The Duke of Wellington and his staff did not quit Brussels till past eleven o'clock; and it was not till some time after they were gone, that it was generally known the whole French army, including a strong corps of cavalry, was within a few miles of Quatre Bras, where the brave Duke of Brunswick first met the enemy—

"And foremost fighting-fell."

Dismay seized us all, when we found that a powerful French army was really within twenty-eight miles of us; and we shuddered at the thought of the awful contest which was taking place. For my own part, I had never been so near a field of battle before, and I cannot describe my sensations. We knew that our army had no alternative but to fly, or fight with a force four times stronger than its own: and though we could not doubt British bravery, we trembled at the fearful odds to which our men must be exposed. Cannon, lances, and swords, were opposed to the English bayonet alone. Cavalry we had none on the first day, for the horses had been sent to grass, and the men were scattered too widely over the country, to be collected at such short notice. Under these circumstances, victory was impossible; indeed, nothing but the staunch bravery, and exact discipline of the men, prevented the foremost of our infantry from being annihilated; and though the English maintained their ground during the day, at night a retreat became necessary.

The agony of the British, resident in Brussels, during the whole of this eventful day, sets all language at defiance. No one thought of rest or food; but every one who could get a telescope, flew to the ramparts to strain his eyes, in vain attempts to discover what was passing. At length, some soldiers in French uniforms were seen in the distance; and as the news flew from mouth to mouth, it was soon magnified into a rumour that the French were coming. Horror seized the English and their adherents, and the hitherto concealed partizans of the French began openly to avow themselves; tri-coloured ribbons grew suddenly into great request, and cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded through the air. These exclamations, how ever, were changed to "Vive le Lord Vellington!" when it was discovered that the approaching French came as captives, not conquerors.

Between seven and eight o'clock in the evening, I walked up to the Porte de Namur, were the wounded were just beginning to arrive. Fortunately, some commodious caravans had arrived from England only a few days before, and these were now entering the gate. They were filled principally with Brunswickers and Highlanders; and it was an appalling spectacle to behold the very soldiers, whose fine martial appearance and

excellent appointments I had so much admired at the review, now lying helpless and mutilated-their uniforms soiled with blood and dirt--their mouths blackened with biting their cartridges, and all the splendour of their equipments entirely destroyed. When the caravans stopped, I approached them, and addressed a Scotch officer who was only slightly wounded in the knee.

"Are the French coming, Sir ?” asked I. "Egad I can't tell," returned he. “We know nothing about it. We had enough to do to take care of ourselves. They are fighting like devils; and I'm off again as soon as my wound's dressed."

An English lady, elegantly attired, now rushed forwards- Is my husband safe?" asked she eagerly.

"Good God! madam," replied one of the men, how can we possibly tell! I don't know the fate of those who were fighting by my side; and I could not see a yard round

me.

She scarcely heeded what he said, and rushed out of the gate, wildly repeating her question to every one she met.

Some French prisoners now arrived. I noticed one, a fine fellow, who had had one arm shot off; and though the bloody and mangled tendons were still undressed, and had actually dried and blackened in the sun, he marched along with apparent indifference, carrying a loaf of bread under his remaining arm, and shouting " Vive l'Empereur !" Ï asked him if the French were coming?

pre

"Je le crois bien," returned he, 66 parez un souper, mes bourgeois-il soupera à Bruxelles ce soir."

Pretty information for me, thought I.— "Don't believe him, Sir," said a Scotchman, who lay close beside me, struggling to speak, though apparently in the last agony. "It's all right-1-assure-you-"

The wounded suffered dreadfully from the want of a sufficient number of experienced surgeons able to amputate their shattered limbs; and there was also a deficiency of surgical instruments, and of lint. The Flemings, however, roused by the urgency of the case, shook off their natural apathy, and exerted themselves to the utmost to supply every thing that was necessary. They tore up their linen to make lint and bandages; they assisted the surgeons in the difficult operations; and they gave up even the beds they slept upon, to accommodate the strangers. The women, in particular, showed the warmest enthusiasm to succour the wounded; they nursed them with the tenderest care, and watched them night and day. In short, their kindness, attention, and solicitude, reflect immortal honour on the sex. The very children were seen leading the wounded Highlanders into the houses of their parents, exclaiming, "Voici notre brave Ecossois!” Even the national vice of covetousness was forgotten in the excitement of the moment;

rich and poor fared alike, and in most cases every offer of remuneration was declined.

