We were about twelve hundred yards from Ratisbonne, when the Emperor, seeing the Austrians fleeing on all sides, thought the combat was over.  His dinner had been brought in a hamper to a place which the Emperor had designated; and as he was walking towards it, he turned to Marshal Berthier, and exclaimed, “I am wounded!” The shock was so great that the Emperor fell in a sitting posture, a bullet having, in fact, struck his heel.  From the size of this ball it was apparent that it had been fired by a Tyrolean rifleman, whose weapon easily carried the distance we were from the town.  It can well be understood that such an event troubled and frightened the whole staff.

An aide-de-camp summoned me; and when I arrived I found Dr. Yvan cutting his Majesty’s boot, and assisted him in dressing the wound.  Although the pain was still quite severe, the Emperor was not willing to take time to put on his boot again; and in order to turn the enemy, and reassure the army as to his condition, he mounted his horse, and galloped along the line accompanied by his whole staff.  That day, as may be believed, no one delayed to take breakfast, but all dined at Ratisbonne.

His Majesty showed an invincible repugnance to all medicine; and when he used any, which was very rarely, it was chicken broth, chicory, or cream of tartar.

Corvisart recommended him to refuse every drink which had a bitter or disagreeable taste, which he did, I believe, in the fear that an attempt might be made to poison him.

At whatever hour the Emperor had retired, I entered his room at seven or eight o’clock in the morning; and I have already said that his first questions invariably were as to the hour and the kind of weather.  Sometimes he complained to me of looking badly; and if this was true, I agreed with him, and if it were not, I told him the truth.  In this case he pulled my ears, and called me, laughing, “grosse bete,” and asked for a mirror, sometimes saying he was trying to fool me and that he was very well.  He read the daily papers, asked the names of the people in the waiting-room, named those he wished to see, and conversed with each one.  When Corvisart came, he entered without waiting for orders; and the Emperor took pleasure in teasing him by speaking of medicine, which he said was only a conjectural art, that the doctors were charlatans, and cited instances in proof of it, especially in his own experience, the doctor never yielding a point when he thought he was right.  During these conversations, the Emperor shaved himself; for I had prevailed on him to take this duty on himself, often forgetting that he had shaved only one side of his face, and when I called his attention to this, he laughed, and finished his work.  Yvan, doctor-in-ordinary, as well as Corvisart, came in for his share in the criticisms and attacks on his profession; and these discussions were extremely amusing.  The Emperor was very gay and talkative at such times, and I believe,