Z930ZOOOO V 
 
 Ainovj Abvaan TVNOioaH NaaHinos on
 
 T
 
 PARIS REVISITED, 
 
 IN 1815, 
 BY WAY OF BRUSSELS: 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 A WALK OVER THE FIELD OF BATTLE 
 
 WATERLOO. 
 
 BY JOHN SCOTT, 
 
 AUTHOR OF A VISIT TO PARIS IN 1814 J AND EDITOR OF THE 
 CHAMPION, A LONDON WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1816.
 
 
 Printed by A. Stwhan, 
 New-Street- Square; London.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Introduction on board a Margate Hoy : English cha- 
 racter of a watering place: description of a citizen 
 and his family on an excursion to the Coast : meagre 
 air of a Continental sea-port, compared with the ap- 
 pearance of Margate and Ramsgate: description of the 
 company on board a Margate hoy Page 1 14 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Departure from Ramsgate: view from the sea: fall of 
 night : first appearance of Ostend : two soldiers' wives : 
 the harbour of Ostend : deference shewn to British 
 officers, and general respect paid to the English : this 
 traced to their influx into these foreign places: re- 
 sponsibility incurred by England : the inhabitants of 
 Ostend, and the military stationed there 15 29 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Canal boats to Bruges : pleasant circumstances attending 
 the passage : description of the passengers on board 
 a schuyt : an old organ-grinder and his lively grand- 
 son, their playing on deck : description of what was 
 going on below: wives of British Serjeants and serjeant- 
 majors : anecdotes of two Dutch sailors : arrival at 
 Bruges: hotel book Ml of British names: meeting 
 with a Flemish farmer : allusions to Flanders as fre- 
 A 2 
 
 i
 
 IV CONTENTS. 
 
 quently the theatre of wars : the boat from Bruges to 
 Ghent : a night party : a Flemish schoolmaster : stop- 
 page for refreshment : the morning : Belgian soldiers : 
 spire of Ghent : boys at the landing place 
 
 Page 3050 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Empty look of Ghent, and the Flemish towns : system 
 of Buonaparte : his sale of a church at Utrecht : rise 
 and fall of the Flemish cities : dislike between the 
 inhabitants of Belgium and the Dutch : intentions of 
 the rulers of the present day : popularity of the here- 
 ditary Prince of Orange : public hankering after 
 Buonaparte's system : tendencies to a much better 
 feeling : regard for the English in the Netherlands 
 
 5 '73 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Heavy rain in this country : description of the miserable 
 carriages : self-complacency of an English servant : 
 anecdote of an Irish officer : first appearance x>f 
 Brussels: the wood of Soignies : ill-managed hotel at 
 Brussels : first view of the streets of Brussels full 
 -of recovering British soldiers : the military hospital : 
 general air of Brussels : its highly excited feeling : 
 popularity of the British military : affecting circum- 
 stances increase the kindness of the people of Brussels : 
 danger to virtue arising from a virtuous source : 
 description of the females of Brussels : the system of 
 female manners here : the park of Brussels : its inte- 
 resting crowds : wounded officers : fete of the King 
 of the Netherlands : mixture of the soldiery of various 
 nations : dreadful consequences of the military getting 
 the upper hand: the military character: description 
 of Brussels, and the country around it 741 10
 
 CONTENTS. V 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 The sounding of the bugle on the morning of the i6th 
 June : military opinions : description of the collection 
 of the troops, and of their march from Brussels : 
 warm-hearted feeling of the town's-people: the march : 
 passing-by of the Duke of Wellington : first sound of 
 the guns : the field of Quatre-bras : animation of the 
 officers : the Duke of Wellington's appearance in the 
 field : his conduct there : inflated behaviour of the 
 French dragoons : anecdotes of the engagement : the 
 retreat of the 1 7th: bravery of our officers : difference 
 between the French and British soldier : battle of the 
 1 8th : Shaw the Life Guardsman : the Scotch Greys : 
 the pad : the courage of our troops requires much 
 management on the part of the commander : the 
 cavalry charges : anecdotes of the engagement : fero- 
 city of the French to their prisoners : anecdote : death 
 of Shaw : women found dead : the Duke of Welling- 
 ton's feelings of confidence; the last struggle for vic- 
 tory : arrival of the Prussians : route of the French : 
 the Duke's return to his head-quarters : his entrance 
 into Brussels: description of the state of that city 
 during the battles : description of the road from the 
 field : the zealous assistance afforded by all ranks of 
 the people to the wounded : expression of the gratitude 
 due for this - - Page no 169 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 The public interest in England as to all that relates to 
 these battles: its causes: their glorious and deci- 
 sive nature : the value of public affections : merits of 
 the rival generals and their troops discussed : first 
 visit to a field of battle : graves and destroyed farm-
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 houses of the plain of Waterloo: the road from 
 Brussels to the village : its appearance : the hamlet of 
 Mont St. Jean : sellers of the fragments of the battle : 
 the Wellington tree : the devastated condition of the 
 farm of La Haye Sainte : its orchard full of graves : 
 the road to the French position: the House of 
 La Belle Alliance : its coarse character : inscriptions 
 on its walls : walk along the French line to Hugou- 
 mont : its beautiful orchard wood : its shattered 
 buildings ; walk round by the British right : feeling 
 on quitting the field : visit to the church at Waterloo : 
 and the graves behind it : political reflections 
 
 Page 1 70234. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 A Belgian lady passenger in the Diligence to Mons : 
 detachments of English on the road : anecdote of 
 two Irish women : arrival at Mons : its fortifications : 
 night- walk through the place with the soldiers' wives: 
 journey to Valenciennes: the village of Jemappe: 
 arrival at Valenciennes before the gates were opened : 
 its strength : wretched appearance of the country of 
 France : its distressed villages : Prussian cavalry on 
 the road : reflections on the misery caused by war : 
 the disbanded French soldiers seen on the road : the 
 influence of Buonaparte's military system on the cha- 
 racter of France : a young French soldier : dialogue 
 with two Highlanders in Peronne ; devastations on 
 the road from Peronne to Paris - 235 260 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Arrival at the barrier of Paris : suggestions of the al- 
 teration that had taken place in regard to the cir- 
 cumstances of France : British centinels at the bar- 
 riers: British soldiers in the streets: discomposed
 
 CONTENTS. VU 
 
 state of feeling and opinion in Paris : dialogue in a 
 boat: fete at St. Cloud: English Horse Guards 
 superintending the people : a column of British in- 
 fantry in the woods : piquets on the road : British 
 guards on the Thuilleries : on the Palais Royal : re- 
 markable features of the Palais Royal: military ,of 
 all nations meet there : Parisian gambling-houses : 
 the Palais Royal all for Buonaparte : quarrels be- 
 tween the Prussians and the French : Parisian stories : 
 promenade of Coblentz : picturesque views from the 
 garden of the Thuilleries : the dancers in the garden : 
 the King's appearance at a window, and the people's 
 enthusiastic behaviour : the French national cha- 
 racter : contrast between the British and the French 
 in the gardens : two Highland soldiers : violence 
 used to a Frenchman who expressed hatred to th 
 King : the caricatures in Paris : the applause of the 
 air of Vive Henri Quatre in the theatres : two ballad 
 singers : inquiry into the political sentiments of the 
 French : sketch of the condition of Lefebvre Des- 
 nouette under the Imperial government, and of his 
 reduction under the Bourbons : the ruin of all this 
 class : source of the attachment of the military to 
 Buonaparte : falsehoods current in the societies of the 
 capital - Page 261 311 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Doubts as to the determination of the Allies in regard 
 to the Louvre : enormity of the French system of 
 spoliation : the hopes and claims of the French public : 
 conduct of the Prussians : vauntings of the French : 
 general interest excited as to the fate of the Louvre, 
 exertions of the various states to recover their pictures, 
 &c. : French ministry's reluctance to listen to ap- 
 plications : Talleyrand's taunting answer to Canova :
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 determination of the powers to exert force : renewed 
 applications to the French government : entrance of 
 an English guard into the Louvre: strange con- 
 noisseurs in the Louvre : impressive spectacle of 
 taking possession of the gallery: the breaking 
 up of the collection: the French kept out of the 
 Louvre while foreigners were admitted : violent agi- 
 tation of the French public : reports that England 
 was to take some of the statues : crowding to see the 
 pictures before their dispersion: removal of the 
 Transfiguration: French female students: English 
 females in the Louvre : residue of pictures left to the 
 Gallery: removal of the statues: removal of the 
 horses on the arch in the Place Carousel : extreme 
 anger of the French : particularly of the losses sus- 
 tained by France in her various public establishments 
 of works of art, scientific specimens and curiosities : 
 lists of the statues and other sculptures seized by 
 Buonaparte in 1797: list of the pictures seized by 
 him : list of the MSS. books, curiosities, &c. the 
 propriety of the restorations considered as a mixed 
 question of political and moral justice, and good 
 taste - - >&>*! i Page 3 1 2 39 1 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 Unsatisfactory and uncertain political state of France : 
 political remarks on the Bourbons : on Buonaparte : 
 on the Allies : conclusion - 392 405
 
 PARIS REVISITED, 
 
 IN 1815. 
 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HPO commence the account of my ex- 
 cursion as the excursion itself com- 
 menced, I must invite the reader on board 
 a Margate Hoy. A more dignified starting 
 point may easily be fancied ; but none, 
 probably, would so well answer the desir- 
 able purpose of exciting attention to the 
 most striking peculiarities of our own 
 country, just as we are on the point of 
 encountering the features of one that is 
 foreign. We may ransack the treatises of 
 England's constitutional writers from one 
 end to the other ; we may explore the 
 mysteries and complications of her com- 
 merce and finance, but these will not 
 afford any one national lineament so cha- 
 racteristically and exclusively her own as
 
 SS AN ENGLISH WATERING-PLACE. 
 
 a crowded Watering Place, situated within 
 a moderate distance of the metropolis. 
 As belonging to the place itself, must, of 
 course, be included, the skilful and tempt- 
 ing processes of conveyance to and fro, as 
 well as the elaborate organization of its 
 customs and amusements, and the exten- 
 sive assortment of conditions, tempers, and 
 tastes, presented by its company. 
 
 There is no counterpart to this curious 
 spectacle in any history of former times, 
 or of other people. Nothing like it either 
 has been seen, or is to be seen, but amongst 
 ourselves at the present period. The dis- 
 play of human intellect, the glories of war, 
 the pomps of courts, and the luxuries of 
 the rich, offer no very strong contrasts 
 between the different ages and places of 
 the world. Mankind have generally pos- 
 sessed some good poets, and many bad 
 ones: the revels of palaces were as well 
 known to the people of antiquity, as to 
 the living generation, to set any example 
 but a proper one : and the elegant caprices 
 of a Grecian Beauty, and the gratifications 
 of a Roman Bon Vivant do not merit the 
 contempt even of these enlightened days of
 
 A CITIZEN WHEN THERE. 3 
 
 music-masters, millinery, and made-dishes. 
 But neither Greece nor Rome, can 
 furnish us with a parallel to the enjoyment 
 of an elderly London shop-keeper, who, 
 for eleven months of the year, looks at 
 brick-walls, rises early in the morning to 
 arrange his shelves, and sits up late at 
 night to post his ledger, escaped, with 
 the gladness of a young bird, for a week 
 or two, to stand on a chalk cliff and watch 
 the waves of the sea, to ask questions 
 about the tides of the fishermen, discuss 
 the crops of grass and turnips with the 
 farmers, and finish the day, thus devoted 
 to nature, with half-crown loo at the libra- 
 ries ! What edification and entertainment 
 have we lost, inasmuch as this illustration 
 of national manners and individual humour, 
 did not exist in Steele's time to furnish 
 suggestions to be improved by his exquisite 
 genius ! The beauty of the exhibition con- 
 sists in what some may be apt to imagine 
 it wants, a rich truth to nature, and a 
 strong marking of specific traits. The 
 citizen, and the citizen's lady, are as 
 entirely native in the bathing machine, as 
 in the counting-house, or the back parlour. 
 B 2
 
 4 A LONDON FAMILY'S 
 
 The straw hat with enormous brims, the 
 showy umbrella held against the sun, the 
 inordinate appetite for every thing rural, 
 are so many indications of the confinement 
 of Cheapside: they have not a feeling 
 for the country that does not spring from, 
 and suggest, a recollection of the city. The 
 little boy by their side is made to walk 
 with a cane, because people ought to look 
 respectable when away from home. The 
 bow is carefully careless, because customers 
 are nobody more than any body else here. 
 The waiter is called in a stern tone, not 
 from ill-nature, but because those that can 
 afford to pay their bill should be attended 
 to, without distinction of persons. Their 
 most distinguishing symptoms, however, 
 are, a remarkable quickness of notice and 
 accuracy of information relative to every 
 thing by which they are surrounded. Those 
 who have ridiculed the emigrants from the 
 capital, as ill-informed and blundering, con- 
 cerning what is foreign to the track of 
 their own habits and occupations, are 
 inapcurate observers, and unqualified to 
 relish what is nicest in character. A Lon- 
 don family, that has been accustomed to
 
 VOYAGE TO MARGATE. 5 
 
 make a yearly voyage to Margate, will be 
 found, even to the young ladies that are 
 released from boarding-school for the vaca- 
 tion, perfectly acquainted with the cant as 
 well as technical names, given by the sailors 
 to every turn of the river and every point 
 of its banks. They will cause one who 
 has only been to the East Indies as a 
 passenger, to blush for his ignorance of 
 marine matters, as they talk of Sea-reach, 
 and Long-reach ; they well know when 
 to look with the glass for the gibbets ; 
 they smile in pity if you call a sloop a ship, 
 or seem puzzled when you hear that you 
 are going at the rate of six knots. They 
 eat unceasingly to vanquish any suspicion 
 of being " affected by the motion ;" but 
 their great triumph is, when the crew come 
 round to collect money from those despised 
 beings who have not before seen the Nore 
 light ! Papa, who is an old Margate-man, 
 is still more nautically erudite. He is 
 ostentatiously familiar with the captain ; 
 puts on his night-cap pretty early in the 
 afternoon, and talks with a wink of turning 
 in : he, every now and then, throws his 
 eye from the compass in the binnacle to 
 B 3
 
 6 A CONTINENTAL SEA-PORT. 
 
 the vane on the mast-head, and recom- 
 mends a lady with a pale face to go to the 
 leeward-side of the vessel, but to take care 
 of the boom when she jibes. Moreover, 
 he is equally loquacious and expert when 
 he is fairly landed in Kent, and comes in 
 contact with the labourers in the fields. 
 He sees, in a moment, the promise of the 
 young wheats, regrets that the black 
 crops are likely to be scanty, and praises, 
 in the terms of a horse-dealer, the near 
 Wheeler of the stage-coach that goes past, 
 though he can perceive, with half an eye, 
 that the poor thing's feet are tender through 
 bad shoeing. 
 
 I dwell upon this portrait (perhaps too 
 long) because, as I have before observed, 
 it is one thoroughly and solely English : 
 it is no where else to be met with, and it 
 is to be traced to qualities of national 
 condition, indicating a degree of general 
 advancement, that has not yet been at- 
 tained elsewhere. I have been tempted to 
 the description, in consequence of being 
 forcibly impressed with the meagre, quiet, 
 and empty air of the Continental Sea-port 
 at which I arrived, comparing it with the
 
 ITS DULL LOOK IN COMPARISON. 7 
 
 bustling, jocund, full appearance of that 
 which I had left but a few hours before. 
 Large houses, scantily occupied; gloomy 
 unfurnished shops, silent streets, a sleepy, 
 poor aspect characterize Ostend. At Mar- 
 gate and Ramsgate, how different was the 
 general effect ! There every thing seemed 
 overflowing ; the demand went far beyond 
 the means of accommodation, instead of 
 lagging behind them ; business supplied 
 pleasure, and pleasure gave circulation 
 and vigour to business. It is only in 
 England, and but lately there, that the 
 intermingling of the different orders of 
 society, and the intermeddling of one class 
 of people with the proper habits of others, 
 which constitute the life of a watering 
 place, could occur. A very long and 
 highly prosperous settlement of national 
 institutions, and personal pursuits, is neces- 
 sary, before any great number of individuals 
 can have the power so to quit for a time 
 their natural track, and respite their routine 
 tasks : and an active, stout, and inde- 
 pendent turn of thinking can alone account 
 for the inclination to do so. 
 
 A German or a Frenchman landing at a 
 B 4
 
 PROBABLE THOUGHT OF A FOREIGN VISITOR. 
 
 spot in England such as has been described, 
 and uninformed of its nature, could only sup- 
 pose, that, in the country to which he had 
 come, the rich and the poor, the fortunate 
 and the miserable, were arranged so as to 
 inhabit separate towns, and that he had 
 happened to debark at a place appropriated 
 to those who had drawn the luckiest ca- 
 sualties in the lottery of existence. Con- 
 sidering what he has quitted, he cannot 
 but be greatly surprised, when he learns 
 that the swarm before him is a medley 
 formed of every description of the nation ; 
 that the greater proportion of it is composed 
 of persons of the middle ranks, who come 
 from considerable distances, not more in- 
 fluenced by fashion, than competent to 
 obey its dictates. A scene so utterly new 
 to him, intimating a public union, opulence, 
 and intelligence, so far beyond what he has 
 been accustomed to see the signs of, can- 
 not but give him a high notion of the land 
 on which he has just stepped, and is 
 calculated to justify in his opinion all the 
 accounts of her wealth, power, and spirit, 
 which may have previously reached his 
 ear.
 
 THE MARGATE HOY. 9 
 
 But to return to our Margate Hoy, that 
 we may prosecute our voyage. A party of 
 commercial men occupied the principal / 
 table in the cabin, and amused themselves, 
 after they had finished a sumptuous din- 
 ner and desert, which they brought on 
 board nicely packed, with playing at five- 
 shilling whist, and betting highly on the 
 various points of the game. Their iced 
 port, and cant phrases, their pine-apples, 
 and city proverbs, assorted curiously. A 
 gentleman, who lost ten guineas with the 
 greatest carelessness, turned sharply round, 
 after laying down a bank note for five 
 pounds before the winner, to beg of a 
 person, whom he heard speak of going from 
 Ramsgate to Ostend, to take over for him 
 a small sample of sewing cottons, " But, 
 for God's sake," said he, " be very parti- 
 cular in explaining at the custom-house, 
 that they are only samples, for otherwise I 
 shall be put to the expence of a penny 
 a-piece on the dozen balls, as harbour 
 duty !" 
 
 An active, smart sailor, the upper leathers 
 of whose shoes scarcely covered his toes, and 
 whose black silk handkerchief was put on
 
 10 DESCRIPTION OF A SAILOR. 
 
 loosely, to shew his brown, but handsome 
 throat, sat observing this party of players, 
 with looks that shewed how eagerly he 
 sympathized with the chances of the game, 
 and how well inclined he was to share in 
 the hazards of the adventure. He was a 
 man turned of forty, but had all the light 
 brisk air of sea foppery, which may often 
 be observed in our tars, united with the in- 
 dications of hardy habits, simple minds, 
 and desperate spirits. He was returning, I 
 found, to Margate, to see his wife and 
 children, after an absence of ten years. 
 He had belonged originally to one of the 
 hoys, and soon became possessed of a boat 
 of his own, but fell into rough hands, in 
 consequence, as he said, with an arch wink, 
 " of taking a trip across, to fetch the old 
 women a drop of gin." The Excise seized 
 his boat, its cargo, and himself: he lost four 
 hundred and fifty pounds, which he had 
 saved, and was sent on board a man of war. 
 He had been for several years cruizing 
 on the American coast, and described 
 pithily, but simply, the miseries of a cold 
 unhealthy station. His ship had lost many 
 of its men, and, as he said this, his own
 
 HIS STORY AND CONDITION. 11 
 
 lungs were torn with a dry cough, which 
 boded very fatally. It was impossible to 
 hear this portentous signal, to look at the 
 intelligent but dissolute and fierce counte- 
 nance of the man, and listen to his story, 
 told in quaint, sometimes highly comic, 
 and always very forcible language, with- 
 out questioning, with feelings of regret, 
 the value of that national system, to which 
 he had become an unfortunate victim. 
 Here was an individual utterly ruined in 
 principles, constitution, and circumstances. 
 He spoke bitterly of the treatment of the 
 seamen by their officers, prophesied that our 
 navy had seen its best days, and, while he 
 shewed the most thorough contempt for the 
 Americans, whom he described as cowards 
 and lubbers, exulted in the idea that they 
 were likely to be strengthened against Eng- 
 land by multitudes of prime English sailors, 
 who would seize with avidity any opportu- 
 nity to escape from the lash, and low wages. 
 It was quite clear that this man's testimony 
 was strongly tinctured with the prejudices 
 and various improper feelings of an irregu- 
 lar and unprincipled mind, composed of 
 violent dispositions, and disappointed hopes ;
 
 IS TWO FEMALE PASSENGERS. 
 
 but it is mere self-deception to set down 
 as unworthy of notice all that may drop, 
 as complaint or denunciation, from one 
 so circumstanced. Those who exercise 
 power, such is human nature, are quite as 
 liable to fall into error as those who are 
 the objects of its exercise ; and the impro- 
 prieties of the former are both the most 
 dangerous, and the most intolerable. The 
 downfall of great states has usually been 
 produced by a disregard of the sources of 
 alienation, and the feeders of discontent, 
 by a bigoted and harsh obstinacy in favour 
 of every thing that bears the port of autho- 
 rity and the features of prescription, heed- 
 less of their natural tendencies to corruption 
 and abuse. 
 
 Not the least characteristic of the passen- 
 gers were two elderly women, who came 
 together. They each carried a lap-dog, a 
 well stocked and well arranged basket, and 
 a stone bottle, the contents of which it 
 would be impertinent to examine. The 
 magnificent superfluity of their prepara- 
 tion, the skill and care of its adjustment, 
 betokening luxurious tastes, and the pam- 
 pered appearance of their fourfooted friends,
 
 THEIR MAGNIFICENT PROVISION. 13 
 
 contrasted oddly with their obstinate re- 
 jection of the proffered assistance of the 
 porters to carry on board their weighty 
 delicacies. Rather than pay three-pence 
 to one of the men on the quays, they 
 stumbled, and panted, and pushed, under 
 a load which was heavier than it need to 
 have been by at least five shillings laid out 
 in ham and mutton pies, more than the 
 voyage required. A genteel lady and her 
 husband, who took a cold fowl from the 
 footman attending them, were rescued 
 from the dilemma into which their culpa- 
 ble heedlessness as to such essential matters 
 had involved them, by the loan of a little 
 salt, very promptly extended from these 
 more thoughtful caterers. It was delight- 
 ful to observe the hasty carriage of good- 
 will, mingled with some natural pride, and 
 not a little self-approbation, with which 
 these benevolent persons went at once to 
 the precise corner where lurked the identi- 
 cal paper parcel : having found it, they 
 held forth its treasure with an air and mien 
 full of the dignity that attends alleviating 
 the effects of the improvidence of our
 
 14 IMPROVIDENCE RELIEVED. 
 
 fellow-creatures. This dignity is chiefly 
 felt, when the objects of our -bounty (as in 
 the present case) have pretensions in 
 some respects higher than our own.
 
 I 15 ) 
 
 
 
 7 M -$ 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RAMSGATE is understood to be the 
 most eligible point of departure for 
 Ostend. The trip to Brussels, going by 
 one of the hoys from London to the former 
 place, or to Margate, and taking advantage 
 of the beautiful canal navigation from 
 Ostend to Ghent, is highly pleasant, and 
 very easy, and is not necessarily attended 
 with much expense. But those who go this 
 way to Paris, find the journey from Brussels 
 both long and expensive. 
 
 The view of Ramsgate, as the packet 
 left its noble harbour, and stretched out 
 across the spacious blue sea, under the 
 weight of a summer breeze, was very 
 beautiful. The handsome houses scattered 
 over the cliffs, the walking and riding par- 
 ties on the sands, the rows of white bath- 
 ing machines, formed an interesting and 
 9
 
 16 VIEW ON LEAVING RAMSGATE. 
 
 pleasing picture. The vessel rippled the 
 transparent water as she inclined easily 
 on her way. By degrees the smaller fea- 
 tures of England became less distinct, and, 
 as they gradually faded, afforded the means 
 of calculating the progress we were mak- 
 ing. As we advanced further from the 
 land, more of it opened on our sight : the 
 Downs presented a rich and animating 
 throng of masts ; the bold headlands threw 
 themselves against the waves to the north 
 and to the south of us ; our country ap- 
 peared " stoutly ramparted with rocks," 
 and the light shadowy sails, that gleamed 
 and shifted around this sublime barrier, 
 might, with but little help from a poetic 
 imagination, be deemed the " Guardian 
 spirits of the isle." 
 
 The first shade of the evening rendered 
 it doubtful whether it was the gloom or the 
 distance, that melted down the outlines of 
 the earth into the slight and shifting tracery 
 of the air and the ocean. By an instinc- 
 tive impulse, our eyes, which had hitherto 
 been directed behind the vessel, were now 
 fixed in the direction she was proceeding, 
 
 in haste to discover, since the curtain 
 
 10
 
 APPEARANCE OF 'THE COAST. 17 
 
 liad dropped on England, what new scene 
 was about to be disclosed. The night, 
 however, fell thickly on our view, and it 
 was in the hazy, cold light of a very early 
 hour of the following morning, that I per- 
 ceived the round, sulky looking bent hil- 
 locks, whose dwarfish elevation told us we 
 were approaching the port of Ostend. Its 
 light-house was just distinguishable, rising 
 from the blank flatness of the apparently 
 interminable coast. As the day advanced, 
 the houses of the town shewed themselves ; 
 but they seemed to look forth scantily and 
 with jealousy, from within the bulky projec- 
 tions of grass and stone that denoted its 
 fortifications. We waited impatiently for 
 the hoisting of the flag at the end of the 
 wooden pier, which is the signal that the 
 tide serves for entering a most inconvenient 
 and dangerous harbour. 
 
 The passengers in the packet were chiefly 
 persons connected with the British army, 
 called over in consequence of the arrange- 
 ments necessary after the great battles! 
 Before the morning had assumed its fresh 
 cheerful aspect, and while the heaviness 
 and damps of night yet lowered on its
 
 18 
 
 brow and chilled its influence, my attention 
 was attracted to two women, the wives of 
 soldiers who had been wounded, and who 
 were going to Brussels to see their hus- 
 bands. They had apparently squatted out, 
 in the same attitude, and with the same 
 unmoved looks, the whole of the hours that 
 I had passed below. As I left them, so I 
 found them. Their natures had become, 
 under the constant action of coarse circum- 
 stances, callous, cold, and stiff, what the 
 body becomes when it is weather-beaten. 
 I asked them if they had spent the night 
 on deck? They said they had; they 
 believed there was not room below, I en- 
 quired if they had not felt it cold ? " No 
 Sir," one of them replied in a slight tone, 
 and the other, moving her shoulders, and 
 making a sleepy sound with her breath, 
 drew her cloak more closely around her. 
 There was something more touching in 
 this insensibility to hardships, than in 
 any common susceptibility to them. It 
 seemed more melancholy that we should 
 lose the faculty of feeling evil when it 
 pressed upon us, than that we should groan 
 under its weight. The inequality of human 
 10f
 
 APPEARANCE OP QSTEND. 19 
 
 condition was more affectingly exemplified 
 in the torpor of these poor women, con- 
 trasted with the artificial sensibilities and 
 idle affectations of so many of their fellow- 
 creatures, than it could be by any lively com- 
 plaint of wretchedness. 
 
 The signal was given, and we rapidly 
 approached Ostend. Its houses, roofed 
 with tiles, give it an English character, so 
 that the strong impression made by the 
 foreign aspect of Dieppe, which I have de- 
 scribed in another work, was not now ex- 
 perienced. Theboatmen who joined the crew 
 had nothing about them of the grotesque 
 look of the French pilots ; they were open- 
 faced, well-dressed, and well-made fellows. 
 The women on the pier seemed simpler in 
 their general air than those which last year 
 constituted my first specimen of French 
 females in their own countr^. These early 
 indications of a prepossessing nature were 
 pleasingly corroboratedLXvhen I saw more of 
 the Netherlands. * 
 
 The harbour was full of English trans- 
 ports : soldiers of the same nation were 
 distinguishable by their red coats, walking 
 on the ramparts, and standing as loiterers 
 c 2
 
 20 DEFERENCE TO THE BRITISH. 
 
 on the beach. On the quays, English can- 
 non-balls were piled in large pyramidical 
 masses. " I am a British officer," said one 
 of our party as we came up to the custom- 
 house ; the people there immediately 
 touched their hats, and we passed on with 
 our trunks unopened and unstopped. These 
 talismanic words operated with the same 
 efficacy through the whole of the Nether- 
 lands. When the baggage of a crowd of 
 passengers arrived at the first frowning bar- 
 rier of each of the several fortified towns 
 on the road to Brussels, the individuals, 
 appointed to perform this duty, began a 
 busy inspection of boxes, bundles, and fre- 
 quently of persons : this operation, ac- 
 customed as we are to a process of a similar 
 nature at some of our towns on the coast, 
 has always an unpleasant look with it to an 
 English eye, and more particularly so when 
 it occurs at inland places, and is exercised 
 on the few small articles carried by the 
 country-people in their short journies. In 
 behalf of the general restraints and strong 
 inflictions of the arm of the law, the well- 
 being of society conciliates every reasonable 
 mind ; but extreme disgust and sharp ani-
 
 DEFERENCE TO THE BRITISH. 21 
 
 mosity exist amongst the public of England 
 against the petty meddling of itsjingers, 
 and this disposition is by no means to be 
 deplored. In the course, however, of these 
 irksome examinations, the authority and 
 suspicion of the inspectors were instantane- 
 ously transformed into the signs of implicit 
 confidence and profound respect, at the in- 
 timation that they were laying hands on 
 the trunk or portmanteau of an English 
 officer. It was immediately released from 
 the forms to which the others were com- 
 pelled to submit, and this privilege was 
 extended to all that claimed to be joined 
 in its company. The inhabitants, delayed 
 and obstructed, saw their visitors pass on 
 before them, as if superior to all regulations. 
 It was sufficiently plain that the habitual 
 observation of this courtesy and deference, 
 paid to our countrymen, had excited and 
 diffused the most lofty notions of our coun- 
 try. The officers of other nations, in alli- 
 ance with the King of the Netherlands, had 
 not any thing like the same degree of favor 
 shewn to them : but the word English 
 was every where a passport and a protec- 
 tion : it was an admission to what was 
 c 3
 
 BRITISH TRAVELLERS 
 
 generally concealed, a title to what was 
 generally denied, an excuse for what might 
 be irregular, an introduction to every one's 
 intimacy, and a^ertain appeal to every one 
 for assistance and kindness. 
 
