kept
increasing, until at length they seemed to be convulsive, and some
of the most zealous fainted sway ('Memoirs of Napoleon').]--

--[Roustan or Rustan, a Mameluke, was always with Napoleon from the
time of the return from Egypt till 1814, when he abandoned his
master. He slept at or near the door of Napoleon. See Remusat,
tome i, p. 209, for an amusing description of the alarm of
Josephine, and the precipitate flight of Madame de Remusat, at the
idea of being met and killed by this man in one of Josephine's
nocturnal attacks on the privacy of her husband when closeted with
his mistress.]--

It has been alleged that Bonaparte, when in Egypt, took part in the
religious ceremonies and worship of the Mussulmans; but it cannot be said
that he celebrated the festivals of the overflowing of the Nile and the
anniversary of the Prophet. The Turks invited him to these merely as a
spectator; and the presence of their new master was gratifying to the
people. But he never committed the folly of ordering any solemnity.
He neither learned nor repeated any prayer of the Koran, as many persons
have asserted; neither did he advocate fatalism, polygamy, or any other
doctrine of the Koran. Bonaparte employed himself better than in
discussing with the Imaums the theology of the children of Ismael. The
ceremonies, at which policy induced him to be present, were to him, and
to all who accompanied him, mere matters of curiosity. He never set foot
in a mosque; and only on one occasion, which I shall hereafter mention,
dressed himself in the Mahometan costume. He attended the festivals to
which the green turbans invited him. His religious tolerance was the
natural consequence of his philosophic spirit.

--[From this Sir Walter Scott infers that he did not scruple to join
the Musselmans in the external ceremonies of their religion. He
embellishes his romance with the ridiculous farce of the sepulchral
chamber of the grand pyramid, and the speeches which were addressed
to the General as well as to the muftis and Imaums; and he adds that
Bonaparte was on the point of embracing Islamism. All that Sir
Walter says on this subject is the height of absurdity, and does not
even deserve to be seriously refuted. Bonaparte never entered a
mosque except from motives of curiosity,(see contradiction in
previous paragraph. D.W.) and he never for one moment afforded any
ground for supposing t