"No trouble has been spared to render the picture a resemblance, its
height is Napoleon's exact height, according to Constant, his valet,
viz. five feet two inches and three quarters, French, or five feet
five inches and a half, English; the uniform is that of one of the
regiments of Chasseurs, every detail has been dictated by an old
officer of the regiment; and his celebrated hat has been faithfully
copied from one of Napoleon's own hats now in England.
"The best description I ever saw of Napoleon's appearance was in the
letter of an Irish gentleman, named North, published in the _Dublin
Evening Post_, and as it is so very characteristic, it may amuse the
visiter. He saw him at Elba in 1814, and thus paints him:--
"He but little resembles the notion I had of him, or any other man I
ever saw. He is the squarest figure I think I ever remember to have
seen, and exceedingly corpulent. His face is a perfect square, from
the effects of fat, and, as he has no whiskers, his jaw is thrown more
into relief; this description, joined to his odd little three-cornered
cocked hat, and very plain clothes, would certainly give him the
appearance of a vulgar person, if the impression was not counteracted
by his evil soldierly carriage, and the peculiar manner of his
walking, which is confident, theatrical and a little ruffian like, for
he stamps the ground at every step, and at the same time twists his
body a little.
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