he expressed it, a
'magnificent body.' It was a perfect pleasure to see such troops under
arms.' 'Those fellows certainly exhibited few traces of a starved-out
garrison.'

Such and such like were the observations bandied from one to the other,
in all the earnest seriousness of truth What more terrible evidence of
the scenes they had passed through, than these convictions! What more
stunning proof of the condition to which long suffering had reduced
them!

'Where is our pleasant friend, who talked to us of the Black Forest last
night? Ah, there he is; well, Monsieur Tiernay, do you think General
Moreau's people turned out better than that after the retreat from
Donau-eschingen?'

There was no need for any reply, since the scornful burst of laughter of
the staff already gave the answer he wanted; and now he walked forward
to the centre of the piazza, while the troops proceeded to march past.

The band, a miserable group, reduced from fifty to thirteen in number,
struck up a quick step, and the troops, animated by the sounds, and more
still, perhaps, by Massena's presence, made an effort to step out in
quick time; but the rocking, wavering motion, the clinking muskets and
uncertain gait, were indescribably painful to a soldier's eye. Their
colonel, De Vallence, however, evidently did not regard them thus, for
as he joined the staff, he received the general's compliments with all
the good faith and composure in the world.

The battalions were marched off to barracks, and the group of officers
broke up to repair to their several quarters. It was the hour of dinner,
but it had been many a day since that meal had been heard of amongst
them. A stray cafe here and there was open in the city, but a cup of
coffee, without milk, and a small roll of black bread, a horrid compound
of rye and cocoa, was all the refreshment obtainable; and yet, I am bold
to say that a murmur or a complaint was unheard against the general
or the Government. The heaviest reverses, the gloomiest hours of ill
fortune, never extinguished the hope that Genoa was to be relieved
at last, and that all we had to do was to hold out for the arrival of
Bonaparte. To the extent of this conviction is to be attributed the
wide disparity between the feeling displayed by the military and the
townsfolk.

The latter, unsustained by hope, without one spark of speculation to
cheer their gloomy destiny, starved, and sickened, and died in masses.
The very requirements