 Much of this disposition, so pleasant and 
 profitable to British travellers, is to be 
 traced to their immense influx into these 
 foreign places ; a circumstance which, added 
 to the belief which is universally entertained 
 on the continent, of England's absorbing 
 share and commanding influence in all 
 the political transactions of Europe, 
 seemed to give the Belgians an amazed 
 sense of the strength and splendor of the 
 people, of whose means they received so 
 large and superb a specimen. It certainly 
 was calculated to strike their feelings in this 
 way, to hear all their inn-yards re-echoing 
 with the wheels of British equipages, and 
 the strange voices of British servants ; to 
 see their roads choaked and their streets 
 crowded with a pouring tide of British visi- 
 tors, most of them sufficiently well informed 
 to speak the language of those amongst 
 whom they had come, and superior to 
 all about them in the arrangement and
 
 CROWDING THE ROADS. 23 
 
 quality of their conveniences; bearing 
 themselves with an independence of man- 
 ner, and decisive air, that gave the assur- 
 ance of personal respectability, and vouched 
 for the power to remunerate the attentions 
 and services which they rather peremptorily 
 demanded. The cause of this visiting on 
 so large a scale, was well known to involve 
 no motives of gain or necessity, but to arise 
 from a public enthusiasm relative to the 
 grand military achievements, the pride as 
 well as the expence of which were acknow- 
 ledged chiefly to belong to our nation. 
 The awfulness of these had in a great mea- 
 sure smitten the faculties of the people 
 amongst whom they had occurred, but it 
 had roused the spirits and kindled the ani- 
 mation of the English. Every one who 
 has lately been abroad must have observed 
 the very distinguished estimation in which 
 circumstances have caused the British name 
 and character to be held ; and the vindic- 
 tive irritation of the French against us, and 
 their ignorant abuse, form a testimony co- 
 inciding with the evidence of the kindness 
 and respect shewn by others. 
 
 But while we cherish the exultation thus 
 c 4
 
 24 RESPONSIBILITY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 very naturally excited, we ought to bethink 
 ourselves of the responsibility which our 
 impetuous interference in European poli- 
 tics, the remarkable accomplishment of our 
 wishes, and the success of our exertions, 
 have imposed. Amidst much that was* 
 disastrous and malignant in the disorders 
 that have been afflicting the world, there 
 were many excellent tendencies to public 
 improvement, which men had the sagacity 
 to perceive and the wisdom to applaud, 
 though they were unfortunately encom- 
 passed, and even connected with what was 
 hateful and mischievous. The principal 
 agents in the destruction of the bad, are 
 called upon to distinguish properly in their 
 work. If they do not, the honour and 
 praise which have been awarded them in* 
 the hour of triumph, will be turned to in- 
 famy and execration when, in calmer mo- 
 ments, it is discovered, that they have 
 crushed all that gave hope for the future 
 when they struck down what was presently 
 irksome. He has not accurately observed 
 the nature of the public feeling of the na- 
 tions of Europe towards England, who is 
 not convinced that an admiration of free
 
 RESPONSIBILITY OP ENGLAND. 25 
 
 institutions, in the possession of which she 
 is justly believed to be in advance of other 
 states, is the great source of the respect 
 paid to her name and people. To her at- 
 tainments in this way they all look with an 
 earnest eye of desire ; her liberal and en- 
 lightened endeavours to extend the bles- 
 sings which she enjoys and prizes, are 
 what all expect and demand from her. If 
 men are disappointed in these their hopes ; 
 if they find her following up the display of 
 her transcendant strength by encouraging 
 and abetting the re-imposition of what they 
 know to be imbecile, odious, and unjust, 
 the whole of her wonderful exertions will 
 be placed to the account of a sordid and 
 selfish spirit, and the few virulent traducers 
 of her fame, whose murmuring spitefulness 
 is now drowned in the cheering of disen- 
 thralled kingdoms, will be joined by the 
 unanimous outcries of mankind, thus infa- 
 mously deceived and fatally abused. That 
 British statesman can have no proper feel- 
 ing of his country's policy and duty, who is 
 not keenly alive to the force of the appeal 
 lately made in the name of a people, it 
 does not much signify through what organ.
 
 $6 RESPONSIBILITY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 " We do not wish to be more free than 
 England, but we would not willingly be 
 less !" This address, while it is a glorious 
 testimony to the value of what England is at 
 this moment, may soon become, and for ever 
 remain, a bitter reproach of the bad prin- 
 ciple by which she guided her influence on 
 the greatest crisis for the general interests 
 of society, the issue of which history will 
 probably have to record. A Parisian who 
 was obstinately sceptical about the superi- 
 ority of our army at Waterloo, and seemed 
 very much inclined, like many of his coun- 
 trymen, to dispute the defeat of France, 
 was nevertheless surprised into a rapturous 
 exclamation in favour of our island, in con- 
 sequence of an accidental remark made in 
 his hearing, that she gave to every prisoner 
 the right of demanding a trial ; and that 
 her newspapers printed what they pleased, 
 whether it pleased her rulers or not. In 
 this, it must be confessed, he shewed truer 
 notions than one usually meets with scat- 
 tered about that capital ; but an involuntary 
 testimony from such a quarter ought to 
 have great weight It is not pleasant to 
 think of a recent gift of the insignia of Bri-
 
 RESPONSIBILITY OF ENGLAND. 27 
 
 tish honours, the esteemed rewards of British 
 heroes, and the stimulating inducements of 
 our country's noblest ambition. In justice 
 to those whose pride they are, these should 
 never be attached but to worth, but they 
 have been disgraced and depreciated by 
 their presentation to an individual, whose 
 un worthiness to receive such a gift is most 
 strikingly exposed by that which was very 
 mistakenly regarded as his only claim to 
 it, namely, the station of royalty, which 
 he has rendered a curse to his subjects, 
 and a reproach to the name of govern- 
 ment. * 
 
 Ostend seemed to owe all its symptoms 
 of life to the British troops that occupied 
 it as a depot of army stores, formed on the 
 point of their debarkation. Nothing can 
 be imagined more dull and cheerless than 
 
 * One cannot admire the taste of those Englishmen, 
 who think themselves honored by displaying the gaudy 
 orders of that merit, which finds favor in the eyes of 
 Ferdinand of Spain : and still less can one admire the 
 taste of those Englishmen who made Ferdinand of Spain 
 a Companion of British Knights.
 
 28 APPEARANCE OF THE NETHERLANDERS. 
 
 its own proper aspect, but the people 
 seem cordial and pleasant in their manners. 
 Their liveliness looks like the result of a 
 frank simplicity of character ; it is thus 
 relieved from that semblance of grimace 
 and trick which has so disagreeable an 
 effect in the manifestations of French 
 gaiety. This commendation applies gene- 
 rally to the Netherlands : the appearance 
 of its inhabitants is certainly very much 
 in their favour : good figures, fine com~ 
 plexions, and pretty female faces, are com- 
 bined with a winning open expression, the 
 assurance (in which a neighbouring nation 
 is so very deficient) that the sentiment 
 corresponds with the external symbol. 
 
 At the town-house the guards were 
 composed of British troops ; the spacious 
 market-place was filled with groups of our 
 soldiers; and, in the Cafe's, the officers were 
 lounging playing at dominos. The whole of 
 this scene gave one an unpleasant idea of 
 the languor and cheerless dissipation that 
 belong to the inactive part of a military 
 life. The weary task of killing time was 
 never brought so thoroughly home to my 
 conception, and never so strongly inte-
 
 DULNESS OF OUR MILITARY. 29 
 
 rested my commiseration, as by the ap- 
 pearance of these individuals belonging 
 to straggling and detached parties of our 
 army, quartered in this corner of a foreign 
 country, and doomed to find resources to 
 get over the long days, out of the monoto- 
 nous and poor presentations of a Flemish 
 sea port. 
 
 " What idleness has ever yet contriv'd 
 To fill the void of an unfurnish'd brain, 
 To palliate dulness, and give time a shove." 
 
 COWPER. 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 v - 
 
 3JBSJ . -
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A LARGE commodious boat, fitted up 
 expressly for passengers, goes up the 
 superb canal from Ostend to Bruges, the 
 distance being about twelve miles : the 
 fare is very trifling. Strangers from Eng- 
 land who cannot here procure those con- 
 veniences for travelling by land which they 
 expect and desire from being accustomed 
 to the complete arrangements of their own 
 country, may consider themselves very 
 fortunate in having the opportunity of 
 embracing this most agreeable mode of 
 conveyance by water. Besides, these canal 
 journies in the Low Countries are charac- 
 teristic of the place ; and the elegant 
 cabins, and spacious decks of the Schuyts, 
 afford the means of that easy and intimate 
 communication with the people, which is so 
 valuable and pleasant to a traveller.
 
 VIEW OF THE COUNTRY. 31 
 
 It was a beautiful summer evening when 
 we started from a vast lock about a mile 
 from Ostend : and, what with the fineness 
 of the weather, the luxuriance of the sur- 
 rounding vegetation, and the number and 
 gaiety of a very respectable company, the 
 scene formed a refreshing contrast to the 
 previous part of our expedition, which 
 consisted of a night and day spent at sea 
 on board a close packet. The canal here 
 is very broad and deep, admitting large 
 vessels to proceed a considerable way up 
 the country, and unload their cargoes at 
 the place most desirable. We were drawn 
 by three horses, and proceeded at the rate 
 of four miles and a half an hour. We had 
 thus the consciousness of making a pretty 
 rapid progress, but unaccompanied with 
 the feeling of any motion, except a pleas- 
 ing sensation of gliding. The placid repose 
 of the surface of the canal, was relieved 
 from dulness by the rays of the setting 
 sun, and was mildly interrupted by the 
 advance of the boat, skimming rather than 
 cutting her way. The opulent rest of the 
 fields, exuberant in the fatness of their 
 produce, and lying low under the weight
 
 32 COMPANY IN THE BOAT. 
 
 of their own richness ; the frequent ap- 
 pearance of snug happy-looking houses; 
 the occasional view of sturdy, simple, 
 and well-fed peasants, carrying their fishing 
 rods and filled baskets, united with the 
 other circumstances to produce a sense of 
 tranquil enjoyment. 
 
 All this might be contemplated in its 
 own quiet from the further extremity of 
 the boat ; and, turning one's face toward 
 the stern, it might be contrasted with the 
 flutter of gaudy flags and white awnings, 
 the nodding of women's bonnets, the 
 sweeping of their gowns, the loud chatter- 
 ing, and quick movements of a laughing 
 set of passengers. The Belgian ladies 
 and gentlemen all speak French, and I 
 would describe their manner as consisting 
 of what is best in that of the French, 
 namely, its liveliness, and speedy famili- 
 arity, omitting what is worst ; its arti- 
 fice, theatrical effect, and warning of in- 
 sincerity. 
 
 An old man came on board to grind his 
 
 organ : he seemed very stupid and 
 
 awkward, but he brought with him his 
 
 grandson, a child of seven, who had ample 
 
 6
 
 DESCRIPTION OF A CANAL BOAT. 33 
 
 vivacity and readiness for his sire and 
 himself. His repartees on those who 
 attempted to plague him, were much better 
 than the shrill singing with which he 
 accompanied the miserable instrument. 
 
 But it was best of all to see the profes- 
 sional dexterity and avidity, belonging to 
 him as a public exhibitor, succeeded (the 
 moment he had finished the collection of 
 a few sous in a wooden cup) by the 
 genuine and pure simplicity of the child, 
 
 displayed in eagerly recurring to his 
 work of cutting out, from a bit of stick, 
 the body of a man, and ingeniously fixing 
 two pins for its legs. 
 
 Below the deck where these fine entertain- 
 ments were going forward, there was a 
 suite of cabins ; the first one being hand- 
 somely furnished with crimson velvet cur- 
 tains and cushions, where a few who were 
 more languidly inclined than the others, or 
 who found peculiar satisfaction in the con- 
 versations and attentions of a single compa- 
 nion, experienced suitable accommodation. 
 Several of the other apartments were occu- 
 pied as shops for dispensing fruit, liquors, 
 and various refreshments.
 
 34" PASSENGERS ON BOARD 
 
 Among the seats on deck, one was occu- 
 pied by six or eight English women, the 
 wives of Serjeants and serjeant-majors of 
 our army, whose round caps, small straw 
 hats, and plain brown cloth pelisses, were 
 sadly overpowered by the shawls, feathers, 
 and flounces of the fair Belgians. But they 
 were in high glee notwithstanding, they 
 talked loud, laughed carelessly, and told 
 every one to whom they could make them- 
 selves understood, how long it was since 
 each had seen her husband, where she had 
 lived in the meanwhile, how many children 
 she had living, and how many dead. 
 
 We had also on board a man whom I 
 should have taken for a British sailor, but 
 for an expression of cautious shrewdness in 
 his broad hard-featured countenance. He 
 shewed a restless anxiety to speak to every 
 Englishman, which I soon found proceeded 
 from the pride of broken English. " I 
 have served in your navy," were his first 
 words to me : he had fought at Camper- 
 down under the Dutch Admiral Storey, 
 whom he cursed for a traitor, and added, 
 " So you see I was taken for a prisoner 
 of war, and then I went for to serve in
 
 THE CANAL BOAT. 35 
 
 one of your king's ships, which was better 
 than for to starve ; wasn't it, Sir ? Ha, ha, 
 ha !" A Belgian, who partly comprehended 
 what was said, seemed to think he had made 
 an improper choice, and said something in 
 Flemish to the renegado, which caused 
 the latter to turn sulkily away from the 
 speaker, sticking his hands in his breeches* 
 pockets. 
 
 When we were about half way to Bruges, 
 a boat put off from a brig that was lying to 
 unload her cargo, and a stout fellow, in a 
 blue jacket and trowsers, threw himself into 
 our schuyt, with the air of Sheerness in ah 
 its grace and activity. He also was a 
 Dutchman, and had also served in our 
 navy. The transformation in this case was 
 more complete than in the former, though 
 still deficient enough to render the exhi- 
 bition grotesque and ridiculous. Our new 
 passenger was, as a British sailor, very 
 drunk, and, as a native of Holland, very 
 clumsy in his jokes and caperings. The 
 other Hollander was, at first, very suspi- 
 cious, and exercised the right of cross- 
 questioning the new comer as to the truth 
 of his pretensions to have served on board 
 D 2
 
 36 BEHAVIOUR OP A SAILOR. 
 
 a king's ship ; but finding, after an inter- 
 change of craft secrets, that he was no 
 impostor, maintained over him for the rest 
 of the time, the superintendance which a 
 sober comrade ought to preserve over a 
 drunken one, winking, with much self- 
 complacency, to the English, as his friend 
 gave vent to the nautical oaths in rather a 
 foreign style. The Marchand below soon 
 discovered the Value of his acquisition in 
 this fresh passenger, and was not wanting 
 in the necessary attentions to one who 
 needed no extraordinary temptation to 
 commence a familiar acquaintance with the 
 bottles. As the drunken fellow put a glass 
 of liquor to his mouth, his eye caught 
 mine, and instantly changing the cast of 
 his look from one of gloating satisfaction 
 to one of doleful regret, he exclaimed, * 
 " Ah, Sir, on board the Ajax I drank rum ; 
 
 here, d , I must drink gin ! 
 
 I served King George for twenty years, and 
 now I am returning to my own country, 
 Well clothed, and with plenty of prize- 
 money." After finishing his draught, he 
 reeled round to the musician, and called 
 upon him to play up a " nice tune" The 
 ^ ex
 
 ARRIVAL AT BRUGES. 37 
 
 old man did as he was ordered ; when 
 he had done, his little boy kept pushing 
 him earnestly behind, driving him on to 
 extract from the intoxicated sailor a re- 
 ward, proportioned rather to the condition 
 of the customer than to the worth of the 
 commodity. Not finding his pushes, or 
 some gentle kicks, properly attended to, 
 he undertook the work of importunity 
 himself, and pursued it with great perse- 
 verance, till he was rather roughly repulsed. 
 The ladies, on board, regarded the trouble- 
 some Anglo-Hollander as a strange mon- 
 ster, and it was easy to discover from their 
 looks, and some few words which they 
 dropped, that they gave to England the 
 principal share of the honour due to his 
 formation. 
 
 We arrived at Bruges late in the evening ; 
 and, after a short walk from the canal, sur- - 
 rounded by a crowd of porters, coachmen, 
 cabriolet drivers, &c. accustomed to wait 
 the arrival of the packet boat, our pro- 
 gress was stopped by the first outwork of 
 this fortified place. This passed, another 
 soon presented itself, and lastly the heavy 
 town-gates appeared, leading through the 
 D 3
 
 38 APPEARANCE OF BRUGES. 
 
 massive walls which formed the third line 
 of the defence. Intending to set off in 
 an hour or two by another boat for Ghent, 
 I was told that no time must be lost 
 in dispatching my luggage through the 
 opposite gates of the town, otherwise the 
 men, who carried it, would not be able to 
 return home, as the barriers would be 
 closed against all entrance for the night. 
 This necessity, pressing on the inhabitants 
 in arranging their visitings or business 
 without the walls, is one of several circum- 
 stances that startle those who are unaccus- 
 tomed to the precautions and restraints of 
 fortified cities, observed in countries that 
 are often the seat of war. England, " the 
 ancient and the free," has been long and 
 happily exempted from these severities and 
 inconveniences. 
 
 Bruges, like most of the towns in the 
 Netherlands, is very large, but contains a 
 small number of inhabitants in proportion 
 to its extent. The houses here, and else- 
 where in Belgium, are bulky but ill-filled : 
 yet a neatness and orderly arrangement are 
 visible in the external appearances of the 
 streets throughout this kingdom, which one
 
 HOTEL-BOOK AT BRUGES. 39 
 
 in vain looks for in France. My stay in 
 Bruges was only for an hour or two of 
 darkness, so that I can say nothing of any 
 of its objects of curiosity. The spire of 
 the principal church seemed to be magni- 
 ficently light and lofty, and this is the ge- 
 neral character of the churches in this 
 quarter. Their architecture is in a style 
 of Gothic, the effect of which is very im- 
 posing. 
 
 When supping at the hotel here, our 
 landlord came in with a book, in which he is 
 compelled to enter, every day, the name, 
 age, profession, and domicile, also the 
 place coming from, and the place going to, of 
 each of his guests. The list is sent every 
 twenty-four hours to the police. I found it 
 full of the recorded particulars of a host of 
 my countryfolks, of each sex, and every age, 
 profession, residence, and condition, all on 
 the swarm for Brussels. Many of them, how- 
 ever, with much simplicity of acknowledge- 
 ment, had put down the precise point of 
 their destination, in the words " Field of 
 battle, near Waterloo" There were whole 
 columns of those very familiar patronymics, 
 the Johnsons, Robertses, Davises, and Jack- 
 D 4
 
 40 A FLEMISH FARMER. 
 
 sons, coupled with Highgate, Pancras, 
 Camberwell, and even some of the streets 
 of London, such as the Strand, Oxford 
 Road, and Charing Cross, as the places of 
 their respective domiciles. These will re- 
 main in the archives of the police at Bru- 
 ges, as the memorials of a most extraordi- 
 nary time. 
 
 Proceeding to the boat in which my fel- 
 low-traveller and myself were to perform 
 our night voyage to Ghent, our Fiacre was 
 stopped by the centinel at the gates, the 
 hour of shutting them against return hav- 
 ing arrived. Expressing some disappoint- 
 ment at being compelled to walk at least 
 a mile and a half to the point of our em- 
 barkation, an honest Flemish farmer, who 
 was passing through to his abode, offered 
 us seats with him in his cabriolet. He was 
 a hale, jolly, worthy fellow,. an excellent 
 specimen of his country's productions, both 
 in size and sentiment. The only recom- 
 pence he asked was, that we should do as 
 much for him when he came to England. 
 He stopped at an Auberge, making us 
 drink with him some of the white beer of 
 the country, and when we offered to open 
 1
 
 APPEARANCE OF THE NETHERLANDS. 41 
 
 our purses, stopped us with a look of 
 good humoured anger. " Here," said he, 
 " we live well ; we have plenty of every 
 thing we want, though in your country 
 you would not call us rich ; but twenty 
 francs here, go as far as a hundred with 
 you." 
 
 It was quite clear that he was right in 
 speaking of his country as abundant in its 
 possessions : respectable villages, honest 
 faces, green fields, and pretty peasant girls, 
 every where greeted us. The general lan- 
 guage of the country, after advancing from 
 the coast, is French, but its habits and ge- 
 neral appearance are very superior to those 
 of its neighbour. The individuals who 
 have lately written of the happy condition 
 of the peasantry of France, have surely 
 not passed from the Netherlands within 
 the French frontier. In the former, one 
 may see hamlets, bearing evidence by their 
 snug, orderly, and clean look, that their in- 
 habitants are as well off as people in their 
 condition of life can be ; but one cannot 
 enter France for six miles without observing 
 a totally different aspect. Ragged houses, 
 ill-filled with poverty and grimace, ruined
 
 42 TOWNS OF FLANDERS, 
 
 chateaus, slovenly grounds, again struck 
 me as they did last year on my first visit to 
 France. 
 
 Sterne calls Flanders the great prize- 
 fighting stage of Europe, and the appella- 
 tion is a just one. There is not a town 
 here, I may say not a spot bearing a name, 
 that does not instantly, when mentioned, 
 suggest the recollection of famous cam- 
 paigns, including able military manoeuvres, 
 great battles, important treaties, alliances, 
 discords, and devastations. Here " some 
 of the finest sieges have been laid to some 
 of the finest fortified cities in Europe." 
 My Uncle Toby rode most furiously, as 
 every one knows, on Flanders, as his hobby 
 horse. His model of a fortified place, pro- 
 vided by the ingenuity of Trim, was made, 
 
 we are told, to be a perfect Proteus. 
 
 " It was Landen, and Trerebach, and 
 Santvliet, and Drusen, and Hagenau. 
 and then it was Ostend, and Menin, and 
 Aeth, and Dendermond." Among these 
 towns, or in their neighbourhood, I now 
 passed. I was surrounded by Liege, and 
 Bruges, and Malines, and Juliers, and 
 Tournay, and Mons, and Jemappe, the 
 4
 
 THEIR MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS. 43 
 
 scenes of the fiercest encounterings of the 
 armed strength of nations. I now followed 
 the march of Marlborough and of Eugene, 
 the chastisers of the ambition and vanity 
 of a French King : I rolled over the ground 
 on which the French Republic assumed 
 her awful character of the conqueror of 
 Kings ; I trod on the field where, after a 
 long career of unexampled victories, a 
 French Emperor tried a last and desperate 
 effort to ward off his own and his country's 
 humiliation, and failed, and was beaten 
 down into disgrace and captivity. 
 
 One would expect that a country so long 
 devoted to these terrible doings, would 
 shew itself but as a Golgotha a place of 
 skulls ; but by some happy qualities of 
 character and circumstances, it seems to 
 have overcome the severities of its fate in 
 this respect, and its people have acquired 
 amiable features, and their condition has 
 taken a kindly, flourishing look, under 
 events that seem calculated only to brutify 
 and destroy. 
 
 We found the boat going from Bruges to 
 Ghent, very deficient in its accommodation,
 
 44 NIGHT BOAT TO GHENT. 
 
 compared with the one that brought us 
 from Ostend to the former place. The re- 
 gular passage schuyt goes in the morning ; 
 that which takes its departure at night, is 
 adapted chiefly for the conveyance of goods, 
 having only a small cabin for the inferior 
 order of travellers, who embrace this op- 
 portunity on account of its cheapness. A 
 British officer, in his furred great coat, 
 covered with frogs, who had committed 
 himself rather rashly to this floating recep- 
 tacle for Flemish peasants, looked misery 
 and despair as he came up, driven on deck 
 by one peep into the crowded apartment 
 below. He .stretched himself on some 
 large crates, and procured a dangerous 
 shelter from the cold night air, by covering 
 himself with damp sacks. I felt no incli- 
 nation to make a similar attempt at repose, 
 but preferred going down to look at the 
 crowd of strangers amongst whom I had 
 been accidentally thrown, and whose merry 
 conversation assailed my ears in violent 
 gusts of noise. 
 
 I could scarcely force my way into the 
 cabin : it was lined with sitters three deep, 
 and a number of standers near the door
 
 THE CROWDED CABIN. 45 
 
 were on the alert to discover and seize 
 vacant places. Men and women were jam- 
 med together, some nodding in an uneasy 
 sleep, others hushing their children, whom 
 the heated atmosphere and the confinement 
 rendered irritable and teazing, some eat- 
 ing out of baskets of provisions, others 
 labouring hard to get room for their legs. 
 In the middle, a small space was reserved 
 for a card table, at which two men were 
 seated, playing with a well used pack that 
 belonged to the boat, forming part of its 
 accommodations for the nightly voyage. One 
 of these players remained stationary at the 
 table for many hours, receiving various 
 antagonists in the game as they presented 
 themselves in rotation. According to a sort 
 of general understanding, which no one 
 expressed but every one felt, he seemed to 
 be installed with certain privileges over his 
 companions ; he evidently had a presiding 
 influence, which did not, at first, seem to 
 me very explicable, as he was a man 
 " severe and stern to view," turned of fifty, 
 whose manners x had no particular refine- 
 ment, and whose toute ensemble told you 
 that, as . to the gifts of fortune, he was far
 
 46 DESCRIPTION OF PASSENGERS. 
 
 from being above those by whom he was 
 surrounded. The secret, however, was ex- 
 plained, when I afterwards discovered him 
 to be the well-known schoolmaster of a Fle- 
 mish village. " Full well his neighbours 
 laughed," but not " with counterfeited 
 glee," at " all his jokes." 
 
 " And many a joke had he." 
 
 The sudden peal of merriment, rising after 
 he had uttered one or two uncouth sylla- 
 bles in the country language, startled the 
 sleepers, and made them spring up with 
 an enquiring gaze on their half-awakened 
 faces. The conversation was all carried 
 on in the Flemish dialect, the harshest that 
 can be imagined. I sat as one out of all 
 society, yet hot and pressed in a crowd. 
 Those by whom I was squeezed looked at 
 me, and I looked at them, but the inter- 
 change conveyed little or no communication 
 from either side. When they laughed to 
 the danger of their sides, I could only 
 laugh with them, in the confidence that 
 they would not allow their lungs so to crow 
 without sufficient cause. At the hazard of 
 being thought sentimental I must confess
 
 MORNING REFRESHMENT. 47 
 
 that my thoughts flew quickly between 
 this strange scene and that from which 
 only three days had removed me. At 
 home, the garden was then lying quiet and 
 clear in the moonlight, the faces, best 
 known to me in the world, were most pro- 
 bably resting placidly on their pillows, 
 and here was I, wakeful and unregarded, 
 not understood, not understanding, 
 perspiring at every pore, and silently listen- 
 ing to coarse jokes, conveyed in guttural 
 German. 
 
 The first hours of morning came, and 
 the boat stopped for half an hour to allow 
 us to take coffee in a house of refreshment 
 by the side of the canal. The throng of 
 passengers rushed out of the cabin and 
 threw themselves into seats on each side of 
 a long table, covered with the preparations 
 that were in perfect readinesss awaiting their 
 arrival. We drank as much coffee as we 
 pleased, and ate our fill of bread and but- 
 ter, for six sous, threepence, each. 
 
 Between four and five o'clock, the sun 
 struggled to get above the round willow 
 trees that enclosed the canal : we passed 
 numerous villages that shone in the silver
 
 48 CONVERSATION OF BELGIAN SOLDIERS. 
 
 of its early light ; the inhabitants were up 
 and already at their occupations ; the smoke 
 was rising from the cottages ; the children 
 were at the doors half naked ; the dew 
 hung heavy on the grass. During the 
 night those that went on deck had only 
 heard the feet of the horses that drew the 
 boat, but now they were to be seen, at a 
 small distance, not guided by the rough- 
 looking boy who dozed on the back of one. 
 The country continued flat and rich ; the 
 people and their habitations, cheerful and 
 comfortable. A party of Belgian soldiers 
 were huddled in a group near the bow of 
 the vessel : they conversed in French, and 
 talked of Buonaparte ; he had lost his head 
 they said, no wonder then he had lost 
 his crown. With all imaginable careless- 
 ness, they struck from these contemptuous 
 remarks, on one that was lately so terrible, 
 into a song, the chorus of which was, 
 " Vive le Roi, le Roi des Pays bas /" 
 What a change did all this indicate from 
 the state of Europe's public affairs in 
 1812 and the preceding years ! The 
 alteration, though in many respects grati- 
 fying, was, in one, melancholy and hu-
 
 ARRIVAL AT GHENT. 49 
 
 miliating to human nature, for it shewed 
 what mere creatures of circumstances are 
 mankind, including their opinions and their 
 interests : it shewed how little things here 
 are regulated by any fixed standard of pro- 
 priety, but how easily the " great globe 
 itself, and all that it inhabits," become cast 
 and re-cast, in every variety of " form and 
 pressure," according to the predominating 
 influence of the day. What song would 
 these soldiers have sung three years ago ? 
 
