Part 20 (2/2)

[144] =Dorogomilow=: the name of a quarter of the city.

[145] =Daru=: a distinguished French author and statesman who accompanied Napoleon in his Russian campaign.

[146] =Boyars=: n.o.bles, or men of rank.

[147] =Bivouac= (biv-wak'): to encamp without tents or shelter.

[148] =Scythians=: a race of fierce barbarians, formerly inhabiting the country north and east of the Black Sea. Napoleon intimates that these men are their descendants.

[149] =Strelitzes=: a body of military guards that revolted under Peter the Great.

[150] =Postern-gate=: a small rear or side gate.

[151] =Lithuania=: a province of Russia bordering on the Niemen and hence near supplies.

[152] =Witepsk=: a point pa.s.sed on the march to Moscow, about midway from the Niemen; here the Russian general, Wittgenstein, appears to have been stationed.

[153] =Old Guard=: the emperor's body-guard, composed of a large force of veterans.

[154] ”Napoleon also took measures for relieving the unfortunate of all cla.s.ses. He ordered lists to be made of all the citizens whom the conflagration had deprived of the means of subsistence, opened houses of refuge for them, and supplied them with food.”

[155] =Tilsit and Erfurt=: at these places Napoleon had negotiated treaties, greatly in favor of the French, with the Czar of Russia.

[156] =Expresses=: messengers.

[157] =Armistice=: a temporary suspension of hostilities.

[158] =Partisans=: soldiers detached to intercept convoys of provisions and the like.

[159] =Invalides=: one of the great public buildings at Paris; a soldiers' home and hospital. Napoleon is buried here.

[160] =Aid-de-camp=: an officer who carries orders and directs movements for a general.

[161] =The viceroy=: Prince Eugene.

[162] The indecisive battle of Malo-jaroslavetz, a town about fifty miles southwest of Moscow, compelled Napoleon to give up his original plan of retreat, which would have taken him through an unexhausted country to the southward, and forced him to go back to the north, retracing his steps by the route he came.

[163] =Wittgenstein=: commander of one division of the Russian forces, held a position on the Dwina River and later on the Berezina, a tributary of the Dnieper.

[164] =Verea=: a village about twenty-five miles northwest of Malo-jaroslavetz.

[165] =Kremlin=: it was afterward found that the fortress was but slightly injured.

[166] =Mojaisk=: about ten miles northwest of Verea and seventy west of Moscow.

[167] The battle-field of Borodino, which Napoleon had fought on his march to Moscow. See Introduction.

[168] =Viazma=: about fifty miles west of Borodino.

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