him,1 to relinquish his quarters in the Kremlin, to which, as the visible mark2 of his conquest, he had seemed to cling with the tenacity of a lion holding a fragment of his prey. He encountered both difficulty and danger in retiring from the palace, and before he could gain the city-gate, he had to traverse with his suite, streets arched with fire, and in which the very air they breathed was suffocating. At length, he gained the open country, and took up his abode in a palace of the Czar's called Petrowsky, about a French7 league from the city. As he looked back on the fire, which, under the influence of the autumnal wind, swelled and surged round the Kremlin, like an infernal ocean around a sable Pandemonium, he could not suppress the ominous expression, "This bodes us great misfortune." 10* The fire continued to triumph unopposed,11 and consumed in a few days what it had cost 12 centuries to raise. "Palaces and temples," says a Russian author, “monuments of art, and miracles 13 of luxury, the remains of ages which had passed away, and those which had been the creation of yesterday; the tombs of 14 ancestors, and the nursery-cradles of the present generation, were 15 indiscriminately destroyed. Nothing was left of Moscow save the remembrance of the city, and the deep resolution to avenge its fall.” 16 יי *Napoleon entered Russia June 24, 1812, with an immense host, numbering half-a-million of men. Of this great army it has been calculated that 125,000 perished in battle, 132,000 died of fatigue, hunger, and cold, during their retreat after the burning of Moscow, and 193,000 were taken prisoners, including 48 generals and 3000 inferior officers. The fire raged till the 19th with unabated violence, and then began to slacken for want of fuel. It is said, four fifths1 of this great city were laid in ruins.2—(W. SCOTT, Life of Bonaparte.) SCENE FROM "THE CRITIC." (Dangle, Sneer, and Puf.) Puff. (entering.) My dear Dangle, how is it with you? 3 Dan. Mr. Sneer, give me leave to introduce Mr. Puff to you. Puff. Mr. Sneer is this? sir, he is a gentleman whom I have long panted for the honour of knowing; a gentleman whose critical talents and transcendent judgment Sneer. Dear sir Dan. Nay, don't be modest,5 Sueer; my friend Puff only talks to you in the style of his profession. Sneer. His profession! Puff. Yes, sir; I make no secret of the trade I follow. Among friends and brother authors, Dangle knows I love to be frank on the subject, and to advertise myself vivâ voce. I am, sir, a practitioner in panegyric; or, to speak more plainly, a professor of the art of puffing, at your service, or anybody else's. Sneer. Sir, you are very obliging. I believe, Mr. Puff, I have often admired your talents in the daily prints. Puff. Yes, sir; I flatter myself I do as much business in that way, as any 10 six of the fraternity in town.il Devilish hard work,12 all the summer, friend 13 Dangle! Never worked harder! But, hark ye !-the winter managers were a little sore, I believe.1 Dan. No: I believe they took it all in good part. Puff. Ay!2-then that must have been affectation in them; for, egad! there were some of the attacks which there was no laughing at !3 4 Sneer. Ay! the humorous ones; but I should think, Mr. Puff, that authors would in general be able to do this sort of work for themselves. Puff. Why, yes ;5 but in a clumsy way. Besides, we look on that as an encroachment, and so take the opposite side. I dare say now you conceive? half the very civil paragraphs and advertisements you see, to be written 9 by the parties concerned, or their friends? No such thing: 10 nine out of1l ten, manufactured by me in the way of business. 12 Sneer. Indeed! Puff. Even the auctioneers now-the auctioneers, I say, though the rogues have lately got some credit 13 for their language-not an article of the merit theirs! Take them out of their pulpits, and they are as dull as catalogues! No, sir; 'twas I first enriched their style; 'twas I first taught 15 them to crowd their advertisements with panegyrical superlatives, each epithet rising above the otherlike the bidders in their own auction-rooms! From me 16 they learned to inlay their phraseology with variegated 160, note 14). 