selected the most gormandizing battalions of the civic force to send
forth against the enemy: viz, the grocers, the rich bankers, the
lawyers, &c. Their parting with their families was very affecting. They
would have been very willing to recall their offer of marching, but
companies of stern veterans closing round them, marched them to the
city gates, which were closed upon them; and thus perforce they were
compelled to move on. As long as he had a bottle of brandy and a couple
of sausages in his holsters, the General of the National Guard, Odillon
Barrot, talked with tremendous courage. Such was the power of his
eloquence over the troops, that, could he have come up with the enemy
while his victuals lasted, the issue of the combat might have been very
different. But in the course of the first day's march he finished
both the sausages and the brandy, and became quite uneasy, silent, and
crest-fallen.

It was on the fair plains of Touraine, by the banks of silver Loire,
that the armies sat down before each other, and the battle was to take
place which had such an effect upon the fortunes of France. 'Twas a
brisk day of March: the practised valor of Nemours showed him at once
what use to make of the army under his orders, and having enfiladed
his National Guard battalions, and placed his artillery in echelons,
he formed his cavalry into hollow squares on the right and left of
his line, flinging out a cloud of howitzers to fall back upon the
main column. His veteran infantry he formed behind his National
Guard--politely hinting to Odillon Barrot, who wished to retire under
pretence of being exceedingly unwell, that the regular troops would
bayonet the National Guard if they gave way an inch: on which their
General, turning very pale, demurely went back to his post. His men were
dreadfully discouraged; they had slept on the ground all night; they
regretted their homes and their comfortable nightcaps in the Rue St.
Honore: they had luckily fallen in with a flock of sheep and a drove
of oxen at Tours the day before; but what were these, compared to the
delicacies of Chevet's or three courses at Vefour's? They mournfully
cooked their steaks and cutlets on their ramrods, and passed a most
wretched night.

The army of Henry was encamped opposite to them for the most part in
better order. The noble cavalry regiments found a village in which they
made themselves pretty comfortable, Jenkins's Foot taking possession of
the kitch