 The high and florid spire of Ghent, rose, , 
 in the cold blue clearness of an atmosphere, 
 which the sun's rays had not yet reached, 
 with all its notched and carved outlines 
 distinctly marked. The eye was led to it 
 along a stretching line of water, shut in by 
 two regular rows of cropped willow-trees 
 on the banks. There was no catching, at 
 this place, even a glimpse of the country 
 on either side ; it was impossible to look 
 in any direction but along the narrowing 
 visto of canal, terminating in a point on 
 which we were gradually advancing. 
 
 At the landing place at Ghent we were 
 surrounded by a crowd of ragged boys and . 
 officious men, most of them speaking
 
 50 LANDING PLACE AT GHENT. 
 
 a little English, and nothing loath to dis- 
 play their acquirement. One insisted upon 
 conducting us to the best hotel, another 
 would shew us the church, a third would 
 lead to the office of the diligence, and 
 there was not wanting one to whisper, 
 though it was before breakfast, that he 
 knew where the " pretty girls lived."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TF this work professed to give an account 
 -* of the Netherlands, I should be ashamed 
 to confess that I remained but a couple of 
 hours in the large city of Ghent, the greater 
 part of which time was occupied in break- 
 fasting and arranging my departure from it. 
 But Brussels and Paris were my objects, 
 and towards these I moved with all possible 
 rapidity, feeling that moments spent by 
 the way, as they must necessarily be few, 
 would not permit me to indulge in any 
 thing worth the name of observation, while 
 they would prove a serious loss in regard to 
 my main pursuits. Perhaps, as I have 
 little or nothing to narrate of Ghent, or of 
 the places between it and Brussels, the 
 present may be a fit opportunity for saying 
 something general on the Netherlands ; for, 
 as we advance, we shall become very busy 
 with the scenes immediately before us. 
 E 2
 
 EMPTINESS OF GHENT. 
 
 Ghent is known as the city to which 
 Louis the XVIIIth. retired before the suc- 
 cessful usurper of his throne. It gave the 
 King of France an asylum for the three 
 months which formed the period of his 
 second exile. It is an extremely extensive, 
 but very empty place. The houses large, 
 substantial, and in many instances elegant, 
 gave but few tokens of animation, and none 
 of opulence. The dullest country town in 
 England can afford no idea of the stillness 
 and vacancy of the several noble-looking 
 cities on the line of road from the Flemish 
 coast to Brussels. The peasants in their 
 hamlets and farms seem all prospering in 
 their lowly and simple condition ; but, when 
 we arrive at those huge masses of buildings, 
 whose lofty spires have challenged our at- 
 tention for previous leagues of flatness, and 
 where we therefore expect to find astir the 
 many noisy operations of human industry, 
 and to be saluted with the shew of life 
 Jin its largest and gayest state, we are, 
 plunged suddenly into shade and silence. 
 Not the shade of the woods which soothes, 
 but of heavy walls which startles ; not 
 the silence of the fields, which is that of
 
 IMPOVERISHMENT BY BUONAPARTE. 58 
 
 nature in its fertility, but of untenanted 
 habitations, which is that of society in its 
 decay. A solitary individual may be seen 
 walking in the middle of one of the long 
 and narrow streets of these towns, like a 
 sexton stepping down the echoing aisle of a 
 cathedral, listening to the reverberation of 
 his own feet, instead of hearing the enlivening 
 sounds of a crowded thoroughfare, gazing 
 with a contemplative air, as if in the paved 
 court of a college, instead of glancing with 
 a vigilant one, as one must in the crowd of 
 Cheapside. 
 
 Here, then, man appears as if he had 
 fallen away from his sumptuous and capa- 
 cious coverings : " His youthful hose, well- 
 saved, a world too wide for his shrunk shanks." 
 In the neighbouring country of the United 
 Provinces, it was, till very lately, quite the 
 reverse. But, under the system of Buona- 
 parte, the exchange of Amsterdam, and its 
 warehouses, were rapidly becoming what the 
 splendid churches of Belgium are, relics 
 of the past, rather than signs of the present. 
 It is curious, too, that, at the very time 
 when Buonaparte was taking measures 
 which rendered useless what existed, he 
 E 3
 
 54 BUONAPARTE'S SYSTEM, 
 
 was not only projecting but executing vast 
 public works, that could only have their 
 proper utility in that extension of com- 
 merce to which he was a determined foe. 
 Having deposed his brother Louis for 
 indulging the trade of the Dutch in viola- 
 tion of the rules of the anti-commercial 
 code, framed for the continent of Europe 
 by its conqueror, he instantly set about 
 improving the sluices, and multiplying the 
 canals of a country which he was reducing 
 to beggary. His justification of such con- 
 duct was probably rested on what he had 
 in view as the final result of his violent 
 endeavours, to which these were only the 
 means of reaching. He always repre- 
 sented that the prosperity of his vassal 
 states would be the consequence of the 
 complete success of his plans ; and, when 
 England was overthrown by his arms, 
 when grass grew in the area of our Royal 
 Exchange, when the bosom of the Thames 
 should be unbroken by the keels of ships, 
 and bear along with it to the sea no sound but 
 that of its own deep current, no freightage 
 but its own parted weeds, then might the 
 canals, which our enemy cut in Holland,
 
 AND CHARACTER. 55 
 
 and the roads which he made in the va- 
 rious kingdoms which he conquered, have 
 become the channels of traffic, and of the 
 numerous communications of a thriving peo- 
 ple. But his design must now be judged 
 of, as one of those pieces of inflation, which 
 are great, not in substantial qualities, but 
 precisely because they are not solid, 
 which swell beyond common bounds be- 
 cause the slightest puncture may reduce 
 them far within these. He who will dis- 
 regard all chances of failure, to provide 
 for which others withhold a portion of 
 their means, will have more than others to 
 expend in the pursuit of success ; and is 
 therefore likely, for a time, to be more 
 brilliant than others in his achievements j 
 but, if his career should happen to end in 
 humiliation and disaster deeper and more 
 abrupt than fall within the usual scope of 
 reverses, it is but fair to consider what he 
 gained as closely and necessarily connected 
 with what he afterwards lost, and to found 
 the estimate of his talent on the value of 
 his complete career. A prodigal may as- 
 tonish us by his superior magnificence to 
 the man of prudence, but the prodigal is 
 E 4
 
 56 BUONAPARTE'S CHARACTER, 
 
 likely to leave his splendid saloon for a 
 prison, while the man of prudence runs 
 but little risk of being taken from the fire- 
 side of his parlour. It is not meant by 
 this to confound genius with mediocrity ; 
 but to make a distinction between imposi- 
 tion and reality, between tinsel and gold : 
 to enter a protest against permitting the 
 flightiness of second-rate minds to receive 
 the honours due only to the strength of 
 first-rate: to caution those who are inclined 
 to mistake empiricism for science, and the 
 desperation of a rash gambler for the skill 
 of a wary calculator. 
 
 Buonaparte might occasionally soothe 
 his own consciousness with the idea that he 
 was ruining Holland only to raise it, as a 
 fox-hunter talks of ridding the farmer of 
 
 o 
 
 vermin, while he prohibits him from car- 
 rying a gun, and rides over his crops with 
 dogs and horses ; but Buonaparte shewed 
 in this instance, as in others, that, however 
 he might allege an ultimate object of im- 
 provement as a justification, his passionate 
 desires were to be known, in certain inter- 
 mediate measures that were both savage 
 and brutifying. As ultimate public bene- 
 8
 
 AND CONDUCT. 57 
 
 fit could scarcely have sanctioned these, 
 their failure must consign them to igno- 
 miny and reprobation, since it has proved 
 them to have been ill-calculated for any 
 thing but the gratification of a violent and 
 ruinous ambition, whose selfish cravings 
 were to be appeased at any expence of 
 general suffering and mischief. Of him 
 may be said, as of Philip of Spain, " With 
 great talents, he failed to obtain the repu- 
 tation of a great prince, because, with a 
 knowledge of mankind, and the power of 
 benefiting them, he became the destroyer 
 of his species, the chief instrument of hu- 
 man misery." 
 
 The real carelessness of this person 
 for the fine and salutary objects, about 
 which it was common for him to talk, has 
 always been discoverable in some coarse 
 and hasty action, contradicting the tenor of 
 his professions, and shewing his true dispo- 
 sition. Thus, notwithstanding his tawdry 
 allusions to classical fame, and his canting 
 shew of veneration for antiquity, and ad- 
 miration for art, he actually sold the superb 
 Gothic church at Utrecht, standing as it 
 was in perfection and strength, that the 
 sum given by bricklayers and carpenters
 
 58 THE FLEMISH CITIES. 
 
 for its materials might pay the expence of a 
 pyramid to record his victory over Austria ! 
 It is not to be denied, however, that 
 since the administration of the public affairs 
 of the Dutch provinces has been shifted into 
 milder hands, what he has done in the way 
 of improving the conveniencies of the 
 country will be found of the greatest use ; 
 and the numerous, populous, bustling, and 
 neat towns of that country, are likely to 
 present again, as before, striking contrasts 
 to the lethargic Flemish cities, to which 
 it is now time to return. 
 
 Flemish industry and ingenuity were, 
 from an early period down to the sixteenth 
 century, unrivalled; and these produced that 
 opulence, which, according to the taste and 
 character of the times, lavished itself on 
 the magnificence of the many superb 
 churches which adorn that country. It is not 
 easy to see the justice of the attacks that 
 have been made so often on trade as mean 
 in its spirit, and of degrading influence ; for 
 if the history of states be regarded, it will 
 be found that those of a commercial cha- 
 racter have been distinguished, not only by 
 the love of enterprize, but also by the love
 
 THE NETHERLAND PROVINCES, 5$ 
 
 of independence. The Flemish cities, then 
 populous and active, are noted for their re- 
 fractory disposition, as it was called, per- 
 petually leading them to resist the oppres- 
 sive measures of their unwise masters, the 
 Dukes of Burgundy. The citizens of 
 Ghent, in particular, rose in their market- 
 place on one of those Dukes, and compelled 
 him to restore their ancient and important 
 right, of which he had deprived them, 
 namely, that each of their trade-companies 
 should carry in procession its respective and 
 proper banner ! But it was the ruinous im- 
 posts levied by these Sovereigns that did 
 the most harm to the Flemish cities : in 
 process of time the trade of Bruges de- 
 clined in favour of Antwerp, and one of 
 the consequences of the noble stand for 
 liberty made by the Seven Protestant Pro- 
 vinces, in the glory of which the others 
 did not share, was to transfer to Amster- 
 dam the commerce of Antwerp. Since 
 this period the ports and cities of the 
 Netherlands, have been more associated 
 with the fatal operations of war, than with 
 the exertions of peaceful industry, and 
 their size and magnificence, resulting from
 
 OPPOSITION TO TOLERATION. 
 
 the skill and thrift of their people, have? 
 been taken advantage of to furnish princes 
 with instruments for carrying on those hate- 
 ful feuds of which the people are always the 
 victims. 
 
 It was a fatal thing for these fine pro- 
 vinces that a religious jealousy prevented 
 their complete union in the struggle for 
 liberty and independence against Spain ; 
 but their majority professing the Roman 
 Catholic faith, and the minority of seven 
 adhering to the Protestant, that alienation 
 of sympathy which religious differences en- 
 gender more than any other, occasioned a 
 division .of their strength and interests, at 
 a moment when a combination of heart 
 and power was most peculiarly necessary 
 and desirable. Since then, the inhabitants 
 of Belgium and of the Dutch Provinces, 
 have entertained that strong dislike of each 
 other which generally follows the rupture 
 of a close connection. 
 
 This feeling, it is understood, operates 
 with all its original force at the present 
 moment, and is much to be regretted, as it 
 embitters the recent national union of the 
 two countries, and, for the present, at least*
 
 CONDUCT OF PRINCES. 61 
 
 deprives both of the benefits which they 
 might derive from this political measure. 
 I was told, that during the night previous 
 to my arrival at Ghent, a man had been 
 killed in a disturbance occasioned by a re- 
 ligious dispute. The populace of the coun- 
 try had got it into their heads that their 
 new sovereign was about to pull down all 
 their fine old churches ! My readers recol- 
 lect the opposition lately made by the States 
 of the Netherlands to the law in favour of 
 general toleration ; which opposition ren- 
 dered it necessary that the King should de- 
 clare, that the law in question was a part 
 of the public code of Europe, enacted by 
 the Congress of Vienna, as applicable to 
 the kingdoms influenced by ils arrange- 
 ments, and therefore not subject to the 
 'adoption, or rejection of particular govern* 
 ments *. If there be any thing suspicious, 
 or objectionable in this interference with 
 the rights of national legislation, there is 
 something so admirable in the general 
 principle, thus solemnly consecrated by the 
 
 . 
 * Why was Spain left out of this arrangement ?
 
 62 CONDUCT OF PRINCES. 
 
 act of the assembled authorities of Europe, 
 that one would willingly look over a trifling 
 irregularity for the sake of the assurance 
 thus given to mankind, that the late terri- 
 ble agitations have not afflicted the world 
 quite in vain, but that a great moral' and 
 political improvement has occurred as their 
 issue. Nor ought we, in passing judgment 
 on public character, to overlook the diffi- 
 culties which the ignorances and violence 
 of the people have frequently thrown in 
 the way of their princes, when the latter 
 have shewn themselves inclined to intro- 
 duce institutions and customs more liberal 
 than had heretofore prevailed. It would 
 indeed be a delightful thing that there 
 should be no appearance of force in bring- 
 ing about the union of states, or of viola- 
 tion in the adjustment of territories, or of 
 any thing but the popular will in the pub- 
 lication of laws, but what is to be done 
 when contiguous provinces hate each other 
 because they do not take the sacrament in 
 the same way, and when a people cry out 
 tyranny because of toleration ? It would 
 not be very practicable, if it were desirable, 
 to animate sovereigns with the opinions 
 
 lot
 
 CONDUCT OF PRINCES. 65 
 
 and feelings of certain warm political spe- 
 culators, the good must probably con- 
 tinue to be worked out, as it always has 
 been, by a rough collision between those 
 who with-hold, and those who demand, too 
 much: but there is neither honour nor 
 prudence in denying, that the rulers of the 
 present day have convinced themselves of 
 many important truths as to the extent and 
 nature of popular rights ; that they have 
 been impressed by facts which were calcu- 
 lated to reconcile these rights to their in- 
 clinations; that they see more clearly than 
 they ever before did, the connection which 
 subsists between the real strength of go- 
 vernments, and the independence of sub- 
 jects ; but that in their fair intentions 
 they have too frequently been calumniated, 
 in their salutary endeavours thwarted, and 
 that their favourable dispositions have been, 
 not unnaturally, disgusted, by the inconsis- 
 tent and irritating jealousies which assail 
 them from sides so opposite in sentiment, 
 as to render it impossible to secure the ap- 
 probation of both. 
 
 Another complaint urged by the Bel- 
 gians against their union with the Dutch,
 
 64 THE HEREDITARY PRINCE 
 
 seems more rational than that which has 
 been already noticed. They say, that the 
 public debt of the Dutch Provinces was 
 much more heavy than their debt, and that 
 now, the whole being lumped together, 
 they will have the worst of it. Such being 
 the state of their minds, composed partly 
 of the most objectionable, but the most 
 pertinacious sort of prejudices, and in part, 
 probably, of reasonable discontent, the new 
 order of political affairs cannot be supposed 
 to be very popular. But a more pleasant 
 view for the future opens, in consequence of 
 a curious coincidence between the present 
 disposition of the people of this country, 
 and that for which they were in former 
 times remarkable. Philip de Commines 
 says, that it was a proverb of one of the 
 Dukes of Burgundy, " that the citizens of 
 Gaunt love their Prince's son welly but their 
 Prince never" The inhabitants of the 
 Netherlands now verify the proverb, for, 
 while they speak slightingly, and in a 
 grumbling tone of their King, his son is a 
 very great favorite with them, and is never 
 alluded to but in affectionate and even ad- 
 miring terms. The conduct and habits of
 
 OF THE NETHERLANDS. 65 
 
 the Hereditary Prince as certainly well 
 calculated to inspire this favourable senti- 
 ment. His spirit in the field is well known ; 
 it was generally noticed and praised in 
 Spain, when he fought as a young officer 
 in the British service ; and, in the recent 
 memorable engagements, it was finely 
 proved in the sight and at the doors of 
 those who have become the subjects of his 
 father. But there is in his character, be- 
 sides this prepossessing feature, a lively 
 frankness, which, in its effects on his man- 
 ners, is extremely pleasant to the people 
 of these parts, as being in unison with their 
 own habits and tempers. The present mo- 
 ment of the world is generally unfavourable 
 for what was formerly so successful, the 
 ponderous and solemn display of kingly 
 state, and, in the Netherlands, the cheer- 
 fulness of the people would turn them from 
 it with peculiar disgust. They are, accord- 
 ingly, delighted when they find the heir-ap- 
 parent of their sovereign sitting gaily down 
 amidst the promiscuous assemblage of a 
 table d'hote in Brussels, discarding, to all 
 appearance, every recollection of his high 
 rank, and maintaining only the companion*
 
 66 FEELING FOR BUONAPARTE. 
 
 able deportment of a gentleman. His 
 Serene Highness has thus been fortunate 
 and judicious enough to secure both the 
 respect and the affection of those over 
 whom his family is to govern ; and, as no- 
 thing is more intolerable than the prospect 
 of a bad succession, so the hopes of seeing 
 the sway pass into the hands of one with 
 whom they are pleased, will most probably 
 soon reconcile the people of Belgium to 
 these arrangements by which the sove- 
 reignty over them has been vested in the 
 house of Orange. 
 
 I was anxious to ascertain whether there 
 existed in Belgium, what could be called 
 a public feeling in favour of that authority 
 which the old governments of Europe have 
 been lucky enough to put down, after a series 
 of terrible struggles, and after having been 
 themselves long kept in a state of humili- 
 ation under its influence. The existence 
 of that authority, mischievous as in many 
 respects it was, and meriting the odium of 
 mankind, is nevertheless associated with 
 deliverance from much that was noxious 
 and galling much that insulted the 
 understandings, while it injured the in- 
 10
 
 FEELING FOR BUONAPARTE. 67 
 
 terests and rendered uncomfortable the 
 conditions of the people. Moreover, its 
 triumphs were splendid while they were 
 cruel ; its training was vigorous, while it 
 was severe : false, deceitful, and really de- 
 grading as its character was, it had a strut 
 and swell in its port and gait, and a decla- 
 matory tone in its language, which alto- 
 gether rendered it a superb and dazzling 
 piece of imposition, well adapted to strike 
 the imaginations and overcome the feelings 
 of the mass. The countries too, over which 
 it chiefly prevailed, were very deficient in 
 public information generally, but more 
 particularly ignorant of political doctrines, 
 and the merits of political practice. The 
 consequences were, a simple credulity in 
 favour of the new quackery, and a ferocious 
 discontent against the old systems of go- 
 vernment. The latter had not covered their 
 palpable absurdities and oppressions with 
 any veil of artifice, and, not using the 
 fashionable cant to recommend them, failed 
 to render even their best qualities accept- 
 able. In England, the trick would not have 
 passed current for twelvemonths ; but, on 
 the continent, the declamation about the 
 F 2
 
 68 " FEELING TOR BUONAPARTE. 
 
 empire of the west, and the freedom of the 
 seas, and eagles, and dynasties, filled the 
 multitude with a kind of admiring awe even 
 in the midst of their sufferings, causing 
 them to cherish a pride in the yoke which 
 pressed on their necks, and the harness 
 which bound them to drag the chariot of a 
 conqueror. 
 
 We still, therefore, find, in most of 
 the countries where Buonaparte had esta- 
 blished his predominance, a sort of hanker- 
 ing after the ornamental parts of it. Many 
 persons Jn these countries rather con- 
 fess his faults than declare them ; they 
 speak of him as of a favourite sin, as of 
 something which cannot be justified, but 
 was not disliked. This kind of sentiment 
 seems to prevail in the Netherlands, and I 
 understand also in Holland, which is more 
 remarkable. It is chiefly to be traced to a 
 want of that sense, always prevailing in a 
 land of liberty, by which a violation of 
 personal independence is felt as a personal 
 insult, not to be atoned for even by what 
 is called national glory. Where men have 
 been accustomed to think of themselves 
 and their interests of every kind, as at the
 
 FEELING FOR BUONAPARTE. 69 
 
 mercy of a superior will, they do not esti- 
 mate privations and inflictions, falling on 
 individuals, as a free people would estimate 
 them, and, being utterly without the con- 
 sciousness of dignity as individuals, they 
 set great store by that parade and achieve- 
 ment which cause the national name to 
 rattle sonorously in the ears of their neigh- 
 bours, affording a consolation for internal 
 hardships and humiliations in public spec- 
 tacle and external fame. 
 
 The Netherlanders, or at least those of 
 them who had any pretensions to intelligence, 
 did not attempt to say a word in direct praise 
 of Buonaparte, but they referred to the zenith 
 of his success in terms of admiration, and 
 seemed to feel as if his downfall had caused 
 them to subside into something smaller and 
 less attractive than they were before. At 
 the same time their common expression 
 was, that latterly he had become use, and 
 that his personal influence, inconsequence 
 of his late blunders and defects, was for 
 ever destroyed. Consistency and sound 
 reflection, however, on political subjects, 
 you cannot meet with on the continent : 
 these talkers would violently blame the 
 F 3
 
 70 PROPER COUNTERACTION 
 
 measure of religious toleration, as ordered 
 by the present sovereign of the Nether- 
 lands, yet betray an evident leaning to- 
 wards one who was for ever mortifying the 
 Catholic superstition, who shewed, even in 
 what might be termed his attentions to re- 
 ligion, that he had no very implicit respect 
 for its authority, and who, according to 
 the natural tendency of an intelligent mind, 
 uncorrupted in this respect by selfishness, 
 was bent on completely abolishing those 
 arrogant assumptions of particular faiths, 
 which are made as much to the injury of 
 the political strength of a state, as to the 
 abuse and violation of its civil rights. 
 
 The existence of the feeling which I have 
 described as prevalent in the Netherlands, 
 may seem to my readers to bode ill for the 
 duration of that order of public affairs, the 
 arrangement of which has been represented 
 as the uncovering of the established and 
 fruitful face of things, on the subsidence of 
 the deluge of destruction. But I do not 
 
 o 
 
 think that the danger is imminent ; at least 
 it is very easy to see where the means of 
 counteracting it lie. It only requires that 
 certain opportunities should be decently
 
 OF THE FEELING FOR BUONAPARTE. 71 
 
 improved, to turn the channel of public 
 sentiment into quite another direction. It 
 is very evident that the governments which 
 cannot dazzle their subjects' eyes, ought to 
 address their hearts and understandings; 
 and it is not less certain that the latter 
 method will inevitably produce a supe- 
 rior degree of attachment, and a more 
 unchangeable fidelity. The growing pro- 
 sperity of the United Provinces of the 
 Low Countries, restored to all their na- 
 tural relationships, and enjoying, in the 
 guarantees of public quiet, and the dura- 
 tion of public establishments, inducements 
 to private enterprize and industry, will 
 not long be without its natural effect on 
 the tempers of the people. The recovery 
 of the admired objects of Art, which these 
 provinces had lost, is likely to be in this 
 way highly valuable. It will give them a 
 sense of increased importance and dignity ; 
 it will add to their national claims on re- 
 spect ; it will provide them with the means 
 of bringing strangers to visit their cities, 
 a communication which is both profitable 
 and agreeable ; and it will open safe and 
 noble pursuits to occupy the ambition of 
 F 4
 
 7& ESTEEM FOR THE ENGLISH 
 
 the aspiring, by placing before them ex- 
 amples of fame, permanent, general, and 
 exalted, acquired by the cultivation of an 
 elegant skill, administering to the peaceful 
 entertainment of mankind. It is then most 
 right that these advantages, belonging 
 as it may be said to the tranquillity and 
 improvement of Europe, should be secured 
 for its different states. The security for 
 having quieter times than the past, lies in 
 the value of what has succeeded to it, 
 it is impossible, therefore, to conceive any 
 advice more injudicious than that which 
 was given to leave the spoils of nations in 
 the hands of the defeated spoiler, to per- 
 petuate the shame of the continent by im- 
 perishable memorials, and to provide for 
 no vestige or proof of its glory. What 
 would this have been but to point the 
 lesson against the interests of society, by 
 leaving the sense of humiliation pressing 
 on those who were injured, but who strug- 
 gled for, and gained the power to redress 
 themselves, and the exultation and self- 
 congratulation to be enjoyed by those, who 
 for a while triumphed in outrage, but were 
 at length reduced to the situation of over- 
 powered criminals.
 
 FELT IN THE NETHERLANDS. 73 
 
 The regard for the English prevailing in 
 the Netherlands, and resulting from the 
 recent intimate communication between 
 the two countries in a trying time, is ano- 
 ther circumstance promising well for the 
 future. The Belgians are quite alienated 
 from the French ; they have seen, and 
 warmly acknowledge, how much better the 
 British troops conducted themselves than 
 those of other nations. There is not a family 
 in Brussels that does not cherish respect 
 and attachment for our countrymen, found- 
 ed on experience of their behaviour in their 
 houses ; in many instances these feelings 
 have become stronger, and taken a closer 
 turn, under the influence of the appeals 
 made by the distress and agony of the 
 brave, answered by the kindest receptions 
 of hospitality, and the tenderest attentions 
 of female compassion. The Netherlands 
 and Great Britain are now closely con- 
 nected by the kind feelings of their respec- 
 tive people, and it is to be hoped that 
 this connection will be strengthened by a 
 conviction of their public interests, and 
 thus doubly operate to enhance the world's 
 security against a fresh burst of public dis- 
 orders.
 
 ( 74- ) 
 
 inlf 'Mri -iol ji--.r 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 /^\N approaching Brussels, the country 
 begins to assume the diversified aspect 
 of hill and dale, of which there is not an 
 appearance for many miles from the coast. 
 The rain fell in frequent and heavy showers 
 during my journey from Ghent, but so it 
 commonly happens, I believe, here. There 
 had not been a day fair throughout, for the 
 three months previous to that on which I 
 paid my visit to the awful field near Water- 
 loo, which was remarkably fine. The dili- 
 gence crept along barely at the rate of four 
 miles an hour, and when the clouds burst 
 violently we were dragged below the sheds 
 near the inns, that the postilion might not 
 be drenched. At the doors of these inns, 
 stood several of the miserable cabriolets, 
 let out to travellers, soaking in the pouring 
 rain, the single wretched-looking horse of 
 each, half drowned in the torrent, and the 
 forlorn travellers taking a momentary shel-
 
 JOURNEY TO BRUSSELS. 75 
 
 ter, only to set out again in a wet and dirty 
 open carriage, seated side by side with a 
 rough fellow, the driver, in a dripping great 
 coat, whose constant employment is to 
 scourge with a broken whip the raw back 
 of his poor broken-down animah The 
 means of travelling in this country are 
 wretched : there is not so great a difference 
 between the carriage of the King of Eng- 
 land and the worst hackney coach on any 
 of the London stands, as between an Eng- 
 lish post chaise, including its smart driver 
 and spirited horses, and the conveyances 
 which are to be procured on these Flemish 
 roads. 
 
 I was in the outside seat of the diligence, 
 which is covered over with a head like that 
 of a one-horse chaise. The servant of a 
 British major was next me ; a British officer 
 filled the remaining place. Wishing to know 
 the name of one of the villages through 
 which we passed, I put the question in 
 French to a man standing at the door of a 
 cottage. It appeared that he only under- 
 stood the Flemish : my fellow-traveller, the 
 servant, instantly called out, with much 
 briskness. " What is the nom of this
 
 76 ANECDOTE. 
 
 twite ?" The person to whom he addressed 
 himself looked as if he had heard Arabic 
 pronounced. My curiosity could not be 
 satisfied, but the groom was perfectly so 
 with himself. He turned to me, saying, 
 " I have picked up a little of the language, 
 you see, Sir, while I have been at Ghent, 
 and that makes it very pleasant." The 
 officer, who, with myself, smiled at this, 
 afterwards told me, that it reminded him of 
 an Irish Captain in the Greek islands, who 
 used to talk what he called Italian to the 
 Sicilian and Calabrian sergeants, but of 
 which they could not understand a word ; 
 when he had finished delivering his 
 orders, however, he invariably, and with 
 much self-satisfaction, motioned the men, 
 who were standing staring in his face, to 
 withdraw, and then would call to his bro- 
 ther officers to know what the devil they 
 would do if they had not him to interpret 
 for them ? 
 
 From a picturesque elevation to which 
 we had been gradually ascending, I at length 
 saw Brussels. About this time, too, we be- 
 gan to meet persons walking, as if they 
 had come from a small distance for recre- 
 4
 
 FIRST SIGHT OF BRUSSELS. 77 
 
 ation : they carried with them the external 
 British stamp, but the circumstance of so 
 walking would have proved them to be 
 countrymen, for the traveller in general 
 does not meet with a soul in the neighbour- 
 hood of any continental town, except per- 
 sons who shew that they have occupations 
 causing them to be on the road. Those 
 whom we now saw were chiefly young 
 men, walking alone, and there were some 
 others, whom my military companion verj 
 confidently pronounced to be chaplains. 
 Beyond the city, which lay downwards from 
 where we were, a bjack skirting outline ran 
 along a ridge of high ground : this could 
 only be the wood of Soignies ; we assured 
 ourselves of this in an instant, and the 
 wood of Soignies it was ! 
 
