ted; and, on the other, he allowed himself to be hurried on
as soon as he was put in motion.

CHAP. III.

From Koenigsberg to Gumbinnen, he reviewed several of his armies;
conversing with the soldiers in a gay, frank, and often abrupt style;
well aware that, with such unsophisticated and hardy characters,
abruptness is looked upon as frankness, rudeness as force, haughtiness
as true nobility; and that the delicacy and graces which some officers
bring with them from the salons are in their eyes no better than
weakness and pusillanimity; that these appear to them like a foreign
language, which they do not understand, and the accents of which strike
them as ridiculous.

According to his usual custom, he promenaded before the ranks. Knowing
in which of his wars each regiment had been with him, at the sight of
the oldest soldiers he occasionally halted; to one he recalled the
battle of the Pyramids; another he reminded of Marengo, Austerlitz,
Jena, or Friedland, and always by a single word, accompanied by a
familiar caress. The veteran who believed himself personally recognized
by his emperor, rose in consequence in the estimation of his junior
companions, who regarded him as an object of envy.

Napoleon, in this manner, continued his inspection; he overlooked not
even the youngest soldiers: it seemed as if every thing which concerned
them was to him matter of deep interest; their least wants seemed known
to him. He interrogated them: Did their captains take care of them? had
they received their pay? were they in want of any requisite? he wished
to see their knapsacks.

At length he stopped at the centre of the regiment; there being apprised
of the places that were vacant, he required aloud the names of the most
meritorious in the ranks; he called those who were so designated before
him, and questioned them. How many years' service? how many campaigns?
what wounds? what exploits? He then appointed them officers, and caused
them to be immediately installed, himself prescribing the forms;--all
particularities which delighted the soldier! They told each other how
this great emperor, the judge of nations in the mass, occupied himself
with them in their minutest details; that they composed his oldest and
his real family! Thus it was that he instilled into them the love of
war, of glory and himself.

The army, meantime, marched from the Vistula to the Niemen. This last
river, from Grodno as far as Kowno, runs parall