shuddering with
astonishment, afterwards read on the iron gate of a church which was
left standing: "For eight years I have been embellishing this
country-seat, where I have lived happily in the bosom of my family. The
inhabitants of this estate, to the number of 1720, leave it on your
approach, while I have set fire to my house, that it may not be polluted
by your presence. Frenchmen, I have relinquished to you my two houses at
Moscow, with their furniture, worth half a million of rubles. Here you
will find nothing but ashes!"

It was near this place that Murat came up with Kutusoff. On the 29th of
September there was a smart engagement of cavalry and another on the 4th
of October. Murat fought till nightfall, and repulsed the Russian
force.

Meanwhile, the conflagration at Moscow, which commenced in the night of
the 14th of September, suspended through our exertions during the day of
the 15th, revived the following night, and, raging with the utmost
violence on the 16th, 17th, and 18th, abated on the 19th: it ceased
altogether on the 20th, and on that day Napoleon returned to the
Kremlin. To this point he attracted the looks of all Europe. There he
awaited his convoys, his re-enforcements, and the stragglers of his
army; certain that his soldiers would all be rallied by his victory, by
the allurements of a rich booty, by the imposing sight of captive
Moscow, and, above all, by his own glory, which, from the summit of this
immense pile of ruins, still shone attractive like a beacon upon a rock.

Twice, however, on the 22d and 28th of September, letters from Murat had
wellnigh drawn him from this fatal abode. They announced a battle; and
twice the orders for departure were written, and then burned. It seemed
as though the war was finished for the emperor, and that he was only
waiting for an answer from St. Petersburg. He nourished his hopes with
the recollections of Tilsit and Erfurt.[155] Was it possible that at
Moscow he should have less ascendancy over Alexander? Then, as is common
with men who have long been the favorites of fortune, what he ardently
wished he confidently expected.

His genius possessed, besides, the extraordinary faculty of being able
to throw aside the most important occupation whenever he pleased,
either for the sake of variety or for rest; for in him the power of will
surpassed that of imagination. In this respect he reigned over himself
no less despotically than he did over others.

Thus