Meissonier, his life and his art . rilE THKKI-; SMIKERS. (Ill the possession of RI. Thi^ry.) Emperor thought it a mere reconnaissance, perhaps a skirmish of theadvance guard. However, the cannonade increased, it seemed toadvance, to leap from mamelon to mamelon. From the crest of a hillhe knew not how he mounted, still less how he had descended,Meissonier watched the dislodgment of a corps of Austrians. ... Forhours they gallop straight ahead, climbing, rushing forward, in thenoise and smoke of artillery. An obstacle then presents itself whichresists. . This position too is taken. The staff fo
Meissonier, his life and his art . rilE THKKI-; SMIKERS. (Ill the possession of RI. Thi^ry.) Emperor thought it a mere reconnaissance, perhaps a skirmish of theadvance guard. However, the cannonade increased, it seemed toadvance, to leap from mamelon to mamelon. From the crest of a hillhe knew not how he mounted, still less how he had descended,Meissonier watched the dislodgment of a corps of Austrians. ... Forhours they gallop straight ahead, climbing, rushing forward, in thenoise and smoke of artillery. An obstacle then presents itself whichresists. . This position too is taken. The staff follows the Em-peror, who scales the redoubt, piled up with corpses, passing along W Cavalier of the lime of Louis XIIL (PtN 1>KAWIN(;.). Printed by Draeger & Lcsieur. Paris HIS WORKS 41 the alley of interwoven vines and mulberry-trees, under shelter of whichour little soldiers had scaled the height, and finding in the long line oftheir dead bodies the evidence of their rapid attack. Is this victory ?The cannon still thunders ; but they sleep that night on the field. Itis victory then—the victory of Solferino ! Melancholy sight! hesaid long afterwards, when the impressions of that memorable day werestill as vivid as when they were fresh upon him. Terrible indeedwas it to see the wounded, some rigid with pain, others weeping uncon-trollably, victors and vanquished disarmed by suffering, dying side byside, almost in each others arms. . Everywhere broken weapons,shattered limbs, pools of blood in which the horses slipped ; we had todismount and walk. He shuddered still at the recollection of certainepisodes. As they passed by a place where the corpses lay thicklyscattered, an officer picked up a forage cap and of
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