expected to appear before his Majesty, his head was completely turned.  How could he dare to present himself before the Emperor?  What costume must he wear?  I encouraged him, and told him he would need a black French coat, with breeches, and hat, etc.; and he presented himself thus adorned at the Tuileries.  On entering his Majesty’s chamber he made a deep bow, and stood much embarrassed.  “It surely cannot be you who made shoes for me at the l’ecole militaire?”—­“No, your Majesty, Emperor and King, it was my father.”—­“And why don’t he do so now?”—­“Sire, the Emperor and King, because he is dead.”—­“How much do you make me pay for my shoes?”—­“Your Majesty, Emperor and King, pays eighteen francs for them.”—­“That is very dear.”—­“Your Majesty, Emperor and King, could pay much more for them if he would.”  The Emperor laughed heartily at this simplicity, and let him take his measure; but the Emperor’s laughter had so completely disconcerted the poor man that, when he approached him, his hat under his arm, making a thousand bows, his sword caught between his legs, was broken in two, and made him fall on his hands and knees, not to remain there long, however, for his Majesty’s roars of laughter increasing, and being at last freed from his sword, the poor shoemaker took the Emperor’s measure with more ease, and withdrew amidst profuse apologies.

All his Majesty’s linen was of extremely fine quality, marked with an “N” in a coronet; at first he wore no suspenders, but at last began using them, and found them very comfortable.  He wore next his body vests made of English flannel, and the Empress Josephine had a dozen cashmere vests made for his use in summer.

Many persons have believed that the Emperor wore a cuirass under his clothes when walking and while in the army.  This is entirely false:  the Emperor never put on a cuirass, nor anything resembling one, under his coat any more than over it.

The Emperor wore no jewelry; he never had in his pockets either purse or silver, but only his handkerchief, his snuff-box, and his bonbon-box.

He wore on his coat only a star and two crosses, that of the Legion of Honor, and that of the Iron Crown.  Under his uniform and on his vest he wore a red ribbon, the ends of which could just be seen.

When there was a reception at the chateau, or he held a review, he put this grand cordon outside his coat.

His hat, the shape of which it will be useless to describe while portraits of his Majesty exist, was-extremely fine and very light, lined with silk and wadded; and on it he wore neither tassels nor plumes, but simply a narrow, flat band of silk and a little tricolored cockade.