 We were conducted to an hotel in Brus- 
 sels which I shall avoid naming, because 
 probably the remonstrances made to the 
 landlord by several of his guests, may have 
 produced an amendment of the general 
 conduct of the house. In behalf of this, 
 as I found it, nothing can be said. The 
 attendance was bad ; the head waiter had 
 been one of Buonaparte's soldiers, and
 
 78 HOTEL AT BRUSSELS. 
 
 / could scarcely brook to wait on the English. 
 The provision for the table was by no 
 means what it ought to have been, consider- 
 ing the very high rate of the charges. My 
 chamber was on the fourth story : no 
 bells in the room, or on the floor. No 
 chance of hot water in the morning, or of 
 clean boots, or of any thing that might be 
 wanted, but by bawling gar$on over the 
 window, down into the immense depth of 
 the court-yard : after thus exercising 
 one's lungs for half an hour, it was possible 
 that some of the several servants, male and 
 female, passing to and fro all the time 
 within hearing, might deign to turn their 
 heads up, and exclaim " Oui, Monsieur, 
 bien bien" and, in another half hour, it 
 was possible that some one of them would 
 come up. 
 
 The first view of the streets of Brussels 
 
 i was most interesting. I was instantly 
 greeted with the sight of a red coat, and 
 almost instantly with the Scotch bonnet 
 and plaid. The place seemed in a throng 
 of English, Scotch, Irish, Prussians, Hano- 
 verians, and Belgians, of officers and pri- 
 vates, citizens and military. But not
 
 APPEARANCE OP STREETS. 79 
 
 one of the fine young men loitering through 
 the city were uninjured : their careless, 
 lively looks, and their gay carriage, struck 
 one, who was just arriving from scenes 
 of peace, where the reports of the dis- 
 tant war sound terrifically in the ear, as 
 strangely contrasted with their shattered 
 arms and legs, borne in slings, or supported 
 on crutches, their scarred faces, and other 
 appearances of bodily debility and damage. 
 The convalescent privates, too, were all out 
 in their great coats, each giving testimony 
 by some external sign to the dangers of the 
 terrible fray, but seemingly as settled, 
 happy, and familiar, in this foreign town, 
 as they appear in Broad- Way, Westminster, 
 or the Bird- Cage Walk in the Park. It is 
 the necessary property of a soldier to be 
 soon at home, for if he were not speedy in 
 this, he would seldom or never find him- 
 self there. Our men came bolting out of 
 the bakers' shops at Brussels, with their 
 loaves under their arms, as unembarrassed 
 as if the language and customs of the place 
 were their own ; they were as close in 
 their attentions to the passing females, as 
 if the most prepossessing conversations had
 
 80 MILITARY HOSPITAL. 
 
 taken place, whereas they were in fact 
 restricted to make love by dumb shew. 
 They seemed, in short, to be in every re- 
 spect on a most free and easy footing with 
 the town's people, and the town's people 
 seemed to be on a very cordial one with 
 them. 
 
 It happened that on the evening of my 
 arrival at Brussels, I was introduced into 
 the military hospital. The spacious court- 
 yard was crowded with brave men, recover- 
 ing from their wounds, but not yet well 
 enough to go abroad. They were walking 
 up and down quite unconscious that any 
 interest could be excited by looking at 
 them. These, then, were the fine fellows of 
 whom we in England had read, and heard, 
 and spoken so much : these were they who 
 had been in the midst of that tremendous 
 conflict, the very news of which stunned 
 our senses, which has justly superseded all 
 the former glories of our country, and of 
 which the due praise is yet to come in the 
 applause of future ages, and the celebra- 
 tions of future genius, raising this noble 
 achievement to an equal rank with the most 
 renowned of classical days. The men then
 
 THE MILITARY HOSPITAL. 81 
 
 moving quietly before me had been in the 
 shower of death where it fell heaviest ; they 
 had pressed forward into the very heart 
 of the storm of slaughter ; they had facedj 
 what appals in contemplation ; their pre- 
 sence seemed to realize all that had been read 
 in romance ; they afforded the reality of 
 what had before been only imagined j they 
 impressed with the substance of those spread- 
 ing shadows which move in the mind as its 
 ideas of those great and terrible adventures 
 of which only descriptions have given it 
 any knowledge. I could scarcely avoid 
 feeling a contempt for myself when I gazed 
 on these maimed soldiers, the relics of the 
 great fight of Waterloo, for how much 
 had they performed, and what had I done, 
 but come to stare at them ! 
 
 My walk along the narrow passages of this 
 dark hospital, past the numerous small silent 
 doors leading to the beds of the sufferers, 
 was even more affecting. Young surgeons 
 moved quietly, but quickly, in every direc- 
 tion ; and, in a bare-looking room, I found 
 one of the heads of the Medical Staff, sur- 
 rounded by his inspectors, purveyors, and 
 clerks, all occupied with regimental lists.
 
 82 THE MEDICAL BOARD. 
 
 and long accounts in columns. Thus it 
 seems, that what is poetry to one, may be 
 book-keeping to another. I was pleased 
 to hear that the .wounded had in general 
 done very well, and that the number of 
 unhappy cases was fewer than on any simi- 
 lar occasion. I afterwards mentioned this 
 information, which I had received at the 
 hospital, to an officer, and his reply was 
 that the distressed had to thank Providence 
 and not the Medical Board. I would not 
 willingly render this work the means of 
 spreading an injurious representation, but 
 the complaints on this point were so nume- 
 rous, that it seemed scarcely possible that 
 they could be without foundation ; and, if 
 well founded, it would be a direct violation 
 of duty to permit so fatal a neglect to pass 
 without animadversion. It is due to the 
 meritorious and useful class of men liable 
 to be affected by it, to press for its correc- 
 tion. Much has been done to improve our 
 military economy of late years, that reflects 
 the greatest credit on the illustrious person 
 at the head of the military administration. 
 The departments connected with field pre- 
 parations, and the subsistence of the army,
 
 ANIMATION OF BRUSSELS. 83 
 
 are now constituted according to admirable 
 systems, and do away the disgrace of our 
 tardiness in making improvements in these 
 respects, by the superiority to which they 
 have been carried since the work of im- 
 provement has been set about. 
 
 Brussels had the general air of a town 
 thrown quite out of its ordinary way. The 
 inhabitants and their visitors seemed all 
 animated by the influence of a vast holiday : 
 they mingled with each other, and filled 
 the streets and public walks, as if their re- 
 gular lives had been unsettled by some ir- 
 resistible interference, as if all the com- 
 mon rules of intercourse had been respited, 
 and the usual calls of industry and domes- 
 tic management overpowered by more in- 
 spiring invitations. People seemed to meet 
 each other as they do in a fair, or at any 
 public festival, with eyes kindled, and steps 
 lightened, not so much under any one par- 
 ticular cause, as in consequence of a gene- 
 ral and undefinable excitement, belonging 
 to the period and the place, forming the 
 atmosphere which every mind breathed, and 
 giving to each a glowing complexion, and 
 a brisk and airy carriage. " This is no 
 G 2
 
 84) ANIMATION OF BRUSSELS. 
 
 time to think of hats, Doctor," cried the 
 fellow in the election mob to the author of 
 Rasselas, who happened to have rather a 
 shabby one his on head. " No," was the 
 Doctor's reply. " hats are of no use now, 
 but to throw up in the air when we shout !" 
 This very well represents the lively feeling, 
 prevailing with the inhabitants of Brussels. 
 Hats seemed only worn to throw up in the 
 air, that is to say, the violent impulses 
 given to their spirits by extraordinary 
 events, had driven them beyond the bounds 
 of concealment, or even reserve \ and the 
 succession of certain things which could not 
 buthave been uppermost in every one'sthink- 
 ing at the same instant, and have raised 
 similar feelings in every breast, necessarily 
 produced the signs of universal intimacy, 
 for intimacy of manner almost always fol- 
 lows a consciousness of analogous thinking 
 and emotion. It is impossible to look 
 coldly in the face of any one whose mind 
 you know to be occupied with the same 
 images, and engaged in the same way as 
 your own. .Hence great emergencies, perils, 
 and pleasures, always produce a cordial and 
 close intercourse betwixt all the parties to
 
 BRITISH MILITARY. 85 
 
 them, however alienated, in common cir- 
 cumstances, by difference of condition, 
 temper, or sentiment. 
 
 All that had recently occurred here was 
 in a most peculiar degree adapted to en- 
 gender this sympathy and frankness, and 
 to add to these a tenderness of disposition 
 not without its dangers to some. In the 
 houses of the middle and higher classes, the 
 officers of our army were billetted 5 many 
 of them young and good-looking, most of 
 them of prepossessing manners, and all of 
 them at leisure to practise those assiduities 
 which cannot but please, and touch as 
 they please. It was new indeed to Brussels, 
 as it would be so generally on the continent, 
 to find the military behaving as gentlemen, 
 as if the rules of honour and politeness 
 were binding on the soldiers when quar- 
 tered on the people of a country. The 
 frank unassumingness and contentedness of 
 the British officers and troops, were the 
 themes of eulogium in every mouth, and 
 were by every one contrasted with the fero- 
 city, greediness, and insolence of the 
 French, nor were there wanting many 
 complaints against those allies of the Ne- 
 G 3
 
 86 AFFECTING CIRCUMSTANCES 
 
 therlanders, the Prussians. Hospitable sen- 
 timents were thus excited in favour of the 
 British, and the steadiness of character, 
 and martial appearance of the Scotch, made 
 them in peculiar request as inmates. A 
 lady who travelled with me from Brussels 
 to Mons, said she had petitioned the pro- 
 per authorities to send her " les Ecossais ;" 
 they had been mindful enough of her re- 
 quest to send her four, two Highland gre- 
 nadiers, and two officers. These left her 
 house on the evening of the 15th of June, 
 and one returned to it wounded ; the others 
 were left on the field. She shed tears when 
 she gave me this account, which afforded 
 but one instance of what took place gene- 
 rally. After growing from lodgers to be 
 acquaintances, from acquaintances com- 
 panions, and from companions friends, 
 after exciting interest, kindness, and in: 
 many cases affection, after appearing 
 daily at the family meal, and retiring 
 nightly with the family to rest, the cry of 
 war suddenly went forth, and they were 
 called away : their entertainers saw them 
 march through the darkness to encounter 
 the perils of death. Few came back, and
 
 OF DEPARTURE AND RETURN. &7 
 
 those who did, made their appearance, pale, 
 disfigured, crippled, and bleeding, their 
 once smart dress torn and blackened, their 
 gallant air sunk in weakness, their smiles 
 of politeness changed to the expression of 
 agony and helplessness. Hospitality and 
 kindness, under these circumstances, kindled 
 into the enthusiasm of compassionate and 
 affectionate sensibility. Hearts were then 
 in tune for all that was tender and over- 
 flowing, for the feelings excited by the 
 sufferings of others were blended with alarm 
 for themselves. The cannon sounded with- 
 out their gates : the most fearful reports 
 were brought into the city, who would 
 dare to promise that a shocking fate would 
 not fall upon it ? In the mean while their 
 brave defenders arrived, testifying by their 
 miserable plight how gallantly tliey had 
 struggled to preserve Brussels from viola- 
 tion. They were received with open arms 
 and streaming eyes ; the softest hands in 
 each house smoothed the couch of the ago- 
 nized warrior, the finest faces hung solicit- 
 ously over it, the viglant attentions ne- 
 cessary for his recovery w r ere not left to 
 servants j wives and daughters were led by 
 G 4
 
 88 ., FEMALE CHARACTER, 
 
 the finest of motives to take charge of the 
 dressings of his hurts, to present his food, 
 to anticipate and supply the wants of his 
 painful condition. 
 
 But all this could not be done safely 
 for that virtue in which it originated. I 
 am afraid the morals of Brussels have 
 not been improved by the defenders, of 
 her independence. A constant amatory 
 parade seemed going forward in its streets 
 and its park. The convalescent officers 
 ajid soldiers had but one pursuit ; 
 and the females, high and low, married 
 and single, were to all appearance abun- 
 dantly susceptible. They will not soon 
 forget the events of the last eight months, 
 and there is reason to fear that much un- 
 happiness may result to them, from the 
 seductive pleasures and interests of this 
 period, when their martial friends shall 
 have entirely left them to a state of living, 
 which, in their excited tempers, cannot but 
 appear dull and disgusting, contrasted with 
 tjie intoxications of chivalrous gaiety, and the 
 fascinations of gallant addresses. It is but 
 too probable that they will then find them-, 
 sejves utterly unfitted to derive comfort
 
 AND DRESS OF BRUSSELS. 89 
 
 from what is alone left to comfort them ; 
 that their homes will appear solitudes, 
 their duties pains, and that a long train 
 of domestic discords and neglects will shew 
 how fatal in their consequences are habits 
 of levity and dissipation. 
 
 The out-of-door dress of the middle and 
 lower classes of females in Brussels is very 
 pleasing in its general effect. It consists 
 of a black scarf thrown over the head, long 
 enough to descend down by the shoulders 
 to the waist. It is, I believe, of Spanish 
 origin, being introduced here by the Spa- 
 niards, when they were masters of the 
 country. Its shape, and the manner of 
 wearing it, very much resemble those of 
 the plaid, which may still be seen as the 
 Sunday garb of the women in the small 
 country churches in Aberdeenshire, and 
 other parts of the north of Scotland : but 
 the many-coloured Scotch tartan has not the 
 genteel, simple, and interesting look of the 
 black shawl of Belgium. There is a more 
 decided expression in the continental female 
 face than we usually meet with in England : 
 the eyes are more predominant in it over 
 the complexion j they, in consequence, con-
 
 90 FEMALE CHARACTER. 
 
 vey a more immediate and powerful 
 lenge, and permit less diversion of atten- 
 tion from what is the most captivating in- 
 fluence. These black eyes, these colour- 
 less but clear complexions, which leave the 
 countenance in a fine state for any emotion 
 to paint itself with a sudden flow of its 
 proper hue, these stealing looks, and 
 dainty steppings, took additional charms 
 from the nun-looking wimple. * 
 
 The whole system of female manners 
 here, inasmuch as it is more natural and 
 true than that of France, may be termed 
 purer, and more grateful to the best feel- 
 ings cherished in regard to the female cha- 
 racter. Wherever the heart beats with its 
 own genuine impulses, circumstances of 
 temptation may indeed operate fatally in 
 single instances on the susceptibility, but, 
 as susceptibility is as active when fairly in- 
 terested on the side of duties, as when un- 
 fortunately it is seduced against them, it is 
 
 * So fair and fresh as fairest flower in May, 
 For she had laid her mournful stole aside, 
 And widow-like, sad wimple thrown away. 
 
 SPENSER-.
 
 FEMALE CHARACTER. 01 
 
 quite incompatible with that grossness of 
 profligacy, which being heartless, is irre- 
 deemable. Besides, it is of the highest 
 importance that the variety of natural dis- 
 position should shew itself; that we should 
 be able to interpret minds as well as things 
 as they are, and above all, that the exter- 
 nal sign should legitimately represent the 
 internal impulse. - When this is the case, 
 we have a security ; when it is not, we have 
 none. An experienced and winning sedu- 
 cer would, beyond a doubt, be more suc- 
 cessful amongst the young girls of a retired 
 English village, accustomed to hear their 
 curate preach every Sunday, and to attend 
 to what he says, virtuous in their princi- 
 ples, but warm in their affections, and un- 
 suspecting in their tempers, than among 
 the Demoiselles of Paris, guarded as the 
 latter are by duennas, mincing in manner, 
 downcast in look, and finical in conversa- 
 tion. But, one day, the day of marriage, 
 that in which new duties are incurred, 
 and in which the female character should 
 assume a higher, purer, and more conside- 
 rate cast, is sufficient to metamorphose the 
 reserve of the latter into licentiousness, 
 8
 
 92 FEMALE CHARACTER. 
 
 to change the demure and shrinking girl, 
 into the confident, dextrous, and intriguing 
 woman : whereas that one day relieves 
 the former from all their dangers, it instils 
 sanctity and regularity into their hearts, 
 the flow of their natural sensibilities turns 
 in favour of domestic affections and obli- 
 gations, their tenderness, which before 
 exposed them to peril, becomes the guaran- 
 tee of their virtue, and, as temptation 
 cannot now assail them without at once ex* 
 posing its real purpose, they are safe from 
 its influence. Of course, unhappy excep- 
 tions will arise, and their number has not 
 of late decreased : but the difference 
 holds generally good, as I have described 
 it. Can there be any question as to the 
 comparative purity of those respective sys- 
 tems of society, in one of which the dan- 
 ger increases after marriage, and in the 
 other exists only before? 
 
 The great rendezvous for pleasure was in 
 the Park of Brussels. The Duke of Wel- 
 lington was walking here with some ladies 
 and gentlemen, on a fine summer evening, 
 when the first Prussian Aid-de-Camp 
 brought him news that the French army
 
 THE CROWD IN THE PARK. 93 
 
 under Buonaparte, had burst the Belgian 
 frontier : he did not immediately, it seems, 
 believe that this was a serious attack, and 
 hesitated to commit himself by issuing or- 
 ders to his troops, suspecting Buonaparte 
 of playing some trick ; but a second mes- 
 senger speedily arrived, and decisive mea- 
 sures were immediately taken. The Park, 
 when I saw it on the evening of the King 
 of the Netherlands' fete, was crowded with 
 gaiety and animation : the walks were full 
 of officers, British, Hanoverian, and Bel- 
 gian ; they, of course, brought all the 
 ladies of Brussels to the same spot. Al- 
 most each individual of these several hun- 
 dreds, had been wounded. On entering 
 this scene of shew and gallantry, the first 
 person I saw was a German youth ; he 
 belonged to the artillery, and had been cut 
 down at his gun, by the enemy's cavalry 5 
 his face was notched with their sabres, the 
 deep marks being imprinted across and 
 across. A still younger lad, whose fine 
 shape was well shewn in his sharp-shooter's 
 uniform, was playing the part of the coxcomb 
 very pleasantly : I learnt that he had been 
 extravagantly brave in the engagements 
 6
 
 94" ANECDOTES OF OFFICERS. 
 
 both of the 16th and 18th, that he had 
 been wounded in both, and he was now 
 here, an elegant cripple, ogling the ladies. 
 The noble, portly-looking Captain of a 
 Scotch Regiment, went past, with his arm 
 in a sling : he seemed to carry a mild re- 
 proof of all that was fantastical or licentious 
 around him, in the unpretending dignity, 
 and good-humoured calmness of an aspect, 
 in which courage sat in companionship with 
 all the honourable, social, and kind quali- 
 ties. He was a veteran both in fact and 
 appearance : he had fought in all the battles 
 in Spain, and in one of these had been 
 so desperately wounded, that he went still 
 disabled into the fight at Quatre-Bras : here 
 again he was hit, and most severely injured. 
 When the regiment to which he belongs 
 was hotly engaged with a large French co- 
 lumn, that was pouring into the shattered 
 ranks of the Scotchmen a murderous fire 
 of musquetry, this gentleman was seen 
 walking slowly backwards and forwards in 
 front of his men, restraining those who 
 were breaking out to rush forward for the 
 purpose of making a desperate and prema- 
 ture charge. In fact they were invited to
 
 ANECDOTES OF OFFICERS. 95 
 
 do so by the younger officers, who were 
 roaring themselves hoarse in the enthusiasm 
 of the moment, and anxious to get, by a 
 violent exertion, out of a shower of balls, 
 which every instant was knocking down 
 four or five of them. Their more experi- 
 enced companion kept them back till the 
 proper moment, and the young men whose 
 over-eagerness he checked, told the cir- 
 cumstance after the battle, in terms of af- 
 fectionate and admiring acknowledgement 
 of the superior coolness of his courage. 
 
 The story was narrated to me, at a din- 
 ner party in one of the Brussels hotels, and 
 when the gentleman whom it chiefly con- 
 cerned, was sitting at another table, socially 
 and merrily enjoying himself with good 
 fare and good company, but still suffering 
 in his person under the hurts which he had 
 sustained. It was impossible to look at 
 him in that pleasant situation, and listen to 
 the narrative of his gallant conduct, when 
 placed in one of so very different a descrip- 
 tion, without being struck by the versatility 
 of the dispositions, and the variety of the 
 circumstances of human nature. The laugh- 
 ing and talking crowd in Brussels' Park,
 
 96 MEETING OLD FRIENDS. 
 
 made strong and even affecting impressions 
 of the same kind. It was but a few months 
 since many of these young men parted from 
 anxious mothers, and other not less affec- 
 tionate connections : it was but a few 
 weeks since they were in the heart of the 
 battle, black with gun-powder and sweat, 
 manly, fierce, and terrible, bleeding, 
 groaning, and dying : it was but a few 
 days since they were extended helpless on 
 mattresses, disfigured with bandages, and 
 too much occupied with their pains to think 
 of the graces or the attractions, and 
 now they were out in a pleasurable prome- 
 nade, after much careful preparation at the 
 toilette, leering at the fair, and casting not 
 a few complacent looks of regardfulness 
 towards the symmetry of their own pro- 
 portions ! 
 
 I met here, bearing the weight of honour- 
 able wounds, some who had been intimate- 
 ly engaged with me in the exploits, embar- 
 rassments, enjoyments, and various interests 
 of our mutual boyhood, and early youth. 
 These former years did not promise to them 
 that they would have to sustain their coun- 
 try's glory in the grandest of those fields of
 
 MEETING OF OLD FRIENDS. 97 
 
 death and victory, which illustrate her no- 
 ble history : and still less did these years 
 seem to intimate to me, that I should have 
 an opportunity of helping to commemorate 
 such illustrious doings, and of expressing 
 the excited feelings raised by the sight of 
 the place where the slaughterous, but im- 
 mortal struggle was waged, while the 
 relics of its fury remained to testify to 
 its horrors, and bear witness how much had 
 been suffered and performed by the com- 
 batants, in the power and fortitude of their 
 kindled spirits. Such a meeting then, was 
 calculated to give great additional interest, 
 springing from peculiar circumstances, to 
 scenes and events, the general interest of 
 which was of the highest order. A word 
 recollected and quoted of these our early 
 days, an image recalled, a place named, an 
 adventure recounted, came with a force, 
 as if the distant things themselves, that 
 formed the past, had suddenly leaped to 
 the foreign and most dissimilar objects that 
 surrounded us, and that made up the pre- 
 sent. This was meeting with old imagi- 
 nations and feelings, as well as faces in a 
 foreign land j it was viewing, from the 
 H
 
 98 PUBLIC FETE. 
 
 height of Mount St. Jean, surrounded 
 by the graves of our countrymen that 
 had fallen, every step of the roads of 
 our lives, all their windings and uncer- 
 tainties, their abrupt arrivals, and their long 
 delays. . -:.. 
 
 The fete of the King of the Netherlands, 
 to which I have before alluded, correspond- 
 ed, I believe, to our celebration of the 
 birth-day of our Sovereign. It was distin- 
 guished by certain popular festivities, such 
 as erecting smooth and soaped poles in the 
 grand square, called the Place Royale, with 
 tempting viands placed on their summits, 
 to reward those of the mob who should be 
 able to climb their way to them. This sort 
 of exercise is a favourite part of the Con- 
 tinental Saturnalia. Buonaparte, it will 
 be recollected, elevated these objects of 
 ambition, to put his people in a good hu- 
 mour with the unsatisfactory Acte Addi- 
 tionel aux Constitutions de V Empire, after 
 the parade of the Champ de Mai had given 
 it a pretended sanction. In the evening, 
 the neighbourhood of the Park, which is 
 the court end of the city of Brussels, in- 
 / eluding the palaces and public offices, was 
 11
 
 VARIOUS MILITARY. 99 
 
 generally illuminated. Bands of music 
 played to entertain the collected populace, 
 who threw squibs and other fife- works with 
 great loyalty. There was a heartiness visi- 
 ble in the tumult, which rendered it not un- 
 pleasant, and which put me in mind of what 
 I had seen in some of the towns of Scotland 
 on similar occasions, where the police is 
 not so strict, and where there is not so 
 much occasion for its being so, as to the 
 south of these. 
 
 The soldiery of the various nations 
 mingled with the inhabitants, but certainly 
 did not observe the most orderly behaviour. 
 It was a picturesque spectacle, however, 
 that was afforded by the mixture of national 
 uniforms and physiognomies. The Hano- 
 verians, in their smart dark dress, seemed 
 in general active, dextrous, and spirited ; 
 and I heard, from various officers, the 
 highest praise given to their conduct in the 
 field. The Belgian soldier was more awk- 
 ward, and had, in every respect, less of the 
 military air and assurance. The Bruns- 
 wickers were chiefly hussars, dashing and 
 clever in appearance. The Prussians had 
 a look of quick ferocity, and lively courage : 
 H 2
 
 100 APPEARANCE OF THE MILITARY. 
 
 their grey eyes sparkled like those of the 
 hawk, over the mustachoes which hid the 
 expression of the human mouth under a 
 brindled tuft of hair. The British soldier 
 was known among these foreign troops, not 
 more by his red coat than by a certain 
 steadiness of gait, and open firmness of 
 aspect : the Scotch seemed, more than the 
 others, by their faces, to have been trained 
 in the severities of weather, as well as in 
 those of war : but all bore about with them 
 the stamp of real service ; indications that 
 they were in the habit of meeting hardships 
 andperilsas common incidents ; that what 
 would alarm and astound the even dispo- 
 sitions of peaceable life, was received by 
 them, without peculiar emotion, as in the 
 common course of their habits. When 
 men of this description are of necessity 
 made principal in society, when their 
 accommodation must be the chief thing 
 considered, and circumstances give scope 
 to the coarseness and wilfulness of their 
 temper, it is easy to conceive that much 
 detriment is likely to be sustained by the 
 more defenceless classes. In these public 
 rejoicings, the soldiers went in among
 
 THE MILITARY CHARACTER. 101 
 
 the common people with much of savage 
 licentiousness in their manner, though 
 with smiles on their faces : it was easy 
 to see that opposition only was wanting 
 to make them fierce; and that, without 
 opposition, they were insolent and inde- 
 corous. One could not but shudder at the 
 information which this moment of mirth 
 and of plenty gave of what occurs at a time 
 of exasperation and need : when the soldier 
 on the march must enforce a supply from 
 the cottager of the unhappy village through 
 which his route lies, and where the greedi- 
 ness of ignorant and unprincipled indivi- 
 duals, with arms in their hands, finds pre- 
 text and opportunity in the operations of 
 war, and the confusion and carelessness as 
 to matters of property and life, which at- 
 tend those tempestuous conflicts of nations 
 that are pretended to be in behalf of both. 
 There was an air of health, and strength, 
 and general carelessness, about these throngs 
 of military, that was striking as a contrast 
 to the usual characteristic appearance of 
 collected assemblies of human creatures. 
 These commonly include a large portion of 
 the infirm, the old, the dejected, and the 
 H 3
 
 iOS THE MILITARY CHARACTER. 
 
 thoughtful : but the crowds of soldiers 
 were all hardy, all bold, all full of vigour 
 and spirits ; no signs of care about them, 
 no appearance of concern for themselves 
 beyond a desire of immediate animal grati- 
 fication, and still less of sympathy for 
 others, whether strangers or companions. 
 The great bulk of these had left their rela- 
 tions, their connections, the homes of their 
 infancy, the villages of their youthful 
 days, far behind them. Yet there was no 
 symptom of repining, and probably there 
 was not much of recollection. They seemed 
 not only to act literally on the advice of 
 taking no thought for to-morrow, but equally 
 to avoid giving any thought to yesterday. 
 The officers were attentive and affectionate 
 to the ladies in Brussels, as many of 
 them had been to the ladies of Portugal, 
 of Spain, of Canada, as well as of Ireland, 
 Scotland, and England, and as they would 
 be to the ladies of Paris, or of wherever else 
 they might chance to go. The privates 
 smoked and drank in Brussels as happily as 
 they could smoke and drink any where else. 
 This disposition is the natural result of the 
 call to which they are perpetually liable.
 
 THE MILITARY CHARACTER. 10S 
 
 He who may be summoned to leave the 
 earth, and all its faces, by one of the 
 thousand whistles that have been dancing 
 past his ears for hours, cannot afford to suf- 
 fer acutely on leaving a father, a mother, or 
 a wife : nor is he likely to run away for 
 shelter from a shower of rain, who, accord- 
 ing to Trim's pathetic description of his 
 casualties, " has been standing twelve 
 hours together in the trenches, up to his 
 knees in cold water, or engaged for 
 months together in long and dangerous 
 marches ; harrassed perhaps in his rear 
 to-day; harrassing others to-morrow ; 
 detached here ; countermanded there ; 
 resting this night out upon his arms ; beat 
 up in his shirt the next ; benumbed in 
 his joints !" But, to one who is liable to 
 these things, it becomes of much importance 
 to seize and make the most of every passing 
 opportunity of enjoyment ; to allow nothing 
 fanciful in the way of regret to interfere 
 with the reality of gratification ; nor is 
 it to be wondered at, if the coarsest-mind- 
 ed of those who are so situated, should 
 make as light of inflicting injury on others, 
 as they do of suffering harm in their own 
 H 4
 
 104" VIEW FROM BRUSSELS. 
 
 persons. It is scarcely to be expected that 
 they should make a very bountiful distri- 
 bution of compassion, who have need of so 
 large a stock of fortitude. We must apply 
 to Trim again, however, he best under- 
 stands the matter, and how to set it in its 
 proper light : " Look along the line to 
 
 the right see ! Jack's down ! well, 
 
 'tis worth a regiment of horse to him. 
 