The whole of Friday night was passed in the greatest anxiety; the wounded arrived every hour, and the accounts they brought of the carnage which was taking place were absolutely terrific. Saturday morning was still worse; an immense number of supernumeraries and runaways from the army came rushing in at the Porte de Namur, and these fugitives increased the public panic to the utmost. Sauve qui peut! now became the universal feeling; all ties of friendship or kindred were forgotten, and an earnest desire to quit Brussels seemed to absorb every faculty. To effect this object, the greatest sacrifices were made. Every beast of burthen, and every species of vehicle, were put into requisition to convey persons and property to Antwerp. Even the dogs and fish-carts did not escape-enormous sums were given for the humblest modes of conveyance, and when all failed, numbers set off on foot. The road soon became choked up-cars, waggons, and carriages of every description were joined together in an immoveable mass; and property to an immense amount was abandoned by its owners, who were too much terrified even to think of the loss they were sustaining. A scene of frightful riot and devastation ensued. Trunks, boxes, and portmanteaus were broken open and pillaged without mercy; and every one who pleased, helped himself to what he liked with impunity. The disorder was increased by a rumour, that the Duke of Wellington was retreating towards Brussels, in a sort of running fight, closely pursued by the enemy; the terror of the fugitives now almost amounted to frenzy, and they flew like maniacs escaping from a madhouse. It is scarcely possible to imagine a more distressing scene. A great deal of rain had fallen during the night, and the unhappy fugitives were obliged literally to wade through mud. I had, from the first, determined to await my fate in Brussels; but on this eventful morning, I walked a few miles on the road to Antwerp, to endeavour to assist my flying countrymen. I was soon disgusted with the scene, and finding all my efforts to be useful unavailing, I returned to the town, which now seemed like a city of the dead; for a gloomy silence reigned through the streets, like that fearful calm which precedes a storm; the shops were all closed, and all business was suspended.

During the panic of Friday and Saturday, the sacrifice of property made by the British residents was enormous. A chest of drawers sold for five francs, a bed for ten, and a horse for fifty. In one instance, which fell immediately under my own observation, some household furniture was sold for one thousand francs (about 407.), for which the owner had given seven thousand francs (2801.) only

three weeks before. This was by no means a solitary instance; indeed, in most cases, the loss was much greater, and in many, houses full of furniture were entirely deserted, and abandoned to pillage.

Sunday morning was ushered in by one of the most dreadful tempests I ever remember. The crashing of thunder was followed by the roar of cannon, which was now distinctly heard from the ramparts, and it is not possible to describe the fearful effect of this apparent mockery of heaven. I never before felt so forcibly the feebleness of man. The rain was tremendous-the sky looked like that in Poussin's picture of the Deluge, and a heavy black cloud spread, like the wings of a monstrous vulture, over Brussels. The wounded continued to arrive the whole of Saturday night and Sunday morning, in a condition which defies description. They appeared to have been dragged for miles through oceans of mud; their clothes were torn, their caps and feathers cut to pieces, and their shoes and boots trodden off. The accounts they brought were vague and disheartening-in fact, we could only ascertain that the Duke of Wellington had late on Saturday taken up his position at Waterloo, and that there he meant to await the attack of the French. That this attack had commenced we needed not to be informed, as the roar of the cannon became every instant more distinct, till we even fancied that it shook the town. The wounded represented the field of battle as a perfect quagmire, and their appearance testified the truth of their assertions. About two o'clock a fresh alarm was excited by the horses, which had been put in requisition to draw the baggage-waggons, being suddenly galloped through the town. We fancied this a proof of defeat, but the fact was simply thus; the peasants, from whom the horses had been taken, finding the drivers of the waggons absent from their posts, seized the opportunity to cut the traces, and gallop off with their cattle.

As this explanation, however, was not given till the following day, we thought that all was over; the few British adherents who had remained were in despair, and tri-coloured cockades were suspended from every house. Even I, for the first time, lost all courage.

England cannot be much injured by the loss of a single battle," thought I; "and as for me, it is of little consequence whether I am a prisoner on parole, or a mere wanderer at pleasure. I may easily resign myself to my fate." In this manner I reasoned, but in spite of my affected philosophy, I could not divest myself of all natural feeling; and when about six o'clock we heard that the French had given way, and that the Prussians had eluded Grouché, and were rapidly advancing to the field, I thanked God with all my heart. At eight o'clock there was no longer any doubt of our success, for a batta

lion of troops marched into the town, and brought intelligence that the Duke of Wellington had gained a complete victory, and that the French were flying, closely pursued by the Prussians.

