assage. Immense
droves of cattle were cooped up among the crowd. These seemed to be
objects of particular concern to the French. They sought out a space,
however narrow, along the town-ditch, by which they might drive forward
their horned favourites. Whoever was bold enough, and had any hopes of
being able to conduct these animals into his own habitation, had now an
opportunity of making an advantageous bargain. A few pieces of silver
might be carried off with much greater facility than a huge clumsy ox.
Notwithstanding all the efforts to preserve this valuable booty from the
general wreck, it was absolutely impossible to save the whole of it.
Many horned cattle and horses were left behind, and now innocently
sought a scanty repast by the city-walls. That, amidst all this
"confusion worse confounded," there was no want of shouting and
blustering, you may easily imagine, though nobody got forward any faster
for all this noise. On a sudden we saw at a distance the emperor
himself, with not a numerous retinue, advancing on horseback into the
midst of this chaos. He got through better than I expected. I afterwards
learned that he took a by-road through a garden to the outer Ranstaedt
gate. Prince Poniatowsky attempted, higher up, to ford the Elster. The
banks on each side are of considerable height, soft and swampy; the
current itself narrow, but in this part uncommonly deep and muddy. How
so expert a rider should have lost the management of his horse, I cannot
imagine. According to report, the animal plunged headlong into the water
with him, so that he could not possibly recover himself. He fell a
victim to his temerity, and was drowned. His body was found several days
afterwards, and interred with all the military honours due to his
rank[5].

As the commander-in-chief had so precipitately quitted the city, we
could no longer doubt the proximity of the enemy to our walls. The fire
of the artillery and musketry in the place, which gradually approached
nearer, was a much more convincing proof of this than we desired. The
men already began to cut away the traces, in order to save the horses.
The bustle among the soldiers augmented; a weak rearguard had taken post
in Reichel's garden, to keep the allies in check, in case they should
penetrate into the high road. We thought them still at a considerable
distance, when a confused cry suddenly proclaimed that the Russians had
stormed the outer Peter's gate, and were coming round f