第 78 节
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上访不如上网 更新:2021-02-18 21:09 字数:9222
hremberg)。 Followed; before long; by Retzow himself; serenely crossing Lobau Water; and; with great celerity; and the best of skill; likewise posting himself;hopelessly to D'Ahremberg; who tries nothing farther。 The sun is now shining; it is now ten of the day。 Had Retzow come an hour sooner; efore we lost that big Battery and other things! But he could come no sooner; be thankful he is here at last; in such an overawing manner。
Friedrich; judging that nothing now can be made of the affair; orders retreat。 Retreat; which had been getting schemed; I suppose; and planned in the gloom of the royal mind; ever since loss of that big Battery at Rodewitz。 Little to occupy him; in this interim; except indignant waiting; rigorously steady; and some languid interchange of cannon…shot between the parties。 Retreat is to Klein…Bautzen neighborhood (new head…quarter Doberschutz; outposts Kreckwitz and Purschwitz); four miles or so to northwest。 Rather a shifting of your ground; which astonishes the military reader ever since; than a retreating such as the common run of us expected。 Done in the usual masterly manner; part after part mending off; Retzow standing minatory here; Mollendorf minatory there; in the softest quasi…rhythmic sequence; Cavalry all drawn out between Belgern and Kreckwitz; baggage…wagons filing through the Pass of Drehsa;not an Austrian meddling with it; less or more; Daun and his Austrians standing in their ring of five miles; gazing into it like stone statues; their regiments being still in a confused state;and their Daun an extremely slow gentleman。 'Tempelhof; ii。 319…336; Seyfarth; Beylagen; i。 432…453; Helden…Geschichte; v。 241…257; Archenholtz; &c。 &c。'
And in this manner Friedrich; like a careless swimmer caught in the Mahlstrom; has not got swallowed in it; but has made such a buffeting of it; he is here out of it again; without bone broken; not; we hope; without instruction from the adventure。 He has lost 101 pieces of cannon; most of his tents and camp…furniture; and; what is more irreparable; above 8;000 of his brave people; 5;381 of them and 119 Officers (Keith and Moritz for two) either dead or captive。 In men the Austrian loss; it seems; is not much lower; some say is rather a shade higher; by their own account; 325 Officers; 5;614 rank and file; killed and wounded;not reckoning 1;000 prisoners they lost to us; and 〃at least 2;000〃 who took that chance of deserting in the intricate dark woods。 'Tempelhof; ii。 336; but see Kausler; p。 576。'
Friedrich; all say; took his punishment in a wonderfully cheerful manner。 De Catt the Reader; entering to him that evening as usual; the King advanced; in a tragic declamatory attitude; and gave him; with proper voice and gesture; an appropriate passage of Racine:
〃Enfin apres un an; tu me revois; Arbate; Non plus comme autrefois cet heureux Mithridate; Qui; de Rome toujours balancant le destin; Tenait entre elle et moi l'univers incertain。 Je suis vaincu; Pompee a saisi l'avantage D'une nuit qui laissait peu de place au courage; Mes soldats presque nus; dans〃 。。。
Not a little to De Catt's comfort。 'Rodenbeck; i。 354。' During the retreat itself; Retzow Junior had come; as Papa's Aide…de…Camp; with a message to the King; found him on the heights of Klein Bautzen; watching the movements。 Message done with; the King said; in a smiling tone; 〃Daun has played me a slippery trick to…day!〃 〃I have seen it;〃 answered Retzow; 〃but it is only a scratch; which your Majesty will soon manage to heal again。〃〃GLAUBT ER DIES; Do you think so?〃 〃Not only I; but the whole Army firmly believe it of your Majesty。〃〃You are quite right;〃 added the King; in a confidentially candid way: 〃We will manage Daun。 What I lament is; the number of brave men that have died this morning。〃 'Retzow; i。 359 n。' On the morrow; he was heard to say publicly: 〃Daun has let us out of check…mate; the game is not lost yet。 We will rest ourselves here; a few days; then go for Silesia; and deliver Neisse。〃 The Anecdote…Books (perhaps not mythicalIy) add this: 〃Where are all your guns; though?〃 said the King to an Artilleryman; standing vacant on parade; next day。 〃IHRO MAJESTAT; the Devil stole them all; last night!〃〃Hm; well; we must have them back from him。〃 'Archenholtz; i。 299。'