 No 'tis Dick. Then Jack's no 
 
 worse. Never mind which, we pass 
 
 on!" 
 
 Before leaving Brussels, a few words may 
 be said of the city. The country round it, 
 as I have mentioned, is extremely pictu- 
 resque ; it is beautiful both in cultivation 
 and natural variety. The walk on the old 
 ramparts presents several most engaging 
 views : the landscape has the snug happy 
 look of English scenery, in which what is 
 graceful is so well united with what is free, 
 and what is wild with what is secure. The 
 previous remarks on the apparent poverty 
 of the Flemish towns were not meant to 
 convey that the individuals, seen in them, 
 were poor or forlorn in apparent condition, 
 
 4
 
 VIEW FROM BRUSSELS, 105 
 
 but that their capacities of large cities did 
 not seem to be improved, that much of 
 them remained unfilled up, that society 
 seemed on a smaller scale than the recep- 
 tacles which were provided for it. But the 
 country places of Flanders (I repeat) pre- 
 sent every where happy pictures : the pea- 
 sant and the farmer are evidently in situa- 
 tions of great comfort. The interior of a 
 small village public house is superabundant 
 in every convenience as well as every neces- 
 sary ; and the cottages are well furnished. 
 The farms are generally small, a system 
 that provides for much individual enjoy- 
 ment, though it is not calculated to swell a 
 nation's means into that greatness of wealth 
 and strength, which enables it to take a first 
 rank, and imposing attitude, in the com- 
 munity of civilized states, at this advanced 
 period of human history. 
 
 It is over a country so distributed, and 
 cultivated with the most scrupulous atten- 
 tion to neatness, as well as provision, that 
 the eye wanders from the ramparts of Brus- 
 sels. Interspersed, however, with the farms, 
 are the magnificent rural appendages of a 
 capital. A long alley, between opposite
 
 106 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 
 
 TOWS of lofty trees, stretches for two miles 
 its shady length. The palace of Lacken 
 commands attention by its situation, and is 
 surrounded by beautiful gardens and plan- 
 tations. The large forest of Soignies, now 
 so famous, and ever to remain so, forms 
 a vast black skirting of all the southern 
 horizon. 
 
 The upper part of the city of Brussels is 
 very magnificent. The noble park forms a 
 feature in the grandeur of the public build- 
 ings : it is a square of great size, laid out 
 in large regular walks, finely shaded with 
 trees, and surrounded by the fa9adas of the 
 palaces, public offices, and houses of the 
 great. This combination of gardening, 
 planting, and architecture is very striking 
 and well adapted for a metropolis. It in- 
 troduces nature in a court dress that is very 
 splendid, and does not shock the best regu- 
 lated taste when thus placed in the very 
 centre of courtly state and pomp. 
 
 The lower part of Brussels is the old 
 town : the streets here are dirty, as are 
 those of all the continental towns, but not so 
 close as the streets are in most of these. 
 There are quays, and something of the
 
 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 107 
 
 bustle of commerce, by the side of the 
 large canal. In the neighbourhood of this 
 I saw the great collection of cannon, taken 
 from the French in the battles : there were 
 above 200 pieces, guarded by British sol- 
 diers, being a trophy of war of the most 
 magnificent description. The device of 
 causing the dogs to labour, by harnessing 
 them to the small carriages in which the 
 porters convey, what in most other coun- 
 tries they would carry, attracts the atten- 
 tion of the British visitors. It is very 
 much in vogue in Holland, and forms a 
 bit of what may be called Dutch finishing) 
 applied to their habits of industry and 
 economy. In England we have got beyond 
 this ; when things are conducted on a great 
 scale, such close attention to little matters 
 but wastes time, arid furnishes excuses for 
 indolence. A stout Thames' street porter, 
 with his knot, is worth twenty dogs for the 
 conveying of burthens. 
 
 Public fountains are interspersed through 
 Brussels, one of them is ludicrous, but 
 not very decorous. It is said that Louis 
 the Fifteenth, in his extreme regard to 
 decency, made the child a present of an
 
 108 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 
 
 ample wardrobe, which was used on pro- 
 cession days, that the modesty of the image 
 of the Virgin might not be shocked. 
 
 The market-place of Brussels is superbly 
 beautiful, but in a very different style of 
 architecture from that which characterizes 
 the buildings around the royal park. The 
 exquisite Gothic spire of the Hotel de Ville 
 seems the work of fairy hands, from its 
 carved and florid lightness, scarcely sup- 
 porting its elegant loftiness. The fronts of 
 the halls of the trading companies are all 
 wrought in the same way, with ancient in- 
 scriptions, complicated ornaments, and all 
 those ingenious overdoings which arise from 
 the ill-regulated ambition of skill and talent. 
 There is, however, a captivating harmony 
 in the proportions of these Gothic edifices 
 in the Low Countries. 
 
 The Cathedral of Brussels is not distin- 
 guished by any very peculiar beauties ; it 
 is, however, large and noble-looking. The 
 French had stripped the churches here, as 
 well as every where else that their hands 
 could reach to. No local association, no 
 feeling of attachment or veneration, no 
 propriety or advantage of position, or right
 
 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 109 
 
 of property, was ever regarded in effecting 
 these barbarous removals. They were per- 
 petrated in a cruel coldness of heart, and 
 the restoration has been made by France in 
 unexampled humiliation of character and 
 condition. 
 
 When I was in Brussels it appeared popu- 
 lous, but that appearance was caused by 
 the number of military to which it was 
 then giving temporary homes. In com- 
 mon times, its very considerable size is out 
 of all proportion with the scantiness of its 
 population. It is described as seven miles 
 in circumference, yet, when it lately 
 formed a part of the French empire, it was 
 not supposed to hold above seventy-five 
 thousand inhabitants. British visitors and, 
 emigrants, however, have in former times 
 shewn, and are now again shewing, a pre- 
 dilection for this charming city, which is 
 likely to render it more animated than it 
 has been during the late dark and unnatural 
 period. Its attractions are palpable and 
 strong ; the air is salubrious ; the country 
 pleasant ; provisions and the necessaries of 
 living are generally cheap, and the people 
 of the most agreeable disposition. The court
 
 110 DESCRIPTION OF BRUSSELS. 
 
 of Brussels, while it will always give distinc- 
 tion enough to the place to recommend it 
 to persons of genteel habits, and those who 
 are fond of a little parade is not likely to 
 be very difficult, or to place itself at any 
 very inaccessible distance, but, on the 
 contrary, it will probably hold out the 
 temptation of access to its parties and cere- 
 monies to those who would at home rest 
 within a secondary circle of society. This 
 will be no slight invitation to numbers from 
 the United Kingdoms. The government 
 of the Low Countries is mild and free in 
 its practice and its principles ; and there is, 
 in short, a general approximation in them 
 to what the British most highly prize in 
 their native land, while they supply much 
 that cannot now be there enjoyed but by 
 a very few.
 
 ( 111 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 , , - tt\ . 
 
 IT was at one o'clock on the morning of , 
 the 16th of June, 1815, that the echoing 
 bugle sounded through the streets of Brus- 
 sels, summoning every soldier to his pro- 
 per rendezvous. Orders had been previ- 
 ously issued for every one to be in readiness 
 to march ; but the final decision does not 
 seem to have been made by the Duke of 
 Wellington in his own mind when he first 
 heard of the attack of the French on the 
 advanced guard of the Prussians. Perhaps 
 he waited till he thought that the com- 
 mands, transmitted immediately on his re- 
 ceiving this news, to the various divisions 
 of his army, cantoned at different distances 
 from Brussels, would have so operated, that 
 something like combination and order of 
 movement would take place ; or, perhaps, 
 he waited to receive further confirmation 
 and acquire certainty as to the manoeuvres 
 of the French.
 
 MILITARY OPINIONS. 
 
 We have heard a good deal here of the 
 Duke's being taken by surprize. It has 
 been suggested, that he and his force ought 
 to have been nearer the frontier supporting 
 the Prussians, and to stem immediately any 
 advance of the enemy. I was at some pains 
 to ascertain what might be the general 
 opinion of the officers, concerned in these 
 glorious affairs, on this point. I think it 
 will not be invidious to say, that the 
 sentiment of the majority seemed to be, 
 that, if the Duke's information had been 
 complete, as to the plans and movements 
 of the enemy, he would most likely have 
 been considerably in advance of Brussels at 
 the moment of the first attack. But the 
 most judicious military men affirmed, that 
 such advance could only have been pru- 
 dently made in positive certainty of the in- 
 tentions of Buonaparte, which certainty 
 could only be acquired by his committing 
 himself to decisive proceedings. To have 
 taken up a position in anticipation of the 
 campaign, near the Prussian army, would, 
 as the best authorities agree, have been bad 
 generalship on the part of the British Com- 
 mander. Buonaparte would thus have had
 
 MILITARY OPINIONS. 113 
 
 more scope for manoeuvring, and an oppor- 
 tunity for putting in play those tricks and 
 devices that are his favourites, but which, 
 although dextrous, do not generally eman- 
 ate from the highest order of intellects. It 
 was absolutely necessary, for the purpose 
 of subsistence, that the large military force 
 occupying the Netherlands, should be dis- 
 tributed over the country ; but, setting that 
 aside, it is one of the most invariable rules 
 of military tactics to station, close to the 
 front of the enemy, only a force sufficient 
 to maintain a retarding resistance till it can 
 be supported. The Prussian army was, no 
 doubt, thought, by its own gallant Com*' 
 mander, to be fully equal to this ; and the 
 Duke of Wellington, when at Brussels, was 
 placed so as to guard against any rapid at- 
 tempt, either to cut off our communications 
 with the coast, or to throw the fury and 
 pressure of the war on a point less prepared 
 for defence, than that where the Prussians 
 were collected. 
 
 The Duke's fixing his head-quarters at 
 Brussels, up to the very moment of the 
 blow's being struck, is, therefore, only 
 a proof of his talent for good arrange- 
 
 T 

 
 114 MILITARY OPINIONS. 
 
 ment, and of the soundness and caution of 
 his views ; the question is, whether he 
 ought to have had earlier information than 
 the messages sent by Prince Blucher, that 
 Buonaparte had committed himself to de- 
 cisive operations according to that plan 
 which, as it turned out, was in reality 
 adopted by the French leader. This ques- 
 tion it is not very easy to answer. We have 
 seen nothing in the Duke of Wellington's 
 military character, as displayed in his ca- 
 reer, to render it tolerable that, in the 
 vagueness of uninformed speculation, he 
 should be charged with gross want of care. 
 It is not pretended that he was not most 
 sensibly alive to the responsibility of his 
 situation at the late terrible crisis, both as 
 it concerned his own fame, and his coun- 
 try's fortunes. All that he had achieved 
 was to be as nothing, or to be doubled in 
 value, according as he might now succeed 
 or fail. It is well understood that he felt 
 this, and if he did, is it likely that he, 
 being noted over Europe for caution and 
 vigilance, should, at this most interesting 
 and important instant, be peculiarly remiss ? 
 On the other hand, it is easy to conceive
 
 MILITARY OPINIONS. 115 
 
 that the Duke was sufficiently sanctioned, 
 according to every proper military consi- 
 deration, in acting as he did : if Buona- 
 parte's thorough and unexpectedly rapid 
 discomfiture is to be traced, in any consi- 
 derable degree, to the clumsiness and un- 
 soundness of his operations in this war 
 for his existence as a ruler, it does not 
 appear to be fair to claim of the Duke of 
 Wellington, that he should have antici- 
 pated the commission of gross errors on 
 the part of his enemy, more particularly 
 when it is remembered how high the mili- 
 tary reputation of that enemy stood in the 
 almost universal belief. It seems very pro- 
 bable, from all that can be learned on the 
 subject, that the British Commander-in- 
 Chief, was slow to credit that Buonaparte 
 intended to embark so decidedly in the 
 momentous struggle, with the very slender 
 means for withstanding the coalition of 
 Europe, which he had collected. If His 
 Grace believed, as it was likely he should, 
 to a certain extent, the published declara- 
 tions of the French Imperial authorities as 
 to what they could do in the way of raising 
 men, he would naturally be led to imagine, 
 
 ! 2
 
 lit) MILITARY OPINIONS. 
 
 that many more than the French camp op- 
 posite to him contained, would be raised 
 and brought forward, under the Imperial 
 standard, before great movements were 
 made. A good player is not called upon 
 to calculate on very rash or foolish conduct 
 on the part of his adversary. It is more to 
 his honour, if he be prepared to meet the 
 most skilful attempts, and, at the same 
 time, be sharp enough to repel and dis- 
 appoint desperation or obstinacy. The 
 Duke of Wellington fully merits this praise : 
 if he was taken by surprize, it was not 
 to be defeated, but to defeat the enemy 
 who surprized him, as indeed that enemy 
 has astonished almost every body else in 
 the world, but by no means to his own ul- 
 timate advantage or renown. 
 
 When the Duke pronounced the final 
 word, the bugle sounded, and this was, 
 as I have said, at one o'clock of the morn- 
 ing of the sixteenth of June. It struck oil 
 many thousands of ears through the dark- 
 ness, but few did it awaken that night from 
 sleep. The officers of our army had been 
 in a bustle of preparation for the previous 
 hours since the evening, when they received
 
 THE MARCH FROM BRUSSELS. 117 
 
 the orders to hold themselves in a state oi 
 readiness. Brussels was agitated and an- 
 xious in all her hearts : every house was 
 the scene of adieus, not the less tender 
 and sorrowful on account of the shortness 
 of the intimacy that had preceded them. 
 The young men that had not been very 
 provident, were in a flutter trying all sorts 
 of expedients to procure a few necessaries 
 for the march. Relations and intimate 
 friends, belonging to different regiments, 
 hurried together for an instant, to shake 
 hands and charge each other with short 
 confidential commissions to be discharged 
 by the survivor. One affecting instance of 
 this sort I know : two officers, connected by 
 intimate ties, and attached by the closest 
 friendship, spent a part of this eventful 
 evening together ; but they were soon 
 forced to separate to attend to their respec- 
 tive urgent duties. They were not in the 
 same regiment : one was known to inquire 
 for his friend, of a soldier who passed by, 
 just before he went into action, the other 
 made a similar inquiry, when engaged in 
 hot fire, and heard from a wounded ser- 
 i 3
 
 118 BRUSSELS ON THE MORNING 
 
 geant who was going to the rear, that he 
 was never again to see his companion. 
 Shortly after this, the last inquirer was hit 
 himself, but he has recovered of his wound. 
 There is something very striking in these 
 hasty interrogations put by a soldier con- 
 cerning his comrade whom he had but lately 
 left in the full enjoyment of health and 
 spirits : interrogations that are very like- 
 ly to be cut short as they are put, by the 
 fate, dreaded for a friend, falling on him 
 who cherishes the solicitude. 
 
 The spectacle in Brussels, as the troops 
 were collecting and falling into their ranks, 
 is described to have been most peculiar and 
 impressive. It could not fail to be so. The 
 darkness soon gave way a little, as the first 
 light of a summer morning broke through 
 the edge of the sky ; but the candles still 
 continued to shine through the windows, 
 shewing that there had been no one at rest 
 during the night ; and their pale hue,, as 
 the morning advanced, gave a melancholy 
 sickly character to the look of the streets, 
 corresponding with the general feeling of 
 the spectators who crowded to see gallant 
 men go forth to death. The light was
 
 OF THE MARCH. 
 
 119 
 
 scarcely sufficient, before the march com- 
 menced, to discover faces ; feathers, flags, 
 and bayonet points, were all that could be 
 seen. They went on and off, and gathered 
 and formed, in a hazy obscurity. Mounted 
 officers emerged rapidly from the deep sha- 
 dows that lay in the distances : loud cries 
 were heard causing a confusion that soon, 
 however, settled itself into military regu- 
 larity. Women who had bidden farewell at 
 home, could not be satisfied with that, but 
 came forth, and stood, in slight neglected 
 clothing, at the corners by which they knew 
 their friends would pass, almost ashamed 
 of their own feelings, but unable to resist 
 the wish to gain one more look, and 
 receive one other pressure .of the hand. 
 Our officers speak with enthusiasm of the 
 signs of affection shewn to them at this 
 affecting moment by their Brussels' hosts 
 $and hostesses. A friend of mine was em- 
 embraced by his landlord at the instant of 
 parting, and made to promise that if any 
 accident should send him back to Brussels, 
 he would return to the house where he had 
 been long and kindly entertained. The 
 promise was kept : one day only intervened 
 i 4
 
 120 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &c. 
 
 before the officer made his appearance again 
 at the door of this good citizen. He pre- 
 sented himself bleeding, exhausted, and i 
 agony : his inviter received him with open 
 arms ; " now," said he, " you have made 
 me your friend for ever, for you have ob- 
 served your promise, and have shewn that 
 you relied on my sincerity." Every possi- 
 ble attention was extended to the wounded 
 officer for the several months of his slow 
 recovery, and there was as much delicacy 
 in the manner of these attentions, as hearti- 
 ness in the disposition by which they were 
 dictated. 
 
 The hasty march was long and painful. 
 The officers, though they very well knew 
 that the enemy had attacked the Prussians, 
 did not think that they were on their road 
 to immediate battle. But the fact was so. 
 The divisions of our army were at this time 
 all making their way to the point of con- 
 centration fixed upon by their commander : 
 the whole dreadful machine was now in 
 motion, no one part comprehending its 
 relation to the others, but the eye of the 
 mover superintending and understanding 
 all.
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 121 
 
 The Duke of Wellington remained for 
 some hours in Brussels after the troops had 
 quitted it : he probably waited to hear 
 news from the more distant divisions of 
 his army, in reply to the orders sent them 
 over-night. The officer of a Scotch regi- 
 ment was sent down to a village to pro- 
 cure some water, with a small party from 
 his battalion, which was at a little distance : 
 the road which the Duke took lay through 
 this village : he was passing at the instant, 
 dressed in a grey frock coat, followed by 
 four or five gentlemen in military great 
 coats, and trotting his horse not very 
 quickly. He returned the officer's salute, 
 and then suddenly stopped. There was a 
 good deal of anxious, not to say troubled 
 thought in his countenance. He named 
 several regiments to the person whom he 
 had thus met, and asked if any thing had 
 been heard of them ? The officer replied 
 that he had heard nothing. The Duke 
 hastily pulled out his watch, considered 
 for half a minute, and then, again touching 
 his hat, rode on. 
 
 It was about one o'clock of the forenoon 
 of the sixteenth, that the officers and men 
 1
 
 122 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C* 
 
 of one particular regiment, as they were 
 marching forward carelessly enough, de- 
 bating whether they were likely to see 
 French troops within a week, heard a dis- 
 tant sound that carried with it a concussion 
 that went to all their hearts, though not to 
 sink them. It was the rumble of cannon. 
 They had been too often engaged in Spain 
 not to be well acquainted with the intim- 
 ation. A new impulse was now given to 
 all : a serious smile broke out on every 
 face, and each body bent forward. The 
 few women, permitted to accompany the 
 regiment, were affected differently. Some 
 of them began to weep in the prospect of 
 what was likely now soon to occur ; but 
 the old female campaigners shewed a hardi- 
 hood not inferior to that of the soldiers, 
 but unpleasant, because unnatural. 
 
 The battle, as is well known, had been 
 for some hours maintained by the Bruns- 
 wickers and Belgians, before the British 
 could get up. Ney, who commanded the 
 division of the French army opposed to 
 these, was pressing them back, when the 
 British regiments began to arrive one by 
 one. Each, as it arrived, marched directly
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 123 
 
 into- .-the field, and took up its position. 
 They became gradually engaged according 
 to the direction given by the enemy to his 
 operations. A Scotch regiment was for a 
 considerable time unemployed by any 
 French column, though exposed to a fire 
 of round shot. The officers, who had a 
 complete view of the field, saw the 42d, 
 and other battalions, warmly engaged in 
 charging : the young men could not 
 brook the contrast presented by their inac- 
 tivity. " It will," said they, " be the 
 some now as it always has been ! the 42d 
 will have all the luck of it. There will be 
 a fine noise in the newspapers about that 
 regiment, but devil the word of us." 
 Some of their elders consoled them by 
 assuring them of the probability that, be- 
 fore the day was over, " they would have 
 enough of it." This regiment was one of 
 those that suffered the most; and the 
 greater number of those fine-spirited youths 
 who expressed this impatience, were laid 
 on the field, in cold and silent lifelessness, 
 before the evening. 
 
 It is impossible, or at least it would be 
 most improper, to pass this affecting fact,
 
 121. ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 without noticing the testimony it conveys 
 in favour of the utility of that freedom and 
 fulness of publication which is by no means 
 so generally liked as it is praised. It would 
 be difficult to suggest any other induce- 
 ment that would have so powerful an effect 
 in stimulating the zeal of these gallant 
 soldiers, as our newspapers, according to 
 their own confession, have. Nor would a 
 press, under the direction and controul of 
 government, possess half so much efficacy. 
 In journals so regulated, all communica- 
 tions are tamed down to a general insipidity, 
 they avoid all those discussions of par- 
 ticular points and comparative merits that 
 are most interesting to the feelings : they 
 detect little or nothing, and the repetition 
 of the language of the official dispatch is all 
 that the public would receive from them to 
 inspire their sensibility, and direct their 
 judgment, relative to great public enter- 
 prizes. Individuals have little to hope or 
 to fear from such notices. But a news- 
 paper-press that is free to investigate and 
 to question ; that is directed according to 
 the competition of personal interests, and 
 must therefore ever be on the alert to satisfy
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 125 
 
 curiosity and affect opinion such a press 
 is the most powerful means that can be 
 imagined of inflaming the ambition of the 
 generous, and keeping the careless and ill- 
 disposed to their duty. 
 
 Soon after three o'clock, the Duke of 
 Wellington rode into that part of the field 
 of battle which is close to the village of 
 Quatre Bras. He was followed by his staff, 
 which was not however very numerous. 
 He halted a few yards in front of the 92d 
 regiment, and exposed to a very heavy fire 
 of round shot and grape. He spoke little 
 or nothing : his look was that of a man 
 quite cool, but serious, and perhaps some- 
 thing anxious. He looked intently at vari- 
 ous parts of the field where there was firing 
 going on, and often pulled out his watch, 
 as if calculating on the arrival of the regi- 
 ments not yet come" up, He said some- 
 thing, at one of these times, about when 
 the cavalry might be expected. The shot, 
 in the mean while, was plunging into, and 
 along, the ground, close to him. He had 
 not been long in the field before the arm of 
 a gentleman, with whom he had just been 
 in conversation, was carried off by a ball. 

 
 '126' ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 The sufferer was instantly removed, but 
 His Lordship was not observed to take any 
 notice of the unpleasant affair. It is 
 thought a good, and even humane rule, to 
 act in this apparently unconscious way, in 
 these situations, where neither spirits nor 
 time must be wasted : all the relief that 
 can be given to the injured is in waiting 
 for them, and expressions of sympathy, or 
 even its appearance, would but dissipate 
 attention, and perhaps subdue courage. 
 On one occasion, in Spain, His Grace, then 
 Lord Wellington, was riding hastily along 
 the road, followed by his Staff, and several 
 distinguished generals, while the French 
 artillery was playing upon them very se- 
 verely. The object was to get as speedily 
 as possible out of so exposed a situation ; 
 but, before this was effected, a cannon ball 
 struck Lord Hill's horse behind, and came 
 out at his chest. The poor animal tumbled 
 down head foremost, and its rider of course 
 was precipitated with it most violently to 
 the ground. Some of the persons around 
 were reining in, to inquire as to the fate of 
 His Lordship, who seemed to be killed: as 
 well as the animal, but their commander 
 12
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 127 
 
 called out that all should go on, Lord Hill 
 would be attended to by the soldiers. 
 
 Shortly after the first-mentioned accident 
 occurred at Quatre-bras, the Duke dis- 
 mounted from his horse, and causing his 
 staff to do the same, sat upon the ground 
 for a short time. The regiments, as they 
 came up, entered the field by the road 
 near which His Grace was: the balls were 
 perpetually flying in amongst them ; one 
 carried off the knapsack of a private from 
 his shoulders ; it went to a considerable 
 distance, but the man ran after it, and 
 brought it back, amidst the loud laughter 
 of all those who saw the thing happen. 
 
 The Brunswick cavalry were charged 
 back upon this point by the French cuiras- 
 siers. The Duke retired from before their 
 charge. Our officers describe the courage 
 of these French dragoons as extraordinary, 
 but add, that it had an intoxicated inflated 
 character, which seemed to sustain itself 
 by a. flighty desperation. It was too inde- 
 pendent of discipline and system : as it 
 went beyond the necessity on some occa- 
 sions, there was no security that it should 
 not fall below the need on others. There
 
 128 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 was no steadiness of spirit visible in the 
 conduct of these troops, but their briskness 
 seemed of the kind that is very apt to eva- 
 porate. Individuals of them would ride out 
 from their ranks, challenging and calling to 
 their adversaries : a British soldier seldom 
 behaves in this way ; he does his duty, and 
 this is doing all ; he does not go beyond 
 the line of this to seek, nor will he retire 
 within it to avoid. He is therefore the one 
 most to be depended upon. 
 
 These cuirassiers received some terrible 
 fires as they approached the infantry : men 
 and horses came tumbling down in heaps. 
 One of them fell wounded, a few yards be- 
 fore our bayonets : a Scotchman went out 
 in the fury of the moment to dispatch him. 
 The Frenchman was sitting on the ground ; 
 he saw his destroyer coming with the point 
 of the bayonet extended toward him, 
 yet he did not change countenance, except 
 to put on a smile of whimsical remonstrance 
 just as his enemy came up close : shrug- 
 ging up his shoulders, and extending his 
 hands, he exclaimed, in a tone of good 
 humoured appeal, "Ah, Monsieur Anglais /' ' 
 The Highlander was softened. " Go to
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C, 1^9 
 
 the rear you ," was the reply. The 
 
 poor Frenchman made a shift to crawl, but 
 with smiles on his face, where his con- 
 queror directed. 
 
 Some of these cuirassiers made their 
 way to the very rear of our lines, and two 
 or three came back galloping, shouting, and 
 brandishing their swords. They received 
 the whole fire of a battalion. One man 
 still kept on his horse. He had the hardi- 
 hood to cut with his sword at the infantry 
 as he passed. A Hanoverian met him in 
 combat and wounded him ; he would not 
 give up his sword but to an officer, his 
 enemy was on the point of putting him to 
 death, when one of our officers interfered 
 and saved his life. 
 
 The Duke again took up his old ground : 
 the battle was now spreading. An offi- 
 cer belonging to the battalion close behind 
 His Grace, suddenly observed a large co- 
 lumn of French infantry approaching. He 
 exclaimed hastily and loudly " there is a 
 body of them !" The Duke heard what was 
 said, and gently, without any alteration of 
 manner, turned his horse's head in the
 
 ISO ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 direction to which the officer pointed, and 
 moved slowly that way. " Yes," said he, 
 " there is a considerable body there a 
 considerable number indeed." Then, with- 
 out altering his quiet tone, " Colonel, 
 " you must charge." The charge was 
 made, and other charges succeeded, the 
 whole of which were successful, but scarcely 
 a wreck of that gallant battalion returned, 
 ^-and that small remainder was reduced 
 to a remainder of itself on the glorious but 
 dreadful 18th. 
 
 In the course of these charges, an officer 
 pressing on, keeping his men up, felt a 
 Frenchman throw his arms about his legs, 
 and heard him imploring his protection to 
 save his life. The person thus addressed, 
 was too much occupied with his work, to pay 
 instant attention to the supplication, but the 
 wounded man entwining his grasp still more 
 closely, and entreating by the love of God, 
 the officer put back the soldier who was 
 about to plunge his bayonet into the breast 
 of the unfortunate Frenchman, who re- 
 mained on the ground. His preserver 
 was very soon in a situation of similar 
 10
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 131 
 
 distress : he was struck by a grape-shot, 
 and, when scarcely supporting himself to the 
 rear, he again passed the Frenchman, who 
 was then sitting up gazing about him at 
 the battle : they exchanged silent looks, 
 and parted, to remain in utter ignorance of 
 each other's fates, though the one had been 
 the object of a service rendered by the 
 other, the most important that man can 
 render to his fellow. 
 
 The military operations that led to the 
 battle of the 18th, are generally known, 
 and are to be found recorded in the proper 
 quarters. I come too late to give a regu- 
 lar narrative, my only object is to afford 
 such illustrations of character, in anecdotes 
 of conduct, &c. as were most interesting to 
 myself when I heard them narrated, and 
 which I do not know to have been as yet 
 put before the public, at least in a way suf- 
 ficiently prominent. The reader wih 1 have 
 the goodness to observe that this is all I 
 pretend to do: had I written earlier, I 
 should have wished to have made this work 
 a history of these great engagements, 
 but it would now be impertinent to suppose 
 any one ignorant of what has been, in sO 
 K 2
 
 132 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C, 
 
 many shapes, put within his reach. Things 
 however that mostly address themselves to 
 the feelings, will never be taken up by 
 two writers in the same way ; and, at all 
 events, I am tempted to make a collection 
 of those accounts that chiefly struck my 
 attention, when on the memorable spot, 
 conversing with those who had been ac- 
 tive, and had suffered in the cause of their 
 country's honor. But, I repeat, that a 
 regular statement of the facts of the bat- 
 tles, as they occurred, is not to be expected 
 here, nor any thing like an enumeration of 
 all that ought to be enumerated to give a 
 perfect idea of their course, and of what 
 was done and sustained for England on 
 these great days. 
 
