one two years. Beck goes in
accordingly, 3d December; attacks Dierecke, not by surprise, but with
overwhelming superiority; no reinforcement possible: Dierecke is on
the wrong side of the Elbe, no retreat or reinforcement for him; has to
fight fiercely all day, Meissen Bridge being in a broken state; then, at
night, to ship his people across in Elbe boats, which are much delayed
by the floating ice, so that daylight found 1,500 of them still on that
northern side; all of whom, with General Dierecke himself, were made
prisoners by Beck. [Tempelhof, iii. 321: "3d-4th December, 1759."] A
comfortable supplement to Maxen, though not of the same magnificence.

After which, Daun himself issued minatory from the Plauen Chasm;
expecting, as all the world did, that Friedrich, who is 36,000 of
Unfortunate against, say, 72,000 of Triumphant, will, under penalty,
take himself away. But it proved otherwise. "If you beat us, Excellency
Feldmarschall, yes; but till then--!" Friedrich draws out in battalia;
Leo in wild ragged state and temper, VERSUS Bos in the reverse: "Come
on; then!" Rhinoceros Bos, though in a high frame of mind, dare not, on
cool survey; but retires behind the Plauen Chasm again. Will at least
protect Dresden from recapture; and wait here, in the interim; carting
his provision out of Bohemia,--which is a rough business, with Elbe
frozen, and the passes in such a choked wintry state. Upon whom
Friedrich, too, has to wait under arms, in grim neighborhood, for six
weeks to come: such a time as poor young Archenholtz never had before
or after. [Archenholtz, ii. 11-13.] It was well beyond New-year's day
before Friedrich could report of himself, and then only in a sense, as
will be seen: "We retired to this poor cottage [cottage still standing,
in the little Town of Freyberg]; Daun did the like; and this unfortunate
Campaign, as all things do, came actually to an end."

Daun holds Dresden and the Dell of Plauen; but Saxony, to the world's
amazement, he is as far as ever from holding. "Daun's front is a small
arc of a circle, bending round from Dresden to Dippoldiswalde; Friedrich
is at Freyberg in a bigger concave arc, concentric to Daun, well
overlapping Daun on that southward or landward side, and ready for him,
should he stir out; Kesselsdorf is his nearest post to Daun; and the
Plauen Chasm for boundary, which was not overpassed by either." In
Dresden, and the patch of hill-country to the southeastward of it by
Elbe