Florence, his father either did not visit the gallery, or did not take his son along with him; an omission sufficiently remarkable under either aspect.

Not less attentive to the useful than the elegant, and led probably by a taste for anatomical studies, which, at a later period of his life, he seriously undertook, the French general, accompanied by the celebrated Fontana, passed into the anatomical gallery in order to view the admirable collection it contained of preparations in wax. Models of these he ordered for the purpose of sending them to Paris.

In conversing with the grand duke he mentioned the interview at San Miniato with his relative, for whom he obtained, in lieu of the favour which he desired from the Pope, the cordon of the ecclesiastical order of St. Stephen, of which at the time the abbé was but a knight.

It was at the table of the grand duke that Bonaparte received the despatch of general Despinois reporting the surrender of the castle of Milan, which had capitulated at three o'clock the previous morning. The intelligence of his brother's loss could hardly have been agreeable to the Tuscan prince; but the event was not unexpected, and as it appeared to confirm the ascendancy of the French in Italy, it reflected additional advantage on his own peaceful relations with the republic, and his good understanding with her formidable commander (14).

The conduct of Despinois, his officers and men, was praised by Bonaparte, and the terms of the capitulation approved, more particularly, since besides adding two thousand five hundred to the number of Austrian prisoners, and five or six thousend to his force on the Adige, they placed at his disposal a hundred and fifty pieces of heavy artillery, and five thousand muskets; the former of which were greatly wanted before Mantua, and the latter to supply the wear and tear of the campaign, as well as to assist in arming the expedition which was about being fitted out against Corsica. To ensure a sufficient stock of small arms for his men, Bonaparte, on his way to Leghorn, demanded of the republic of Lucca, which previously to the conquest of Lombardy, had furnished a subsidy to Austria, a supply of six thousand muskets. The demand was complied with, and the muskets were in the act of being conveyed to Mantua; but it being found that they were not of a suitable calibre, he had them sent back. Before leaving Florence, he instructed ge

neral Despinois, after placing a small garrison and a few guns in the castle of Milan, to convey the whole of his heavy artillery to the camp of Serrurier, and with the troops under his command to join the army of Massena; a destination which he gave also to the brigade, which, under general Valette, had remained stationary at Pistoia.

On the 1st of July, Bonaparte returned to Bologna, where he was anxious, before crossing the Po, to establish his authority firmly, and to secure, under the new order of things created by the armistice with the pope, the preservation of public tranquillity. His vigilance was not misplaced, nor his presence unnecessary; for he found the inclination of a majority of the people for complete emancipation from political bondage to ecclesiastics so decided and impatient that a speedy reaction, attended with discreditable commotions, was to be apprehended. He exerted himself to subdue this intemperance, and employed much of his time in inculcating upon the leading citizens the prudence of restraining, rather than precipitating, the movement of the public mind toward sudden innovations and extreme changes. His character, his fame, his origin, gave force to the intrinsic value of his counsels, and encouraged the friends of order to hope that the French troops might be safely withdrawn from the legations. He therefore ordered Augereau to conduct his division, with exception of the small garrisons of Ancona and Ferrara, to the position assigned him on the lower Adige; and on the 3d of July, a month after his departure from Roverbello, he himself alighted at the headquarters of Serrurier.

During this period, besides travelling at least four hundred miles, and negotiating two most important conventions, he had, without losing ground on the Adige, or the Mincio, reduced the castle of Milan, suppressed the insurrection of the imperial fiefs, reopened his communications with France, overawed Genoa, forced Urbino to surrender, taken possession of Bologna, Ferrara, Ancona, and Leghorn; detached two legations from Rome; separated the Neapolitan cavalry from the Austrian army; excluded the fleets of England from the ports of the Tuscan, Ionian, and Adriatic seas; conciliated, by personal attention, the grand duke of Tuscany, and provided a park of artillery for the siege of Mantua. In the same time, the cabinet of Vienna had not been able to transfer a corps of troops from the upper Rhine to the Adige.

