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Recollections of
[Ch. IV.

thought it right to sacrifice many others. I do not, then, profess to give a journal of what Napoleon daily said and did at the Briars; but the occurrences related I have inserted as nearly as possible in the order in which they took place.

The emperor's habits, during the time he stayed with us, were very simple and regular. His usual hour for getting up was eight, and be seldom took any thing but a cup of coffee until one, when he breakfasted, or rather lunched; he dined at nine, and retired about eleven to his own rooms. His manner was so unaffectedly kind and amiable, that in a few days I felt perfectly at ease in his society, and looked upon him more as a companion of my own age, than as the mighty warrior at whose name "the world grew pale."

His spirits were very good, and he was at times almost boyish in his love of mirth and glee, not unmixed sometimes with a tinge of malice.

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