XII.
NAPOLEON'S POWER OF WORK.
As time went on, and Napoleon became involvéd in his great wars, the demands upon his energies were greater. His power of work rose at once to the exigencies of the new situation. Poor Méneval must have had a very hard time of it; but he speaks of his experiences with a cheerful fortitude which reveals the real loyalty and kindliness of his nature. "His activity," he says of Napoleon, "grew in proportion to the obstacles put in his way, and he sorely taxed my strength, which was by no means equal to my zeal."
"To give an idea of how the gravity of the situation had developed his faculties, and of the increase in work which had resulted therefrom, and that one may judge how his prodigious activity was equal to everything, it is necessary to acquaint the reader with the new order which Napoleon had established in the despatch of his numerous affairs. The Emperor used to have me waked in the night, when, owing either to some plan which he considered ripe for execution, and which had to be carried out, or to the necessity of maturing the preliminaries of some new project, or to having to send off some courier without loss of time, he was obliged to rise himself. It sometimes happened that I would hand
