of the Prussians with great slaughter; but the precipitate retreat, and the numerous prisoners announced in Bonaparte's bulletin, are now universally allowed to be apocryphal. Blucher, whose open and frank avowal of the defeat he sustained claims credit for the rest of his narrative, assures us, that the Prussian army was again formed within a quarter of a league from the field of battle, and presented such a front to the enemy as deterred him from attempting a pursuit. We ought therefore to conclude, (paying always the necessary deference to Bonaparte's military skill,) that although the Prussians had been driven from their positions, yet their retreat must have been conducted with such order, that no advantage would have resulted from pursuing them with a small force, while the necessity of making a movement with his main body to the left, in order to repair the disaster sustained by Ney, rendered it impossible for Napoleon to press upon their retreat with an overwhelming superiority of numbers.

These reflections, which I hazard in profound submission to your experience, close what occurs upon the important events of the 16th and 17th days of June last. Ever, my dear Major, &c.

PAUL.

LETTER VIII.

TO THE SAME.

BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

Field of Waterloo Described-Disposition of the British Forces-Valley between the Armies-Hougoumont-Position of the French Army-Dawn of the 18th-Preparations of the French-Communication between the British and Prussians- Commencement of the BattleSpot where Bonaparte was posted-Advance of French Cavalry-Determination of the British Troops-First Attack of the French-Their partial Success-Defence of Hougoumont-Renewed attack upon it-Resistance of the Black Brunswickers-Formation of the Regiment into Squares-Attack upon Mount St John-Inefficiency of Light Cavalry-Temporary Superiority of the FrenchCharge of the Heavy Brigade-Instance of Military Indifference-Feats of Personal Valour- Corporal Shaw— Sir John Elley-French Cavalry beaten off-Alarm at Brussels on the arrival of French Prisoners- Contest renewed on the Right Wing-Charges of French Cavalry -Courage of Individual Frenchmen-Coolness of our Soldiers-Retreat of a Belgian Regiment- Cowardice of the Hanoverian Hussars-The Centre and Left again assaulted-La Haye Sainte stormed-Dreadful Carnage of Hougoumont-Burning of the Chateau-The position successfully defended-Duke of Wellington-He encourages the Troops-Losses among his Staff-Sir W. Delancy-Sir A. Gordon-Licut.- Col. Canning-Inces

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sant Attacks of the French-Determination of Wellingtons

Bulow's Division appears- They are met by LobauCaution of Blucher— Grouchy attacks the Prussian Rear— Defence of the Bridge of Wavre-The Bridge forced— Grouchy waits for orders-March of Blucher-Reasons assigned by the French for their Defeat-Blucher appears near Sunset-Bonaparte miscalculates on Grouchy's support-Attack of the Imperial Guards-Position of the British-Advance of the Imperial Guards-Our Guards meet them-the French fly-the British form Line and pursue-Bonaparte- His Admiration of the British— His Flight The English advance-Final Rout of the French-Last Gun fired by Captain Campbell-The Flight and Pursuit- Wellington and Blucher meet-La Belle Alliance-Cruelty of the French-Retaliation of the Prussians — Death of Duhesme - Utter Rout of the French-Humanity of the English to their wounded Enemies.

THE field of battle at Waterloo is easily described. The forest of Soignies, a wood composed of beechtrees, growing uncommonly close together, is traversed by the road from Brussels, a long broad causeway, which, upon issuing from the wood, reaches the small village of Waterloo. Beyond this point the wood assumes a more straggling and dispersed appearance, until about a mile farther, where at an extended ridge, called the heights of Mount St John, from a farm-house situated upon the Brussels road, the trees almost entirely disappear, and the country becomes quite open.1

["The wood of Soignies is supposed to be a remnant of the forest of Ardennes, famous in Boiardo's Orlando,' and immortal in Shakspeare's As You Like It.' It is also celebrated in Tacitus as being the spot of successful defence by the Germans against the Roman encroachments."-BYRON.]

DISPOSITION OF THE BRITISH FORCES. 101

Along this eminence the British forces were disposed in two lines. The second, which lay behind the brow of the hill, was, in some degree, sheltered from the enemy's fire. The first line, consisting of the élite of the infantry, occupied the crest of the ridge, and were on the left partly defended by a long hedge and ditch, which, running in a straight line from the hamlet of Mount St John towards the village of Ohain, gives name to two farmhouses. The first, which is situated in advance of the hedge, and at the bottom of the declivity, is called La Haye Sainte (the holy hedge); the other, placed at the extremity of the fence, is called Ter la Haye. The ground at Ter la Haye becomes woody and broken, so that it afforded a strong point at which to terminate the British line upon the left. A road runs from Ter la Haye to Ohain and the woody passes of St Lambert, through which the Duke of Wellington kept up a communication by his left with the Prussian army. The centre of the English army occupied the village of Mount St John, on the middle of the ridge, just where the great causeway from Brussels divides into two roads, one of which branches off to Nivelles, and the other continues the straight line to Charleroi. A strong advanced post of Hanoverian sharp-shooters occupied the house and farmyard of La Haye Sainte, situated in advance upon the Charleroi road, and just at the bottom of the hill. The right of the British army, extending along the same eminence, occupied and protected the Nivelles. road as far as the enclosures of Hougoumont, and, turning rather backwards, rested its extreme right

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upon a deep ravine. Advanced posts from thence occupied the village called Braine la Leude,1 on which point there was no engagement. The ground in front of the British point sloped easily down into lower ground, forming a sort of valley, not a level plain, but a declivity varied by many gentle sweeps and hollows, which, though quite dry, seem as if formed by the course of a river. The ground then ascends in the same manner to a ridge opposite to that of Mount St John, and running parallel to it at the distance of twelve or fourteen hundred yards. This was the position of the enemy. It is in some points nearer, and in others more distant from the heights, or ridge, of Mount St John, according as the valley between them is of greater or less breadth.

The valley between the two ridges is entirely open and unenclosed, and on that memorable day bore a tall and strong crop of corn. But in the centre of the valley, about half way betwixt the two ridges, and situated considerably to the right of the English centre, was the Chateau de Goumont, or Hougoumont. This is (or rather was) a gentleman's house of the old Flemish architecture, having a tower, and, as far as I can judge from its ruins, a species of battlement. It was surrounded on one side by a large farm-yard, and on the other opened to a garden divided by alleys in the Dutch taste, and fenced by a brick wall, and an exterior hedge and ditch. The whole was encircled by an open grove of tall trees, covering a space of about

1 Or Braine the Free, to distinguish it from Braine le Compte, or Braine belonging to the count.