 When the army under the Duke of Wel- 
 lington was retreating on the 17th, to keep 
 up its correspondence with the Prussian 
 army under Prince Blucher, that had been 
 worsted by Buonaparte, some very ex- 
 traordinary instances of personal heroism 
 were shewn by the commanders of our 
 cavalry, who covered the retreat. The 
 Marquis of Anglesea, then Lord Uxbridge* 
 a lieutenant-general, and commanding the
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 138 
 
 horse, displayed consummate personal va- 
 lour, in the sight of the admiring men, 
 
 and, as the army was then pressed 
 upon by a very superior force, and was 
 altogether in most critical circumstances, 
 
 while the cavalry on our side had 
 scarcely yet been engaged, not having 
 been up on the 16th, it was perhaps not 
 less prudent than gallant to kindle the 
 spirits of our troops, and rouse their emu- 
 lation, by these displays of the gallantry 
 and dash of their superiors. The men 
 had heard tremendous accounts of the cui- 
 rassiers, and a private of the Life Guards 
 told me, that it was the general talk among 
 themselves, that there was very little use 
 in going against fellows who had got ar- 
 mour on. If this was the feeling of the 
 troops, and more particularly as the army 
 was in retreat, and it was pretty well known 
 that it would have to maintain a despe- 
 rate struggle, the officers were fairly called 
 upon to shew a noble devotedness, and an 
 animating cheerfulness, in the sight of those 
 whom they commanded, - and this they 
 finely did. The Marquis of Anglesea was in 
 
 K 3
 
 134 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 the rear of the last troop of cavalry, when 
 looking behind him, he observed a French 
 regiment formed across the road to charge. 
 He instantly turned round, and alone gal- 
 loped back towards the enemy, waving his 
 hat to his soldiers who had advanced some 
 way on their retreat, and were at a consi- 
 derable distance from their General. Ma- 
 jor Kelly, of the Horse Guards, I believe, 
 was the first person to join His Lordship at 
 full gallop, and these two heroes remained 
 alone for a minute or two, close in front of 
 the French, who stirred not, amazed as it 
 would seem by the gallantry which they 
 witnessed. The regiment soon came up, 
 and dashed pell-mell amongst the enemy, 
 who were entirely overthrown. 
 
 On all the three days, so arduous was the 
 service, and critical its circumstances, that 
 our superior officers felt it to be an incum- 
 bent duty to expose themselves in a very 
 marked manner. The men were called 
 upon to perform more than common, and 
 their leaders felt that to have this claim 
 upon them, they must set an example of 
 uncommon exertion. To the prevalence of
 
 .ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 135 
 
 this noble sentiment we may trace the 
 heavy loss of distinguished officers. But 
 although on this occasion our generals and 
 superior regimental officers acted the part 
 of forlorn hopes, this is not so commonly 
 the case in the British army as in the 
 French ; nor need it, or should it be the 
 case, where duty is regularly and judicious- 
 ly distributed, and faithfully and steadily 
 performed. The French soldiers have a 
 wilfulness, and require invitations and ex- 
 citements, that are unknown and unneces- 
 sary in our ranks. A French soldier will 
 call out to his officer, " Come Sir, shew 
 the way, and I'll follow you :" Their 
 leaders must act in bravado, or their troops 
 will do nothing : the former are therefore 
 frequently to be seen, out in front of their 
 men in small groupes, execrating, stamp- 
 ing, and brandishing their swords against 
 their adversaries. All, in fact, is done 
 with them under the force of artificial im- 
 pulse, causing what is called a working- 
 up, whereas the British do all in the 
 simple readiness of their natures. But these 
 French officers often excited the greatest 
 admiration of their bravery by their ex-
 
 136 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 ploits in the sight of our ranks. They were 
 commonly fine young men, who threw 
 themselves in the way of death, and gene- 
 rally met with it. 
 
 Our soldiers, though not expecting nor 
 requiring to be thus drawn on, yet exercise 
 very freely among themselves the right of 
 discussing the comparative courage of their 
 officers , one of the latter told me, that, 
 on a night in Spain, when he was upon out- 
 post duty, he overheard some of his men 
 conversing over the merits and spirit of 
 their respective officers with little of re- 
 serve or delicacy. They shrewdly observe, 
 and strictly remember, any symptom of 
 too cautious a regard for personal safety : 
 and any one who is too careful of himself, 
 receives but little of their respect. 
 
 It has been well observed, that these 
 engagements seem to have combined all the 
 energy and interest of the personal com- 
 bats of ancient warfare, with the vast ma- 
 noeuvring and terrible thundering of the 
 modern military practice. Our cavalry, on 
 the 18th, were occupied in a constant series 
 of desperate individual adventures. Shaw, 
 the famous boxer and Horse Guardsman, 
 7
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 137 
 
 distinguished himself peculiarly among the 
 most distinguished. The line of cavalry, 
 at the commencement of the engagement, 
 was drawn up a little in the rear of the 
 eminence on which our infantry was array- 
 ed : they could not in this situation see 
 much of the battle, but the shot and shells 
 flew thickly amongst them, which they 
 were compelled to sustain without moving. 
 Nothing tries a gallant spirit more than 
 this. Shaw was hit, and wounded in the 
 breast : his officer desired him to fall out : 
 " Please God," said this brave fellow, " I 
 sha'nt leave my colours yet." Shortly after, 
 orders came down, that the cavalry should 
 advance : the whole line moved forward to 
 the top of the hill. Here they saw our 
 artillery-men running from their guns, at- 
 tacked by heavy masses of French dragoons. 
 " It was agreed among ourselves," said a 
 private to me, " that when we began to 
 gallop we should give three cheers, but 
 our's was not very regular cheering, 
 though we made noise enough." The 
 Scotch Greys made charges that were per- 
 fectly romantic : " those brave fellows, will 
 get themselves utterly cut to pieces," said 
 some of the British generals, when viewing
 
 138 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 them, a mere handful of men plunging 
 into vast solid masses of French horse. It 
 was observed by a French marshal to some 
 distinguished British officers at Paris, that 
 the British were the only troops in the 
 world that could be trusted in lines against 
 columns : they would stand or advance, two 
 deep, against a mass some yards in thick- 
 ness. When the gallantry of men can be 
 thus relied upon, they derive a great advan- 
 tage from their bravery, tending to coun- 
 teract the effects of the superior numbers of 
 their adversaries, for they are thus enabled 
 to employ every bayonet they have, instead 
 of sinking the majority as a foundation for 
 supporting the few. In this way, a single 
 British battalion, consisting of one hundred 
 or two hundred men, repeatedly drove at 
 immense columns of the enemy containing 
 some thousands. Our noble fellows were 
 content if they could but make out a front 
 something like that opposed to them ; they 
 cared not how few they had to back them- 
 selves, nor how many their adversaries had 
 to support them. The 92d*, when there did 
 
 A Highland corps.
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 139 
 
 not remain to it much more than a hundred 
 men, threw themselves over a hedge directly 
 against a mass of the Imperial Guard. The 
 latter stood till the Scotch came close up to 
 them. Some firing took place : these ter- 
 rible adversaries looked each other full in 
 the face, while they coolly levelled their 
 muskets. At length the few of the 92d 
 made the final charge with the bayonet. 
 The French Guards stood still, but it was 
 but for a moment : before the steel reached 
 them, they had turned their backs, but 
 too late to avoid it. At this moment the 
 Scotch Greys poured in upon the enemy as 
 a flood ; the took 1500 prisoners, and ac- 
 tually, as an eye-witness said, " walked over 
 the French'' 
 
 This thorough courage, however, which 
 encounters any thing and every thing, de- 
 mands much prudent management, and 
 watchful superintendance on the part of 
 the Commander in Chief. The small bodies 
 of British must not be trusted to themselves 
 too long ; even victory would soon abso- 
 lutely expend them. I understand that the 
 excellent generalship of the Duke of Wel- 
 lington is wonderfully shewn in the timely
 
 140 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 preparations that are always made, under 
 his orders and directed by his eye, to sus- 
 tain and support his troops at the proper 
 moment. A regiment finds that, just as it 
 has almost exhausted itself, and become 
 involved in serious circumstances, another 
 most opportunely steps up and relieves it. 
 This regularly occurring in the moment of 
 emergency, our troops have now a thorough 
 confidence that it will always occur, and 
 never hesitate to go at whatever comes be- 
 fore them, leaving to their general the 
 task of getting them well through the 
 business. 
 
 But to return to the cavalry charges. 
 The guards first encountered a regiment of 
 cuirassiers. Shaw, already noticed, was 
 with one or two other brave fellows a little 
 advanced beyond the line, talking, as one 
 of his comrades told me, as pleasantly as if 
 he were in Hyde Park. The French did 
 not stand the charge : they turned " and 
 then," said a dragoon, " we had nothing to 
 do, you know, but to ride with them, and 
 work away." Our brave fellows rode through 
 them into a column of infantry, which they 
 broke. A regiment of French lancers after-
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 141 
 
 wards met the shock of the Horse Guards, 
 and great slaughter ensued. Those who 
 fought on that day are generally of opinion 
 that the cuirassier is by no means the most 
 formidable adversary, that his armour ra- 
 ther incommodes him, and retards his exer- 
 tions than protects him ; but the lancer, 
 they speak of as a dangerous fellow, as 
 one whom it is a serious thing to meet. It 
 is to be hoped, therefore, that the cuirass 
 will not be introduced into our cavalry : it 
 might please a foppish taste by its glitter, 
 but the very imitation would be an un- 
 worthy concession to those whose bucklered 
 fronts our troops have broken with their 
 naked breasts. Let us by all means still 
 keep up this fine distinction ; it would 
 shew the grossest want of sensibility to what 
 is most glorious in these victories, to ape 
 those whom we have beaten. Let the Bri- 
 tish soldier still go out to battle as hereto- 
 fore, with the open face of his country, di- 
 vested of the artificial terrors of mustachoes. 
 and free to shew the genuine kindling of 
 his spirit ; let his heart have, as it needs, 
 no armour but the breast before it. 
 
 As the day advanced, the cavalry scoured 
 the whole field, and the men got together
 
 142 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 in small parties : in this way they en- 
 countered bodies of the French, and fought 
 it ought with their swords. In a lane, up 
 which our troops pursued a considerable 
 number of the enemy, and egress from 
 which was shut up, a terrible slaughter took 
 place. Very little quarter was given on 
 either side. The passions of the com- 
 batants had become terribly exasperated. 
 There is scarcely a surviving man of our ca- 
 valry but has to say that he put to death 
 several of the enemy with his own hands ; 
 these regiments, however, suffered terribly 
 themselves. The French are allowed, ac- 
 cording to every testimony, to have had 
 at least double the number of effective 
 horse that we had : their superior propor- 
 tion of heavy dragoons gave them great ad- 
 vantages. Our light cavalry was found of 
 little or no use against these pondrous 
 enemies. An opposition newspaper, I re- 
 remember, ridiculed the measure of send- 
 ing out the Horse Guards, as a piece of 
 drivelling folly, but what should we have 
 done without them ? Deplorable and ruin- 
 ous would most probably have been the 
 consequences, if a provision of this descrip- 
 tion of force had not been made. In fact,
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 143 
 
 our heavy dragoons may be considered as 
 the salvation of our army on the 18th, as 
 it is clear that Buonaparte intended and ex- 
 pected that his heavy dragoons should be the 
 ruin of it. He thought to bear our infantry 
 down, and trample them to pieces in 
 this way : their unparalleled steadiness 
 did much to disappoint him, but it is 
 scarcely to be doubted that the result 
 must have been unfortunate, if the Guards, 
 the Blues, and the Greys had not been in 
 the field. 
 
 Almost every one with whom I con- 
 versed, that had been engaged in this de- 
 sperate battle, alluded in terms of strong 
 feeling to the appearance of the poor 
 wounded horses. When they are hit they 
 stop, tremble in every muscle, and groan 
 deeply, while their eyes shew wild asto- 
 nishment. The horse of a very distin- 
 guished officer of the Horse Guards, still re- 
 tains the lively recollection of his hurts, 
 and surprises, sustained in this engagement ; 
 the clamour and bustle of it seem to have 
 perpetuated themselves in his ears : when 
 any one approaches him in the stable, he 
 puts himself on the alert for a charge, and 
 starts as if to get out of the way of a sabre
 
 144 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 cut. Some of the horses, as they lay on 
 the ground, having recovered from the first 
 agony of their wounds, fell to eating the 
 grass about them, thus surrounding them- 
 selves with a circle of bare ground, the 
 limited extent of which shewed their weak- 
 ness. Others of these interesting animals, 
 to whom man so strongly attaches himself, 
 were observed quietly grazing in the mid- 
 dle of the field, between the two hostile 
 lines, their riders having been shot off their 
 backs, and the balls that flew over their 
 heads, and the roaring behind, and before 
 and about them, causing no respite of the 
 usual instincts of their nature. Straggling 
 soldiers from both the French and the 
 English lines, inspired by that passion for 
 gain, which, in so many, rises predominant 
 over all the other feelings, that would 
 appear more legitimately to belong to these 
 sublime scenes, were observed rushing 
 down, exposing themselves to imminent 
 danger, to catch the valuable creatures. 
 When unsuccessful in the attempt to 
 get hold of their bridles, the men would 
 stoop down to strip a fallen comrade or 
 enemy of his shoes, to search his pockets, 
 or seize any matter from his person that
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 145 
 
 could be quickly taken and easily carried 
 off. This business of turning the penny, / 
 was carried on with an intentness that 
 seemed to have no distraction towards any 
 other consideration, although it was two 
 to one that these industrious persons would 
 become the fair objects of the industry of 
 others, similarly actuated, before they could 
 carry back what they had acquired. When 
 a charge of cavalry went past, near to any 
 of the stray horses already mentioned, the 
 trained animals would set off, form them- 
 selves in the rear of their mounted com- 
 panions, and, though without riders, gallop 
 strenuously along with the rest, not stop- 
 ping or flinching when the fatal shock with 
 the enemy took place. 
 
 It is affirmed, as an anecdote of the 
 battle, that a French skirmisher took fre- 
 quent advantage of the body of a wounded 
 British officer, who had fallen far in advance 
 during a charge made by his regiment. 
 The Frenchman loaded his piece crouching 
 down behind his fallen foe, and then went 
 a little way in front to discharge it, re- 
 turning again to prepare for another fire. 
 
 L
 
 146 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 During the continuance of this process, a 
 conversation went on between the parties. 
 " You English, will certainly be beaten by 
 the Emperor," - said the tirailleur : " You 
 have no chance with us." This was re- 
 peated several times, as he returned to his 
 old shelter ; - but at last the Frenchman 
 came back with a whimsical smile on his 
 countenance, and, instead of stopping as 
 before to load his musket, exclaimed 
 hastily : - " Ah ma foi, I believe you 
 English will beat the Emperor : bon jour, 
 mon ami /" 
 
 It was not always however that such 
 good humour prevailed The ferocity of 
 the French troops to those of our men 
 whom they wounded, or made prisoners, 
 is universally spoken of in terms of indig- 
 nation : and, as the news of their conduct 
 after the battle of the 16th, got abroad, a 
 corresponding bitterness was engendered 
 on pur side on the 18th. It seems quite 
 clear that so much of a personal feeling of 
 animosity never before mingled in a na- 
 tional quarrel. The French military felt 
 that the cause was their own, and that it
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 147 
 
 was their own exclusively, having the ma- 
 jority of their countrymen at home against 
 it, as well as the whole of the rest of Europe. 
 The consciousness of general odium at- 
 taching to the object of one's favour, ge- 
 nerally encreases the zeal of affection. A 
 Horse-guardsman, whose desperate wounds, 
 going quite through his body, I myself saw 
 told me that he was left upon the ground 
 within the French lines, wounded in a 
 charge : he threw his helmet from him, for 
 his enemies were chiefly exasperated against 
 our heavy dragoons, by whom they had 
 suffered so much. After some time he 
 raised his head : two French lancers saw 
 the movement, and, gallopping up to him, 
 dropped both their weapons into his side : 
 they left him for dead, but he still re- 
 tained life, and shortly afterwards a plun- 
 dering party came down from the enemy's 
 position. They stripped the poor fellow, 
 and several of them, who had been in Eng- 
 land as prisoners of war, took this favour- 
 able opportunity of reading him a lecture 
 on certain political facts and principles, 
 such as the right of the French natioa ta 
 choose its own sovereign, and the perfidy 
 L 2
 
 148 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &d. 
 
 and rapacity of England, whose inexhaus- 
 tible gold was ever at work producing wars 
 and the various miseries of dissension. 
 Our bleeding soldier was obliged to listen 
 very submissively to these doctrines and 
 accusations, " for you know, Sir," (as 
 his own words were), " they had got the 
 best of it with me then." It is not very 
 likely that such a singular scene could have 
 presented itself within our lines : many 
 of the British would be found there to strip 
 off the jackets, the shoes, and the stockings, 
 of a wounded captive, but none, I think, 
 to interrupt their work with a lively 
 disquisition, accompannied with all the en- 
 forcements of gesture and action, on the 
 moral character and public rights of nations. 
 This could only be done by Frenchmen : 
 the disposition from whence it flowed is a 
 feature in their system, and shews itself in 
 various indications connected with their 
 social state, that are accepted by some, 
 even among ourselves, as proofs of their 
 polish, their feeling, their amenity, and 
 generally exquisite civilization. Hence it 
 is that they form all sorts of unnatural con- 
 nections ; hence filth, which would not
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 14Q 
 
 be tolerated in the vilest street of London, 
 is to be found scattered in the gateways of 
 palaces in Paris, more superb than the peo- 
 ple of London ever think of erecting : 
 hence I saw myself, in the public garden of 
 the Thuilleries, a lady and her daughter 
 receive a most obsequious bow from a gen- 
 tleman, a stranger, who came out, adjust- 
 ing his dress, from the door of one of the 
 public lieux in that garden, while they ' 
 curtsied, and sidled in to take the place 
 he had just vacated. 
 
 After the poor Horse-guardsman was 
 stripped, they sent him to the rear, and 
 being too weak to walk, he was dragged 
 with his feet trailing along the ground for 
 fourteen miles ; being occasionally struck 
 by those about him, to force him to move 
 his legs. He saw several of his fellow 
 prisoners murdered. But the French being 
 in full retreat as the night came on, and 
 closely pursued by the Prussians, they at 
 last permitted the miserable man to sink 
 down on the dunghill of an inn, in one of 
 the small towns through which they were. 
 at the time passing. Here he lay with his 
 blood running about him ; he was awa- 
 L 3
 
 150 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 kened from a kind of doze, consisting partly 
 of sleep and partly of bodily extinction, by 
 one creeping down by his side : he turned 
 his head, and saw his comrade, the famous 
 Shaw, before mentioned, who could scarcely 
 crawl to the heap, being almost cut to 
 pieces:" Ah, my dear fellow, I'm done 
 for," faintly whispered the latter; but 
 few words passed between them, and 
 my informant told me that he soon dropped 
 asleep : in the morning he woke, and poor 
 Shaw was indeed done for : he was lying 
 dead, with his face leaning on his [hand, as 
 if life had been extinguished while he was 
 in a state of insensibility. This brave man 
 carried death to every one against whom 
 he rode ; he is said to have killed a num- 
 ber of the cuirassiers sufficient to make a 
 shew against the list of slain furnished for 
 any of Homer's heroes. His death was oc- 
 casioned rather by the loss of blood from 
 many cuts, than the magnitude of any one : 
 he had been riding about, fighting, the 
 whole of the day, with his body streaming : 
 and at night he died as I have described. 
 Several women, the wives of soldiers, 
 were killed, and found lying in their plain
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 151 
 
 female dress by the sides of their husbands, 
 to whom they had brought water on hear- 
 ing that they were wounded. Among the 
 French dead, on the other hand, were found 
 the bodies of several Parisian girls, in male 
 attire, who had gone forth with their pa- 
 ramours, and actually fought in their com- 
 pany. This, I understand, was no uncom- 
 mon event in the French armies. One 
 morning, when passing through the Palais 
 Royal, during my second visit to Paris, I 
 saw one of these women dressed en mili- 
 taire, with boots, spurs, and sabre. No 
 Frenchman seemed to consider the sight 
 a strange orle. A French lady of rank 
 told me, that when she was young she was 
 beautiful, and then her husband was very 
 proud of taking her out dressed as a beau, 
 sometimes on horseback to the Bois de 
 Boulogne, and sometimes to walk in the 
 gardens of the Thuilleries. She often went, 
 she said, to evening parties thus meta- 
 morphosed, and evidently did not conceive 
 that an idea of the impropriet}' of such 
 conduct could cross my mind. The cha- 
 racter of the females of the two countries, 
 might be safely, and I think fairly left, to 
 L 4
 
 15 C 2 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 the evidence given by these poor slaugh- 
 tered women on both sides. An officer told 
 me, that, just as he was marching into action 
 on the 16th, he saw a private of the 28th 
 lying asleep on the ground, exhausted by his 
 march, and his wife sitting, looking in his 
 face, as he slept, holding his hand, and 
 weeping bitterly. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington, during the 
 whole of this desperate fight, expressed to 
 the officers about him great confidence in 
 the result, founded on his knowledge of 
 the thorough bravery of the British troops. 
 In resolving, however, to receive the ene- 
 my's battle in his position at Waterloo, he 
 took into account the assistance which he 
 required, and was assured he should receive 
 from Prince Blucher. That assistance was 
 delayed till late in the day, and of course 
 the fiery trial was of longer duration than 
 had been expected. It may be said with 
 truth, that British soldiers alone could have 
 so supported it. The day frequently bore 
 a very serious and even alarming aspect : 
 our troops were tried, to even beyond the 
 strength of man ; a moment's relief for 
 refreshment could not be granted, when it
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 153 
 
 was asked for the scanty survivors of the 
 almost destroyed 33d : " every thing de- 
 pends on the firm countenance, and un- 
 relaxed steadiness of the British, they 
 must not move," was the reply ; to 
 which a few simple words of heartfelt sym- 
 pathy were added by His Grace, and some 
 short compliments well earned and honestly 
 meant. But whatever the superior num- 
 bers of the enemy might have enabled 
 them to effect the next day, there can 
 be but very little doubt that we should 
 have maintained ourselves on the field 
 during the night of the 18th, and that 
 the battle of that day would have termi- 
 nated with the overthrow of every attack 
 made on our positions by the French, even 
 if the Prussians had not come up. Buo- 
 naparte has let us know himself, and several 
 of his officers have confirmed the fact, 
 that in his last dreadful charge, made with 
 the old imperial guards, now first brought 
 forward, fresh in bodies, keen in spirits, 
 and in numbers far exceeding our wasted 
 ranks, he was influenced by a conviction 
 that the matter might be settled with the 
 British before the Prussians could take any
 
 164* ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 material share in the engagement ; and the 
 British did settle it before their friends 
 cam 6 up. In the official account which he 
 gave of his defeat, he doe3 not in any 
 degree attribute it to the Prussians ; he 
 says that the young guard were charged by 
 squadrons of English, and that their flight 
 spread confusion and terror among the other 
 French regiments. The fact, I believe is, 
 that the last attack made by the enemy, 
 about seven in the evening, was the most 
 terrible and alarming of any : it burst like 
 an inundation to the top of our position 5 
 it daused our artillerymen to withdraw their 
 guns ; but on the elevation of the ridge our 
 brave remnants of regiments met it, and 
 stemmed it. It was at this moment that the 
 few Scotch left of the ninety-second drove 
 back an enormous column : it was at this 
 moment that the heavy dragoons of the 
 French rode in small bodies about our in- 
 fftntry, watching for opportunities to plunge 
 into their ranks, and occasionally fighting 
 hand to hand with parties of our cavalry ; 
 ** it was at this moment that devotion took 
 the place Of animation, and each individual 
 of Wellington's army felt that he had but
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. I5o 
 
 to fall without flinching ; it was at this 
 moment that the Duke is said to have 
 prayed for the Prussians or for night, 
 and to have exposed himself as much as 
 the most forward grenadier of a crack 
 corps, rallying the Brunswickers in per- 
 son, throwing himself into the centre of 
 infantry battalions charged by cavalry, 
 and giving a few encouraging words to the 
 exhausted soldiers, as he sat on his horse, 
 exposed to the shower of all sorts of bullets, 
 watching for the proper instant to give the 
 command for them to rise from their place 
 of partial shelter to stand to their arms as 
 the enemy's column approached near. 
 " Up, guards ! and at them again," < 
 was his exclamation on one of these occa- 
 sions. " We must not be beat, my friends, 
 what would they say in England !" 
 was another of his short and pithy ad- 
 dresses. This moment, as I have said, was 
 a trying and even a doubtful one : but its 
 fury was encountered and repelled by the 
 British unaided : the last charge made 
 by the enemy was completely repulsed : 
 the French retired from before us alone ;
 
 156 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 and the arrival of the Prussians had only 
 an influence on the future operations. This 
 influence was certainly very valuable. To 
 be sure, it was hardly likely that the light 
 would have lasted long enough to permit 
 Buonaparte to form fresh columns of attack 
 against the British, but he had men 
 enough to do so, he continued to out- 
 number us greatly, and we were dread- 
 fully exhausted. If he could have arranged 
 another great charge before night fell, the 
 consequences might have been very serious : 
 
 but the Prussians came up, just as he 
 had been again roughly dashed back from 
 the immoveable British lines, just as he 
 had received his last lesson as to the match- 
 less quality of the troops by whom his 
 generals had been often beaten, and against 
 whom he had to day been for the first time 
 opposed. The arrival of our gallant allies 
 under such circumstances, destroyed him. 
 It is necessary, however, to observe, in con- 
 sequence of some reports that are abroad, 
 
 that the Duke never despaired of the 
 battle. It is said that a very distinguished 
 British general, made some rather melan- 
 
 11
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 157 
 
 choly representations to His Grace towards 
 the end of the day. "You are wrong," 
 he replied, and then pulling out his 
 watch, added " You will see that in half 
 an hour I shall have beaten them. I know 
 both my own troops, and those with whom 
 they are fighting." 
 
 The pell-mell rout of the French has 
 been described in a variety of publications. 
 The Duke only rode as far as the small inn 
 of La Belle Alliance, near which Buona- 
 parte had stationed himself during the 
 greater part of the day : he approached it, 
 not by the road, I believe, but from the 
 right across the fields, and here he acci- 
 dentally encountered Prince Blucher, 
 then hot in pursuit. The meeting of these 
 two Generals in Chief, at the conclusion of 
 this arduous engagement, is a circumstance 
 that seems to have attracted universal at- 
 tention, and will probably be commemo- 
 rated in all accounts of the battle. They 
 parted almost immediately : the Duke re- 
 turning to Waterloo, to attend to the affairs 
 of his shattered, but victorious army, who 
 had done too much in the battle to do any 
 thing in the pursuit, the gallant old
 
 }53 ANECDOTES QF THE BATTLES, &C 
 
 Prussian to pursue his impetuous course 
 towards Paris, full of spirits, and at last 
 gratified to his heart's content. 
 
 Alluding to the Duke's return across the 
 field to his head quarters, after this interest- 
 ing meeting, one of the many published 
 accounts of the battle, rather forcibly de- 
 scribes, what I have heard testified by 
 several as a fact : viz, His Grace's emotioa 
 on seeing himself surrounded by so many 
 slain, and so few living, of those gallant 
 friends, who had partaken with him of all 
 the cares and triumphs of his long military 
 career. It had now terminated in the ut- 
 most of dignity and glory that the unre- 
 strained imagination of ambition could ever 
 feave presented as attainable, but com- 
 paratively few were left to enjoy with him 
 tfcis sublime result, of those who wqre best 
 qualified and entitled to enjoy it, What 
 he had gained, and what he had escaped, 
 n*u#t at this ngt#ment have added but to 
 the mefencholy of his; feelings, by height- 
 ening the contrast presented by the unr 
 ha$>py fete of so many noble and aspiring 
 , now lying mangled and lifeless 
 his houses' &^.*^niany of them 
 12
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &O, 159 
 
 youths, the hopes of distinguished families, 
 some of them his most intimate com-? 
 panions in private, and all of them his 
 trusty companions, and the instruments of 
 his renown in the field. 
 
 The passage in question is as follows, 
 for it is worth quoting 
 
 " They parted ; Blucher proceeded on 
 his way, Lord Wellington returned to 
 Waterloo. As he crossed again this fatal 
 scene, on which the silence of death had 
 now succeeded to the storm of battle, the 
 moon, breaking from dark clouds, shed an 
 uncertain light [upon this wide field of 
 carnage, covered with mangled thousands 
 of that gallant army, whose heroic valour 
 had won for him the brightest wreath of 
 victory, and left to future times an im- 
 perishable monument of their country's 
 fame. He saw himself surrounded by the 
 bloody corpses of his veteran soldiers, who 
 Jhad followed him through distant lands 
 of his friends and associates in arms his 
 companions through many an eventful year 
 of danger and of glory. In that awful 
 pause which follows the mortal conflict of 
 man with man, emotions unknown or stifled 

 
 160 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 in the heat of battle forced their way, 
 the feelings of the man triumphed over 
 those of the general, and, in the very hour 
 of victory, Lord Wellington burst into 
 tears*." The Duke's simple touch of the 
 pathetic in the conclusion of his letter to 
 the Earl of Aberdeen, on the death of His 
 Lordship's brother, the brave Sir Alexander 
 Gordon, beautifully coincides with this 
 statement : " The glory resulting from 
 such actions, so dearly bought, is no con- 
 solation to me, and I cannot imagine that 
 it is any to you : but I trust the result has 
 been so decisive, that little doubt remains 
 of our exertions being rewarded by the 
 attainment of our first object ; then it is 
 that the glory of the actions in which our 
 friends have fallen, may be some consola- 
 tion to me." " My heart," he said in 
 another letter, " is broken by the terrible 
 loss I have sustained of my old friends and 
 companions, and my poor soldiers ! and I 
 shall not be satisfied with this battle, how- 
 ever glorious, if it does not put an end to 
 
 * The Battle of Waterloo, published by Booth, 
 pp. xxvi xxvii.
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C.. 16.1 
 
 Buonaparte." In a letter to his mother* 
 Lady Mornington, the Duke said of Buo- 
 naparte, " that he did his duty that he 
 fought the battle with infinite skill, perse- 
 verance, and bravery ;*' " and this," he 
 adds, with a modesty that ought only to 
 render him dearer to his country, " I do 
 not state from any motive of claiming 
 merit to myself, for the victory is to be 
 ascribed to the superior physical force, and 
 constancy of British soldiers." To his 
 brother he wrote, " never had I fought 
 so hard for victory, and never, from the 
 gallantry of the enemy, had I been so near 
 being beaten." 
 
