Wordsworth.—S.
[245] Sixteenth Bulletin of the Grand Army, dated 12th Oct.
[246] "The Duke of Brunswick's entry into Altona presented a new and striking proof of the instability of fortune. A sovereign prince was beheld, enjoying, right or wrong, a great military reputation, but very lately powerful and tranquil in his own capital, now beaten and mortally wounded, borne into Altona on a miserable litter, carried by ten men, without officers, without domestics, escorted by a crowd of boys and ragamuffins, who pressed about him from curiosity, deposited in a bad inn, and so worn out with fatigue, that the morrow after his arrival, the report of his death was generally credited. His wife joined him on the 1st November; he refused all visits, and died on the 10th."—Bourrienne, tom. vii., p. 159.
"Within a window'd niche of that high hall,
Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain: he did hear
That sound the first amidst the festival,
And caught its tone with Death's prophetic ear;
And when they smiled because he deem'd it near,
His heart more truly knew that peal too well,
Which stretch'd his Father on a bloody bier,
And roused the Vengeance blood alone could quell.
He rush'd into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell."
Childe Harold.
[248] "The sword of the Great Frederick was easily found at Potsdam, together with the scarf which he wore during the Seven Years' War; also the insignia of the Black Eagle. The Emperor took these trophies with transport, saying, 'I would rather have these than twenty millions: I shall send them to my old soldiers—I shall present them to the governor of the Invalids: in that hotel they shall remain.'"—Nineteenth Bulletin.
[249] "The good people of Berlin have been the sacrifice of the war; while those who excited it have left them and are become fugitives; I shall reduce those noble courtiers to such extremities that they shall be compelled to beg their bread." To Prince Hatzfeld, the Emperor said, "Do not appear in my presence; I have no need of your services; retire to your estates."—Twenty-first Bulletin.
[250] "I remained at the door of the Emperor's cabinet to prevent any person from being announced before the princess. Duroc soon came out and immediately introduced her. She knew not why her husband had been arrested; and, in the simplicity of her nature, demanded justice for the wrong which she supposed was done to him. When she had finished, the Emperor handed to her the letter written by her husband; when she had run it over, she seemed motionless, and looked as if she had lost sensation. She stared with haggard eyes at the Emperor; but articulated not a word. He said to her, 'Well, madam, is this a calumny—an unjust charge?' The princess, more dead than alive, was going to answer only with her tears, when the Emperor took the letter from her, and said, 'Madam, were it not for this letter there would be no proof against your husband.'—'That is very true,' she replied, 'but I cannot deny that it is his writing.'—'Well,' said the Emperor, 'there is nothing to be done but to burn it;' and he threw the letter into the fire."—Savary, tom. ii., p. 206.
The following is Napoleon's own account of what passed, in a letter to Josephine, dated 6th November, nine o'clock evening:—"I received thy letter; in which thou seemest angry with me for speaking ill of women." In the letter here referred to, Josephine had expressed her regret at the disrespectful terms in which the Queen of Prussia was spoken of in the Bulletins of the Grand Army. "It is true I utterly abominate intriguing females. I am accustomed to those who are amiable, gentle, and conciliating; and such I love. If they have spoiled me it is not my fault, but thine. But at least thou wilt see I have been very good to one, who showed herself a feeling, amiable woman—Madame Hatzfeld. When I showed her her husband's letter, she replied to me, weeping bitterly, with heartfelt sensibility and naïveté: Alas! it is but too surely his writing. When she read it, her accent went to my soul—her situation distressed me. I said, Well, then, madame, throw that letter into the fire; I shall then no longer possess the means of punishing your husband. She burnt the letter, and was happy. Her husband is restored to tranquillity: Two hours later, and he would have been a lost man. Thus thou seest, that I esteem women that are good, and ingenuous, and amiable: but this is because such alone resemble thee."—Lettres de Napoleon à Josephine, tom. i., p. 195.