his slumber as though it had not been interrupted. The solid en cas of food which used to be brought in at night at the Court before the Revolution, were not supplied at Napoleon's Court, for the Emperor had not inherited the enormous appetites of the princes of the ancient dynasty; but one of the Imperial cooks used to sleep near the larder to serve such refreshments as might be asked for in the night, and which were prepared in advance."
Sometimes Napoleon would not wake his zealous secretary; as thus:
"When the Emperor rose in the night, without any special object except to occupy his sleepless moments, he used to forbid my being waked before seven in the morning. On those occasions I used to find my writing-table, in the morning, covered with reports and papers annotated in his writing. On his return from his levée, which was held at nine o'clock, he used to find, on his return to his cabinet, the answers and decisions which he had indicated drawn up and ready to be sent off."
"I never ceased to find him good, patient, and indulgent in his treatment of me," says Méneval, after he has told the story of the one row he ever had with his great master.
