342 



AUSPICES AUSTEHL1TZ. 



Ionian prefect. After Gmtian had ascended Un- 

 throne, he showed himself not less grateful to his 

 preceptor. About the year 370, he appointed him 

 consul in Gaul. After the death of Gratian, A. lived 

 upon an estate at Bordeaux, devoted to literary pur- 

 suits, and died about 3;M. As Valentinian was of the 

 Christian religion, it is probable that A. was so too; 

 and many of his writings confirm this conjecture. 

 Critics are not unanimous 011 the .subject of his poeti- 

 cal merits. He is, undeniably, learnt d and ingenious, 

 but his style and versification have the blemishes of 

 the age, and his Latin is impure. His epigrams, 

 idyls, eclogues, letters in verse, &c., are extant. The 

 most valuable editions are, Bourdeaux, 1575-80, 2 

 vols., 4to, by Souchay; Paris, 1730-34, Jaubert; 

 Paris, 1760-70, 4 vols., 12mo. 



AUSPICES. See Augur. 



AUSTEN, Jane, a gifted novelist, was born Dtc. 16, 

 1775, at Steventon, in the county of Hants, of which 

 parish her father was rector. Upon his death, his 

 widow and two daughters retired to Southampton, and 

 ultimately, in 1807, to Chawton. During her resi- 

 lience in the last-mentioned place, Miss Austen com- 

 posed the novels, which, for ease, nature, and a com- 

 plete knowledge of the features which distinguish the 

 domestic life of the English country gentry, are very 

 highly esteemed. The principal of these productions 

 are Sense and Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice; 

 Mansfield Park ; and Emma. Two more were pub- 

 lished after her death, entitled Nortlianger Abbey, 

 and Persuasion, which were, however, her most early 

 attempts. The object of Miss Austen, hi all her 

 works, was to advocate the superiority of sound prin- 

 ciple, unsophisticated manners, and undesigning rec- 

 titude, to showy and artificial pretensions. Her 

 discrimination was acute, her humour easy and spon- 

 taneous, and her power of creating an interest in her 

 characters by slight and reiterated touches, extraor- 

 dinary. This amiable and accomplished lady, whose 

 personal and mental attractions were of a high order, 

 died of a decline, on the 18th of July, 1817, in her 

 forty-second year. 



AUSTEHLITZ ; a town with 2000 inhabitants in the 

 dominions of the prince of Kaunnitz-Rittberg, in the 

 circle of Brunn, in Moravia, ten miles east of Brunn, 

 on the highway which leads by Coding to Hungary, 

 is famous for the battle of the 2d of December, 1805, 

 and the armistice of the 6th of the same month. These 

 events were turning points in the destiny of Europe 

 and the elevation of Napoleon. Their immediate 

 consequence was the peace of Presburg; but the 

 most important result was the subjection of Germany 

 and the humilation of Prussia ; for the victory at A. 

