s. Several times during the stay of the French
I had assisted in extinguishing fires: even the presence of marshal Ney
was not sufficient to make the French in our houses at all careful in
the use of fire. Those thoughtless fellows took the first combustible
that fell into their hands, and lighted themselves about with it in
every corner. They ran with burning wisps of straw among large piles of
trusses, and this was often done in the house where the marshal lay,
without its being possible to prevent the practice. A French
aid-de-camp, in my presence, took fifty segars out of my bureau, just at
the moment when I was too busy to hinder him. Whether he likewise helped
himself to some fine cravats which lay near them, and which I afterwards
missed, I will not pretend to say.

I have suffered a little, you see; but yet I have fortunately escaped
the thousands of dangers in which I was incessantly involved. Never
while I live shall I forget those days. That same divine Providence
which was so manifestly displayed in that arduous conflict, and which
crowned the efforts of the powers allied in a sacred cause with so
glorious and so signal a victory, evidently extended its care to me.
After the battle of Jena, in 1806, Napoleon declared in our city that
Leipzig was the most dangerous of his enemies. Little did he imagine
that it would once prove so in a very different sense from that which he
attached to those words. Here the arm of the Most High arrested his
victorious career, of which no mortal eye could have foreseen the
termination. I would not exchange the glory--which I may justly
assume--the glory of having saved the property of my worthy employer, as
far as lay in my power, during those tremendous days of havoc and
devastation, for the laurel wreath with which French adulation attempts
most unseasonably to entwine the brow of the imperial commander, on
account of the battle of Leipzig.

CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES.

That Napoleon was not quite so much master of himself, during the
retreat through Leipzig, as might have been supposed from his
countenance, may be inferred from various circumstances. While riding
slowly through Peter's gate he was bathed in sweat, and pursued his way
towards the very quarter by which the enemy was advancing. It was not
till he had gone a considerable distance that he bethought himself, and
immediately turned about. He inquired if there was any cross-road to
Borna and Altenburg; and