rward. Nothing could be more
regular than the march for the first half mile; but we then entered a
portion of the forest, or rather its border, thinly scattered over an
extent of broken country: to preserve the regularity of a movement along a
high-road, soon began to be wholly impossible. The officers soon gave up
the attempt in despair, and the troops enjoyed the disorder in the highest
degree. The ground was so intersected with small trenches, cut by the
foresters, that every half dozen yards presented a leap, and the clumps of
bushes made it continually necessary to break the ranks. Wherever I looked,
I now saw nothing but all the animation of an immense skirmish, the use of
sabre and pistol alone excepted. Between two and three thousand cavalry,
mounted on the finest horses of Austria and Turkey, galloping in all
directions, some springing over the rivulets, some dashing through the
thickets, all in the highest spirits, calling out to each other, laughing
at each other's mishaps, their horses in as high spirits as themselves,
bounding, rearing, neighing, springing like deer; trumpets sounding,
standards tossing, officers commanding in tones of helpless authority, to
which no one listened, and at which they themselves often laughed. The
whole, like a vast school broke loose for a holiday; the most joyous,
sportive, and certainly the most showy display that had ever caught my eye.
The view strongly reminded me of some of the magnificent old hunting
pieces by Snyders, the field sports of the Archduke Ferdinand, with the
landscape and horses by Rubens and Jordaens: there we had every thing but
the stag or the boar and the dogs. We had the noble trees, the rich deep
glades, the sunny openings, the masses of green; and all crowded with life.
But how infinitely superior in interest! No holiday sport, nor imperial
pageant, but an army rushing into action; one of the great instruments of
human power and human change called into energy. Thousands of bold lives
about to be periled; a victory about to be achieved, which might fix the
fate of Europe; or perhaps losses to be sustained which might cover the
future generation with clouds; and all this is on the point of being done.
No lazy interval to chill expectancy; within the day, within the hour, nay,
within the next five hundred yards, the decisive moment might be come.

Still we rushed on; the staff pausing from time to time to listen to the
distant cannonade, and ascertain b