was at first occupied by the soldiers of the German Legion, and gallantly defended till their ammunition was exhausted, when they were literally cut to pieces, and it was captured by the French, who could not, however, long keep possession of it: a terrible carnage took place in the house and garden, and the building was riddled with shot. Its loss, of some importance and injury to the British, might have been prevented by breaking an opening through the wall behind; as it was, its only entrance next the road was swept by the French artillery.

Close to this house is shown the grave of Shaw the valorous Lifeguardsman, who killed 9 Frenchmen with his own hand in the battle. Not far off, on the opposite side of the road, a vast accumulation of bodies of men, intermixed with horses, were buried in one common grave. It was near this spot that the brave General Picton was killed, and Colonel Ponsonby wounded. One of the attacks against the English left was led by Ney in person. 4 Scotch regiments were engaged in this part of the fight.

"La Haye, bear witness ! sacred is its height, And sacred is it truly from that day; For never braver blood was spent in fight Than Briton here hath mingled with the clay.

Set where thou wilt thy foot, thou scarce canst tread,

Here on a spot unhallow'd by the dead.
Here was it that the Highlanders withstood
The tide of hostile power, receiv'd its weight
With resolute strength, and stemm'd and
turn'd the flood;

And fitly here, as in that Grecian strait,
The funeral stone might say-Go, traveller,

tell

Scotland, that in our duty here we fell."

If we now proceed across the valley and up the opposite slope, we reach the farm of La Belle Alliance, a solitary white house, on the left of the road (), now a poor public-house. It was occupied by the French, whose lines were drawn up close behind it; though towards the end of the engagement, Napoleon in person marshalled his imperial guard in front of it, for the final charge. Napoleon's place of observation during a great

part of the battle was nearly on a line with La Belle Alliance, at some distance on the right of the road. The Prussians have erected a cast-iron monument (9) at a short distance on the left, in memory of their fellowcountrymen who fell here. Their loss in the battle amounted to nearly 7000; it occurred chiefly in the vicinity of Planchenoit, a village on the left of the road, beyond La Belle Alliance, which was stormed and retaken 3 times.

It has been erroneously stated that Blucher met the Duke after the battle at La Belle Alliance; but the fact is, that he did not overtake the Duke till he was 2 m. beyond the field, at Maison Rouge, or Maison du Roi, on the road to Genappe. Here the Duke gave orders for the halt of his troops. In spite of the fatigues of the day, he had pursued the French in person till long after dark; and when Colonel Harvey, who accompanied him, pointed out the danger he ran of being fired at by stragglers from behind the hedges, he exclaimed, "Let them fire away: - - the victory is gained, and my life is of no value now."

A little way beyond La Belle Alliance is the house of Coster (8), Napoleon's guide (since dead); and near this spot, a glimpse may be had of the farm of Hougoumont, 1 mile off on the right.

Gros Caillou (10), a farm-house in which Napoleon slept, was burnt in consequence by the Prussians next day, to show their hatred of their enemy.

The foregoing enumeration of the various localities of the field has been made in the order in which a traveller would pass them in following the high road from Brussels. If he intend to turn aside and examine the field more minutely, the following description may assist him :

The Mound of the Belgic Lion (2) is by far the best station for surveying the field. It is a vast tumulus, 200 feet high, beneath which the bones of

From the top of the Mound, it will be perceived, that the ground is a perfectly open and undulating plain. The British force was disposed in two lines along one of these undulations the foremost line occupied the brow of the eminence, and was partly protected by a hedge, running from Mont St. Jean to Ohain, which gave the name to the farm of La Haye Sainte (6); the second stood a little way behind, on the reverse of the slope, so as to be partly sheltered from the enemy's fire. The British were separated by the shallow valley above mentioned-varying from 500 to 800 yards in breadth-from the French, who were posted on the opposite ridge. The situation of both armies was in many parts within point blank range of their opponent's artillery.

