rue, and that the news would be heard with enthusiasm
through Germany he well knew. It was necessary to revive the tarnished
magic of his name by another decisive battle: and he made every exertion
to prepare for it. Some weeks, however, elapsed ere he ventured to
resume the offensive. On the 4th of July he had at last re-established
thoroughly his communication with the right bank, and arranged the means
of passing to the left at a point where the Archduke had made hardly any
preparation for receiving him. The Austrians, having rashly calculated
that Asperne and Essling must needs be the objects of the next contest
as of the preceding, were taken almost unawares by his appearance in
another quarter. They changed their line on the instant; and occupied a
position, the centre and key of which was the little town of Wagram.

Here, on the 6th of July, the final and decisive battle was fought. The
Archduke had extended his line over too wide a space; and this old error
enabled Napoleon to ruin him by his old device of pouring the full shock
of his strength on the centre. The action was long and bloody: at its
close there remained 20,000 prisoners, besides all the artillery and
baggage, in the hands of Napoleon. The Archduke fled in great confusion
as far as Znaim, in Moravia. The Imperial Council perceived that further
resistance was vain: an armistice was agreed to at Znaim; and Napoleon,
returning to Schoenbrunn, continued occupied with the negotiation until
October.

In this fierce campaign none more distinguished himself than Lannes,
Duke of Montebello. At Ratisbonne he headed in person the storming
party, exclaiming, "Soldiers, your general has not forgotten that he was
once a grenadier." At the battle of Asperne his exertions were
extraordinary. He was struck, towards the close of the day, by a
cannon-shot, which carried off both his legs. The surgeons, on examining
the wound, declared it mortal. He answered them with angry imprecations,
and called with frantic vehemence for the Emperor. Napoleon came up, and
witnessed the agonies of the dying marshal, who blasphemed heaven and
earth that he should be denied to see the end of the campaign. Thus
fell Lannes, whom, for his romantic valour, the French soldiery
delighted to call the Roland of the camp.

The war, meanwhile, had been pursued with mixed fortune in the
Peninsula. Zaragossa, after sustaining another siege with fortitude not
unworthy of the first, was at leng