A LINK WITH NAPOLEON [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—If your correspondent, Mr. Cecil Wilson, of Weybridge, will look at an article in the July 1st number of the Revue des De= Mondes, he will see that Napoleon's habit of pinching or pulling people's ears was not confined to those of any class.
The Duc de la Force is publishing most interesting memoirs of Caulaincourt, Due de Vicence, who was in December, 1812, for fourteen long days alone with Napoleon, on his rapid journey to Paris, after his Russian disasters. Caulain- court spoke very frankly to Napoleon, who generally took his criticisms in good part, but " aux choses qui lui parais- saient sans doute un peu fortes it cherchait mon oreille pour la tirer ; ne la trouvant pas sous mon bonnet, ma joue ou ma nuque recevait une petite tape de bienveillance plutot que d'humeur."
Many similar incidents of this habit are recorded in the Memoirs of Queen Hortense.—I am, Sir, &c.,
HELEN MACMILLAN.
&2 Cadogan Place, S.W.
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