Note 11 — Chapter 1 My Nurse and the Grande Armée—The Fire of Moscow—My Father with Napoleon—General Ilovaisky—Travelling with the French Prisoners—The Patriotism of C. Calot—The Common Management of the Property—Dividing it—The Senator

My father had, besides me, another son ten years older. I was always fond of him, but he could not be a companion to me. From his twelfth to his thirtieth year he was always in the hands of the surgeons. After a series of tortures, endured with extreme fortitude and rendering his whole existence one intermittent operation, the doctors declared his disease incurable. His health was shattered; circumstances and character contributed to the complete ruin of his life. The pages in which I speak of his lonely and melancholy existence have been omitted. I do not care to print them without his consent.