11 out of,' here, sur. 12 Turn, Out of ten, I manufacture nine (p. 158, n. 10).'-'in the way,' &c., qui me sont commandés. 13 se soient fait une réputation. 14 Turn, Make them descend from,' &c. pulpits,' in this sense, tribunes aux enchères; but use the first of these nouns in the singular, in this instance, which will give it a more extensive and general meaning. 15 Turn, it is I who have first enriched.... have taught' (page 48, note 3). 16 It is from me that.' chips of exotic metaphor :-by me, too, their inventive faculties were called forth. Yes, sir, by me they were instructed to clothe ideal walls with gratuitous fruits; to insinuate obsequious rivulets into visionary groves; to teach courteous shrubs to nod their approbation of the grateful soil; or, on emergencies, to raise upstart oaks,1 where there never had been an acorn; to create a delightful vicinage without the assistance of a neighbour; or fix the temple of Hygeia5 in the fens of Lincolnshire !6 Dan. I am sure you have done them infinite service; for now, when a gentleman is ruined, he parts with his house with some credit. 7 Sneer. Service! If they had any gratitude, they would erect a statue to him; they would figure him as a presiding Mercury, the god of traffic and fiction, with a hammer in his hand instead of a9 caduceus. But pray, Mr. Puff, what first put you on 10 exercising your talents in this way ? Puff. Egad! sir, sheer necessity-the proper parent of an art so nearly allied to invention.11 You must know, Mr. Sneer, that from the first time I tried my hand at an advertisement,12 my success was such, that for some time after, I led a most extraordinary life indeed! Sneer. How, pray? Puff. Sir, I supported myself two years entirely by my misfortunes! Sneer. By your misfortunes? 11 C'est la nécessité, mère d'invention, et mère conséquemment d'un art où l'invention entre pour beaucoup.-The French proverb also runs thus: Nécessité (or, in more modern style, La nécessité) est mère d'industrie (or, de l'industrie). Observe that, in proverbs, the use of the definite article is often dispensed with before nouns thus employed in the whole extent of their signification, which custom is in opposition to the grammatical rule. 12 Turn, 'my talent in advertisements.' Puff. Yes, sir; assisted by a long sickness, and other occasional disorders; and a very comfortable living I had of it.1 Sneer. From sickness and misfortunes! You practised as a doctor and attorney at once? Puff. No, egad! both maladies and miseries were my own. Sneer. Eh! what the plague !2 Dan. 'Tis true, i' faith. Puff. Harkye!-By advertisements- To the charitable and humane !'3 and 'To those whom Providence hath blessed with affluence !'4 Sneer. Oh! I understand you. 5 Puff. And, in truth, I deserved what I got; for I suppose never man went through such a series of calamities in the same space of time! Sir, I was five times made a bankrupt, and reduced from a state of affluence, by a train of unavoidable misfortunes!7 Then, sir, though a very industrious tradesman, I was twice burnt out, and lost my little all, both times! I lived upon those fires a month. I soon after was confined by a most excruciating disorder, and lost the use of my limbs! That told very well; for I had the case strongly attested,12 and went about to collect the subscriptions myself. 11 Dan. Egad! I believe that was when you first called on me Puff. In November last ?—O no! I was at that time 1 'and other,' &c., et d'un cerJain nombre d'afflictions diverses, et sur ce revenu-là, j'ai vécu fort à mon aise, je vous jure. 2 Quelle diable d'histoire nous contez-vous là ? foreseen and unavoidable misfortunes (désastres).' 8 Turn, I have had the misfortune of seeing twice burn my house and to lose thus.' 9 toute ma petite fortune; or, tout mon petit avoir;-and leave out 'both times,' which has been expressed above, by 'thus.' fo Turn, ... disorder confinea me (me força à garder le lit) and made me lose.' 11 Ce moyen-là me réussit à merveille. 12 Turn, for I obtained attestations in due form (en règle).' |