threatened every moment to trample me under their feet. Fortunately for
me, they were all tolerably quiet The thunder of the artillery had long
ceased; but, had it even continued, it could not possibly have been
heard amidst the rattling of carriages and cannon; the shouts of
soldiers and officers, as sometimes cavalry, at others infantry, wanted
to pass first; the incessant cursing, cracking, pushing, and thrusting.
Never while I live shall I witness such a scene of confusion, of which
indeed it is impossible to convey any conception. It continued without
intermission from four in the afternoon till twelve at night, so that
you may figure to yourself the disagreeable situation in which I was
placed. No sooner had the first columns arrived at their bivouacs in the
neighbouring villages, than a thousand messengers came to announce the
intelligence in a way that sufficiently proved what unwelcome visitors
they were. Weeping mothers with beds packed up in baskets, leading two
or three stark-naked children by the hand, and with perhaps another
infant at their back; fathers seeking their wives and families;
children, who had lost their parents in the crowd trucks with sick
persons forcing their way among the thousands of horses; cries of misery
and despair in every quarter:--such were the heralds that most feelingly
proclaimed the presence of the warriors who have been celebrated in so
many regions, and whose imposing appearance has been so often admired,
all these unfortunates crowded into the filthy corner formed by the old
hospital and the wall at the Kohlgärten-gate. Their cries and
lamentations were intermingled with the moans and groans of the wounded
who were going to the hospitals, and who earnestly solicited bread and
relief. A number of French soldiers, probably such as had loitered in
the rear, searched every basket and every pocket for provisions. They
turned without ceremony the sleeping infants out of the baskets, and
cared not how the enraged mothers lacerated their faces in return. The
scenes of horror changed so quickly, that you could not dwell more than