Orientals. One day he was seized with a desire to try it, and had
everything necessary for this purpose prepared. The fire having been
applied to the bowl, the only question now was to light the tobacco; but
from the manner in which his Majesty attempted this it was impossible for
him to succeed, as he alternately opened and closed his lips repeatedly
without drawing in his breath at all. "Why, what is the matter?" cried
he; "it does not work at all." I called his attention to the fact that
he was not inhaling properly, and showed him how it ought to be done; but
the Emperor still continued his performances, which were like some
peculiar kind of yawning. Tired out by his fruitless efforts at last, he
told me to light it for him, which I did, and instantly handed it back to
him. But he had hardly taken a whiff when the smoke, which he did not
know how to breathe out again, filled his throat, got into his windpipe,
and came out through his nose and eyes in great puffs. As soon as he
could get his breath, he panted forth, "Take it away! what a pest! Oh,
the wretches! it has made me sick." In fact, he felt ill for at least an
hour after, and renounced forever the "pleasure of a habit, which," said
he, "is only good to enable do-nothings to kill time."

The only requirements the Emperor made as to his clothing was that it
should be of fine quality and perfectly comfortable; and his coats for
ordinary use, dress-coats, and even the famous gray overcoat, were made
of the finest cloth from Louviers. Under the Consulate he wore, as was
then the fashion, the skirts of his coat extremely long; afterwards
fashion changed, and they were worn shorter; but the Emperor held with
singular tenacity to the length of his, and I had much trouble in
inducing him to abandon this fashion, and it was only by a subterfuge
that I at last succeeded. Each time I ordered a new coat for his
Majesty, I directed the tailor to shorten the skirts by an inch at least,
until at last, without his being aware of it, they were no longer