front of battle, returned to his place. A moment after, Napoleon urged Marengo, covered with foam, a few steps in advance, and lifting his hand, shook it above his head. From the extreme end of the line the faint roll of drums was heard gradually swelling, till it swept like thunder over the field. In an instant

it ceased, and the rattling of musketry ran with the regularity of a wave, from one end of the vast line to the other. At length the impassible face of Napoleon kindled with excitement; and placing his right hand upon his thigh, he half-turned in his saddle, and gave the Russian ambassador, who was absorbed in the magnificent tableau, a glance that could not be mistaken. He had caught the undulations of the eagles of his Guard as it put itself in motion, and from the farthest extremity began to advance.

The foot grenadiers and chasseurs, who had swept the fields of Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, and Wagram, first approached. As they began to defile, Napoleon made a sign to the Russian chamberlain to take his place by his side. As the regiments approached, he said, pointing to one: "That is my 45th-they are my brave children of Paris. If ever cartridges are burned between my brother, the Emperor of Russia, and me, I will shew the efficiency of my 45th. It was this regiment that precipitated itself upon the Russian batteries at Austerlitz. That little corporal you see running there with his fusil upon his shoulder, finding himself about to be taken by an officer of the cannoneers of Doctorow, sprang up behind

him, strangled him with his hands, and made his escape."

The chamberlain expressing his admiration of the daring deed, Napoleon added: "There is not a regiment in my Guard that cannot cite a hundred acts far more admirable. Do you see that lieutenant covered with dust? It is Robaglia, my cousin, who lives but for me."

He thus went on particularizing one after another, going back even to his first campaigns. The Cavalry then defiled in the same wonderful order, though enveloped in a cloud of dust. The terrible grenadiers, whose heavy shocks few squares could withstand, passed along, followed by the chasseurs with their green uniform, and tall plumes waving like a field of grain in the wind. After them the mamelukes, with their white turbans surmounted with a cross of gold; then the dragoons of the Guard, with their light helmets flashing in the sun, commanded by Arigha, a cousin of Napoleon; then the Polish lancers in their gay and sparkling uniform; and last, the artillery of the Guard, followed by the equipages of the train. Each regiment and squadron sent up their loud “ Vive l'Empereur!” as it passed. Napoleon then dismounted, and mixing with the chief officers of the several corps, conversed awhile familiarly with them, and returned to the Tuileries.-Headley's "Old Guard."

23

THE EMPEROR AND HIS DAUGHTER.

IN the year 1839, there was in the city of St. Petersburg a young girl, so beautiful and so lovely, that the greatest prince of Europe, had he met her even in a peasant's hut, might well have turned his back upon princesses, to offer her his hand and throne. But far from having seen the light in a peasant's hut, she was born in the shadow of the proudest throne on the earth. It was Marie Nicolawna, the daughter of Nicholas, Emperor of Russia. As her father saw her blooming like the May flower, and sought for by all the heirs of royalty, he cast his eyes upon the fairest, the richest, and the most powerful of them, and with the smile of a father and a king, said to her: "My child, you are now of an age to marry, and I have chosen for you the prince who will make you a queen, and the man who will render you happy."

"The man who will render me happy!" stammered the blushing princess, with a sigh, which was the only objection to which her heart gave utterance.

"Speak, father," she said, as she saw a frown gathering on the brow of the czar; "speak, and your Majesty shall be obeyed."

"Obeyed!" exclaimed the emperor, trembling for the first time in his life; "is it, then, only as an act of obedience that you will receive a husband from my hands?"

The young girl was silent, and concealed a tear. "Is your faith already plighted?"

The young girl was still silent.

"Explain yourself, Marie; I command you." At this word, which sways sixty millions of human beings, the princess fell at the feet of the czar.

"Yes, father, if I must tell you, my heart is no longer my own; it is bestowed upon a young man who knows it not, and who shall never know it, if such be your wish. He has seen me but two or three times at a distance, and we will never speak to each other if your Majesty forbids it!"

He grew

The emperor was silent in his turn. pale. Three times he made the circuit of the saloon. He durst not ask the name of the young man.

He

who would have braved, for a caprice, the monarchs of the world at the head of their armies-he, from his omnipotence, feared this unknown youth, who disputed with him the possession of his dearest treasure.

"Is it a king?" he demanded, at last.

"No, father."

"The heir of a king, at least?"

"No, father."

"A grand duke?"

66 No, father."

"A son of a reigning family?"

"No, father."

At each step in the descending scale the czar stopped to recover breath.

"A stranger?"

"Yes, father."

The emperor fell back into an arm-chair, and hid his face in his hands, like Agamemnon at the sacrifice of Iphigenia.

"Is he in Russia?" he resumed, with an effort. "Yes, father."

"At St. Petersburg?

"Yes, father." And the voice of the young girl grew faint.

"Where shall I see him?" said the czar, rising with a threatening aspect.

"To-morrow, at the review."

"How shall I recognize him?" repeated the czar, with a stamp of his foot.

"By his green plume and his black steed."

"'Tis well. Go, my daughter, and pray God to have pity upon that man."

The princess withdrew in a fainting condition, and the emperor was soon lost in thought.

"A childish caprice!" he said at length. "I am foolish to be disturbed at it. She will forget it. She shall forget it!" and his lips dared not utter what his heart added. "It must be; for all my power would be weaker than her tears."

On the following day, at the review, the czar, whose eagle eye embraced all at a glance, sought and saw in his battalions nought else than a green plume and a black charger. He recognized in him who wore the one and rode the other, a simple colonel in the Bavarian Light Horse,-Maximilian Joseph Eugene