and approached the Moskwa and the
Dorogomilow gate.[144] He paused once more, but in vain, at the entrance
of that barrier. Murat pressed him to permit his soldiers to occupy the
city. "Well!" he replied, "let them enter, then, since they wish it!" He
recommended the strictest discipline: he still indulged hopes. "Perhaps
these inhabitants," he said, "do not even know how to surrender, for
here everything is new; they to us, and we to them."

Reports now began rapidly to succeed each other: they all agreed. Some
Frenchmen, residents of Moscow, ventured to quit the hiding-places which
for some days had concealed them from the fury of the populace, and
confirmed the fatal tidings. The emperor called Daru.[145] "Moscow
deserted!" he exclaimed: "what an improbable story! We must know the
truth of it. Go and bring me the boyars."[146] He imagined that those
men, stiff with pride or paralyzed by terror, remained motionless in
their houses; and he, who had hitherto been always met by the submission
of the vanquished, would encourage their confidence and anticipate their
prayers.

How, indeed, was it possible for him to persuade himself that so many
magnificent palaces, so many splendid temples, so many rich mercantile
establishments, had been forsaken by their owners, like the paltry
hamlets through which he had recently passed? Daru's mission, however,
was fruitless. Not a Muscovite was to be seen; not a particle of smoke
arose from a single chimney; not the slightest noise issued from this
vast and populous city: its three hundred thousand inhabitants seemed to
be struck dumb and motionless by enchantment: it was the silence of the
desert!

But such was the incredulity of Napoleon that he was not yet convinced,
and waited for further information. At length an officer, wishing to
gratify him, or persuaded that whatever he willed must necessarily be
accomplished, entered the city, seized five or six vagabonds, drove them
before his horse to the emperor, and presented them to him as a
deputation. From the first words they uttered, however, Napoleon
detected the imposture, and perceived that they were only poor laborers.

It was not till then that he ceased to doubt the entire evacuation of
Moscow, and gave up all the hopes that he had built upon it. He shrugged
his shoulders, and with that contemptuous look with which he met
everything that crossed his wishes, he exclaimed, "Ah! the Russians do
not know yet the effect whic