 not only frustrated Pitt's great plan of reducing the 

 power of France, by the allied arms of Britain, Russia, 

 and Austria, to the bounds, which, ten years after, 

 the peace at Paris assigned to it, but also established, 

 with the assistance of French diplomacy, Napoleon's 

 continental and federative system. Napoleon, after 

 the capitulation of Mack, in Ulm,Oct. 19, unchecked 

 at Lambach and Mariazell by the Austrians under 

 Meerveldt, and at Durnstein, Nov. 11 (where Mor- 

 tier suffered loss), by the Russians under Koutousoff, 

 occupied Vienna, 13th Nov., and immediately took 

 possession of the bridge over the Danube, leading to 

 Moravia, while prince Auersberg, who should have 

 burned it, allowed himself to be deluded by a pretend- 

 ed negotiation for peace. Marshal Lannes, therefore, 

 on the 15th, came up with the Russian army under 

 Koutousoff, who, to preserve himself, resolved to 

 sacrifice the rear-guard of 6000 men, whom prir.ce 

 BagEaiion commanded. This intrepid general, how- 

 ever, notwithstanding he was attacked by 30,000 

 French at Hollabrunn, on the 16th, and at. Gunters- 

 dorf on the 17th, forced his way with the remains of 



his troops to the main ai'my, on the 19th. Here th* 

 emperor Alexander had arrived, on the 18th, frcn 

 Berlin, and on the same day the second Russian army, 

 under Buxhowden, had united with that of Koutou- 

 soff. Nov. 24, the Russian guards, 10,000 strong, 

 also arrived, and it was resolved, at the head-quarters 

 of the two emperors, Alexander and Francis, at Ol- 

 muU (the troops being then in want of provisions), 

 to march, Nov. 27, from the advantageous station of 

 Olschan (eight miles from A.), in five parallel columns, 

 against Brunn, where Napoleon had aln ady taken up 

 his head-quarters on the 20th, and offer him battle- 

 But the Russians lost many days by repeated changes 

 in their plans of attack, and Napoleon deceived them 

 by negociations (in which prince 13olgorucki made 

 very high demands), also by retiring, as if he wished 

 to avoid an attack, and to conceal his force, com met- 

 ed his troops into a narrow space. He thereby 

 gained time, till the arrival of the corps under Ber- 

 nadotte, and two divisions of Davoust's, Dec. 1st, 

 when lie prepared his army, which rested on Brunn, 

 for battle, and assured his troops of the victory of the 

 following day, being the anniversary of his corona- 

 tion. The French army, in a position unknown to 

 Koutousoff, was about 80,000 strong. The army of 

 the allies numbered alxmt 84,000 foot and 16,000 

 horse, among which were 20,(!00 Austrian troops. On 

 the, morning of the 2d, about seven o'clock, the, battle 

 began, according to a plan prepared by the Austrian 

 general Weyrotter. Buxhowden, who commanded 

 the left wing of the Russian army, was stationed be- 

 side the 1st column, led by lieutenant-general Dock- 

 toroff, which, together with the 2d, under general 

 Langeron, and the 3d, under general Przybyszewsky, 

 was to surround the right wing of the French undt r 

 Soult. The village of Delnitz was taken after an 

 obstinate engagement ; but deluded by the enemy's 

 retreat, Buxnowden pressed forward, with the 1st co- 

 lumn, too far to the left, and fell into a narrow defile, 

 which two divisions of Davoust had occupied in the, 

 night. About the same time, the 2d and '.'.d columns, 

 in order to attack the right wing also in front, had 

 left the heights of Pratz, which overlooked the field 

 of battle. These were immediately occupied by 

 Soult, and maintained, after a fight of two hours, l>y 

 the aid of a part of the centre, under Bernadotte, 

 against the efforts of Koutousoff. This decided the 

 victory ; for the Russian left wing, which was before 

 engaged with Davoust, and, after Soult's change of 

 position, with the French reserve also, was cut off 

 from the centre, and attacked both in flank and rear. 

 Thus the 2d and 3d columns fell into disorder. Lan- 

 nes immediately pressed forward with the left wing, 

 and the French centre, under Bernadotte, supported 

 by a well directed fire, broke the centre of the allies 

 (where the Austrians, mostly newly-enlisted troops, 

 stood under the command of Koutousoff ), and push- 

 ed it upon the right wing of the Russians under Ba- 

 gration and prince Liechtenstein, so that the Russian 

 reserve came too soon into the engagement. Still it 

 made for a long time a gallant resistance under the. 

 grand prince Constantine and the prince Dolgorucki. 

 After this body was thrown into disorder by the 

 French left wing under Lannes, and the last attack 

 of the Russian Guards frustrated by the French 

 guards and the cavalry, which Murat commanded, 

 the allied army retreated under cover of Bagration 

 and Kienmayr, about one o'clock, in good order, to 

 A., and at four o'clock passed over the March. Th<; 

 issue of this battle was singular. The French troops 

 of the right wing, with their rear resting on A., at- 

 tacked the remainder of the left wing of the allies, 

 and, in the end, marched down from the same heights, 

 from which, in the morning, the allies had descended 

 to attack them. Consequently, the Russian left wing 



