did not try to combat an opinion but too well-founded, but diverted the
conversation to another subject. "I resign myself," said Napoleon, "to
your direction. Let medicine give the order, I submit to its decisions.
I entrust my health to your care. I owe you the detail of the habits I
have acquired, of the affections to which I am subject.

"The hours at which I obey the injunctions of nature are in general
extremely irregular. I sleep, I eat according to circumstances or the
situation in which I am placed; my sleep is ordinarily sound and
tranquil. If pain or any accident interrupt it I jump out of bed, call
for a light, walk, set to work, and fix my attention on some subject;
sometimes I remain in the dark, change my apartment, lie down in another
bed, or stretch myself on the sofa. I rise at two, three, or four in the
morning; I call for some one to keep me company, amuse myself with
recollections or business, and wait for the return of day. I go out as
soon as dawn appears, take a stroll, and when the sun shows itself I
reenter and go to bed again, where I remain a longer or shorter time,
according as the day promises to turn out. If it is bad, and I feel
irritation and uneasiness, I have recourse to the method I have just
mentioned. I change my posture, pass from my bed to the sofa, from the
sofa to the bed, seek and find a degree of freshness. I do not describe
to you my morning costume; it has nothing to do with the sufferings I
endure, and besides, I do not wish to deprive you of the pleasure of your
surprise when you see it. These ingenious contrivances carry me on to
nine or ten o'clock, sometimes later. I then order the breakfast to be
brought, which I take from time to time in my bath, but most frequently
in the garden. Either Bertrand or Montholon keep me company, often both
of them. Physicians have the right of regulating the table; it is proper
that I should give you an account of mine. Well, then, a basin of soup,
two plates of meat, one of vegetables, a salad when I can take it,
compose the whole service; half a bottle of claret; which I dilute with a
good deal of water, serves me for drink; I drink a little of it pure
towards the end of the repast. Sometimes, when I feel fatigued, I
substitute champagne for claret, it is a certain means of giving a fillip
to the stomach."

The doctor having expressed his surprise at Napoleon's temperance, he
replied, "In my marches with the army of Italy I never faile