"A condensed version of Marbot's memoirs, wonderfully magnified by Thomason's spirited sketches"
This abridged version is well-worth reading. Thomason was a Marine colonel and the winner of the Navy Cross as well as a talented artist and military historian and his sketches in Adventures alone are worth the price of the book.
Thomason's book was my introduction to Marbot in 1971 and it gave me a taste for more French memoirs and stories of the Grande Armee. The character sketches of some of the marshals, especially Davout, are interesting and definitely worth reading. This volume is highly recommended. The volume captures the sweep and feel of the times.
From pages 94-95:
"Berlin now lay open, and the Grand Army entered, Davout leading the march down Unter den Linden, with his three division commanders, Friant, Morand, and Gudin, that the Grand Army named the Three Immortals."
"Davout was a prim, bald-headed little man, whose only pleasure lay in waltzing, of which he never tired. Terribly near-sighted, hothing in his appearance indicated the stark fighting qualities which he possessed. There were among Napoleon's marshals some of the most talented plunderers that Europe had every seen, but Davout was absolutely incorruptible. He was devoted to his Emperor and his wife, and took excellent care of his men. He had nothing of the magnificence of Murat, or of the strut and swagger of Lannes and Ney, but he was one of the ablest generals in an age of able generals. Napoleon did him the honor to be a little jealous of him: says he has some talent but the heart of a policeman: yet when the dukedoms are gazetted, in 1808, Davout is named Duke of Auerstadt and later, Prince of Echmuhl. His were the proudest of battle titles. It is a pity that Marbot tells is no more about him..."