night, put on his dressing-gown, and worked in his cabinet: frequently he
had insomnia, which he could not overcome; and when the bed at last
became unbearable, he sprang from it suddenly, took a book and read,
walking back and forth, and when his head was somewhat relieved lay down
again. It was very rarely he slept the whole of two nights in
succession; but often he remained thus in the cabinet till the hour for
his toilet, when he returned to his room and I dressed him. The Emperor
took great care of his hands; but on this campaign he many times
neglected this species of coquetry, and during the excessive heat did not
wear gloves, as they inconvenienced him so greatly. He endured the cold
heroically, though it was easy to see he suffered much from it
physically.

At Witepsk the Emperor, finding the space in front of the house in which
he had his quarters too small to hold a review of the troops, had several
small buildings torn down in order to enlarge it. There was a small
dilapidated chapel which it was also necessary to destroy in order to
accomplish this, and it had been already partly torn down, when the
inhabitants assembled in large numbers, and loudly expressed their
disapprobation of this measure. But the Emperor having given his consent
to their removing the sacred objects contained in the chapel, they were
pacified; and, armed with this authority, several among them entered the
sacred place, and emerged bearing with great solemnity wooden images of
immense height, which they deposited in the other churches.

We were witnesses while in this town of a singular spectacle, and one
well calculated to shock our sense of decency. For many days during the
intense heat we saw the inhabitants, both men and women, rushing to the
banks of the river, removing their clothing with the greatest
indifference to spectators, and bathing together, most of them nearly