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of yesterday。〃 So; when Cambaceres came out; which he did
presently; with a more furious air than before; I handed him at
once over to Eugene; who begged him to name a friend; and an early
hour for the meeting to take place。
〃Can you make it before eleven; Phil?〃 said Beauharnais。 〃The
Emperor reviews the troops in the Bois de Boulogne at that hour;
and we might fight there handy before the review。〃
〃Done!〃 said I。 〃I want of all things to see the newly…arrived
Saxon cavalry manoeuvre:〃 on which Cambaceres; giving me a look; as
much as to say; 〃See sights! Watch cavalry manoeuvres! Make your
soul; and take measure for a coffin; my boy!〃 walked away; naming
our mutual acquaintance; Marshal Ney; to Eugene; as his second in
the business。
I had purchased from Murat a very fine Irish horse; Bugaboo; out of
Smithereens; by Fadladeen; which ran into the French ranks at
Salamanca; with poor Jack Clonakilty; of the 13th; dead; on the top
of him。 Bugaboo was too much and too ugly an animal for the King
of Naples; who; though a showy horseman; was a bad rider across
country; and I got the horse for a song。 A wickeder and uglier
brute never wore pig…skin; and I never put my leg over such a
timber…jumper in my life。 I rode the horse down to the Bois de
Boulogne on the morning that the affair with Cambaceres was to come
off; and Lanty held him as I went in; 〃sure to win;〃 as they say in
the ring。
Cambaceres was known to be the best shot in the French army; but I;
who am a pretty good hand at a snipe; thought a man was bigger; and
that I could wing him if I had a mind。 As soon as Ney gave the
word; we both fired: I felt a whiz past my left ear; and putting up
my hand there; found a large piece of my whiskers gone; whereas at
the same moment; and shrieking a horrible malediction; my adversary
reeled and fell。
〃Mon Dieu; il est mort!〃 cried Ney。
〃Pas de tout;〃 said Beauharnais。 〃Ecoute; il jure toujours。〃
And such; indeed; was the fact: the supposed dead man lay on the
ground cursing most frightfully。 We went up to him: he was blind
with the loss of blood; and my ball had carried off the bridge of
his nose。 He recovered; but he was always called the Prince of
Ponterotto in the French army; afterwards。 The surgeon in
attendance having taken charge of this unfortunate warrior; we rode
off to the review where Ney and Eugene were on duty at the head of
their respective divisions; and where; by the way; Cambaceres; as
the French say; 〃se faisait desirer。〃
It was arranged that Cambaceres' division of six battalions and
nine…and…twenty squadrons should execute a ricochet movement;
supported by artillery in the intervals; and converging by
different epaulements on the light infantry; that formed; as usual;
the centre of the line。 It was by this famous manoeuvre that at
Arcola; at Montenotte; at Friedland; and subsequently at Mazagran;
Suwaroff; Prince Charles; and General Castanos were defeated with
such victorious slaughter: but it is a movement which; I need not
tell every military man; requires the greatest delicacy of
execution; and which; if it fails; plunges an army into confusion。
〃Where is the Duke of Illyria?〃 Napoleon asked。 〃At the head of
his division; no doubt;〃 said Murat: at which Eugene; giving me an
arch look; put his hand to his nose; and caused me almost to fall
off my horse with laughter。 Napoleon looked sternly at me; but at
this moment the troops getting in motion; the celebrated manoeuvre
began; and his Majesty's attention was taken off from my impudence。
Milhaud's Dragoons; their bands playing 〃Vive Henri Quatre;〃 their
cuirasses gleaming in the sunshine; moved upon their own centre
from the left flank in the most brilliant order; while the
Carbineers of Foy; and the Grenadiers of the Guard under Drouet
d'Erlon; executed a carambolade on the right; with the precision
which became those veteran troops; but the Chasseurs of the young
guard; marching by twos instead of threes; bore consequently upon
the Bavarian Uhlans (an ill…disciplined and ill…affected body); and
then; falling back in disorder; became entangled with the artillery
and the left centre of the line; and in one instant thirty thousand
men were in inextricable confusion。
〃Clubbed; by Jabers!〃 roared out Lanty Clancy。 〃I wish we could
show 'em the Fighting Onety…oneth; Captain darling。〃
〃Silence; fellow!〃 I exclaimed。 I never saw the face of man
express passion so vividly as now did the livid countenance of
Napoleon。 He tore off General Milhaud's epaulettes; which he flung
into Foy's face。 He glared about him wildly; like a demon; and
shouted hoarsely for the Duke of Illyria。 〃He is wounded; Sire;〃
said General Foy; wiping a tear from his eye; which was blackened
by the force of the blow; 〃he was wounded an hour since in a duel;
Sire; by a young English prisoner; Monsieur de Fogarty。〃
〃Wounded! a marshal of France wounded! Where is the Englishman?
