The most significant event in the eighteen-year-old Napoleon's so
journ in Paris was that he lost his virginity. On the freezing night of 22
November 1787 he went to the Palais-Royal, then the red-light district,
and picked up a prostitute. The Palais-Royal, bordering the Louvre and
the Tuileries, had once belonged to Cardinal Richelieu and the due
d'Orleans. In 1776 the gardens became the property of the due de
Chartres, a libertine, who engaged the architect Victor Louis to build a
theatre. While this was being constructed, a wooden gallery was put up,
running alongside the gardens. Known as the camp des tartares, by 1784 it
was notorious for prostitution and petty theft; as the private property of
the due de Chartres, it was safe from police raids. Meanwhile the theatre
itself gradually took shape in the inner area of the Palais, which then
became a centre for culture in its widest sense, both elite and popular.
It was here that Napoleon made his first timid approaches to afille de
joie. He approached one who proved willing to talk about her experiences
and what had driven her to this life. Encouraged by her ingenuousness,
he took her back to his lodgings. They talked, then made love. Napoleon
records that she was slight, slim and feminine and that she was a Breton,
from Nantes, who had been seduced by an army officer.
On New Year's Day 1788 he arrived back in Ajaccio. The family's
financial situation had worsened if anything and Letizia still had four
children entirely dependent on her; in 1788 Louis had his tenth birthday,
Pauline her eighth, Caroline her sixth and Jerome his fourth, and in
addition there were fees payable for Lucien at the Aix seminary and
Joseph at the University of Pisa. It is remarkable how quickly Napoleon,
as the only breadwinner, was accepted as the head of the family, and how
Joseph was quite prepared to defer to him. But by the time Napoleon
departed from Ajaccio on 1 June 1788 he had at least had the pleasure of
seeing Joseph return from Pisa with the coveted title of Doctor of La ws.
The La Fere regiment was by now stationed in Auxonne. Once again
Napoleon dedicated himself to a Spartan existence. He lodged near the
barracks, at the Pavilion de la Ville, where his room had a single cell-like
window and was austerely furnished with just a bed, table and armchair.
There was even less to do here than at Valence, and appearance at parade
was required just once a week. In this period Napoleon became a genuine
workaholic, alternating his writing of apprentice pieces with omnivorous
reading, with special emphasis on history, Corsica and the theory of
artillery. He was already learning to get by with a minimum of sleep; he
rose at 4 a.m., took just one meal a day at 3 p.m. so as to save money, and
went to bed at 10 p.m. after eighteen hours at his books.
The ascetic way of life seriously affected his health. Poor diet,
marcin
(Marcin)
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