their
enthusiasm was unbounded. As regiment after regiment tramped in
wearily from the east over the Elbe bridge and the men saw that
well-known figure in the gray overcoat, fatigues and discomforts were
forgotten; thunderous shouts of "Vive l'Empereur" rent the air and
rolled along the stream, carrying inspiration to the defenders, doubt
and dismay to the hostile lines. Yet these too were being
strengthened, until they finally mustered close on 200,000 men, who
crowned the slopes south of Dresden with a war-cloud that promised to
sweep away its hasty defences--had not Napoleon been there.

The news of his arrival shook the nerves of the Russian Emperor, and
it was reserved for the usually diffident King of Prussia to combat
all notion of retreat. Schwarzenberg's reconnaissance in force
therefore took place punctually at four o'clock, when the French,
after a brief rest, were well prepared to meet them. The Prussians had
already seized the "Great Garden" which lines the Pirna road; and from
this point of vantage they now sought to drive St. Cyr from the works
thrown up on its flank and rear. But their masses were torn by a
deadly fire and finally fell back shattered. The Russians, on their
right, fared no better. At the allied centre and left, the attack at
one time promised success. Under cover of a heavy cannonade from their
slopes, the Austrians carried two redoubts: but, with a desperate
charge, the Old Guard drove in through the gorges of these works and
bayoneted the victors of an hour. As night fell, the assailants drew
off baffled, after sustaining serious losses.

Nevertheless, the miseries of the night, the heavy rains of the
dawning day and the knowledge of the strength of the enemy's position
in front and of Vandamme's movement in their rear, failed to daunt
their spirits. If they were determined, Napoleon was radiant with
hope. His force, though smaller, held the inner line and spread over
some three miles; while the concave front of the allies extended over
double that space, and their left wing was separated from the centre
by the stream and defile of Plauen. From his inner position he could
therefore readily throw an overpowering mass on any part of their
attenuated array. He prepared to do so against their wings. At those
points everything promised success to his methods of attack.

Never, perhaps, in all modern warfare has the musket been so useless
as amidst the drenching rains which beat upon the