But his departure from Bologna was speedily followed by disturbances in the legation of Ferrara. A monk arriving there from Trent, by way of committing a pious fraud, reported that the Austrians had passed the Adige in great force, raised the blockade of Mantua, and were pushing on rapidly to Bologna. To second the impression of this news, inflammatory handbills were circulated by the priests; and when Augereau was calling in his detachments in order to begin his march, a rabble amounting to fifteen thousand persons, actuated by fanatical rage, and miscalled by their chiefs the army of the Pope, drew together at Lugo, a considerable town on the river Senio. The bishop of Imola, in whose diocese Lugo was comprehended, endeavoured by persuasion to disperse this crowd, exhorting them "to render unto Cæsar the things that were Cæsar's," and to submit dutifully to the existing authorities. His precept, though enforced by the presence of his grand vicar at Lugo, was disregarded. Upon this, Augereau sent an officer with a detachment of horse and foot, requiring the leaders of the insurgents to dismiss their men and retire to their homes. The missionary of the bishop they had received without respect, but at the same time without injury; but the French officer they first invited to approach, and then fired upon, killing three of his men, and wounding five. Being thus intractable to counsel, Augereau found it necessary to make them feel his strength. Directing general Beyrand, whose brigade had been quartered at Forli, to move up towards Lugo, he joined that officer with a battalion of infantry, a squadron of horse, and two field pieces, and marched against the insurgents in front, while a detachment from Ferrara came upon them in the rear. Relying on their numbers, they rejected a second summons, which Augereau sent by Capelletti, the Spanish chargé d'affaires at Bologna. They were then attacked in front and rear, broken at the first shock, put to flight and pursued, with the loss of three hundred of their number. With this affair, the insurrection terminated; and Augereau renewed his march to the Adige (15).

CHAPTER XIII.

From the 3d to the 21st of July 1796.

Mantua blockaded-Massena's attack on the Austrian works-His success, and the satisfaction of Bonaparte-Sickness of the troops, and want of reenforcements Bonaparte visits Verona, and Milan - Warlike preparations of Venice-Bonaparte occupies all the strong places on the Adige -His confidence-He meets Josephine-Expedition to Corsica preparedThe count de Marsan-Bonaparte returns to Mantua-Failure of his attempt to surprise it-Opens trenches-His correspondence with Josephine -Goes to Castiglione-His correspondence with the directory-Affairs at Leghorn-Bonaparte's dissatisfaction—His letters to Vaubois and GarrauThe Grisons-Bonaparte sends a minister to Rome-His suggestion to the directory-His order respecting the extortions of the army around Mantua -Figment of the aulic council.

From the time that four of the causeways issuing out of Mantua were taken possession of by the besiegers, Serrurier, incapable from the want of artillery of making a serious impression on the place, had contented himself with pressing it by a close blockade. The month of June passed over without his being able to do more than strengthen his posts by fieldworks, at eligible points, and keep the Favorita and the citadel, under the strict observation of an adequate force. At length the heavy artillery from Urbino and Milan began to arrive in successive convoys; so that upon Bonaparte's return to Roverbello, he found the troops of Serrurier almost prepared to commence the siege in form. His presence, it may be supposed, did not relax their spirit, nor slacken their exertions.

But as the army of observation was liable to be attacked by the fresh Austrian forces, it was important that he should inspect its positions; and, returned from a distant excursion, show himself again to the troops. Accordingly, after passing a night in the camp of Serrurier, he set out in the forenoon of the 4th of July for Roveredo; a town on the Adige, a short distance above the lake of Guarda, where Massena, after a successful assault on the enemy's lines, had posted his light brigade under general Joubert.

The Austrians, with a view of closing the passes into the Tyrol against their enterprising enemies, and of defending Trent from a second insult, had constructed with great labour, and fortified with equal care, a line of intrenchments across the strip of mountainous land between the head of the lake of Guarda and the Adige. The fosse was deep, the rampart high, the commanding points crowned with artillery, and huge rocks suspended at other places, were ready to be precipitated on the assailants. Two Austrian regiments and four hundred Tyrolian riflemen defended this strong work, which, as the lake and the river flanked its extremities, they hoped to render impregnable. But Massena, desirous probably of proving that fortune had not changed sides, either because Bonaparte was absent or Wurmser had arrived, resolved upon the daring attempt of breaking through this barrier (1).

At ten o'clock in the morning of the 28th, general Joubert, at the head of four hundred carabiniers, supported by six hundred of the 4th light infantry, moved against the right of the Austrian line, and without firing a gun, passed the ditch, scaled the rampart, and drove the enemy from their work at the point of the bayonet, killing more than three hundred of them. So successful was the attack that, besides two hundred prisoners, Joubert took four hundred tents, with all the baggage, mules, and ammunition, of Lattermann's regiment. At the same time, lieutenant colonel Recco, with four companies of grenadiers, supported by the 11th light infantry, though he was ordered only to make a diversion, dislodged the Austrians from the left of their intrenchment, slew a hundred of their men, and took seventy. The loss of the French was very slight. Bonaparte was delighted with the result of this affair, and so much so with the spirit of the officers and men, that he reported the particular instances of their good con