each boy had a separate cubicle, with an iron bedstead, linen drapery to
go over the bed, a chair and shelves, a pewter jug and wash basin.
Everything was on a lavish scale. There were 215 cadets in Napoleon's
time but staff outnumbered students for, apart from the thirty professors
and a librarian, there were priests, sacristans, riding instructors, grooms,
stable hands, armourers, a medical staff, concierges, guardians of the
prison, doorkeepers, lamplighters, shoemakers, wigmakers, gardeners,
kitchen staff and no less than 150 servants. When Napoleon's name was
formally entered on the rolls as a gentleman cadet on 22 October, he was
given a splendid blue uniform, with red collar, splashes of yellow and
scarlet on the cuffs, silver braid and white gloves. Linen was changed
three times a week and the entire uniform replaced every April and
October.
The luxury at the military school rather shocked Napoleon, and when
he came to power he insisted on Spartan austerity at military academies.
On St Helena Napoleon told Las Cases of three delicious meals every
day, with choice of desserts at dinner and said: 'We were magnificently
fed and served, treated in every way like officers possessed of great
wealth, certainly greater than that of most of our families and far above
what many of us would enjoy later on.'
His memory was selective, for the daily routine was gruelling enough.
Cadets began their studies at 7 a.m. and finished at 7 p.m. - an eight
hour day with breaks. Each lesson lasted two hours, each class contained
twenty to twenty-five students, and each branch of study was taught by a
single teacher and his deputy. Accordingly, there were sixteen instructors
for the eight subjects on the curriculum: mathematics, geography,
history, French grammar, fortification, drawing, fencing and dancing.
Three days a week were spent on the first four subjects and three days on
the second four, so there were six hours' instruction in each discipline.
On Sundays and feastdays the cadets spent four hours in the classroom,
writing letters or reading improving books. In addition, there was drill
every day as well as, on Thursdays and Sundays, shooting practice and
military exercises. Punishment for infraction of the rules was severe:
arrest and imprisonment with or without water. The most common
misdemeanours committed were leaving the building without official
permission (almost never granted) and receiving unauthorized pocket
money from parents.
Napoleon's academic progress closely mirrored his years at Brienne.
He was outstanding in mathematics, was an enthusiastic fencer, but poor
at drawing and dancing, and hopeless at German; as became clear later,
he had absolutely no linguistic talent. Once again he read omnivorously
marcin
(Marcin)
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