standing amidst the waggons by which the camp was followed, or
sleeping beside the veterans whom they had borne through all the
fortunes of war; the dark masses of the artillery, dimly discerned in
the shades of night, or faintly reflecting the pale light of the moon,
presented a scene of the most beautiful description, in which the rude
features of war were softened by the tranquillity of peaceful life; and
the interest of present repose was enhanced by the remembrance of the
wintry storms and bloody fields through which these brave men had
passed, during the memorable campaigns in which they had been engaged.
The effect of the whole was increased by the perfect stillness which
everywhere prevailed, broken only at intervals by the slow step of the
sentinel, as he paced his rounds, or the sweeter sounds of those
beautiful airs, which, in a far distant country, recalled to the Russian
soldier the joys and the happiness of his native land.

CHAPTER IV.

ENVIRONS OF PARIS.

St Cloud was the favourite residence of Bonaparte, and, from this
circumstance, possesses an interest which does not belong to the other
imperial palaces. It stands high, upon a lofty bank overhanging the
Seine, which takes a bold sweep in the plain below; and the steep
declivity which descends to its banks is clothed with magnificent woods
of aged elms. The character of the scenery is bold and rugged;--the
trees are of the wildest forms, and the most stupendous height, and the
banks, for the most part, steep and irregular. It is here, accordingly,
that the French gardening appears in all its genuine deformity; and that
its straight walks and endless fountains display a degree of formality
and art, destructive of the peculiar beauty by which the scene is
distinguished. These gardens, however, were the favourite and private
walks of the Emperor;--it was here that he meditated those schemes of
ambition which were destined to shake the established thrones of
Europe;--it was under the shade of this luxuriant foliage that he formed
the plan of all the mighty projects which he had in contemplation;--it
was in the splendid apartments of this palace that the Councils of
France assembled, to revolve on the means of permanently destroying the
English power:--It was here too, by a most remarkable coincidence, that
his destruction was finally accomplished;--that the last convention was
concluded, by which his second dethronement was completed;--and that t