II.

The report seemed to arise from[1] those evident circumstances which rendered the event probable, but no one took any notice of it, until[2] at midnight, _when_ the soldiers were startled from their quarters by the report that the town was in flames (App. § 28). The memorable conflagration began amongst[3] the coachmakers’ warehouses and workshops in the Bazaar, _which was_ the richest district of the city. It was imputed to accident, and the progress of the flames was subdued by the exertions of the French soldiers. Napoleon, who had been roused by the tumult, hurried to the spot[4]; and when the alarm seemed at an end[5], he retired, not to his former quarters in the suburbs, but to the Kremlin, the hereditary palace of the only sovereign whom he had ever treated as an equal[6], and over whom his successful arms had now attained such an apparently[7] immense superiority. Yet he did not suffer himself to be dazzled by the advantages he had attained, but availed himself of the light of the blazing Bazaar, to write to the Emperor proposals of peace with his own hand[8]. They were despatched by a Russian officer of rank, who had been disabled by indisposition from following the army. But no answer was ever returned[9].

Next day the flames had disappeared, and the French officers luxuriously[10] employed themselves (S. 87, N. 6) in selecting out of the deserted palaces of Moscow, that which best pleased the fancy of each for his residence. At night the flames again arose in the north and west quarters of the city. As the greater part of the houses were built of wood, the conflagration spread with the most dreadful rapidity.

[1] = to have arisen from (+entstehen+ (+aus+), conjugated with +sein+).

[2] Supply ‘at last’ here and omit the comma and the conj. ‘when’. To be startled from one’s quarters, +von seinem Nachtlager aufgeschreckt werden+.

[3] = in; warehouse, +Magazin+, n.

[4] +herbei´eilen+.

[5] = and when the danger seemed to be over.

[6] +wie seinesgleichen.+

[7] apparently, +wie es schien+, which place after the adv. ‘now’.

[8] Say ‘to write to the Emperor with his own hands (+eigenhändig+, adj. used attributively) a letter, in which he offered him proposals of peace (S. 76, N. 22, _B_).

[9] = The same (to agree with ‘proposals of peace’) remained however unanswered.

[10] +prachtliebend+, which use as adj. before ‘French officers’.

_Section 219._

THE BURNING OF MOSCOW.