ay. He said, he went home and wept in his
tent." Though Suwarrow spared but little time from his military
avocation for social intercourse, his tenderness for children was so
great that he could not bear to pass them without notice. He would
stop, embrace, and bless them whenever he met them: that he fondly
loved his own is sufficiently proved by the following anecdote:--

While on his way to join the army, thoughts of home were in his mind.
He felt it might be long before he should see it in, if indeed, he
_should ever_ see it. He was seized with the most intense longing to
look on his children once more. The desire became so irresistible,
that he turned from the road he was traversing, and took that to
Moscow. He rested neither day nor night till he got there. It was the
middle of the night when he reached his house; he sprang lightly from
his carriage, and knocked gently at the door. All the family were
asleep. At length he was heard by one of the domestics, and let in. He
stole on tiptoe to his children's room, and, withdrawing the curtains
cautiously, for fear of disturbing them, bent over them; and, as he
gazed on them in delight, they slept on, unconscious of their midnight
visitor. Then throwing his arms gently over them, he held them for a
moment in his fond embrace and left them a father's blessing, and then
went away to join his troops.

After the death of Catharine, in the year 1796, there was a sad change
in the fortunes of her faithful soldier. He served her successor with
the same heroic devotion with which he had promoted her interest and
glory. In 1799 he effected one of the most brilliant retreats that
stand in the annals of history. Opposed in Italy by Moreau with an
overwhelming force, when a retreat was resolved on he was so afflicted
that he wrung his hands and wept bitterly. He led his troops over the
heights of Switzerland into Germany with such consummate skill and
undaunted energy as added fresh honors to his name. The dangers and
difficulties of this memorable operation were such as would have
been considered absolutely insurmountable by one less daring, and a
commander less beloved could never have encouraged his troops to hold
out against surrender. But they followed him in the midst of winter
snows, through unknown and intricate paths and deep ravines; sometimes
passing in what haste they could along the edge of frightful chasms
and awful precipices, such as the weary traveler would trembl