easing force of gesture--"That was the
Great Frederic's favourite, the oblique formation. The finest invention in
tactics, with that he gained Rosbach, and beat the French and Austrians;
with that he gained the battle of Breslau; and with that he gained the
grand fight of Torgau, and finished the war. Yet the king always said that
he had learned the manoeuvre from Epaminondas, and was only fighting the
battle of Leuctra over again. But look there!" He pointed to a rising
ground, a bluff of the forest ridge, to which a battalion of sharpshooters
were hastening; it had seemed destitute of defence, and the sharpshooters
were already beginning to scramble up its sides; when on the instant a
large body of the enemy which had been covered by the forest, rushed upon
its summit with a shout, and poured down a general volley. The whole
Prussian line returned it by one tremendous discharge. The drums and
trumpets struck up, the battalions and squadrons advanced, singing their
national hymn. The skirmishers poured forward and the battle began. How
shall I speak of what I felt at that moment; the sensation was
indescribable! It was mingled of all feelings but personal. I was absorbed
in that glorious roar, in that bold burst of human struggle, in all that
was wild, ardent, and terrible in the power of man. I had not a thought of
any thing but of the martial pomp and spirit-stilling grandeur of the
scene before me. I was aroused from my contemplations by the loud laugh
of my veteran friend; he was trying the benefit of a large brandy flask,
which I remembered, and with some not very respectful opinion of his
temperance, to have seen him place in one of his holsters at our visit to
the suttlers. He now offered it to me. "You look wretchedly pale," said he;
"our kind of life is too rough for you gentlemen _diplomats_, and you will
find this glass right Nantz, the very best thing, if not the only good
thing, that its country has to give." This took me down from my heroics at
once, the brandy was first-rate, and I found myself restored to the level
of the world at once, and infinitely the better for the operation. We now
followed the advance of the troops. The leading columns had already forced
their way into the entrance of the forest; but it was a forest of three
leagues' depth and twice the number in length, a wooded province, and the
way was fought foot by foot. It is only justice to the French to say, that
they fought well--held the p