surveying the position of the five encampments below, penetrated the
secret of Alvinzi; namely, that his artillery had not yet arrived,
otherwise he would not have occupied ground so distant from the object
of attack. He concluded that the Austrian did not mean to make his
grand assault very early in the morning, and resolved to force him to
anticipate that movement. For this purpose, he took all possible pains
to conceal his own arrival; and prolonged, by a series of petty
manœuvres, the enemy's belief that he had to do with a mere outpost of
the French. Alvinzi swallowed the deceit; and, instead of advancing on
some great and well-arranged system, suffered his several columns to
endeavour to force the heights by insulated movements, which the real
strength of Napoleon easily enabled him to baffle. It is true that at
one moment the bravery of the Germans had nearly overthrown the French
on a point of pre-eminent importance; but Napoleon himself galloping to
the spot, roused by his voice and action the division of Massena, who,
having marched all night, had lain down to rest in the extreme of
weariness, and seconded by them and their gallant general,[13] swept
everything before him. The French artillery was in position: the
Austrian (according to Napoleon's shrewd guess) had not yet come up, and
this circumstance decided the fortune of the day. The cannonade from the
heights, backed by successive charges of horse and foot, rendered every
attempt to storm the summit abortive; and the main body of the
Imperialists was already in confusion, and, indeed, in flight, before
one of their divisions, which had been sent round to outflank
Buonaparte, and take higher ground in his rear, was able to execute its
errand. When, accordingly, this division (that of Lusignan) at length
achieved its destined object--it did so, not to complete the misery of a
routed, but to swell the prey of a victorious enemy. Instead of cutting
off the retreat of Joubert, Lusignan found himself insulated from
Alvinzi, and forced to lay down his arms to Buonaparte. "Here was a good