The French all this time could talk of nothing but victories, with which Fortune had, most unfortunately, rendered them but too familiar. One messenger of victory followed upon the heels of another. "General Thielemann," cried an aid-de-camp, "has just been taken, with 6000 men; and the emperor ordered him to be instantly shot on the field of battle."--The most violent abuse was poured forth upon the Saxons, and I now learned that great part of them had gone over to the allies in the midst of the engagement. Heartily as I rejoiced at the circumstance, I nevertheless joined the French officers in their execrations. The concourse kept increasing; the wounded arrived in troops. Towards evening every thing attested that the French were very closely pressed. A servant came at full gallop to inform us that marshal Ney might shortly be expected, and that he was wounded. The whole house was instantly in an uproar. _Mon Dieu, mon Dieu!_--cried one to another--_le prince est blessé--quel malheur!_ Soon after the marshal himself arrived; he was on foot, and supported by an aid-de-camp. Vinegar was hastily called for. The marshal had been wounded in the arm by a cannon-ball, and the pain was so acute that he could not bear the motion of riding. The houses in the village were every where plundered, and the inhabitants kept coming in to solicit assistance. I represented their distress to an aid-de-camp, who only shrugged his shoulders, and gave the miserable consolation that it was now impossible for him to put a stop to the evil.