 When the Duke entered Brussels on the 
 following morning, he was met at the gates, 
 by a tumultuous crowd of the congratulating 
 inhabitants. " Yes, Messieurs," he said to 
 them, in his quiet tone, as he rode through 
 them, " We have indeed gained a great 
 victory. You will see the immense train of 
 captured cannon shortly arrive." The most 
 fearful confusion had been prevailing in 
 this city : a party within its walls certainly 
 favoured the French cause, and spread 
 M
 
 162 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 accounts of Buonaparte's success, which 
 were supported by the retreat of the British 
 and Prussian armies on the 17th. During 
 the 18th, the cannon was all day roaring in the 
 ears of thepeople of this agitated metropolis, 
 and runaways from the field spread the most 
 disastrous reports to excuse their own ap- 
 pearance. The superior discipline of the 
 Duke of Wellington's troops was now ren- 
 dered very apparent ; there were scarcely 
 any straggling British ; but against bodies 
 of fugitive Prussians, who clamoured for 
 admittance into Brussels, it was necessary 
 to oppose strong guards at each of the 
 gates, for it was pretty well guessed that 
 their object was to plunder the city, crying 
 out in the mean while that the French were 
 coming. Many of these fellows came with 
 their arms and legs bound up as if they 
 were wounded, though nothing was the 
 matter with them, but they thought by 
 this means to get access to where they 
 might steal. 
 
 The fearful tidings thus spread, scattered 
 dismay among the British visitors, the 
 wounded of the 16th, and the females be-
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 163 
 
 longing to the army, that were in Brussels. 
 The most lively pictures have been given 
 of the hasty flights, the crowded roads, the 
 lost and scattered property which were the 
 consequences of this alarm. Those who 
 raised all the commotion thus found oppor- 
 tunities of turning it to account : many 
 of our officers lost the whole of their bag- 
 gage ; their servants, who were terrified into 
 deserting their charge, leaving it to fall a 
 prey to the marauders. 
 
 The road betwixt the field of battle and 
 Brussels, presented a scene that scarcely 
 admits of description, and the streets of 
 that city gradually assumed the same hor- 
 rible character. The baggage train, having 
 been ordered to the rear, as a measure of 
 precaution, the road became occupied with 
 three lines of waggons, full of stores and 
 wounded men, intermingled with horses, 
 ammunition cases, &c. &c. In many parts 
 the whole got complicated and wedged : 
 poor wounded soldiers were lying bleeding 
 to death at every hundred yards, many 
 were seen jammed between the carriages, 
 imploring assistance to get to Brussels. 
 M 2
 
 164 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 Hats, caps, jackets, bayonets, scabbards, and 
 broken muskets, strewed the whole line 01 
 road. Here a waggon was broken down, 
 there a horse had fallen. The confusion 
 was dreadful ! An officer, who was wounded, 
 told me, that the horrors of his walk to 
 Brussels were almost too much for recol- 
 lection. The rain fell in torrents ; the 
 roads were deep ; he was in severe agony 
 with his hurt ; the motion of a carriage he 
 could not bear ; his strength scarcely suf- 
 ficed for him to drag himself along. He 
 was often forced out of the road, to avoid 
 being crushed to death, and compelled to 
 crawl along, through the deep wet grass and 
 entangling briars of the forest of Soignies. 
 Once, a Brunswick soldier ran against his 
 wounded arm with violence, giving him 
 great pain : he threw off the man, who 
 hastily lifted a sabre to cut him down ; - 
 seeing his wound, however, the fellow shewed 
 great signs of commiseration and passed on. 
 Brussels gradually filled with wounded : 
 all her doors were thrown open, and not 
 more so than her hearts. Every one was 
 employed in some fitting office of compas- 
 11
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 165 
 
 sionate relief. It was a beautiful instance 
 of the close alliance that exists between the 
 most appalling incidents and coarsest pas- 
 sions, and the refreshing cordialities and 
 endearing tendernesses of human nature. 
 Here was found what is most amiable, and 
 even enchanting, springing from almost un- 
 exampled rage, slaughter, and misery. Into 
 whatever house you went, you found only 
 the enthusiasm of doing good : the females 
 were all employed in making lint, who 
 were not actually engaged in dressing 
 wounds : the soldiers who could not at first 
 be taken into the houses, were laid along 
 on straw in the streets, and the ladies of 
 Brussels were seen, during the whole night 
 and morning, stooping over these poor suf- 
 ferers, supplying them with refreshments, 
 and, in the absence of medical assistance, 
 doing their best to relieve their agony. 
 The priests went round collecting for the 
 hospitals ; the wealthy sent out carts laden 
 with supplies for the unhappy wretches, who, 
 for several days and nights, remained on 
 the field of battle, in the most awful state, 
 it being a labour almost inconceivable to 
 M 3
 
 166 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 bring in the thousands that fell there. The 
 appearance of the field, just after the en- 
 gagement, has been described, but the 
 scene is almost too dreadful for contem- 
 plation. At Quartre Bras, men who had 
 sunk through weakness in the midst of the 
 corn-fields, came crawling out five or six 
 days after the battle, emaciated, and in a 
 state of wildness, nay of actual derangement, 
 in consequence of pain, hunger and cold. 
 Those who visited the plain of Waterloo, 
 during the first few days after the battle, 
 saw exhibitions to which the mere heaps of 
 the bodies of the slaughtered were pleasant 
 sights. In some cases, those who had 
 visited the wounded had supplied them 
 with spirits, or other strong fluids ; and 
 what with pain, intoxication, and the recol- 
 lections of the battle, these poor creatures 
 displayed an extravagance in their wretch- 
 edness, which had a tremendous effect. 
 The industry, too, of the people wlio were 
 assiduously employed in searching for any 
 thing that could be turned to profit out of 
 this mass of carnage, was not the least dis- 
 gusting feature of the whole. It seemed 
 
 9
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 16? 
 
 most strange and degrading, that the sordid 
 passions should find a scope where there 
 were so many claims on the finer sensi- 
 bilities. The guards that were posted on 
 different spots of the field, to preserve the 
 muskets, regimentals, &c. that were still 
 serviceable, rendered a walk over it at 
 this time, not the safest of expeditions, 
 for a random shot here and there, was not 
 thought very seriously of, after so much 
 of shooting had been going on ; and as to 
 the life of one or two fellow creatures, what 
 importance could be attached to such a 
 consideration, after the dangers that had 
 been encountered, and the slaughter, that 
 had been seen ? 
 
 A work including any notice of these 
 interesting matters, should also contain a 
 formal acknowledgment of the gratitude 
 which all classes in this country owe to the 
 good people of Brussels. It has been justly 
 said in my hearing, by some of those who, 
 suffered in these engagements, " What would 
 have become of us, if Brussels had not been 
 near ?" From the many thousands who ap- 
 pealed by their distresses to the humanity 
 M 4
 
 16& ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 
 
 of the inhabitants, scarcely one complaint 
 was heard of having appealed in vain, and 
 in the vast majority of instances, the libe- 
 rality and kindness shewn to our unfor- 
 tunate defenders, friends, and relations, 
 went far beyond their bare necessities, and 
 were extended into a zeal and solicitude, 
 that could not in fairness have been asked 
 for, nor even hoped for by those most in- 
 terested in the gallant victims. I heard of 
 the case of a young lady of one of the first 
 families in Brussels, who persisted, even 
 against advice, in dressing the wound of 
 a veteran serjeant-major, after it had as- 
 sumed the appearances of mortification, 
 and was in a state requiring the utmost 
 precaution for the safety of its dresser, 
 as well as rendering it extremely offensive 
 to the senses. A slight puncture in her 
 finger admitted some of the poisonous mat- 
 ter, and her life very nearly paid the forfeit 
 of her humanity. God forbid that I should 
 have dwelt so long on the angry and dismal 
 features of these conflicts, and pass unno- 
 ticed those delightful examples, that prove 
 how the better parts of human nature de-
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLES, &C. 169 
 
 rive a noble exaltation and conspicuous 
 display, from circumstances that, at first, 
 seem to indicate its degradation, and to 
 illustrate the coarseness of its dispositions. 
 
 rfK&tffi? 
 
 -.^'li-ii,. 
 
 W#fiti& fa<- 
 
 
 
 
 
 il,f<HJl3 
 
 l - bi*p &. 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 ^Mtt4< 
 
 
 
 LiH>'j' 
 
 . 
 
 . ^tji^ip .
 
 ban iioi 
 i*tei>t AH. ^di -^->:)rijikfiji: 
 
 U> ii'll; t {fi;.;'. !: iVj ; 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TT was on a beautiful morning, the first 
 -* that had been known in Brussels for 
 two or three months, that I set off from 
 that city to walk over the field of Waterloo. 
 I had previously met hosts of my country- 
 men returning from a similar visit, and 
 multitudes were on the road following my 
 footsteps. It may be said that the op- 
 portunity was favourable for the gratifi- 
 cation of this sort of curiosity, but it may 
 also be said that never had a public interest 
 equalled in intensity and diffusion that 
 which was excited in Britain by the news of 
 this great battle. We had often felt that 
 our military exploits, though highly glo- 
 rious, as shewing the dauntless courage of 
 our troops, had, by some fatality, or mis- 
 conduct, been defrauded of their most bril- 
 liant fruits : our arms had, in most cases, 
 before the war in Spain, been employed in 
 distant expeditions, in which success was
 
 PUBLIC INTEREST IN THESE BATTLES. lyi 
 
 but little felt, because imperfectly under- 
 stood; and even our triumphs in Spain 
 were collateral rather than principal. Al- 
 though, probably, the Spanish struggle, the 
 strength and soul of which lay in this coun- 
 try, has been the parent of all the glorious 
 events we have lately witnessed, yet it 
 was waged as it were in a corner, it was 
 not carried on upon the chief stage, and 
 above all, a British commander had not 
 yet been fairly pitted against him, whose 
 reputation, as a master in the art of war, 
 was regarded with a kind of superstitious 
 feeling of admiration, even by those who 
 detested the man and spurned his power. 
 
 Every thing that had been wanting 
 heretofore, was, at Waterloo supplied. The 
 British troops formed a part of what was 
 the advanced guard of Allied Europe : 
 they occupied the most important and pro- 
 minent position : their commander had 
 kindled universal attention and expectation : 
 his evidently approaching encounter 
 with his imperial rival was waited for, as if 
 it would furnish more than a mere trial of 
 skill between two generals, as if it would 
 bring to a test the high pretensions of Eng-
 
 1*2 PUBLIC INTEREST IN THESE BATTLES. 
 
 land in every respect, and at once settle 
 whether she should have that first-rate 
 place allotted her in estimation which she 
 claimed, or be notoriously proved se- 
 condary to France, her inveterate and 
 boasting enemy. Many looked on to wit- 
 ness this great trial, with emotions that 
 would in some measure be gratified by our 
 discomfiture, being connected with that 
 vague feeling of ill-will that superiority 
 often engenders. But the result was com- 
 plete fulfilment on the part of England ; 
 and, as the exploit was performed in the 
 eyes of all, so its consequences were too 
 positive and vast to admit of any doubt 
 or depreciation of its unprecedented value. 
 The people of the continent had become 
 acquainted with British troops during the 
 few months they remained in quarters : 
 they found them high-spirited but discip- 
 lined, confident in their style of thinking, 
 but not arrogantly assuming in their manner 
 of behaviour. The day of battle came, and 
 they then found these troops invincible in 
 their courage, though in their numbers 
 weak: they saw the terrific spectre of Buo- 
 naparte's power, which seemed again to
 
 PUBLIC INTEREST IN THESE BATTLES. 178 
 
 overshadow and throw into gloom the hopes 
 and prospects of mankind, break into thin 
 air at the talismanic touch of English 
 steel. The thing was done in an instant, 
 and thoroughly done. France was at 
 one laid defenceless and bare before the 
 tenth part of her enemies were up : five 
 days after the battle, Buonaparte was no 
 longer an Emperor even in name 
 (his second act of abdication is dated the 
 23d June) ; fifteen days after the battle, 
 Paris was in possession of the English and 
 Prussians, the other members of the al- 
 liance having only to hasten along the 
 road, that had been opened to them, to en- 
 joy what had been thus so completely ef- 
 fected. Within a month, our most inve- 
 terate foe had surrendered himself into the 
 hands of England, as, in his own words, "the 
 greatest and most constant of his enemies !" 
 It is most probable that as fine military 
 qualities had been equally shewn on other, 
 but more obscure occasions. Many a hard 
 fought battle in Spain and Portugal, may, 
 in real import, prove as much to the credit 
 of both general and troops as that of
 
 174 PUBLIC INTEREST IN THESE BATTLES. 
 
 Waterloo ; but there happened a concur- 
 rence of circumstances to give eclat to the 
 latter. At the same time it is certain, that, 
 in regard to actual performance, our army 
 had never displayed a more brilliant com- 
 bination of the noblest characteristics of 
 good soldiers, as these were put to the test 
 by the fatigues of a long and hasty march 
 by a call to maintain a desperate resis- 
 tance, for the sake of time, against an enemy 
 pouring forward in enormous numbers 
 by a necessary retreat, and, finally, in a 
 great battle, where no other sort of cou- 
 rage could have been of use, but that 
 highest species, which is manifested in 
 coolly receiving attacks, in every man's 
 standing by his ground, entirely and equally 
 disregarding all temptations, either to ad- 
 vance or fall back. On no former occasion 
 had the magnitude of the achievement been 
 so authentically testified by the magnitude 
 of the loss : never had the families of 
 Britain felt to such an extent the private 
 affliction which follows weeping in the train 
 of public glory. Scarcely one of our distin- 
 guished houses can be mentioned, that has
 
 PUBLIC INTEREST IN THESE BATTLES. IJ5 
 
 not had a chasm made in it by the destruc- 
 tion of these terrible days ; nor did the 
 blows fall less numerous or less heavy with- 
 in the abodes of humbler life. On many a 
 heart the peal of victory struck as a dismal 
 toll ; scarcely an individual over the whole 
 nation could speak of these great deeds 
 without enumerating a more or less distant 
 connection who had helped to purchase the 
 triumph with his blood. Thus the feelings 
 of sympathy and grief added mightily to 
 the flood of national interest, which poured 
 irresistibly towards the field of Waterloo, 
 and which has scarcely as yet suffered any 
 diminution. It is grateful to think that the 
 political character of these military events 
 is so magnificently important, that the 
 voice of history is likely to sustain to the 
 full our present estimate of them, and 
 that the battle in question will always be 
 described, as it is now felt, namely, as 
 the brightest gem in the crown of this 
 country's fame, full as it is of these jewels, 
 as a fit companion to the finest achieve- 
 ments either of ancient or modern times, 
 that have been picked out to stand promi-
 
 176 PUBLIC INTEREST IN THESE BATTLES. 
 
 ment illustrations to the honor of human 
 enterprize, and to give the effect of sub- 
 limity to the annals of human affairs. 
 
 Such are the circumstances, connected 
 with these victories, that caused them to 
 have so powerful an effect on the minds 
 and hearts of the people of England. So 
 strong a public impulse of mingled grati- 
 tude and admiration was probably never 
 before felt ; and who would covet that frame 
 of instinct and feeling, the effects of which, 
 if remembered hereafter, will be known as 
 exceptions to the general acknowledgement 
 of what posterity will deem an invaluable 
 legacy of national fame ! Earnest retro- 
 spects for something to blame, and specu- 
 lative forecastings to the future for some- 
 thing to alarm, if they be the honest, are 
 certainly not the healthy workings of Eng- 
 lish spirits, when England has just given to 
 the world an extraordinary proof of her 
 heroism and might, in the final overthrow 
 of a perfidious and violent man, who had 
 proclaimed to the astonished and sub- 
 dued kingdoms of the continent, from the 
 great height formed by their ruin, that our
 
 PUBLIC AFFECTIONS. 177 
 
 ancient island was doomed to come in the 
 iast but most magnificent appendage to the 
 train of his barbarous triumphs. Was there 
 nothing in the return of the poisoned cha- 
 lice to the lips of him who had prepared it 
 for our draught, to respite for a moment the 
 ingenuity of censure, and to indispose to the 
 search for abatements of exultation haply 
 to be found in a wide view of the perplexities 
 and imperfections of the circumstances of 
 public condition ? There are occasions 
 which put to the test the soundness of 
 particular opinions, and the general value 
 of the judgment, by proving the worth 
 of the whole nature of the man ; which, 
 by trying him as a creature, shew his fit- 
 ness to be a reasoner. The fruits that 
 more immediately come from the brain, 
 must derive their flavour and nourish- 
 ing qualities from correct affections in the 
 heart ; and it may be denied that they 
 possess these affections, who were not moved 
 from the drudgery of their small criticism, 
 when their country was celebrating in its 
 innermost soul, and with all its external 
 signs, a grand holiday, sacred in its rap- 
 tures, whether of a grief possessing many 
 
 N
 
 178 PUBLIC AFFECTIONS. 
 
 of the consolations of joy, or of a joy 
 stretching its raptures into the sublimities 
 of melancholy. " If I forget thee, Oh 
 Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its 
 cunning !" The love of our country, leading 
 to glory in her honour, and to feel shame in 
 her disgrace, is one of those delightful 
 and sacred instincts, which form both the 
 foundation and elevation of human nature, 
 which are placed in it as evidently eman- 
 ating from something superior to itself, 
 and which therefore defy the analysis to 
 which the reasoning powers in their busy 
 processes would subject them. They are 
 something above our powers ; they are our 
 guides : they are given to us with proofs 
 of their infallibility in their incomprehen- 
 sibility : they are given to us, that we may 
 not, in the most essential things, be the spoil 
 of temporary theories, and fashions, of acci- 
 dental situations, and unequal opportunities. 
 The pagan and the Christian, the slave 
 and \ he free-man, he who lived thousands 
 of years ago, and he who may live thou- 
 sands of years hence, are bound in a 
 pleasant unity by the instinctive affections 
 that are common to all our kind, whereas,
 
 COLDNESS TO COUNTRY. 179 
 
 without these, they would be as creatures 
 of different planets, having no points of 
 contact, no tendencies even to approxi- 
 mation, no intelligible communications* 
 Thus would our sympathies be wretchedly 
 limited, our imaginations restrained, our 
 finest sources of mental pleasure shut up, 
 and even our reasoning faculties weak- 
 ened by a diminution of the means of their 
 exercise. 
 
 I have said this much, because there is a 
 modern school of intellectualists and im- 
 provers, who found their claims to be con- 
 sidered impartial and shrewd, on a perpe- 
 tual coldness to what their country does 
 that is great and good, coupled with a 
 lively warmth in exposing all the errors 
 into which she is betrayed. The first 
 quality, visible in their labours, renders 
 their impartiality, so far as the latter is con- 
 cerned, very suspicious, and it would be 
 more to the credit of their shrewdness, if 
 they were to note what additional strength 
 their cause might derive from addressing it 
 to that large class of motives and preposses- 
 sions which exist for good purposes, and, at 
 all event s,tw7/exist, maugre their endeavours 
 N 2
 
 180 COLDNESS TO COUNTRY. 
 
 to degrade them into hurtful prejudices. 
 To run counter to the most innate popular 
 feelings, when calling for the exercise of 
 popular will, is not the most sagacious pro- 
 ceeding. The mass of the people will 
 never be brought to think kindly of the 
 theory of parliamentary reform, while they 
 are accustomed to see its recommendation 
 accompanied in the same page with sneers 
 against the achievements of the Duke of 
 Wellington. If the value of the former 
 can only be made apparent by concealing 
 the splendour of the latter, our multitudes 
 will continue to shut their eyes to it, unless 
 some unhappy change should take place in 
 the social and political character of the 
 country, which would dispose it to seek 
 reformation in regardlessness of integrity, 
 and to improve in the spirit of destruction. 
 The fact is, that, after all our reasonings and 
 demonstrations, there is more of certainty, 
 and therefore more of wisdom, in patriotic 
 attachments than in patriotic plans, and 
 therefore, when the latter are irreconcileable 
 with the former they come to us with a con- 
 fession that they are hollow. ^Vhile the doc- 
 trines and assertions of old times, to which
 
 COLDNESS TO COUNTRY. 181 
 
 faith was pledged, for which blood was shed, 
 and posterity invoked, now present to us, 
 on looking back upon them, but a mass of 
 absurdities and uncertainties, displaying the 
 weakness of those who fancied themselves 
 so strong, public affections afford us a 
 changeless test by which to try the nobility 
 of the qualities of character, and it is] ac- 
 cording to the manifestation of these that 
 reputation has been adjudged. We think 
 with indifference now of the squabbling in 
 Athens whether Demosthenes had passed 
 his accounts properly when the edict for 
 crowning him was given in his favour, 
 but his orations against Philip are regarded 
 with admiration, as speaking the true Athe- 
 nian. We no longer criticise the expendi- 
 ture of Pericles, but honor his high-minded 
 desire to render his city magnificent in the 
 eye of the world. We have no opinion 
 for the merits of the sides taken by its 
 inhabitants in these party questions, 
 but would now turn with strong distaste 
 from the effusions of a Grecian writer of 
 that day, directed to undervalue the result 
 of Salamis, or to prove that Darius, the 
 son of Hystaspes, who was defeated at Mar- 
 N 3
 
 182 MERITS OF THE RIVAL GENERALS * 
 
 athon, was a greater man than Miltiades, 
 who saved the national independence of 
 Greece by defeating its inveterate Persian 
 foe. 
 
 It must be allowed, that, in estimating the 
 comparative talents of the Duke of Wel- 
 lington and Buonaparte, the mere result 
 of the battle which finished the career of 
 the latter, if considered independently of 
 other circumstances, would prove little or 
 nothing. There was very little scope for 
 manoeuvring in that engagement : the 
 ground was wonderfully limited considering 
 the number of the combatants ; there 
 was no extensive chain of operations, in- 
 cluding distant corps, and complicated 
 movements. The French army was thrown 
 upon the British and Prussians, without 
 reserve, or reference to combination ; and 
 the British and Prussians had to keep their 
 ground as entirely for themselves, as if 
 Europe had supplied no other troops for 
 the war. According to this simple way of 
 looking at the facts, it appears, that, the 
 hostile forces being about equal in strength 
 and equipment, but the French having 
 the advantage in unity of command, and
 
 AND THEIR TROOPS. 183 
 
 probably in veteran soldiers, the latter 
 were nevertheless beaten. Their defeat, 
 too, followed upon their own commence- 
 ment of the war, according to their own 
 plan, and at their own selected time. It 
 will scarcely be denied, that the means, of 
 which Buonaparte possessed himself on his 
 second return to France, were sufficient to 
 enable him to raise an army that ought to 
 have been competent to fight the British 
 and Prussians ; and, in point of fact, such 
 an army was raised, and was deemed by 
 its leaders, and by every individual belong- 
 ing to it, fully equal to defeating the troops 
 of the alliance collected on Brussels. It 
 was beaten, however, by these troops, 
 and, as no accident happened, as the French 
 were well officered*, well appointed, and 
 
 * There was a ciy, indeed, raised by the defeated 
 French, that they were betrayed. The vanity of a 
 Frenchman will always provide him with a consolation, 
 even in the most shameful and abject circumstances, 
 and at any expence of truth and probability. The Pa- 
 risians turned this excuse, as they do every thing, into 
 ridicule, and exhibited a caricature, in which one of 
 the imperial guard, having fallen into a ditch in his 
 flight, roars out, " Ok ! I am betrayed /" It was Ney 
 that was said to have betrayed the army, and the 
 N 4
 
 184* MERITS OF THE RIVAL GENERALS 
 
 zealous in their cause even to fury, the 
 conclusion \must be one of two, either 
 that their commander is a very inferior 
 general to those against whom he was then 
 opposed, or that his soldiers were still 
 more deficient in firmness, or other essen- 
 tial military qualifications. The battle 
 itself chiefly proved the existence of a 
 deficiency in the latter quarter : the mo- 
 ment not having yet come for the Duke of 
 Wellington to advance into France, and act 
 on a combined system of attack, and the 
 importance of Brussels not permitting him 
 to take any wide range, in conjunction with 
 Prince Blucher, to discomfit the enemy by 
 tactics, he had only to put his men on 
 their ground and leave them to maintain it, 
 he himself setting them a brilliant ex- 
 ample of presence of mind, courage, and 
 confidence. This he did, in a style that was 
 never surpassed, and which equals the finest 
 of those instances of coolness and heroism,. 
 
 military then attached all the horrid French execrations 
 to his name : a short time after this, Ney was to be 
 shot as a traitor, and then the same party eulogised him 
 as a model of every noble soldierly quality !
 
 AND THEIR TROOPS. 185 
 
 that have been shewn by great comman- 
 ders, and which have immortalized their 
 names, and given to history its chief in- 
 terest. His life was exposed, both on the 
 16th and 18th, like that of his meanest 
 soldier,* his staff was almost entirely 
 destroyed, and, on the last day, it cannot 
 be doubted, that he entered the field with 
 as thorough a spirit of devotion as ever 
 animated a Grecian or Roman warrior, 
 or the most romantic knight when engaged 
 in the most hazardous enterprize. In this 
 respect his conduct contrasts itself against 
 Buonaparte's, in a manner which, without 
 entering on the argument about sober 
 views of duty in common cases, is, at all 
 events, not unpleasant to English feelings. 
 There are important occasions, when even 
 duty unites with impulse to dictate to a 
 nobly-constituted mind, to incur imminent 
 hazards, as pledges of proper motives ; and 
 
 * On the 16th a French officer of dragoons, having 
 penetrated very far in a charge, was riding close to the 
 Duke, who turning to some soldiers that were near him, 
 said, " what ! will you allow him to escape !" The 
 Frenchman was taken prisoner within a few yards of 
 His Grace. I had this anecdote from an eye witness.
 
 186 MERITS OF THE RIVAL GENERALS 
 
 if the Duke of Wellington felt himself ta 
 stand in this predicament at Waterloo, how 
 much more natural and proper was it that 
 Buonaparte should consider himself as 
 placed in such a situation. He clearly had 
 no proper resource incase of defeat but death 
 that is to say, according to the rules 
 of these violent but gallant adventures. 
 The circumstance of his having dragged 
 a nation into a desperate hazard, without 
 regard but to his own ambition, should, at 
 least, have led him to shake off caution as 
 it concerned his own safety, when he found 
 that he had lost the stake for which he had 
 thrown so fearful a venture. Certainly, of 
 the two, the Duke of Wellington had not 
 the most cause to expose himself: it is 
 understood, however, that " the Emperor" 
 was never within the fire of musquetry, and 
 that his leading onward consisted of the 
 words " en avant" given to others, while 
 he remained behind. It really astounds 
 one to think of his again setting his face 
 towards Paris, after an overthrow so com- 
 plete and disgraceful, thus rapidly following 
 promises and vauntings so unqualified and 
 arrogant.
 
