I am very much enjoying reading about Napoleon Bonaparte. One of my French friends once remarked that I 'could be Corsican' which I took as a huge compliment. But until starting this blog I had never looked too closely at the man.
The great man. Probably the greatest short man of all time - and therefore probably the greatest man of all time. Yes, I am a convinced Bonapartist.
He displayed all of the qualities which short men should possess: brilliance, daring, volatility allied with loveability, promiscuity, and more than anything was always trying to prove himself. He had the lot.
I particularly enjoyed his furious slapping-down of Talleyrand, his double-dealing minister, as reported in Andrew Roberts' brilliant book, Napoleon and Wellington.
Napoleon: "Why, I could break you like a glass! I have the power to do so. But I scorn you too much for that. Why didn't I have you hanged in public on the gates of the Carousel? But there is still time for that. You are just common shit in silk stockings!"
I love it all. I love the threat, the scorn, the further threat, and then out-and-out abuse. And I need hardly add that Talleyrand was, of course, a tall man.
Splendid, splendid, splendid.
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