ich, in the smoke. This lasted some
ten minutes, when I observed a strong column of troops, dressed in
scarlet, moving up with great steadiness and regularity from the rear.
These were the Swiss Guards, and there might have been fifteen hundred
or two thousand of them. The column divided into two, as it approached
the rear of the line, which broke into column in turn, and for a minute
there was a confused crowd of red and blue coats, in the smoke, that
quite set my nautical instinct at defiance. The cuirassiers chose this
moment to make a rapid and menacing movement in advance, but without
opening their column, and some of the artillery reappeared and commenced
firing at the unoccupied intervals. This lasted a very little while for
the Swiss deployed into line like clock-work, and then made a quick
charge, with beautiful precision. Halting, they threw in a heavy fire,
by battalions; the French guard rallied and formed upon their flanks;
the whole reserve came up; the cuirassiers and lancers charged, by
turning the position assailed, and for ten or fifteen minutes there was
a succession of quick evolutions, which like the _finale_ of a grand
piece of music, appeared confused even while it was the most scientific,
and then there was a sudden pause. The position, whose centre was a
copse, had been carried, and we soon saw the guards formed on the ground
that was supposed to have been held by the enemy. The artillery still
fired occasionally, as on a retreating foe, and the lancers and
cuirassiers were charging and manoeuvring, half a mile farther in
advance, as if following up their advantage.

Altogether, this was much the prettiest field exercise I ever witnessed.
There was a unity of plan, a perfection of evolution, and a division of
_materiel_ about it, that rendered it to my eyes as nearly perfect as
might be. The troops were the best of France, and the management of the
whole had been confided to some one accustomed to the field. It
contained all the poetry, without any of the horrors of a battle. It
could not possess the heart-stirring interest of a real conflict, and
yet it was not without great excitement.

Some time after the _petite guerre_ of Issy, the capital celebrated the
fete of the Trocadero. The Trocadero, you may remember, was the fortress
of Cadix, carried by assault, under the order of the Dauphin, in the war
of the late Spanish revolution. This government, which has destroyed all
the statues of the E