He would speak to me on all sorts of disconnected subjects, of himself, of his manias, of his constitution, of me, or of some plan that he had in his head. He was fond of teasing, never bitterly or nastily, but on the contrary with a certain amount of kindness, and accompanied with loud laughter. He would glance through the titles of his books, saying a word of praise or blame on the authors, and would linger with preference over the tragedies of Corneille and Voltaire. He would read tirades from these tragedies aloud, then would shut up the book and walk up and down reciting verses from 'The Death of Caesar.' . . . When he was tired of reading or reciting, he would begin to sing in a strong, but false voice. When he had nothing to trouble him, or he was pleased with what he was thinking about, it was shown in the choice of his songs. These would be airs from 'Le Devin du Village,' or other old operas. . . . When he was in a more serious frame of mind, he used to sing verses from the Revolutionary hymns and chants, such as the Chant du Depart: 'Veillons au salut de l'Empire.'"
XVII.
WAS NAPOLEON SUPERSTITIOUS?
Méneval says emphatically, No; though he does admit that Napoleon was something of a fatalist. Josephine, being a Creole, was of course intensely
