word. A column of grenadiers, whom he had kept ready drawn up close to
the bridge, but under shelter of the houses, were in a moment wheeled to
the left, and their leading files placed upon the bridge. They rushed
on, shouting _Vive la Republique!_ but the storm of grape-shot for a
moment checked them. Buonaparte, Lannes, Berthier, and Lallemagne,
hurried to the front, and rallied and cheered the men. The column dashed
across the bridge in despite of the tempest of fire that thinned them.
The brave Lannes was the first who reached the other side, Napoleon
himself the second. The Austrian artillerymen were bayoneted at their
guns, before the other troops, whom Beaulieu had removed too far back,
in his anxiety to avoid the French battery, could come to their
assistance. Beaumont pressing gallantly with his horse upon the flank,
and Napoleon's infantry forming rapidly as they passed the bridge, and
charging on the instant, the Austrian line became involved in
inextricable confusion, broke up, and fled. The slaughter on their side
was great; on the French there fell only 200 men. With such rapidity,
and consequently with so little loss, did Buonaparte execute this
dazzling adventure--"the terrible passage," as he himself called it, "of
the bridge of Lodi."

It was indeed, terrible to the enemy. It deprived them of another
excellent line of defence, and blew up the enthusiasm of the French
soldiery to a pitch of irresistible daring. Beaulieu, nevertheless,
contrived to withdraw his troops in much better style than Buonaparte
had anticipated. He gathered the scattered fragments of his force
together, and soon threw the line of the Mincio, another tributary of
the Po, between himself and his enemy. The great object, however, had
been attained: the Austrian general escaped, and might yet defend
Mantua, but no obstacle remained between the victorious invader and the
rich and noble capital of Lombardy. The garrison of Pizzighitone, seeing