Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/356

 350

NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. iv. OCT. 28, 1911.

said he plunged into a pillow as the King passed a strange ceremony which was never properly explained, but was thought at the time to be a token of membership of some society to which the King and he belonged."

Mr. Williams' s surmise scarcely seems probable. Would not the ceremonial be an instance of sympathetic magic, akin to the device of sticking pins in the victim's effigy the pillow in this instance representing the King, and stabbing, the form of death it was desired to bring about ?

W. B. GERISH.

NAPOLEON'S IMPERIAL GUARD.

(US. iv. 289.)

THE subject of the REV. E. L. H. TEW'S query is rather difficult to condense, so intimately is it connected with the fortunes of Napoleon.

In 1787 the distinguished Gardes de la Prevote de 1' Hotel were disbanded after an existence of 550 years from the time of St. Louis. A number of their least worthy members were subsequently incorporated in the Garde de la Convention of 500 men formed in 1793. This force became in 1795 the Garde du Directoire (120 infantry and 120 cavalry), again changed to the Garde Consulaire of over 2,000 men at the close of 1799. This force was considerably augmented between 1802-3 and July, 1804, when the title was changed to Garde Imperiale.

With regard to numbers : the total of 9,798 of 1804 gradually increased to 112,500 in 1814. Of 1,050 men who landed in France from Elba with Napoleon on 1 March, 1815, 700 were of the Old Guard and Polish Lancers (known as " Escadron Napoleon "). In the Hundred Days the Guard numbered 25,866 ; the field state shows 16,100 present at Waterloo.

With regard to composition : it com- prised all arms, viz :

Old Guard. Grenadiers a pied, Grenadiers a cheval, Chasseurs a pied, Chasseurs a cheval, Dragons de 1'Imperatrice, Gendarmes a cheval, Lanciers polonais, Lanciers rouges (chevau-legers), Artilleurs a pied, Artilleurs a cheval, Fusiliers-grenadiers, Sapeurs du genie, Soldats du train, Marins de la garde, Mameloucks, Velites, &c.

Young Guard. Tirailleurs - grenadiers, Tirailleurs-chasseurs, Voltigeurs, Flanqueurs, Eclaireurs, Gardes d'honneur, Pupilles, &c.

Particular interest is attached to such original corps as the Marins, Gardes d'hon- neur, Mameloucks, Velites, and Pupilles.

The officers were distinguished men of professional merit, not always of a class liable to be swayed by society influence in Paris. All ranks enjoyed substantial privi- leges of pay, precedence, dress, &c., which tended to bind them strongly to their sovereign and commander. At first the grand material offered by the veterans of the armies of Italy and Egypt justified a qualifying service of ten years and several campaigns ; but as numbers increased this high standard was lowered, and ages and services were woefully diminished at the end of 1809, after Essling.

The formation of the Young Guard of 16,000 men about 1811 was no doubt prompted by the impression made on Napoleon of the value of picked bodies of men at the crisis of an engagement, after finding himself faced at Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, and Friedland by the Imperial Guards of Russia and Austria and the Royal Guard of Prussia. They wore the uniform of the Guard, but in reality ceased to be a " troupe d' elite," and were little superior to the line regiments at whose expense they had been created.

The traditions of the Garde Imperiale remained splendid in spite of deterioration in physique and spirit of discipline ; and the Bourbons at both restorations would have been wiser, in their own interests, to treat the grand remains of Napoleon's " Grognards " with more consideration. C. HAGGARD.

It would take much space to give a full account of Napoleon's Guard, but the follow- ing may correct some of the errors usually made by English writers.

Formed originally from the Guard of the Directory and of the Councils, with Bona- parte's Guides, it gradually grew till it became a large force. In 1812 the Old Guard had two regiments of Chasseurs a pied and two. of Grenadiers a pied. For cavalry it had one regiment of Grenadiers a cheval, one of Chasseurs a cheval, one of Dragoons, and three of Chevau-Legers-Lanciers, the second of which was the famous " Red Lancers." It also had artillery engineers, sailors, gendarmerie, train, &c., a complete corps. Originally four campaigns and proof of bravery were required for entrance. It never had Hussars ; and, whatever French and English writers say, it never had Cuirassiers, although I possess a French portrait of one.