health. His successor, Meneval, without the same amount of
work, broke down and had to receive assistance (Meneval, tome i. p.
149).]--

I soon perceived the First Consul's anxiety to make M. de Meneval
acquainted with the routine of business, and accustomed to his manner.
Bonaparte had never pardoned me for having presumed to quit him after he
had attained so high a degree of power; he was only waiting for an
opportunity to punish me, and he seized upon an unfortunate circumstance
as an excuse for that separation which I had previously wished to bring
about.

I will explain this circumstance, which ought to have obtained for me the
consolation and assistance of the First Consul rather than the forfeiture
of his favour. My rupture with him has been the subject of various
misstatements, all of which I shall not take the trouble to correct;
I will merely notice what I have read in the Memoirs of the Duc de
Rovigo, in which it is stated that I was accused of peculation. M. de
Rovigo thus expresses himself:

Ever since the First Consul was invested with the supreme power his
life had been a continued scene of personal exertion. He had for
his private secretary M. de Bourrienne, a friend and companion of
his youth, whom he now made the sharer of all his labours. He
frequently sent for him in the dead of the night, and particularly
insisted upon his attending him every morning at seven. Bourrienne
was punctual in his attendance with the public papers, which he had
previously glanced over. The First Consul almost invariably read
their contents himself; he then despatched some business, and sat
down to table just as the clock struck nine. His breakfast, which
lasted six minutes, was no sooner over than he returned to his
cabinet, only left it for dinner, and resumed his close occupation
immediately after, until ten at night, which was his usual hour for
retiring to rest.

Bourrienne was gifted with a most wonderful memory; he could speak
and write many languages, and would make his pen follow as fast as
words were uttered. He possessed many other advantages; he was well
acquainted with the administrative departments, was versed in the
law of nations, and possessed a zeal and activity which rendered his
services quite indispensable to the First Consul. I have known the
several grounds upon which the unlimited confidence placed in him by
his chief rested