108 THE VIVANDIKKi:. CH a p. seemed one who embodied the spirit of war. You v * might call her a priestess ordained, and bringing up human sacrifices to lay on the altar of glory ; or again might sec in her form a conventional image of France nobly leading her sons into action, and commanding them, if need be, to die. Each actress had her own 'reading' of the part that she played ; so that one corps of troops for ex- ample was proudly led down through the gorge by a chieftainess riding in plumes ; another by a bright girl attired with all the ineffable comeli- ness that belongs to the daughters of France when obeying strict laws of costume. The fair- est of all was the one at the head of a much-fav- oured regiment, by our people called the 'Green ' Chasseurs.' * With infinite grace and composure she led her men down the liavine to meet the fortune of war. We have — not wrongly — lingered a moment to see the Vivandiere pass ; for — always charac- teristic, and linked with great warlike traditions — the memory of her presence, that day, gathered strength from the slaughter that followed. A ft it an interval of perhaps hardly more than thirty or thirty-five minutes, the fight was destined to open, and then within one single hour, and within but a few hundred yards of the scenic display we have witnessed, the troops thus led down the lia- vine would be falling, and falling by thousands.!
- Apparently tlio 'Tirailleurs.'
t As to the extent of the losses sustained by the French in that hour see post, footnote, >. 113.
