the highest circles of
society, both Saxon and French. During the absence of his Majesty, the
general, taking advantage of this leisure, gave numerous fetes, among
others one to the actors and actresses of French Comedy. I recall in
this connection an amusing anecdote which was related to me at the time.
Baptiste junior, with no lack either of decorum or refinement,
contributed greatly to the amusement of the evening, being presented
under the name of my Lord Bristol, English diplomat, en route to the
Council of Prague. His disguise was so perfect, his accent so natural,
and his phlegm so imperturbable, that many persons of the Saxon court
were completely deceived, which did not in the least astonish me; and I
thereby saw that Baptiste junior's talent for mystification had lost
nothing since the time when I had been so highly diverted at the
breakfasts of Colonel Beauharnais. How many events had occurred since
that time.

The Emperor, seeing that nothing could longer delay the resumption of
hostilities, had consequently divided the two hundred thousand men of his
infantry into fourteen army corps, the command of which was given to
Marshals Victor, Ney, Marmont, Augereau, Macdonald, Oudinot, Davoust, and
Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Prince Poniatowski, and Generals Reynier, Rapp,
Lauriston, Vandamme, and Bertrand. The forty thousand cavalry formed
six grand divisions under the command of Generals Nansouty,
Latour-Maubourg, Sebastiani, Arrighi, Milhaud, and Kellermann; and, as I
have already said, the King of Naples had the command of the Imperial
Guard. Moreover, in this campaign appeared for the first time on our
fields of battle the guard of honor, a select troop recruited from the
richest and most distinguished families, and which had been increased to
more than ten thousand men, divided into two divisions under the simple
title of regiments; one of which was commanded by General Count of
Pully, and the other, if I am not mistaken, by General Segur. These
youths, but lately idlers given up to repose and pleasure, became in a
short time most excellent cavalry, which signalized itself on various
occasions, notably at the battle of Dresden, of which I shall soon have
occasion to speak.

The strength of the French army has been previously stated. The combined
army of the allies amounted to four hundred and twenty thousand infantry,
and its cavalry to hardly less than one hundred thousand, without
counting a reserve army corps of