All the large edifices in the city were now selected for the purpose of being converted into hospitals.  The number of the wounded kept continually augmenting, and by far the greatest part of them had still no other shelter than the streets.  Many, though after three days of suffering, were yet unable to obtain any assistance.  The king resolutely remained in the city, in order, as the event shewed, there to await his fate, whatever it might be.  Our condition became every moment more alarming; and, in proportion as our anxiety grew more painful, our hopes diminished.  What will become of us before this time to-morrow? was the general question on the evening of that day, and we looked forward with dejection and despondency to the morrow’s dawn.  We felt much less anxiety in the midst of the thunder of the artillery than we did at the close of this fourth day.  It resembled the dead calm which precedes the impending storm.  The combined troops took their leave of us for the night, as they had done on the preceding, with the discharge of three cannon.  It had been Sunday, and you might almost have imagined that the contending parties had suffered it to pass thus peaceably, out of respect to the commandment—­Thou shalt keep the sabbath-day holy.

The 18th of October at length appeared.  It was a day equal in importance to many a century; and the fewer History can produce that deserve to be classed along with it, the more memorable it will remain.  All that preceded it had merely opened the way, and there were yet almost inaccessible cliffs to climb before we could flatter ourselves with the hope of reaching the wished-for goal.  The leaders of the allies had already shewn the ablest French generals, in several grand engagements, that they possessed sufficient means and talents to dissolve the charm of their invincibility.  They were now about to enter the lists with the hero whom a thousand panegyrists, during a period of near twenty years, had extolled far above the greatest generals of ancient and modern times; whose enemies had to boast of but one victory over him at most—­a victory which he himself did not admit, as he ascribed the total destruction of his army in Russia to physical causes alone.  It was the conqueror of Marengo, Austerlitz, Friedland, Ratisbon, Wagram, and Mojaisk.  Fresh laurels entwined his brow at Luetzen, Bautzen, and Dresden.  Here at Leipzig the allies attempted to wrest them from him who grasps so firmly.  It was easy to foresee that with unshaken resolution he would risk all, in order, as on former occasions, to gain all, and to put an end to the campaign with a single blow.  He seemed to contemplate nothing less than the utter annihilation of the allies, as all the bridges far and near were broken down to cut off their retreat.  Whether the situation in which he had placed himself was such as to justify these hopes, I shall leave to the decision of those who are better qualified to judge.  His confidence in victory must, however, have been very strong, as he had made such inadequate preparations for his own retreat.