me to time, as
they fall, and throw them back almost brighter in the reflection than
in the reality. Altogether it is as striking a panorama as any which,
even in Bohemia, one will easily find.

Vandamme had received orders to pass the Elbe between Lilienstein and
Koenigstein; and pushing back whatever corps the Allies might have left
at Pirna, to establish himself on the summit of this ridge. He obeyed
these instructions so well, that, in spite of the gallant resistance of
Prince Eugene of Wurtemberg, he carried his point. The heights of
Peterswald were in his possession on the 28th; it would have been well
for his master had he attempted nothing further. Vandamme, however, was
ambitious of earning the marshal's baton by something more than mere
obedience to an order received. He saw that Toeplitz was uncovered, and
knowing that the possession of that place would render him master of
all the passes that diverge from it, he resolved, on the 29th, to make
the essay. He descended from his mountain throne, and penetrated as
far as Kulm.

The hill, which, with a portion only of his force, Vandamme had
abandoned, is, on that side which looks down into the vale of Toeplitz,
steep, well nigh to perpendicular. Huge forests clothe its rugged face;
out of which bold rocks protrude; indeed, such is the nature of the
country, that the road is carried backwards and forwards almost in a
zig-zag, in order to render it accessible. This mountain, in a military
point of view, all but impassable, Vandamme placed behind him; leaving,
however, a strong division to guard it, and nothing doubting of his own
success. But he had miscalculated the time which was at his disposal.
Six and twenty hours would have sufficed,--six were quite inadequate,
and he found them so. He pushed on, however, to Kulm. It is a neat
village, with a modern schloss beside it; and a church, which crowns a
low green hill, in its centre. There are some extensive plantations
near; the Pala flows among them; and between it and the mountains on
the right, there is a space of less than two miles. He gained it almost
without firing a shot, for the force in Toeplitz was quite
inconsiderable, and his arrival occasioned such panic in that, the
head-quarters of the confederation, that kings, and emperors, and
princesses, dispersed in all directions. One half league, indeed, was
all that divided his patrols from their prize, when a serious
resistance began. General Ostermann, w