Napoleon's Hat & His Bidet
Friday, June 09, 2017
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| Rosa 'Chapeau de Napoléon' June 14 2017 |
In our Kitsilano lane/garage door garden we have two moss roses. One is Rosa ‘Chapeau de Napoléon’ and the other Rosa ‘William Lob’. Both have that curious filigreed growth around the blooms which if you rub with your fingers smells like pine resin. The roses are fragrant but only bloom once.
Curiously to some but certainly not to me I think of a bidet
when I look at Chapeau de Napoléon. It is called that because before the bloom
opens it is supposed to look like Napoleon’s hat.
I think of a bidet because Napoleon had hemorrhoids. This was probably because of his constant and long campaigns on a horse. He traveled with a bidet and in his will:
Inventory of my effects, which Marchand will take care
of, convey to my son.
My silver
dressing-case, that which is on my table, furnished with all its utensils,
razors, &c. My alarum-clock: it is the alarum-clock of Frederic II. which I
took at Potsdam (in box No. III.). My two watches, with the chain of the
Empress’s hair and a chain of my own hair for the other watch: Marchand will
get it made at Paris. My two seals (one the seal of France, contained in box
No. III.). The small gold clock which is now in my bed-chamber. My
wash-hand-stand and its water-jug. My night-tables, those used in France, and
my silver-gilt bidet. My two iron bedsteads, my mattresses, and my coverlets,
if they can be preserved. My three silver decanters, which held my eau-de-vie.,
and which my chasseurs carried in the field. My French telescope. My spurs, two
pairs. Three mahogany boxes, Nos. I. II. III., containing my snuff-boxes and
other articles. A silver-gilt perfuming pan.
You will note the mention of the silver-gilt bidet!
