Part 188

+in die Luft schleudern.+

to take effect, +zu wirken anfangen+.

+zurück´lassen.+

Section 217.

THE BURNING OF MOSCOW. (Comp. S. 156, N. 1.)

On the 14th of September, 1812, while the rear-guard of the Russians were in the act (S. 216, N. 1) of evacuating Moscow, Napoleon reached the hill called the Mount of Salvation, because it is there where the natives kneel and cross themselves at first sight of the Holy City.

Moscow seemed as lordly and striking as ever, with the steeples of its thirty churches, and its copper domes glittering in the sun; its palaces of Eastern architecture mingled with trees, and surrounded with gardens; and its Kremlin, a huge triangular mass of towers, something between a palace and a castle, which rose like a citadel out of the general mass of groves and buildings. But not a chimney sent up smoke, not a man appeared on the battlements, or at the gates. Napoleon gazed every moment expecting to see a train of bearded boyards arriving to (S. 19, N. 7) fling themselves at his feet, and place their wealth at his disposal. His first exclamation was: “Behold at last that celebrated city!” His next: “It was full time!” His army, less regardful of the past or the future, fixed their eyes on the goal of their wishes, and a shout of “Moscow! Moscow!” passed from rank to rank.

Bonaparte, as if unwilling to encounter the sight of the empty streets, stopped immediately on entering the first suburb. His troops were quartered in the desolate city. During the first few hours after their arrival, an obscure rumour, which could not be traced, but one of those which are sometimes found to get abroad before the approach of some awful certainty, announced that the city would be endangered by fire in the course of the night.

Nom. +der seligmachende Berg+.

= majestic.

+seinen im orientalischen Stile erbauten, mit Bäumen und Gärten umgebenen Palästen.+

+Kreml+, m.

+einem ungeheuren, dreieckigen, mit vielen Türmen verzierten Gebäude+; something — castle, +welches zwischen einem Palaste und einem Schlosse die Mitte hielt+; which = and.

= great; groves, +Baumgruppen+.

= smoked; not a man = nobody.

+blickte ... darauf hin.+

= high.

less — future, Liter. = which troubled itself (+sich bekümmern+) only about (+um+) the present (+Gegenwart+, f.).

Here follows the predicate ‘announced’.

= the origin of which could not be traced (+ausfindig machen+). See S. 4, N. 4 (+man+).

= event.

= that the town during the night would be exposed to a great conflagration.

Section 218.

THE BURNING OF MOSCOW.

II.

The report seemed to arise from those evident circumstances which rendered the event probable, but no one took any notice of it, until at midnight, when the soldiers were startled from their quarters by the report that the town was in flames (App. § 28). The memorable conflagration began amongst the coachmakers’ warehouses and workshops in the Bazaar, which was the richest district of the city. It was imputed to accident, and the progress of the flames was subdued by the exertions of the French soldiers. Napoleon, who had been roused by the tumult, hurried to the spot; and when the alarm seemed at an end, he retired, not to his former quarters in the suburbs, but to the Kremlin, the hereditary palace of the only sovereign whom he had ever treated as an equal, and over whom his successful arms had now attained such an apparently immense superiority. Yet he did not suffer himself to be dazzled by the advantages he had attained, but availed himself of the light of the blazing Bazaar, to write to the Emperor proposals of peace with his own hand. They were despatched by a Russian officer of rank, who had been disabled by indisposition from following the army. But no answer was ever returned.

Next day the flames had disappeared, and the French officers luxuriously employed themselves (S. 87, N. 6) in selecting out of the deserted palaces of Moscow, that which best pleased the fancy of each for his residence. At night the flames again arose in the north and west quarters of the city. As the greater part of the houses were built of wood, the conflagration spread with the most dreadful rapidity.

= to have arisen from (+entstehen+ (+aus+), conjugated with +sein+).