Sunday night was employed in enthusiastic rejoicing. The tri-coloured cockades had all disappeared, and the British colours were hoisted from every window. The great bell of St. Gudule tolled, to announce the event to the surrounding neighbourhood; and some of the English, who had only hidden themselves, ventured to reappear. The only alloy to the universal rapture which prevailed, was the number of the wounded; the houses were insufficient to contain half; and the churches and public buildings were littered down with straw for their reception. The body of the Duke of Brunswick, who fell at Quatre Bras, was brought in on Saturday, and taken to the quarters he had occupied near the Chateau de Läcken. I was powerfully affected when I saw the corpse of one, whom I had so lately marked as blooming with youth and health; but my eyes soon became accustomed to horrors.

On Monday morning, June 19th, I has tened to the field of battle: I was compelled to go through the forest de Soignés, for the road was so completely choked up as to be impassable; and I had not proceeded far, before I stumbled over the dead body of a Frenchman, which was lying on its face amongst the grass. The corpse was so fright fully disfigured, and so smeared with mud and gore, that I felt horror-struck; but when, on advancing a little farther, I saw hundreds, and in less than an hour, thousands of slain, I found my pity for individuals merge in the general mass, and that the more I saw the less I felt; so true it is, that habit reconciles every thing.

The dead required no help; but thousands of wounded, who could not help themselves, were in want of every thing; their features, swollen by the sun and rain, looked livid and bloated. One poor fellow had a ghastly wound across his lower lip, which gaped wide, and showed his teeth and gums, as though a second and unnatural mouth had opened below his first. Another, quite blind from a gash across his eyes, sat upright, gasping for breath, and murmuring, "De l'eau ! de l'eau !" The anxiety for water was indeed most distressing. The German "Vaser! Vaser!" and the French "De l'eau ! De l'eau !" still seem sounding in my ears. I am convinced that hundreds must have perished from thirst alone, and they had no hope of assistance, for even humane persons were afraid of approaching the scene of blood, lest they should be taken in requisition to bury the dead; almost every person who came near being pressed into that most disgusting and painful service.

This general burying was truly horrible:

large square holes were dug about six feet deep, and thirty or forty fine young fellows stripped to their skins were thrown into each, pell mell, and then covered over in so slovenly a manner that sometimes a hand or foot peeped through the earth. One of these holes was preparing as I passed, and the followers of the army were stripping the bodies before throwing them into it, whilst some Russian Jews were assisting in the spoliation of the dead, by chiseling out their teeth! an operation which they performed with the most brutal indifference. The clinking hammers of these wretches jarred horribly upon my ears, and mingled strangely with the occasional report of pistols, which seemed echoing each other at stated intervals, from different corners of the field. I could not divine the meaning of these shots, till I was informed, that they proceeded from the Belgians, who were killing the wounded horses. Hundreds of these fine creatures were, indeed, galloping over the plain, kicking and plunging, apparently mad with pain, whilst the poor wounded wretches who saw them coming, and could not get out of their way, shrieked in agony, and tried to shrink back to escape from them, but in vain.

Soon after, I saw an immense horse (one of the Scotch Grays) dash toward a Colonel of the Imperial Guard, who had had his leg shattered; the horse was frightfully wounded, and part of a broken lance still rankled in one of its wounds. It rushed snorting and plunging past the Frenchman, and I shall never forget his piercing cry as it approached. I flew instantly to the spot, but ere I reached it the man was dead; for, though I do not think the horse had touched him, the terror he felt had been too much for his exhausted frame.

Sickened with the immense heaps of slain, which spread in all directions as far as the eye could reach, I was preparing to return, when, as I was striding over the dead and dying, and meditating on the horrors of war, my attention was attracted by a young Frenchman, who was lying on his back, apparently at the last gasp. There was something in his countenance which interested me, and I fancied, though I knew not when, or where, that I had seen him before. Some open letters were lying around, and one was yet grasped in his hand as though he had been reading it to the last moment. My eye fell upon the words, "Mon cher fils," in a female hand, and I felt interested for the fate of so affectionate a son.

When I left home in the morning, I had put a flask of brandy and some biscuit into my pocket, in the hope that I might be useful to the wounded, but when I gazed on the countless multitude which strewed the field, I felt discouraged from attempting to relieve them. Chance had now directed my attention to one individual, and I was resolved to try