uke of Vicenza, he
said to him that he did not wish anything of mine to be touched.

The Emperor occasionally read in the morning the new works and romances
of the day; and when a work displeased him, he threw it into the fire.
This does not mean that only improper books were thus destroyed; for if
the author was not among his favorites, or if he spoke too well of a
foreign country, that was sufficient to condemn the volume to the flames.
On this account I saw his Majesty throw into the fire a volume of the
works of Madame de Stael, on Germany. If he found us in the evening
enjoying a book in the little saloon, where we awaited the hour for
retiring, he examined what we were reading; and if he found they were
romances, they were burned without pity, his Majesty rarely failing to
add a little lecture to this confiscation, and to ask the delinquent "if
a man could not find better reading than that." One morning he had
glanced over and thrown in the fire a book (by what author I do not
know); and when Roustan stooped down to take it out the Emperor stopped
him, saying, "Let that filthy thing burn; it is all that it deserves."

The Emperor mounted his horse most ungracefully, and I think would not
have always been very safe when there, if so much care had not been taken
to give him only those which were perfectly trained; but every precaution
was taken, and horses destined for the special service of the Emperor
passed through a rude novitiate before arriving at the honor of carrying
him. They were habituated to endure, without making the least movement,
torments of all kinds; blows with a whip over the head and ears; the drum
was beaten; pistols were fired; fireworks exploded in their ears; flags
were shaken before their eyes; heavy weights were thrown against their
legs, sometimes even sheep and hogs. It was required that in the midst
of the most rapid gallop (the Emperor liked no other pace), he should be
able to stop his horse suddenly; and in short, it was absolutely
necessary to have only the most perfectly trained animals.

M. Jardin, senior, equerry of his Majesty, acquitted himself of this
laborious duty with much skill and ability, as the Emperor attached such
importance to it; he also insisted strongly that his horses should be
very handsome, and in the last years of his reign would ride only Arab
horses.

There were a few of those noble animals for which the Emperor had a great
affection; among others, Styria,