gage, refused
to avail themselves of the last night for crossing to the opposite
shore. In vain were their wagons set fire to, in order to tear them from
them; it was only the appearance of daylight which brought them again,
but too late, to the entrance of the bridge, which they once more
besieged. At half past eight in the morning, seeing the Russians
approaching, General Eble set fire to it by Napoleon's orders; then
those who were left on the eastern side of the river "realized that they
had lost their last chance."

A multitude of wagons and of cannon, several thousand men and women, and
some children, were thus abandoned on the hostile bank. They were seen
wandering in desolate troops on the borders of the river. Some plunged
into it in order to swim across; others ventured themselves on the
pieces of ice which were floating along; and some there were who threw
themselves headlong upon the timbers of the burning bridge, which,
sinking under them, exposed them at the same time to the horrors of a
twofold death. Shortly after, the bodies of many of these unfortunate
creatures, wedged in the ice, were seen collecting against the trestles
of the bridge. The rest awaited the Russians. The Russian general did
not show himself upon the heights until an hour after Eble's departure;
and without having gained a victory, he reaped all the fruits of one.

Napoleon remained till the last moment on these melancholy banks, near
the ruins of Brilowa, unsheltered and at the head of his guard,
one-third of which was destroyed by the storm. During the day they stood
to their arms, and were drawn up in order of battle; at night they
bivouacked in a square round their leader; and there the old grenadiers
incessantly kept feeding their fires. They sat on their knapsacks, with
their elbows planted upon their knees, and their hands supporting their
heads; slumbering in this manner, doubled upon themselves, that one limb
might warm the other, and that they might feel less the emptiness of
their stomachs.

About these bivouacs were collected men of all classes, of all ranks, of
all ages; ministers, generals, administrators. Among them was remarked
an elderly nobleman of by-gone days, when light and brilliant graces
held sovereign sway. This general officer of sixty was seen sitting on
the snow-covered trunk of some tree, occupying himself with unruffled
gayety every morning in adjusting the details of his toilet: in the
midst of a hurri