Napoleon: A Biography

architecture or entertainment, reeked of vulgarity, ostentation, conspicu­
ous consumption and chip-on-the-shoulder aping of the baubles and
excesses of the ancien regime. There was something pathetic in the way
pompous new rituals were introduced at court and about the huntin'-,
shootin-' fishin' ethos Napoleon admired in the belief that it was 'chic'
even though he himself was a very bad shot and was hard put to hit
Josephine's sedentary swans at Malmaison. One critic described Napo­
leon's court as the sort of colourful shambles one might expect from an
amateur theatrical company on rehearsal night. Only one thing prevented
the first Napoleon from descending to the level later occupied by his
epigone Napoleon III and his 'carnival empire': the military genius that
was now to make him master of Europe.