who
bore one of the most noble and most ancient names in all France, and who,
it is said, had been placed near the Empress against her wishes. The
Prince of Neuchatel (Berthier) announced that the stag was at bay.
"Madame," said the Emperor gallantly to Madame de C---- , "I place his
fate in your hands."--"Do with him, Sire," replied she, "as you please.
It is no difference to me." The Emperor gave her a glance of disapproval,
and said to the master of the hounds, "Since the stag in his misery does
not interest Madame C----, he does not deserve to live; have him put to
death;" whereupon his Majesty turned his horse's bridle, and rode off.
The Emperor was shocked by such an answer, and repeated it that evening,
on his return from the hunt, in terms by no means flattering to Madame
de C----.

It is stated in the Memorial of Saint-Helena that the Emperor, while
hunting, was thrown and wounded by a wild boar, from which one of his
fingers bore a bad scar. I never saw this, and never knew of such an
accident having happened to the Emperor. The Emperor did not place his
gun firmly to his shoulder, and as he always had it heavily loaded and
rammed, never fired without making his arm black with bruises; but I
rubbed the injured place with eau de Cologne, and he gave it no further
thought.

The ladies followed the hunt in their coaches; a table being usually
arranged in the forest for breakfast, to which all persons in the hunt
were invited.

The Emperor on one occasion hunted with falcons on the plain of
Rambouillet, in order to make a trial of the falconry that the King of
Holland (Louis) had sent as a present to his Majesty. The household made
a fete of seeing this hunt, of which we had been hearing so much; but the
Emperor appeared to take less pleasure in this than in the chase or
shooting, and hawking was never tried again.

His Majesty was exceedingly fond of the play, preferring greatly French
tragedy and the Italian opera. Corneille was his favorite author; and he
had always on his table some volume of the works of this great poet. I
have often heard the Emperor declaim, while walking up and down in his
room, verses of Cinna, or this speech on the death of Caesar:

"Caesar, you will reign; see the august day
In which the Roman people, always unjust to thee," etc.

At the theater of Saint-Cloud, the piece for the evening was often made
up of fragments and selections from different authors, one act being
ch