how having gone to sleep under human roofs, they had risen next morning
on a plain. They were in the last extremity of want; a few vegetables
only remained in the gardens, and these were devoured raw, while many of
these unfortunate creatures threw themselves at different times into the
Moskwa, endeavoring to recover some of the grain cast therein by
Rostopchin's orders;

[Count Feodor Rostopchin, born 1765; died 1826. He denied that
Moscow was burnt by his authority. He claimed that it was burnt
partly by the French, and partly by Russians without orders.]

and a large number perished in the water in these fruitless efforts.
Such was the scene of distress through which the Emperor was obliged to
pass in order to reach the Kremlin.

The apartments which he occupied were spacious and well lighted, but
almost devoid of furniture; but his iron bedstead was set up there, as in
all the chateaux he occupied in his campaigns. His windows opened on the
Moskwa, and from there the fire could still be plainly seen in various
quarters of the city, reappearing on one side as soon as extinguished on
the other. His Majesty said to me one evening with deep feeling, "These
wretches will not leave one stone upon another." I do not believe there
was ever in any country as many buzzards as at Moscow. The Emperor was
annoyed by their presence, and exclaimed, "Mon Dieu! will they follow us
everywhere?"

There were a few concerts during our stay at the Emperor's residence in
Moscow; but Napoleon seemed much dejected when he appeared at them, for
the music of the saloons made no impression on his harassed mind, and the
only kind that ever seemed to stir his soul was that of the camp before