[11]. [Lannes]. Duke of Montebello, a general in Napoleon's army.
[20]. [This] sentence is incomplete. The idea is begun anew in line 23.
What two ideals are contrasted in Napoleon and the boy? By what means is sympathy turned from one to the other? Show how rapidity and vividness are given to the story.
HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX. (PAGE [19].)
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Browning thus explains the origin of the poem: "There is no sort of historical foundation about Good News from Ghent. I wrote it under the bulwark of a vessel off the African coast,[page 237] after I had been at sea long enough to appreciate even the fancy of a gallop on the back of a certain good horse 'York,' then in my stable, at home." It would require a skilful imagination to create a set of circumstances which could give any other plausible reason for the ride to "save Aix from her fate."
[14]. [Lokeren]. Twelve miles from Ghent.
[15]. [Boom]. Sixteen miles from Lokeren.
[16]. [Düffeld]. Twelve miles from Boom.
[17]. [19], 31, etc. [Mecheln] (Fr. Malines), Aershot, Hasselt, etc. The reader may trace the direction and length of the ride in any large atlas. Minute examinations of the route are, however, of no special value.