Nothing immoderately depressive in Hochkirch; it appears;though; alas; on the fourth day after; there came a message from Baireuth; which did strike one down: 〃My noble Wilhelmina dead; died in the very hours while we were fighting here!〃 'On a common Business… Letter to Prince Henri; 〃Doberschutz; 18th October; 1758;〃 is this sudden bit of Autograph: 〃GRAND DIEU; MA SOEUR DE BAREITH!〃 (Schoning; Der siebenjahrige Krieg; nach der Original… Correspondens &c。 aus den Staats…Archiven: Potsdam; 1851: i。 287。)' Readers must conceive it: coming unexpected more or less; black as sudden universal hurricane; on the heart of the man; a sorrow sacred; yet immeasurable; irremediable to him; as if the sky too were falling on his head; in aid of the mean earth and its ravenings:of all this there can nothing be said at present。 Friedrich's one relief seems to have been the necessity laid on him of perpetual battling with outward business;we may fancy; in the rapid weeks following; how much was lying at all times in the background of his mind suppressed into its caves。
Daun; it appears; was considerably elated; spent a great deal of his time; so precious just at present; in writing despatches; in congratulating and being congratulated;did an elaborate TE…DEUM; or Ambrosian Song; in Artillery and VOX HUMANA;which with the adjuncts; say splenetic people; as at Kolin; sensibly assisted Friedrich's affairs。 Daun was by no means of braggart turn; but the recognition of his matchless achievement by the gazetteer public; whether in exultation or in lamentation; was loud and universal; and the joy; in Vienna and the cognate quarters; knew no bounds for the time being。 Thus; among other tokens; the Holiness of our Lord the Pope; blessing Heaven for such success against the Heretic; was pleased to send him 〃a Consecrated Hat and Sword;〃such as the old Popes were wont; very long ago; to bestow on distinguished Champions against the Heathen;(much jeered at; and crowed over; by a profane Friedrich ' OEuvres de Frederic; xv。 122; 124; 126; &c。 &c。: in PREUSS; ii。 196; compiete List of these poor Pieces; which are hearty; not hypocritical; in their contemptuons hilarity; but have little other metit。'): 〃the effect of which miraculous furnishings;〃 says Tempelhof; 〃turned out to be that the Feldmarschall never gained any success more;〃 in fact; except that small thing on Finck next Year; never any; as it chanced。 Daun had withdrawn to his old Camp; on the day of Hochkirch; leaving only a detachment on the field there: it was not for six or seven days more that he stept out to the Kreckwitz and Purschwitz neighborhood; more within sight of his vanquished enemy;but nothing like vigilant enough of what might still be in him; after such vanquishing!We must spare this Note; for the sake of a heroic kind of man; who had not too much of reward in the world:
〃Tebay could not recover Keith's body: Croats had the plundering of Keith; other Austrians; not of Croat kind; carried the dead General into Hochkirch Church: Lacy's emotion on recognizing him there; like a tragic gleam of his own youth suddenly brought back to him; as in starlight; piercing and sad; from twenty years distance;is well known in Books。 On the morrow; Sunday; October 15th; Keith had honorable soldier's…burial there;'twelve cannon' salvoing thrice; and 'the whole Corps of Colloredo' with their muskets thrice; Lacy as chief mourner; not without tears。 Four months after; by royal order; Keith's body was conveyed to Berlin; reinterred in Berlin; in a still more solemn public manner; with all the honors; all the regrets; and Keith sleeps now in the Garnison…Kirche:far from bonnie Inverugie; the hoarse sea…winds and caverns of Dunottar singing vague requiem to his honorable line and him; in the imaginations of some few。 'My Brother leaves me a noble legacy;' said the old Lord Marischal: 'last year he had Bohemia under ransom; and his personal estate is 70 ducats; (about 25 pounds)。 'Varnhagen; p。 261。'
〃In Hochkirch Church there is still; not in the Churchyard as formerly; a fine; modestly impressive Monument to Keith; modest Urn of black marble on a Pedestal of gray;and; in gold letters; an Inscription not easily surpassable in the lapidary way: 。。。 'DUM IN PRAELIO NON PROCUL HINC INCLINATAM SUORUM ACIEM MENTE MANU V0CE ET EXEMPLO RESTITUERAT PUGNANS UT HEROAS DECET OCCUBUIT。 D。 XIV。 OCTOBRIS' These words go through you like the clang of steel。 'In RODENBECK; i。 149。 Given also (very nearly correct) in CORRESPONDEENCE OF SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH (London; 1849); i。 151。 This is the junior of the two Diplomatic Roberts; genealogical cousins of Keith; by this one (in 1771; not 1776 as German Guide… books have it) the Hochkirch Monument was set up。 A very interesting Collection of LETTERS those of his;edited with the usual darkness; or r