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The Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete

The Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete

Author: Constant
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Chapter 1 No.1

Word Count: 2521    |    Released on: 06/12/2017

great man to whom fortune attached me for sixteen years, and whom I scarcely quitted during the whole of that time. Notwithstand

ttained my eleventh year, the Count de Lure, head of one of the chief families of Valenciennes, happened to be one of the boarders at the Little Chateau; and as that excellent man had taken a great fancy to me, he asked my parents permission that I should become a companion to his son, who was about. the same age. My family had intended me for the church, to gratify one of my uncles, who was Dean of Lessine, a man of great wisdom and rigid virtue; and thinking that the offer of the Count de Lure would not affect my intended destin

to share the sentiments of those with whom you live, when they treat you with as much kindness as the count and countess had treated me. However, I continued to enjoy the happy freedom from care natural to youth, till one morning I was awakened by a loud noise, and was immediately surrounded by a great number of people, none of whom I knew, and who asked me countless questions w

dred leagues from my home, and already accustomed to the comforts of a luxurious life. It is hardly credible that in this state of affairs I was regarded almost as a suspect, and was required each day to present myself before the city authorities for the greater safety of the Republic. I remember well that whenever the Emperor was pleased to make me relate these tribulations of my childhood, he never failed to repeat several times, "the fools," referring to these same city authorities. However that may be, the authorities of Tours, coming to the conclusion, at last, that a child of twelve was incapable of ov

om the Emperor, a position he wished, as a place of reti

to my family. He had just obtained leave of absence, which he was going to spend with his family at Chinon, and proposed to me to accompany him, which invitation I accepted with gratitude. I cannot say too much of the kindness and considerati

o me one of the seats of his carriage, upon which I was permitted to stretch myself out and sle

n expedition. Before relating how I came to enter her household, it is proper to mention how Carrat himself came into her service, and at

be at Plombieres wh

ame the widow of Viscount Alexander de Beauharnais, 1794; married Napoleon Bonaparte March, 1796;

onaparte. A sentimental scene took place when this excellent lady left the springs. Carrat wept, bemoaned himself, and expressed his lasting grief at not being able to see Madame Bonaparte daily, as he had been accustomed; and Madame Bonaparte was so kind-hearted that she at once decided to carry him to Paris with her. She taught him to dress hair, and finally appointed him her hair-dresser and valet, at least such were the duties he had to perform when I made his acquaintance. He was permitted a most astonishing freedom of speech, sometimes even scolding her; and when Ma

a kind of simple and uncontrollable poltroonery, which never fails in comedies to excite the laughter of the spectators

in spite of the clouds of dust which were constantly rising there, to the delightful walks inside the park. One day, accompanied by her daughter Hortense, she told Carrat to follow her in her walk; and he was deli

and clutching Madame Bonaparte, said to her in a tremor, "Madame, Madame, do you see that ghost? It is the spirit of the lady who died lately at Plombieres."-"Be quiet, Carrat, you are a coward."-"Ah, but indeed it is her spirit which has come bac

er of his family, Madame Bonaparte wished to give some of her ladies an exhibition of Carrat's cowardice; a

n years of age. Married Louis Bonaparte and became Queen of Holl

attress; and as Carrat was in the habit of going to sleep without a light, he saw neither the preparations for his downfall, nor the can of water provided for his new baptism. All the members of the plot had been waiting for some moments in the adjoining closet; when he threw himself heavily upon his bed, it crashed in, and at the same instant the play of the string made the can of water do its effective work. The victim at the same time of a fall, and of a nocturnal shower-bath, Carrat cried out against his dou

ong, but they. served only to increase the gayety of the la

uharnais had applied to him for a confidential valet, his own having been detained in Cairo by severe illness at the time of his departure. He was named Lefebvre, and was an old servant entirely devoted t

ld me that Eugen

of the King of Bavaria. Died 1824. Among his descendants are t

and he wished me to enter upon my duties immediately. I was delighted with this situation, which, I know not why, painted itself to my imagination in the brightest colors, and without loss of time, went to find my modest baggag

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1 Chapter 1 No.12 Chapter 2 No.23 Chapter 3 No.34 Chapter 4 No.45 Chapter 5 No.56 Chapter 6 No.67 Chapter 7 No.78 Chapter 8 No.89 Chapter 9 No.910 Chapter 10 No.1011 Chapter 11 No.1112 Chapter 12 No.1213 Chapter 13 No.1314 Chapter 14 No.1415 Chapter 15 No.1516 Chapter 16 No.1617 Chapter 17 No.1718 Chapter 18 No.1819 Chapter 19 No.1920 Chapter 20 No.2021 Chapter 21 No.2122 Chapter 22 No.2223 Chapter 23 No.2324 Chapter 24 No.2425 Chapter 25 No.2526 Chapter 26 No.2627 Chapter 27 No.2728 Chapter 28 No.2829 Chapter 29 No.2930 Chapter 30 No.3031 Chapter 31 No.3132 Chapter 32 No.3233 Chapter 33 No.3334 Chapter 34 No.3435 Chapter 35 No.3536 Chapter 36 No.3637 Chapter 37 No.3738 Chapter 38 No.3839 Chapter 39 No.3940 Chapter 40 No.4041 Chapter 41 No.4142 Chapter 42 No.4243 Chapter 43 No.4344 Chapter 44 No.4445 Chapter 45 No.4546 Chapter 46 No.4647 Chapter 47 No.4748 Chapter 48 No.4849 Chapter 49 No.4950 Chapter 50 No.5051 Chapter 51 No.5152 Chapter 52 No.5253 Chapter 53 No.5354 Chapter 54 No.5455 Chapter 55 No.5556 Chapter 56 No.5657 Chapter 57 No.5758 Chapter 58 No.5859 Chapter 59 No.5960 Chapter 60 No.6061 Chapter 61 No.6162 Chapter 62 No.6263 Chapter 63 No.6364 Chapter 64 No.6465 Chapter 65 No.6566 Chapter 66 No.6667 Chapter 67 No.6768 Chapter 68 No.6869 Chapter 69 No.6970 Chapter 70 No.7071 Chapter 71 No.7172 Chapter 72 No.7273 Chapter 73 No.7374 Chapter 74 No.7475 Chapter 75 No.7576 Chapter 76 No.7677 Chapter 77 No.7778 Chapter 78 No.7879 Chapter 79 No.7980 Chapter 80 No.8081 Chapter 81 No.8182 Chapter 82 No.8283 Chapter 83 No.8384 Chapter 84 No.8485 Chapter 85 No.8586 Chapter 86 No.8687 Chapter 87 No.8788 Chapter 88 No.8889 Chapter 89 No.8990 Chapter 90 ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS.91 Chapter 91 MILITARY ANECDOTES.