Bring him out; and let a file of grenadiers〃
〃Sire!〃 interposed Eugene。
〃Let him be shot!〃 shrieked the Emperor; shaking his spyglass at me
with the fury of a fiend。
This was too much。 〃Here goes!〃 said I; and rode slap at him。
There was a shriek of terror from the whole of the French army; and
I should think at least forty thousand guns were levelled at me in
an instant。 But as the muskets were not loaded; and the cannon had
only wadding in them; these facts; I presume; saved the life of
Phil Fogarty from this discharge。
Knowing my horse; I put him at the Emperor's head; and Bugaboo went
at it like a shot。 He was riding his famous white Arab; and turned
quite pale as I came up and went over the horse and the Emperor;
scarcely brushing the cockade which he wore。
〃Bravo!〃 said Murat; bursting into enthusiasm at the leap。
〃Cut him down!〃 said Sieyes; once an Abbe; but now a gigantic
Cuirassier; and he made a pass at me with his sword。 But he little
knew an Irishman on an Irish horse。 Bugaboo cleared Sieyes; and
fetched the monster a slap with his near hind hoof which sent him
reeling from his saddle;and away I went; with an army of a hundred
and seventy…three thousand eight hundred men at my heels。 * * * *
BARBAZURE。
BY G。 P。 R。 JEAMES; ESQ。; ETC。
I。
It was upon one of those balmy evenings of November; which are only
known in the valleys of Languedoc and among the mountains of
Alsace; that two cavaliers might have been perceived by the naked
eye threading one of the rocky and romantic gorges that skirt the
mountain…land between the Marne and the Garonne。 The rosy tints of
the declining luminary were gilding the peaks and crags which lined
the path; through which the horsemen wound slowly; and as these
eternal battlements with which Nature had hemmed in the ravine
which our travellers trod; blushed with the last tints of the
fading sunlight; the valley below was gray and darkling; and the
hard and devious course was sombre in twilight。 A few goats;
hardly visible among the peaks; were cropping the scanty herbage
here and there。 The pipes of shepherds; calling in their flocks
as they trooped homewards to their mountain villages; sent up
plaintive echoes which moaned through those rocky and lonely
steeps; the stars began to glimmer in the purple heavens spread
serenely overhead and the faint crescent of the moon; which had
peered for some time scarce visible in the azure; gleamed out more
brilliantly at every moment; until it blazed as if in triumph at
the sun's retreat。 'Tis a fair land that of France; a gentle; a
green; and a beautiful; the home of arts and arms; of chivalry and
romance; and (however sadly stained by the excesses of modern
times) 'twas the unbought grace of nations once; and the seat of
ancient renown and disciplined valor。
And of all that fair land of France; whose beauty is so bright and
bravery is so famous; there is no spot greener or fairer than that
one over which our travellers wended; and which stretches between
the good towns of Vendemiaire and Nivose。 'Tis common now to a
hundred thousand voyagers: the English tourist; with his chariot
and his Harvey's Sauce; and his imperials; the bustling commis…
voyageur on the roof of the rumbling diligence; the rapid malle…
poste thundering over the chaussee at twelve miles an hourpass
the ground hourly and daily now: 'twas lonely and unfrequented at
the end of that seventeenth century with which our story commences。
Along the darkening mountain…paths the two gentlemen (for such
their outward bearing proclaimed them) caracoled together。 The
one; seemingly the younger of the twain; wore a flaunting feather
in his barret…cap; and managed a prancing Andalusian palfrey that
bounded and curveted gayly。 A surcoat of peach…colored samite and
a purfled doublet of vair bespoke him noble; as did his brilliant