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. At the time of the appearance of the Prussians, not a square had been broken or shaken; they had not swerved an inch backwards, but were rather in advance of their first position. 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 pierced; our soldiers here their station held from their fleshlytenements expelled. Six hundred Frenchmen have been burnt close by, Far on the left, in the direction of Against the foe, and many were the souls Wavre, are seen the woods through which the Prussians first advanced to the battle. The Chateau of Hougoumont or Goumont (3), about 4 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 chateau, 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 English farther fortified by breaking loopholes in them, through which the garrison, if it may be so called, directed the fire of their musquetry. But, notwithstanding its strength, so furious were the attacks, and so disproportionably great the 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 now remain. 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. 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. It is reported that the autographs of Byron and Southey are 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. "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, Chæronea, 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 at Brussels. This is not the fact: the intelligence was brought to the Duke by a Prussian officer at half-past 1 o'clock on the 15th: by two on that day orders were 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 staid till 12, and set off for the army at 6 next morning. On the evening of the 17th, the Duke, having finished the disposition of his forces, rode across the country to Blucher, 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 morrow with two divisions of his army. This fact is important, and not generally known. The charger (Copenhagen) which carried the Duke that eventful night, remained till its death in 1836, a free pensioner in a paddek at Strathfieldsaye. Another common error respecting this battle is, that the British 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 tactics so well and successfully employed by the Duke of Wellington, are well and briefly described by the French general Vaudoncourt :"Le Duc de Wellington, ayant reçu la dernière réponse de Blucher, n'avait d'autre emploi à faire de la stratégie, que celui de combattre à pied ferme jusqu'à l'arrivée des Prussiens." (W. M. Т.) The fertility of the ground on which the battle was fought is said to have increased greatly since it took place. No where are richer crops produced in the whole of Belgium, and the corn is said to wave thickest, and to be of a darker colour, over those spots where the dead were interred, so that in spring it is possible to discover them by this mark alone. "But when I stood beneath the fresh green tree, Which living waves where thou didst cease Her quiet course, as if she took no care their quarrels. Besides the fields of Waterloo and Quatre Bras, through which the road passes, Wavre, Fleurus, Ligny, and the little village of Ramillies, where Marlborough gained one of his most famous victories over the French and Bavarians, lie within the province of Brabant, or only a short distance off our road. 11⁄2 Genappe. - Inn, H. du Roi d'Espagne; 19 miles from Brussels: 12,000 inhabitants. It was on the road, a little way out of the town, that the Prussians captured the carriage of Napoleon, and nearly took him prisoner in it on the night after the battle. The road on the right leads to Nivelles, 11 miles distant; where in the Church of St. Gertrude, there are two pulpits carved by Delveaux, said to be the finest in Belgium; one, of wood, represents Elijah in the desert; the other, of marble, the Good Samaritan. Jean de Nivelles is a colossal statue, which strikes the hours, on the top of a tower. The great concourse of strangers who repair year after year to visit the scene of this memorable battle, has had the effect of raising up in the neighbourhood a number of persons whose profession may be said to vary between that of extortioners, cheats, and beggars. The stranger is their game upon whom they prey. He is first set upon by a host of guides before he reaches the ground; but they, though somewhat too violently importunate in proffering their services, are at least useful. He has no sooner escaped from them than he falls into the hands of the relic hunters, a numerous horde who infest the spot, persecuting and bothering him to buy buttons and bullets. The furrows of the plough during each succeeding spring turn up numberless melancholy memorials of the fight-half consumed rags, bullets corroded and shattered, fragments of accoutrements, bones and skulls; but when the real articles fail, the vendors are at no loss to invent others, so that there is little fear of the supply being exhausted. Then there are so many sights; at every step he is pestered to turn aside and look at something not worth seeing, for which he is expected to pay handsomely; and when all this is done, he is subjected to the eloquence of beggars, a most persevering class of tormentors, who beset every path, in many instances apparently without the pretext of poverty. All this is very disagreeable; it ruffles the temper, and tends to dispel those associations which the sight of the spot would naturally call up. It is there-glish by the words "Three legs!" fore as well to be prepared for them beforehand. The part of Belgium through which our rcute lies, has been called the "Cock-pit" of Europe, and has been for ages the ground upon which the powers of Europe have decided About 1 miles from Genappe is the village of Boisy, where Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the first crusade, was born. Tilly, 6 miles from Genappe, is the birth-place of the celebrated general of the 30 years' war, the opponent of Gustavus Adolphus, Count Tzerclas de Tilly. Nearly three miles from Genappe our road passes Quatre Bras, so called because 4 roads, from Brussels, Charleroi, Nivelles, and Namur, meet at this spot. An ingenious innkeeper of the place has discovered a different meaning for Quatre Bras, and kindly translates it for the benefit of the En Here was fought that memorable engagement in which the brave Duke of Brunswick fell at the head of his de voted black band, two days before the battle of Waterloo (June 16. 1815). This position was considered highly important by the Duke of Wellington, as being the key of all the roads in the neighbourhood. He commanded in person during the engagement, and repulsed Marshal Ney. But Blucher's defeat at Ligny, on the same day, forced him to retire upon Waterloo. 2 Sombreffe. - The road is uninteresting until, after crossing a small stream, it reaches the height overhanging Namur, which commands a fine view of its rock-built citadel and the valley of the Meuse. 