mber" also what accursed work it was, the ground
consisting chiefly of broken stone, and how a number of Paddies, who were
accustomed to such labour, assembled above and around us to enjoy the
unusual sight of "jontlemen" digging like "canawlers," and how I, while
at my spade, excited their hilarity and delight by casting at them scraps
of "ould Eerish," or Irish. The fight of the section here alluded to
was, I believe, rather of the nature of an improvised rencontre, albeit
two or three rebels were killed in the artillery duel. Corporal
Penington was, I believe, as usual, the inspiring Mephistopheles of the
affair.

{267} This reply, which is much better in every respect than that of
"The old guard dies but never yields," was made in the face of far more
overwhelming numbers, and has few parallels for sheer audacity, all
things considered, in the history of modern warfare. It passed into a
very widely-spread popular _mot_ in America. It is more than an _on
dit_, for I was nearly within ear-shot when it was uttered, and it was
promptly repeated to me. Yet, if my memory serves me right, there is
something like this, "Come and take it!" recorded in the early Tuscan
wars in Villari's introduction to the "Life of Machiavelli," translated
by his accomplished wife. I have, as I write this note, just had the
pleasure of meeting with the Minister and Madame Villari at a dinner at
Senator Comparetti's in Florence, which is perhaps the reason why I
recall the precedent. And I may also recall as a noteworthy incident,
that at this dinner Professor Milani, the great Etruscologist and head of
the Archaeological Museum, congratulated me very much on having been the
first and only person who ever discovered an old Etruscan word still
living in the traditions of the people--_i.e._, _Intial_, the Spirit of
the Haunting Shadow. This is a little discursive--_mais je prends mon
bien ou je le trouve_, and it is all autobiographic! "It is all turkey,"
as the wolf said when he ate the claws.

The proposal of General Smith to resist with us alone the tremendous
maddened rush of half of Lee's veterans has its re-echo in my ballad,
where Breitmann attempts with his Bummers to stem the great army of the
South. The result would have probably been the same--that is, we should
have been "gobbled up." But he would have undoubtedly tried it without
misgiving. I have elsewhere narrated my only interview with him.

{268} The thunder of t