—Editor ↩
“Le même esprit fit manquer l’effet de trois brûlots; on calcula mal la distance; on se pressa d’allumer la méche, ils brûlèrent au milieu du fleuve, et quoiqu’il fût six heures du matin, les Turcs, encore couchés, n’en prirent aucun ombrage.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, II 203
—Editor ↩
“1er Dec. 1790. La flottille russe s’avança vers les sept heures; il en était neuf lorsqu’elle se trouva à cinquante toises de la ville [d’Ismaël]: elle souffrit, avec une constance calme, un feu de mitraille et de mousqueterie. …”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, p. 204
—Editor ↩
“… près de six heures … les batteries de terre secondaient la flottille; mais on reconnut alors que les canonnades ne suffiraient pas pour réduire la place, on fit la retraite à une heure. Un lançon sauta pendant l’action, un autre dériva par la force du courant, et fut pris par l’ennemi.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, II 204
—Editor ↩
For Delhis, see Poetical Works, 1899, II, note 1. —Editor ↩
“Les Turcs perdirent beaucoup de monde et plusieurs vaisseaux. A peine la retraite des Russes fut-elle remarquée, que les plus braves d’entre les ennemis se jetèrent dans de petites barques et essayèrent une descente: le Comte de Damas les mit en fuite, et leur tua plusieurs officiers et grand nombre de soldats.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, p. 204
—Editor ↩
“On ne tarirait pas si on voulait rapporter tout ce que les Russes firent de mémorable dans cette journée; pour conter les hauts faits d’armes, pour particulariser toutes les actions d’éclat, il faudrait composer des volumes.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, p. 204
—Editor ↩
“Parmi les étrangers, le prince de Ligne se distingua de manière à mériter l’estime générale; de vrais chevaliers français, attirés par l’amour de la gloire, se montrèrent dignes d’elle: les plus marquans étaient le jeune Duc de Richelieu, les Comtes de Langeron et de Damas.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, p. 204
Andrault, Comte de Langeron, born at Paris, January 13, 1763, on the outbreak of the Revolution (1790) took service in the Russian Army. He fought against the Swedes in 1790, and the Turks in 1791, and, after serving as a volunteer in the army of the Duke of Brunswick (1792–93), returned to Russia, and was raised to the rank of general in 1799. He commanded a division of the Russian Army in the German campaign of 1813, and entered Paris with Blücher, March 30, 1814. He was afterwards Governor of Odessa and of New Russia; and, a second time, fought against the Turks in 1828. He died at St. Petersburg, July 4, 1831. Joseph Elizabeth Roger, Comte de Damas d’Antigny, born at Paris, September 4, 1765, owed his commission in the Russian Army to the influence of the Prince de Ligne. He fought against the Turks in 1787–88, and was distinguished for bravery and daring. At the Restoration in 1814 he re-entered the French Army, was made Governor of Lyons; shared the temporary exile of Louis XVIII at Ghent in 1815, and, in the following year, as commandant of a division, took part in repressing the revolutionary disturbances in the central and southern departments of France. He died at Cirey, September 3, 1823.—La Grande Encyclopédie. —Editor ↩
Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne, was born at Brussels, May 12, 1735. In 1782 he visited St. Petersburg as envoy of the Emperor Joseph II, won Catherine’s favour, and was appointed Field Marshal in the Russian Army. In 1788 he was sent to assist Potemkin at the siege of Ochakof. His Mélanges Militaires, etc., were first published in 1795. He died in November, 1814.
Josef de Ribas (1737–c. 1797). —Editor ↩
“L’Amiral de Ribas … déclara, en plein conseil, que ce n’était qu’en donnant l’assaut qu’on obtiendrait la place: cet avis parut hardi; on lui opposa mille raisons, auxquelles il répondit par de meilleures.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, II, 205
—Editor ↩
Prince (Gregor Alexandrovitch) Potemkin, born 1736, died October 15, 1791.
“He alighted from his carriage in the midst of the highway, threw himself on the grass, and died under a tree,”
(Life of Catherine II, by W. Tooke, 1880, III 324)
His character has been drawn by Louis Philippe, Comte de Ségur, who, writes Tooke (Life of Catherine II, p. 326), “lived a long time in habits of intimacy with him, and was so obliging as to delineate it at our solicitation.”
“In his person were collected the most opposite defects and advantages of every kind. He was avaricious and ostentatious, … haughty and obliging, politic and confiding, licentious and superstitious, bold and timid, ambitious and indiscreet; lavish of his bounties to his relations, his mistresses, and his favourites, yet frequently paying neither his household nor his creditors. His consequence always depended on a woman, and he was always unfaithful to her. Nothing could equal the activity of his mind, nor the indolence of his body. No dangers could appal his courage; no difficulties force him to abandon his projects. But the success of an enterprise always brought on disgust. … Everything with him was desultory; business, pleasure, temper, carriage. His presence was a restraint on every company. He was morose to all that stood in awe of him, and caressed all such as accosted him with familiarity. … None had read less than he; few people were better informed. … One while he formed the project of becoming Duke of Courland; at another he thought of bestowing on himself the crown of Poland. He frequently gave