2 NAMUR. - Inns: H. de Harscamp. "The Hotel de Harscamp is excellent, but it has the drawback of being close to a steeple which rings a loud alarum peal for 1 hour every evening at 11, and every morning at The traveller never fails to be 4. I woke 'en sursaut' by the latter. have therefore avoided sleeping at Namur, but did so this summer, and found the result not a little disagreeable. The sounds are peculiarly loud, harsh, and grating. I suspect they must be heard, more or less distinctly, in all parts of the town: it is the signal for closing and opening the gates." L. M. - De Bellevue; - de Flandres, both small. Capital of the province of Namur, and a strong fortress, with 19,500 inhabitants, built at the junction of the Sambre and Meuse. It possesses within it but few objects of interest, unless perhaps the traveller, calling to mind "my uncle Toby," be induced, on his account, to pay a visit to Porte St. Nicholas. Namur was taken by Louis XIV., in 1692. Racine has written an account of the siege, and Boileau celebrated its capture in a worthless ode; it was retaken by the English under William III. from the French, after a siege of 10 weeks, in 1695. It was in this memorable siege that "my uncle Toby" was supposed to be engaged. The Cathedral is of modern construction, with a Corinthian portico, built in 1767 on the site of a more ancient church. It contains the tomb of Don John of Austria, the conqueror at Lepanto, who died in the camp at Bouges, a mile from Namur, in 1578, not without suspicion of poison from the jealousy of his brother Philip II. The Church of St. Loup, built by the Jesuits, is as glaring within as gilding and marble can make it. It has a roof elaborately carved in stone by a brother of the order, it may be presumed as a penance, since he was suspended by a scaffold, lying on his back, his eyes protected by a pair of glasses from the falling dust. (W. M. T.) There is an interesting little Museum of Natural History, containing, among other objects of curiosity, a perfect series of Belgian marbles, framed and named. The situation of Namur is most beautiful, and the best view is from the heights occupied by the commanding Citadel. Namur and Huy are among the number of fortresses greatly strengthened since the war, under the inspection of the Duke of Wellington, and partly at the expence of Great Britain. They form part of the great barrier on the side of France; the work of centuries to erect, at the cost of vast sums of money, and as vast an expenditure of blood. The cutlery made at Namur is celebrated, and forms a considerable object of manufacture. It is said to approach nearer to the English than any made on the Continent: a comparison of the two, however, will show how greatly inferior it is to our own. The mines of coal, iron, and marble situated in the neighbourhood give employment to an industrious population. The crawfish of the Meuse are celebrated. The valley of the Meuse above Namur, towards Dinant, (Route XXX.) is even more picturesque than below the town. From Dinant an excursion may be advantageously made to the very remarkable cavern of Hans on the Lesse. Its extent is vast, and the stalactites on its roof, floor, and walls most pure and beautiful. A diligence runs in 24 hours to Luxemburg, by an excellent new road finished in 1827. (Route XXIX.) There are passage-boats on the Meuse between Namur and Liége; the accommodation in them is not very good; but as they go with the stream, they are not a disagreeable conveyance. The banks of the Meuse are very pretty, but are seen nearly to the same advantage from a carriage. A dam of masonry is thrown across the Sambre at Namur, with the view of swelling its contents into a navigable canal, a design which does not appear to have quite succeeded. Namur has two bridges, over the Sambre and over the Meuse. They are both crossed in going to Liége. An extra quarter post is paid on quitting Namur with post horses. From the right bank of the river the view of Namur and its lofty citadel, standing on a high promontory, at whose foot the two rivers unite, is most picturesque, and the scenery continues of a most interesting character for many miles, through which the road runs by the river banks. The Meuse has been compared to the Wye; but it is believed that those who know both will not hesitate to give a preference to the English river. a The Meuse, however, affords pleasing mixture of cultivation and wildness, of active industry and quiet nature, smoking steam-engines and naked and abrupt rocks, ruined castles and flourishing villages, with huge many-windowed mills and factories, which give an agreeable variety to the road. The district swarms with population all the way to Liége, and the soil is in the highest state of culture; the lower grounds occupied by the richest corn fieldsand hop grounds, or the most verdant meadows. These, with the winding river flowing between them, form the features of a pleasing landscape. The numerous quarries in the lime-stone cliff along the river banks afford a very excellent marble, which is cut into blocks, and sent down the river to Holland, where it is used for flag stones, and even for finer purposes. On the opposite banks are seen the red stains of the earth which furnishes alum to numerous works. 14 Schlayen. - At Andennes, 3 miles off, is a paper mill, belonging to Mr. Cockerill. The neighbourhood abounds in coal mines, and also produces, in large quantities, the pipe clay used in making tobacco pipes; large quantities of it were exported annually to Holland before the revolution. 2 Huy (pronounced We). Inn: The Poste, at the water side, under the castle, and close to the cathedral. Huy has 7000 inhabitants; it is romantically situated on the Meuse, which divides it into two parts, and is traversed by an ancient stone bridge. A formidable Citadel, recently repaired and strengthened on the most approved plans of modern fortification, under the direction of skilful English engineers, commands and defends the passage up and down the valley of the Meuse. The works are partly excavated in the solid rock, and high walls of most massive masonry have been added to the natural precipices on which it stands, to increase the difficulty of capture. Strangers are allowed to see the fortifications. The Cathedral, under the citadel, is approached on one side by a curious old carved gateway; the interior is of a graceful style of Gothic, and is certainly worthy of being examined. In one of the suburbs stood the abbey of Neufmoustier, founded by Peter the Hermit, the preacher of the first Crusade, who was himself buried in it. It was one of the 17 convents which existed here while the town was under the dominion of the Prince Bishop of Liége, though the total population at the time did not exceed 5000! At Huy the road changes from the right to the left bank of the river. The culture of the vine begins here, |