Neither the ox, nor the calf but two days
old; neither the ewe, nor the lamb scarcely able to walk; neither the
brood-hen, nor the tender chicken, was spared. All were carried off
indiscriminately; whatever had life was slaughtered; and the fields were
covered with calves, lambs, and poultry, which the troops were unable to
consume. The cattle collected from far and near were driven along in
immense herds with the baggage. Their cries for food in all the high
roads were truly pitiable. Often did one of those wretches drive away
several cows from the out-house of a little farmer, who in vain implored
him upon his knees to spare his only means of subsistence, merely to
sell them before his face for a most disproportionate price. Hay, oats,
and every species of corn, were thrown unthreshed upon the ground, where
they were consumed by the horses, or mostly trampled in the dirt; and if
these animals had stood for some days in the stable, and been supplied
with forage by the peasant, the rider had frequently the impudence to
require his host to pay for the dung. Woe to the field of cabbages,
turnips, or potatoes, that happened to lie near a bivouac! It was
covered in a trice with men and cattle, and in twenty-four hours there
was not a plant to be seen. Fruit-trees were cut down and used for fuel,
or in the erection of sheds, which were left perhaps as soon as they
were finished.
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