His
marcin
(Marcin)
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