话说拿破仑除了擅长打仗、当皇帝，还精通数学，同时还十分喜爱文学和宗教，但是很少人知道他的英语水平怎么样。这个问题现在有了答案：在上周日法国议会选举那天，在巴黎枫丹白露进行了一场拍卖会，法国书信和手稿博物馆以32万欧元的价格拍得了拿破仑写于1816年3月9日的一封英文信件手稿。
这封英文信件的内容是这样的：
Count Las Case. It is two o'clock after midnight, I have enow sleep, I go then finish the night into to cause with you... He shall land above seven day a ship from Europe that we shall give account from anything who this shall have been even to day of first january thousand eight hundred sixteen. You shall have for this ocurens a letter from lady Las Case that shall you learn what himself could carry well if she had co[n]ceive the your occurens. But I tire myself and you shall have of the ado at conceive my... four o’clock in the morning and half.
这封信的一开始提到It is two o'clock after midnight（凌晨2点），而结尾提到Four o’clock in the morning and half（早晨四点半），可见花了不少时间写这封英文信，可是错讹颇多，一些句子恐怕只有懂法语的人才能猜出来个大概。比如I go then finish the night into to cause with you一句中的cause就是法语“说话”（causer）的意思。法国媒体上发表的法文“翻译”如下：