-

The position of the British from right to left did not much exceed a mile and a half, - "small theatre for such a tragedy;" yet on this limited front did its commander place and manœuvre an army of 54,000 men, a remarkable instance of concentration of force. It was drawn up in a sort

of curve, to suit the ground along the heights, and the right wing extended as far as Mirbe Braine. The right flank of the centre stood 400 yards behind the house of Hougoumont (3), which was very strongly occupied; the left of the centre was posted at a considerable distance behind the farm house of La Haye Sainte (°), which stood nearly midway between the 2 armies, and was also occupied and fortified as well as its small size and the time would admit.

The distance between the 2 farms of Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte is 1300 yards. The French columns could not pass between them without being exposed to a flank fire, nor did Napoleon think it prudent to leave 2 such posts in his rear in the possession of his enemy; and his first efforts, previous to advancing against the English line, were to make himself master of them.

The British army remained during the whole day firm in its position; and, formed into squares, received on this ridge, in front, and on each side of the ground now occupied by the Mound, the furious charges of the French cavalry, who were on the plateau between the 2 high roads nearly of an hour, riding about among the English squares of infantry, all firing having ceased on both sides. At the time of the appearance of the Prussians, not a square had been broken or shaken; the British had not swerved an inch backwards, but were rather in advance of their first position. Immediately before the battle began, General Foy had written to Buonaparte, reminding the Emperor that he was now in front of an infantry which, in the whole course of the war in Spain, he (Foy) had never seen give way. The character earned in Spain was fully maintained at Waterloo. Napoleon paid no attention to this hint: ignorant of the metal of the English, and untried in the talents of their general, he thought to sweep them at once from a position

not naturally strong, and therefore confined his tactics to direct attacks without resorting to any peculiar

manœuvre.

Far on the left, in the direction of Wavre, are seen the woods through which the Prussians first advanced to the battle.

The Château of Hougoumont or Goumont (3), about 2 mile from La Haye Sainte, is decidedly the most interesting spot in the field of Waterloo, not only for its importance in the history of the battle, but because it still exhibits marks of the dreadful conflict. It formed, in fact, the key of the British position, and the possession of it would have enabled Napoleon to turn the English flank. It was on this account that he directed his utmost efforts towards it. At least 12,000 men, commanded by his brother Jerome, were brought at different times against it, and the fierce attacks continued with hardly any intermission during the whole of the day. It was an old-fashioned Flemish château, with walled gardens and farm offices attached to it. Had these buildings been formed for a fortress to resist the kind of assault which they endured, they could scarcely have possessed greater advantages; being surrounded on all sides by strong walls, which the Duke himself caused to be farther fortified by breaking loopholes in them, through which the garrison, if it may be so called, directed the fire of their musketry. But, notwithstanding its strength, so furious were the attacks, and so disproportionably great the number of assailants, that it could not possibly have held out, but for the bravery of the troops by whom it was maintained. The orchard and garden were several times in the possession of the French, but they never succeeded in forcing the enclosures which surrounded the house. This little citadel, though set on fire by the howitzers, and almost gutted by the flames, was bravely and judiciously maintained to the very last by the Coldstream Guards.

"Toward the grove the wall with musket holes

Is pierc'd; our soldiers here their station held

Against the foe, and many were the souls Then from their fleshy tenements expell'd.

Six hundred Frenchmen have been burnt close by,

And underneath one mound their bones and ashes lie."

At the beginning of the battle, the house stood in the centre of a wood; but the trees were so mutilated by cannon shot during the action, that few remained, and these have since been grubbed up. The old house, however, still exhibits a shattered and patched-up appearance; and the walls of the orchard retain the loopholes formed by the English, who, by this means, converted them into a sort of battery; whilst on the outside they present a broken surface crumbling to the touch, from the effect of the French musketry so long and vainly directed against them; the French, it is asserted, mistaking for some time the red brick wall for the English uniforms. "The Belgian yeo

man's garden wall was the safeguard of Europe, whose destinies hung on the possession of this house." In the little chapel is shown a crucifix, saved (as the peasants say) by miracle from the flames, which, after destroying all about it, stopped on reaching the foot of the cross. The autographs of Byron, Southey, and Wordsworth, were once to be discovered among the names which cover the walls.

