By one of the strange chances of war our guide had served a breakfast to Napoleon on the morning of the battle of Wagram.

Though poor, he had kept the double napoleon which the Emperor gave him for his milk and his eggs.

The curate of Gross-Aspern took us to the famous cemetery where French and Austrians struggled together knee-deep in blood, with a courage and obstinacy glorious to each.

There, while explaining that a marble tablet (to which our attention had been attracted, and on which were inscribed the names of the owner of Gross-Aspern, who had been killed on the third day) was the sole compensation ever given to the family, he said, in a tone of deep sadness: "It was a time of great misery, and of great hopes; but now are the days of forgetfulness." The saying seemed to me sublime in its simplicity; but when I came to reflect upon the matter, I felt there was some justification for the apparent ingratitude of the House of Austria.

Neither nations nor kings are wealthy enough to reward all the devotions to which these tragic struggles give rise.