before our
readers' eyes, he was much concerned by the fear of future corpulence;
it was to Bourrienne that he usually confided this singular dread.

"You see, Bourrienne, how slim and abstemious I am. Well, nothing can
rid me of the idea that when I am forty I shall be a great eater and
very fat. I foresee that my constitution will undergo a change. I take
exercise enough, but what will you!--it's a presentiment; and it won't
fail to happen."

We all know to what obesity he attained when a prisoner at Saint Helena.

He had a positive passion for baths, which no doubt contributed not a
little to make him fat; this passion became an irresistible need. He
took one every other day, and stayed in it two hours, during which time
the journals and pamphlets of the day were read to him. As the
water cooled he would turn the hot-water faucet until he raised the
temperature of his bathroom to such a degree that the reader could
neither bear it any longer, nor see to read. Not until then would he
permit the door to be opened.

It has been said that he was subject to epileptic attacks after his
first campaign in Italy. Bourrienne was with him eleven years, and never
saw him suffer from an attack of this malady.

Bonaparte, though indefatigable when necessity demanded it, required
much sleep, especially during the period of which we are now writing.
Bonaparte, general or First Consul, kept others awake, but he slept, and
slept well. He retired at midnight, sometimes earlier, as we have said,
and when at seven in the morning they entered his room to awaken him
he was always asleep. Usually at the first call he would rise; but
occasionally, still half asleep, he would mutter: "Bourrienne, I beg of
you, let me sleep a little longer."

Then, if there was nothing urgent, Bourrienne would return at eight
o'clock; if it was otherwise, he insisted, and then, with much
grumbling, Bonaparte would get up. He slept seven, sometimes eight,
hours out of the twenty-four, taking a short nap in the afternoon. He
also gave particular instruction for the night.

"At night," he would say, "come in my room as seldom as possible. Never
wake me if you have good news to announce--good news can wait; but if
there is bad news, wake me instantly, for then there is not a moment to
be lost in facing it."

As soon as Bonaparte had risen and made his morning ablutions, which
were very thorough, his valet entered and brushed his hair and shaved
him; whi