Lord Byron mentions, in one of his letters, that he went on horseback alone over the field, comparing it with his recollections of similar scenes.

66

As a plain, Waterloo seems marked out for the scene of some great action, though this may be mere imagination. I have viewed with attention those of Platea, Troy, Mantinea, Leuctra, Charonea, and Marathon; and the field around Mont St. Jean and Hougoumont appears to want little but a better cause (?), and that undefinable but impressive halo which the lapse of ages throws around a celebrated spot,

to vie in interest with any or all of these, except, perhaps, the last mentioned."

Though it is not intended to give a full and particular history of the fight, the following additional facts will be not inappropriately introduced here: - the force which Napoleon brought into the field amounted, by his own confession, to nearly 75,000 men: 54,000 men composed the whole of the Duke of Wellington's army actually engaged; of these only 32,000 were British or of the German Legion. It has been often asserted, and is still believed by many, that the Duke of Wellington was taken by surprise at Waterloo, and that he first heard the news of the advance of the French in a ball-room. This is not the fact the intelligence was brought to the Duke on June 15. by the Prince of Orange, who found him at within 100 yards of his quarters in the park at Brussels, about 3 o'clock; and by 5 the same evening orders had been sent to all the divisions of the British army to break up their cantonments, and move on the left of Quatre Bras. A proposal was made to put off the ball intended to be given by the Duchess of Richmond that evening at Brussels; but it was thought better to let it proceed, and thus to keep the inhabitants in ignorance of the course of events: the Duke therefore desired his principal officers to be present, but to take care to quit the ball-room as soon after 10 as possible: he himself stayed till 12, and set off for the army at 6 next morning. On the morning of the 16th, the Duke, having finished the disposition of his forces, rode across the country to Blucher, at Ligny, being unwilling to trust to any one the important point of concerting measures for the co-operation of the Prussians. Blucher then promised to support him, early on the 18th, with two divisions of his army. This fact is important, and not generally known. Another common error respecting this battle is, that the Bri

tish were on the point of being defeated when the Prussians arrived: this is sufficiently refuted by the testimony of the Prussian general, Muffling, who expressly says that "the battle could have afforded no favourable result to the enemy, even if the Prussians had never come up." The Prussian army was expected to join the British at 2, but it was half-past 4 before a gun was fired by them. The Duke had carefully examined some time previously the position of Waterloo, and had ascertained the practicability of maintaining it for the defence of Brussels, until his ally should come to his support. The story of the Duke's having thrown himself into the middle of a square of infantry during the charges of the French cavalry is also a pure fiction.

The fertility of the ground on which the battle was fought increased greatly for several years after it took place. Nowhere were richer crops produced in the whole of Belgium, and the corn is said to have waved thickest, and to have been of a darker colour, over those spots where the dead were interred, so that in spring it was possible to discover them by this mark alone.

"But when I stood beneath the fresh green tree,

Which living waves where thou didst cease
to live,

And saw around me the wide fields revive
With fruits and fertile promise, and the
Spring

Come forth her work of gladness to con-
trive,

With all her reckless birds upon the wing, I turn'd from all she brought to those she could not bring." BYRON.

"Was it a soothing or a mournful thought,
Amid this scene of slaughter as we stood,
Where armies had with recent fury fought,
To mark how gentle nature still pursued
Her quiet course, as if she took no care
For what her noblest work had suffer'd
there?"
SOUTHEY.

The stranger arriving at Waterloo is commonly set upon by a host of the relic-hunters, a numerous horde who infest the spot, and bother him to buy buttons and bullets. The furrows of