Napoleon himself might have been deceived.

My first order was to cut off all their heads; but I commuted the sentence to a heavy fine.

Ah, boys, if they only understood at headquarters how to carry on a war in the Peninsula, they'd never have to grumble in England about increased taxation! How I'd mulet the nunneries! How I'd grind the corporate towns! How I'd inundate the country with exchequer bills! I'd sell the priors at so much a head, and put the nuns up to auction by the dozen." "You sacrilegious old villain! But continue the account of your exploits." "Faith, I remember little more.

After dinner I grew somewhat mellow, and a kind of moral bewilderment, which usually steals over me about eleven o'clock, induced me to invite the alcalde and all the aldermen to come and sup.

Apparently, we had a merry night of it, and when morning broke, we were not quite clear in our intellects.