Ratisbon (German Regensburg), which has been besieged seventeen times
since the eighteenth century, was stormed by Napoleon, May, 1809, during
his Austrian campaign. Mrs. Sutherland Orr, the biographer of Browning,
says this incident actually happened, except that the hero was a man and
not a boy.
[245] 5. =Neck out-thrust.= Notice how Browning gives the well-known
attitude of Napoleon.
[246] 9. =Mused.= What effect has this supposed soliloquy of Napoleon?
[247] 11. =Lannes=; a general of Napoleon's, and the Duke of Montebello.
[248] 29. =Flag-bird.= What bird was on Napoleon's flag?