 AND THEIR TROOPS. 187 
 
 But the great strength of the victorious 
 cause on this occasion, lay in the sterling 
 native excellence of the British troops. Yet 
 some who very eagerly fly to this acknow- 
 ledgment to lessen the merits of their 
 general, should bethink them, first, that the 
 Duke of Wellington anticipated every body 
 else in stating what an advantage he had 
 in this respect, and, secondly, that the 
 fine qualities of heart, which they now find 
 to be so necessarily invincible, and so na- 
 turally the results of independent British 
 habits, were not sufficient to bespeak 
 from them the slightest confidence in what 
 our army would accomplish, before it left 
 them but this way of defaming the com- 
 mander by praising his men. The British 
 army and the Duke of Wellington are too 
 closely connected with each other to per- 
 mit this trick to be successful : they are to 
 all intents and purposes identified : it 
 is not possible to ascertain, if it were 
 grateful to inquire, how the division of 
 merit should be struck : all that can be 
 known is, that under the Duke, our army 
 has, from being thought very meanly of 
 in Europe, raised the military reputation 
 7
 
 188 MERITS OF THE RIVAL GENERALS 
 
 of this country to a level with its naval 
 fame, and that, by the help of our army, 
 the Duke has reached the pinnacle of mi- 
 litary honours, saved two kingdoms from 
 a fate which his censurers described as not 
 to be averted, and gained a victory which 
 leaves him no rival to contend with, and 
 England no enemy to fear. .4^ 
 
 Nothing certainly could be more ap- 
 parent than the superiority of the troops 
 of the three united kingdoms in these en- 
 gagements. It is quite clear, I presume, 
 that our countrymen evinced on that oc- 
 casion a quality which is at present peculiar 
 to themselves. The soldiers of other nations 
 are brave : in the superficial appearances of 
 enthusiasm, and the intelligence of indi- 
 viduals, the British army is surpassed by 
 others; but it alone has that quality which 
 may be termed the nobility of animal na- 
 ture ; which is called blood, and game, in 
 the inferior creatures, and forms a natural 
 and important distinction in the same 
 species. This quality derives the ability 
 to vanquish from an actual inability to yield, 
 and leaves to those who guide the conflict, 
 no need to estimate the extent of courage
 
 AND THEIR TROOPS. 18Q 
 
 to encounter, but simply to calculate the 
 amount of physical strength to sustain. 
 It is this which gives to the British troops 
 their universally-acknowledged superiority 
 at the awful and decisive moment of the 
 charge, when the dreadful and final test 
 is made, when all the resources of dex- 
 terity and the encouragements of artificial 
 feeling are as nothing, and the sterling 
 worth of each individual combatant is as- 
 sayed, by his being put to the direct proof 
 with his particular opponent. This supe- 
 riority has been incontestably our's through 
 the whole course of the late campaigns, 
 and it had its final triumph in its finest 
 display at Waterloo. The history of our 
 navy is the history of what this quality can 
 achieve ; and that it is properly national 
 may be inferred from the coincidence of 
 all our narratives of the past as well as the 
 present. The British officers at Brussels, 
 with whom I conversed, paid their enemies 
 many compliments as to their steadiness 
 and good countenance when standing fire, 
 but unanimously declared that they never 
 yet saw an instance of their meeting the 
 shock of our men's bayonets. My Uncle 
 12 "
 
 190 MERITS OT THE RIVAL GENERALS 
 
 Toby, who was the modestest as well as 
 the bravest of beings, declares the same, 
 and he is supported by the excellent evi- 
 dence of Trim. Speaking of the French, 
 the former says, " If they have the ad- 
 vantage of a wood, or you give them a 
 moment's time to entrench themselves, 
 they are a nation which will pop and pop 
 for ever at you. There is no way but to 
 march coolly up to them, receive their fire, 
 and fall in upon- them, pell-mell : Ding- 
 dong, added Trim : Horse and foot, said 
 my Uncle Toby : Helter-skelter, said 
 Trim : Right and left, cried my Uncle 
 Toby : Blood-an'-ounds ! shouted the 
 Corporal. The battle raged : Yorick drew 
 his chair a little to one side for safety !" 
 Tristam Shandy. 
 
 Yet, although the battle of Waterloo, 
 itself, may not, for the reasons already 
 stated, supply a decisive test of the talents 
 of the rival commanders, it forms a material 
 point in the general chain of evidence, 
 and the sum of this evidence is, that Buo- 
 naparte's success is chiefty to be traced to 
 what he disregarded, and Wellington's to 
 what he considered. It only required that
 
 AND THEIR TROOPS. 191 
 
 the two systems should come in contact, 
 that the former might be shivered to pieces 
 by the latter. Buonaparte's genius, as a 
 ruler and general, if genius it must be 
 called, was of a very summary and simple 
 kind : it consisted in saying " let this be 
 done" no matter at what expence, no mat- 
 ter by what violation. This certainly gave 
 him some important advantages over those 
 who trouble themselves to find how a thing 
 can be effected with the least expence and 
 the least violation : but, as has been ob- 
 served in a former part of this work, when 
 his character was under consideration, a 
 plan of this sort includes great reverses 
 even more surely than great successes, 
 and is sure to fail when its enemies at length 
 unite energy with their caution, and ac- 
 tivity with their reserves. From the cir- 
 cumstances of Europe when Buonaparte 
 first came forward on the scene, it hap- 
 pened that it was long before he was so 
 encountered, but his glory, even when 
 most splendid, was of a nature very coarse 
 and unpleasant. Formerly, it used to be 
 military science, acting with certain pro- 
 portioned numbers, under certain rules of
 
 192 MERITS OF THE RIVAL GENERALS 
 
 forbearance ; forbearance as to the in- 
 habitants and the troops, and science as to 
 the acknowledged rules of war. Buonaparte 
 rushed in, and carried all before him, not 
 by refining farther on the methods in ex- 
 istence, but by stripping the military prac- 
 tice of every thing ornamental, generous, 
 and humane. His gains were made at an 
 expence of his soldiers' lives which no 
 general would before have contemplated. 
 To carry on this violent system of tactics, 
 armies were levied, without mercy either 
 for the countries furnishing the men, or 
 those who were to provide them with sup- 
 plies ; bivouacking superseded encamp- 
 ments, winter campaigns were substituted 
 for winter quarters, masses were violently 
 thrown forward where lines were before 
 neatly deployed. What was all this but 
 a retrograde step towards the clumsiness of 
 barbarism? It was dropping the small 
 sword to take up the club : but, in its 
 first appearances, it was deceiving, and the 
 imposition assisted its own effect. " It 
 must be done* was thought a god-like fiat, 
 whereas it was half suggested by a the- 
 atrical affectation, and half by a savage
 
 AXD THEIR TROOPS; 1Q3 
 
 insensibility. Rules of business were ill- 
 observed, rules of society were disregarded, 
 and rules of honour despised, thus was 
 constituted the greatness of Buonaparte. 
 The moral and political system, the foun- 
 dations of which he thus attempted to lay, 
 was the most torpid and nefarious in its 
 character and tendency that ever sprung 
 from the evil desires of a " bold bad man." 
 It had the coldness of philosophy without 
 its wisdom, the fierceness of war without its 
 heart and glow, the unsparing hand of 
 reform without the rectitude of its inten- 
 tions. Could it have been imposed on the 
 world, the world would not have been 
 worth living in ; for we should have had 
 names without things, and promises with- 
 out even the momentary meaning to per- 
 form. But a system of this sort, which 
 appeals to no human prejudice, and is also 
 hostile to every rational and just principle, 
 cannot last ; and the victories finally gained 
 over the extraordinary individual in ques- 
 tion, belong to the same class of natural 
 events with that ultimate ascendancy, which, 
 in private life, regular men usually acquire 
 over empirical speculators, who may at first
 
 194* MERITS OF THE RIVAL GENERALS 
 
 have dazzled the imaginations of their neigh- 
 bours by the brilliancy of their establishments, 
 and the unlimited extent of their dealings. 
 Buonaparte's mode of transacting business 
 with his minister of finance, explains the 
 man and his means altogether. He always 
 drew up the budget himself, and would put 
 down arbitrary sums under the various 
 heads of supply. The produce of one tax 
 he would estimate at (let us say), three 
 millions of francs : the minister well knew 
 that it must fall short of this sum by at least 
 a million, but it was not his business to 
 say any thing. The Emperor had so rated 
 it, and " it must be done" was the imperial 
 reply to all objections. To do him justice, 
 however, when he said it must be done, 
 he left his servants to do it as they best 
 could. He bound them to none of the 
 prescribed forms, or legal limitations. He 
 quarrelled with no irregularity in the pro- 
 cess, if the result was complete ; nay, he 
 did not much care what amount of future 
 inconvenience and embarrassment was laid 
 up for his administration, provided the 
 present hour was got over with eclat, and 
 the want of the moment supplied. In this
 
 AND THEIR TROOPS. 195 
 
 wild, preposterous, ruffian-like way, did this 
 great genius conduct his affairs: being 
 without scruples, reserves, or foresights, 
 he had much to expend in his first enter- 
 prises, but he became proportionably de- 
 stitute at last, and even his most ob- 
 stinate admirers must admit, that the utmost 
 of his success was not so remarkable as the 
 extreme of his overthrow. This admission, 
 if they consider it well, will be found to 
 include all that has been said in these few 
 last pages. 
 
 The total want of personal honor amongst 
 the French military of the present day, is 
 universally remarked by all who have had 
 any thing to do with them as friends or 
 enemies. This stripping off of the soldier's 
 moral lace and feather, was, in a great 
 measure, the work of Buonaparte. A nice 
 individual sense, cherished by his instru- 
 ments, would have weakened his simple 
 powers, diverted part of his means, and 
 altogether have diluted his system. It 
 would, for instance, have stood sadly in his 
 way in Spain. Unfortunate as he found 
 that war turn out, it would have been more 
 rapidly so if his officers had kept themselves 
 o 2
 
 MERITS OF THE RIVAL GENERALS 
 
 Within those rules which their great op- 
 ponent observed. In the collection of the 
 Duke of Wellington's orders to his army, 
 rnany pages will be found devoted to the 
 severity of rebuke and the strictness of re- 
 gulation, having but one purpose, namely, 
 that of protecting the unfortunate inhabitants 
 of the country which was the seat of the war. 
 From the history of the French revolutionary 
 campaigns, ~ the glories of which, accord- 
 ing to the French nation's fancy, will be 
 so brilliant in the eyes of posterity, what 
 instances of an equally honorable care can 
 be adduced ? I believe I may say not one ; 
 while it iS stained with an undeviating and 
 systerh'atic practice of pillage and cruelty, 
 that can only be paralleled in the ac- 
 counts of modern wars, by adducing some 
 few generally-reprobated instances of ex- 
 traordinary outrage. The Duke of Wel- 
 lington's talents as a general are not fairly 
 estimated, unless account be taken of what 
 he spared as well as of what he subdued, 
 ~ ahd of the fame which he secured to 
 his country, by coupling unexampled jus- 
 tice, forbearance, and humanity, with the 
 more common military qualities of courage
 
 AND THEIR TROOPS. 197 
 
 and enterprize. The general acknowledg- 
 weqt of Europe to this effect has been 
 gained by the Duke of Wellington for the 
 British army. Along the whole line of 
 road, through Flanders into France, and up 
 to Paris, I heard it repeated ; and on 
 my arrival in that city, on the occasion of 
 my second visit to it, the good behaviour 
 of the British troops was almost the first 
 remark that saluted my ears, coming as it 
 did from a French gentleman, who, as it 
 afterwards turned out, was not much in- 
 clined to think kindly of the conquerors 
 of France. The commander was no doubt 
 .assisted in producing this favourable im- 
 pression by the national character of his 
 .men, which certainly does not include 
 so much of ferocity as that of the French. 
 It was said to me by a British officer, that 
 our soldiers would steal readily enough, 
 if they were not kept to severe disci- 
 pline, but that they were very seldom 
 found to commit murder. The French 
 soldier, on the other hand, very frequently 
 manifested a propensity to deviate from 
 simple murder into ingenious cruelty. 
 The Duke of Wellington's ability has 
 o 3
 
 198 MERITS OF THE RIVAL GENERALS 
 
 been proved to be of a thoroughly British 
 and sterling species. It includes those two 
 fine qualities, honesty and common sense 
 to temper, form, and apply the other more 
 volatile properties of a well-furnished 
 mind. It is not because a man can 
 dance on the slack rope, and stand on one 
 leg, and sit on a chair nicely balanced, 
 that he is to be considered likely to 
 beat, in a fair trial of the natural manly 
 powers, another who only treads on sure 
 ground, and is altogether more slow and 
 sober in his movements and gait. Qualities 
 should exist in a proper connection, and 
 form a certain completeness of character, 
 calculated for the general connection of 
 human affairs : this completeness indicates 
 a much higher order of intellect than that 
 from which emanate certain regardless and 
 desultory impulses, which gain much only 
 by leaving more unguarded, which over- 
 come by accidental surprise rather than by 
 substantial skill, and therefore can only pro- 
 vide for a fortuitous pre-eminence, which 
 is sure to vanish when circumstances per- 
 mit others to recover from their fortuitous 
 weakness. The Duke has won success out
 
 AND THEIR TROOPS. 199 
 
 of difficulty and disheartenedness, and reared 
 the height of his triumphs by laying cer- 
 tainly their foundations. Thus, instead of 
 giving us cause to fear as his enterprise 
 became gradually of a vast and overshadow- 
 ing magnitude, he rendered its size a se- 
 curity for its strength, each advance resting 
 solidly on what was next below, and being 
 connected with it as effect is connected 
 with cause. To this first class of character 
 the Duke of Wellington is generally con- 
 sidered to belong, by those foreigners who 
 have written and spoken of him, -and it 
 is not from his usual omission of the word 
 victory in his dispatches, or even from 
 the hasty, or, let it be said, the slovenly 
 style of those descriptions which he chooses 
 to give of what he performs in no slight or 
 slovenly way, that his countrymen should 
 derive a title to undervalue him. If they 
 cannot understand his merits as a general, 
 until he takes a lesson from the graces of a 
 French bulletin, he will still no doubt 
 be contented to say to them, 
 
 " Tis yet to know, 
 
 Which, when I know that boasting is an honour, 
 I shall promulgate." 
 
 o 4
 
 200 MERITS OF THE RIVAL GENERALS, &C. 
 
 No one feature of his military character 
 is more remarkable in the eyes of foreigners, 
 than the disposition which leads him to 
 let his achievements go so far beyond his 
 boastings. The simple language of his 
 dispatch, announcing to the British go- 
 vernment and nation the great victory of 
 Waterloo, struck an astonished admiration 
 into the minds of the people of Brussels : 
 what a different thing would have been 
 made of it in one of Buonaparte's bulletins, 
 they said? But they felt the superiority 
 of that cast of feeling which left the facts 
 to speak for themselves. In fine, a de- 
 cidedly generic mark of high genius is to 
 be found in the confident independence of 
 the Duke of Wellington's plans, formed 
 as they are, in the silent and inapparent 
 thoughtfulness of his own breast, and 
 utterly unknown to all about him, until they 
 issue forth, in prompt and decided orders, 
 calling for obedience not consultation, 
 and well-justifying the self-sufficiency in 
 which they originate, by their own unfail- 
 ing adequacy to produce the desired 
 results.
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 201 
 
 THESE observations on certain debate- 
 able points, may, not inappropriately, fill 
 up a space between the previous account 
 of what occurred in the field of Waterloo 
 on the day of action, and the description 
 of its appearance when I paid it a visit. 
 Its suggestions, on the latter occasion, were 
 chiefly addressed to the imagination, 
 and it may be as well, that before proceed- 
 ing to these, we have got rid of argument 
 as well as of narration. 
 
 The first visit to a field of battle, made by 
 one totally unaccustomed to scenes of this 
 description, throws him perhaps more out of 
 his ordinary habits of mind than any other 
 conceivable novelty would. He is now 
 about to see what it was not very likely he 
 ever should see, such places being much 
 out of the course of the inhabitants of these 
 islands at least. The great cause of ex- 
 citement, however, lies in his being on the 
 point of converting into a visible realitj 
 what had previously existed in his mind 
 as a shadowy, uncertain, but awful fancy. 
 In this respect it may rank next to leaving 
 this world altogether, to realize our doubtful 
 but anxious ideas of the next. The shap- 
 ings of the imagination will usually appear
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OP BATTLE. 
 
 to have been formed on a scale of more 
 prominent magnitude, and to include more 
 of the external signs of the surprising, 
 than the truth bears out : but there 
 is something in unexpected simplicity of 
 appearance, and an unassuming aspect, 
 when contrasted with prodigious actions, 
 and important results, which is perhaps, on 
 the whole, more touching than visible " gor- 
 gons or chimeras dire." In this way, cer- 
 tainly, I was struck by the plain of Wa- 
 terloo. No display, I think, of carnage, 
 violence, and devastation, could have had 
 so pathetic an effect, as the quiet orderly 
 look of its fields, brightened with the sun- 
 shine, but thickly strewed with little heaps 
 of up-turned earth, which no sunshine could 
 brighten. On these the eye instantly fell, 
 and the heart, having but a slight call 
 made upon it from without, pronounced 
 with more solemnity to itself, the dreadful 
 thing that lay below, scarcely covered with 
 a sprinkling of mould. On a closer in- 
 spection, the ravages of the battle were very 
 apparent, but neither the battered walls, 
 splintered doors, and torn roofs of the farm 
 houses of La Haye Sainte, astounding as 
 
 siu io affi
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 203 
 
 they certainly were, nor even the mi- 
 serably scorched relics of what must have 
 been the beautiful Hougoumont, with its 
 wild orchard, its parterred flower garden, 
 its gently-dignified chateau, and its humble 
 offices, now confounded and overthrown by 
 a visitation, which, from its traces, seemed 
 to have included every possible sort of de- 
 struction, not all these harsh features of 
 the contest had, to my mind at least, so 
 direct and irresistible an appeal, as the 
 earthy hillocks which tripped the step on 
 crossing a hedge-row, clearing a fence, or 
 winding along among the grass that over- 
 hung a secluded path-way. In some spots 
 they lay in thick clusters and long ranks ; 
 in others, one would present itself alone : 
 betwixt these a black scathed circle told 
 that fire had been employed to consume 
 as worthless refuse, what parents cherished, 
 friends esteemed, and women loved. The 
 summer wind that shook the branches of , 
 the trees, and waved the clover and the 
 gaudy heads of the thistles, brought along 
 with it a foul stench, still more hideous to 
 the mind than to the offended sense. The 
 foot that startled the small bird from its
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 rest amidst the grass, disturbed at the same 
 time, some poor remnant of a human being, 
 
 either a bit of his showy habiliment in 
 which he took pride, or of his war- 
 like accoutrements which were his glory, 
 
 or of the frame work of his body itself, 
 which he felt as comeliness and strength, 
 the instant before it became a mass of 
 senseless matter. 
 
 The length of the road from Brussels to 
 v the village of Waterloo, is about nine miles, 
 and the view, as you leave the city, is very 
 pleasing, and even beautiful. The forest 
 of Soignies soon receives you, and it has 
 a deep, matted, impervious look, which 
 jraore frequently characterizes the woods 
 of the continent than those .of .oua* istlands, 
 and which gives them a good deal of poe- 
 tical interest. My companion, a military 
 Jriend, pointed out spots, as we passed 
 along, where the troops halted for an in- 
 stant, where such a general officer rode 
 i)y, where some particular circumstance 
 of confusion or distress took place when 
 the wounded and the baggage were return- 
 ing. The remains of bayonet sheaths, the 
 tatters of caps and jackets, were seen lying
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 205 
 
 along the sides of the road, when we got 
 about four or five miles from Brussels, and 
 so continued for the rest of the way. Many 
 bodies were buried along the whole track, 
 the wounded having sunk at different dis- 
 tances as they crept from the field of 
 battle, according as their strength failed 
 them. For many weeks after the engage- 
 ment, labourers were employed upon the 
 line of this road to cover the remains of 
 human beings. Behind our carriage, was 
 an English sociable with a party of our 
 countrymen and women on the same 
 errand with ourselves : before it was an 
 English tandem ; and, at the doors of the 
 small inns, belonging to one or two hamlets, 
 several English equipages were standing. 
 The people of this foreign land seemed all 
 to look as if they expected us, when we 
 met them on the road. They nodded their 
 heads to each other when they passed us, 
 as if saying, " More of the English 
 for Waterloo !" At last we entered this 
 pretty considerable village, the name of 
 which has such an import in the minds of 
 its visitors, that its quiet rustic look almost 
 surprises them. Waterloo ! what a change
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 has suddenly taken place in all the asso- 
 ciations of that word ! From the obscure 
 indications of the spot where a few dull 
 Flemish rustics had their humble abodes, 
 and went through their monotonous 
 daily tasks, it has been raised to a 
 par with the most famous names of the 
 world, never to be forgotten until some 
 interruption happens to the human race, 
 and sure to form the inspirement of many 
 a future impulse of patriotic emotion, of 
 fiery ambition, and perpetuating and adorn- 
 ing genius. Our carriage rolled on past 
 its humble church, while at the opposite 
 inn we saw a collection of vehicles, all be- 
 longing to strangers, horses led by boys 
 backwards and forwards, and a bustle 
 almost as great as occurs in a country town 
 of England, when it happens that a horse- 
 race, or a boxing match, takes place in its 
 vicinity. 
 
 It is more than a mile from Waterloo 
 to the small hamlet of Mont St. Jean. 
 Probably the Duke of Wellington took 
 little or no note of these few houses, in the 
 immediate front of which his army was 
 formed, and which might therefore have
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 207 
 
 been expected to give their name to the 
 battle, notwithstanding that his head- 
 quarters were at Waterloo, at the inn of 
 which he slept on the night of the 17th. 
 Whether it were accident, or intention, 
 however, that caused his Grace's selection 
 of the latter place, to distinguish his achieve- 
 ment, we have reason to be pleased that 
 such a choice was made, for the appella- 
 tion that must occur so often in future his- 
 tory, and which is so frequently referred to 
 by those of the present time, accords well 
 with the language of the people, to whom, 
 as a property it belongs. 
 
 Almost every house in the hamlet of 
 Mont St. Jean, poured forth women and 
 old men, to every fresh arrival of visitors, 
 who eagerly offered relics of the battle 
 for sale. From the complete cuirass, the 
 valuable sabre, carbine, and case of pistols, 
 down to the buttons that had been torn 
 from the jackets of the slain, all the 
 wreck of the field had been industriously 
 collected, and each article found ready pur- 
 chasers. Letters taken from the pockets 
 of the dead, were frequently offered, and 
 were always eagerly bought. In a bundle, 
 12
 
 08 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 which fell into my hands, I found one 
 addressed to a " dear brother" written from 
 Lyons, and congratulating the person to 
 whom it was sent, on his being so fortunate 
 as to receive from the Emperor a situation 
 in the old imperial guard. It mentions the 
 death of a near relation, and says, " but we 
 must console ourselves by force." The letter, 
 with its congratulations, and condolences, 
 could have come to hand only a day or 
 two before he who received it was removed 
 beyond all further loss or gain. " Here's 
 fine revolution ;" as Hamlet says, " an' 
 we had the trick to see it." In the 
 pockets of the dead German soldiers, it is 
 said, several bibles were found, and in 
 those of the slaughtered French, many of 
 the loose pamphlets and collections of 
 songs which are vended in the Palais 
 Royal. 
 
 From St. Jean, the road immediately 
 rises up the back of the ridge, on the 
 height and in the front of which, the in- 
 fantry of the Duke of Wellington's army 
 was formed in line. The cavalry, at the 
 beginning of the battle, were posted on the 
 St. Jean side of the eminence. The ascent
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 209 
 
 is easy : you reach the top unexpectedly, 
 and the whole field of battle is then at once 
 before the eye. Its sudden burst has the 
 effect of a shock, and few, I believe, are 
 found to put any question for the first five 
 minutes. The point from whence this com- 
 plete view of the scene, so often pictured 
 in imagination, first presents itself, is one 
 of the most interesting that it includes. 
 It is the summit of the ridge close to the 
 road, over which hangs an old picturesque 
 tree, with a few straggling branches pro- 
 jecting in grotesque shapes from its ragged 
 trunk. The British position extended 011 
 the right and left of the road, for the extent 
 of about a mile and three quarters, along 
 the top of a continued line of gentle eminen- 
 ces, immediately confronted by very similar 
 heights, distant from half to three quarters 
 of a mile, along which the French army 
 was posted. The intermediate plain, and 
 the ascent of our ridge, form the field of 
 battle. The tree already mentioned, fixed 
 on the bank above the high road from 
 Brussels to Charleroi, denotes the centre 
 of our position, and, the Duke of Wel- 
 lington having been near it the greater
 
 210 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 part of the day, it goes by the name of the 
 " Wellington tree." I found it much shat- 
 tered with balls, both grape and musket ; 
 all of which had been picked out by vi- 
 sitors. Its branches and trunk were terri- 
 bly splintered. It still retained, however, 
 the vitality of its growth, and will, pro- 
 bably, for many future years, be the first 
 saluting sign to our children and our chil- 
 dren's children, who, with feelings of a 
 sacred cast, come to gaze on this theatre 
 of their ancestors' deeds. We who now 
 describe them, must soon join those whose 
 fall we commemorate, and other gene- 
 rations will have their curiosity excited, 
 only to follow us where all human interests 
 cease ; but this venerable tree will re- 
 main, a long survivor of the grand battle 
 in which it was no slight sufferer, a 
 monument of its circumstances, a con- 
 spicuous mark to denote and to impress. 
 Its old head, rising over the graves of so 
 many gallant men, who dropped under 
 what it withstood, struck one as convey- 
 ing a mortifying reproach of the weak- 
 ness of our species. An empire has wi- 
 thered under its shade ; the hopes of am-
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 211 
 
 bition, the prayers of affection, the strength 
 of the brave, and the skill of talent, lie 
 abortive beneath its branches : yet it will 
 continue to put forth its leaves in the 
 spring, to break the winds of autumn, > 
 and to sustain the snows of winter, to 
 overhang succeeding crops, as it overhung 
 the thinning ranks of armies, to shelter 
 the bird, whose note shall echo over fields, 
 that groaned under the crushing wheels of 
 cannon, and shook under the thundering 
 tramp of charging squadrons. u:> J>j|/fo 
 A little way down from this tree, keeping 
 near to the road, is the farm of La Haye 
 Sainte. Here I saw for the first time in 
 my life, a specimen of what war does to 
 the habitations of the peaceful. The spec- 
 tacle was one of horror, and when con- 
 trasted in the mind with the quiet and 
 secure cottages and farm houses of Britain, 
 enforced a lively sense of the good fortune 
 of our country. The garden was a heap 
 of devastation : hedges were levelled, walls 
 broken down. The door was riddled 
 through and through with all sorts of shot, 
 and furnished a most appalling proof of 
 the fury of the attack, and the determina- 
 p 2
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 tion of the defence. This post, after a 
 most gallant resistance by the party to 
 whom it was entrusted, was forced by the 
 enemy, and every soul within the building 
 bayonetted. Its situation must have ren- 
 dered this a most alarming- event. On 
 entering into the court yard, the aspect of 
 wretchedness and destruction was still more 
 fearful. The farmer and his family had 
 hastily fled, nor vras there as yet any 
 indications of their returning. A little 
 child came out to us, begging for a sous ; 
 the roofs of the dwelling house and offices 
 were knocked into great holes by bombs 
 and cannon balls : the windows were hi- 
 deous wrecks, not a pane of glass re- 
 maining in the whole range, the frames 
 all broken, and -the fragments hanging most 
 forlornly. The extent of the destruction 
 went beyond all I had ever conceived of 
 such scenes, assisted as one's imagination 
 has of late been by numerous and minute 
 descriptions. 
 
 From the farm yard I walked into an 
 enclosed orchard : the combat here had 
 been dreadfully fierce : the paper of the 
 exploded cartridges still lay thickly on the
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 ground, and the caps of the soldiers were 
 strewed about, most of them having holes 
 through them, by which had entered the 
 death of their wearers. The heart exerted 
 itself to discredit the eye, when the latter 
 testified that to some of these decaying bits 
 of felt or leather, the corrupting remains 
 of the heads of human beings were at- 
 tached. In this orchard the trees were 
 numerous, and in general very slender ; 
 but neither my companion nor myself, 
 though we took a regular survey for the 
 purpose, could find one that had escaped 
 being hit by a ball. After observing this 
 I was only astonished that the number of 
 men destroyed on these dreadful occasions 
 is not greater than it is. 
 
 Many small heaps of newly up-turned 
 earth disfigured the pleasant green of this 
 orchard, which we quitted by a torn aper- 
 ture in its hedge, through which the French 
 had forced a violent passage, under a shower 
 of shot, and at the point of the bayonet. 
 The flowered twigs now hung beautifully 
 and silently over the relics of the carnage, 
 and the signs of the tumult. A hasty step 
 across the small ditch, brought me almost 
 p 3
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 upon one of the graves, that were dropped 
 hereabout very thickly. The putrid smell 
 J was extremely strong, and the bodies 
 seemed to be hardly covered : a narrow 
 rural footpath wound itself emblematic of 
 the gentleness and peace of nature, through 
 these horrid monuments of man's fury. It 
 led us from the fields to the road, along 
 which we advanced towards the French 
 position. Bodies were extended here by 
 the side of the waggon ruts, only covered 
 with the loose gravel ; a man's hand shewed 
 itself to terrify away the look from one of 
 these heaps. As the road began to rise 
 towards the inn of La Belle Alliance, we 
 came, by crossing it in a direction to 
 the left, as looking towards the French 
 position, to the spot where Buonaparte 
 stood, partially sheltered by a sand bank, 
 when he was farthest in advance, and di- 
 rected the last charge made by his Im- 
 perial Guard. Turning now again to look 
 back on the English position, the extent 
 of field on the other side of the road 
 from La Haye Sainte, upward to the ridge 
 which is separated from the Wellington 
 tree by the same common track, appeared
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 215 
 
 to have been the theatre of still more terri- 
 ble combating than any of which we had 
 as yet observed the vestiges. It was here 
 that the Imperial Guard charged upon the 
 hedge where the Highlanders and Scotch 
 Greys were drawn up, and it was here 
 that they were slaughtered. It was from 
 this side too that the Prussians arrived, 
 overwhelming the already routed French. 
 The graves here lay in large collections, 
 and pits contained the bodies of hundreds 
 of horses. Bayonet sheaths, bits of caps, 
 and the rags of clothes, covered the ground. 
 We walked on to the famous house of 
 La Belle Alliance. It is the most conve- 
 venient mark for indicating Buonaparte's 
 place in the battle, as the tree previously 
 mentioned denotes the, post of our com- 
 mander. In this, as in other respects, the 
 latter has .the advantage : La Belle Alli- 
 ance had been sufficiently repaired to enable 
 its proprietor to derive profit from the cir- 
 cumstances of the time : it had all the 
 vulgar coarse appearance, when I saw it, of 
 a crowded suttling house, and gave a turn 
 to the feelings, very different from that 
 P 4
 
 216 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 which they received under the influence 
 of the Wellington monument. Its two 
 disordered rooms were full of people drink- 
 ing, as they stood or walked about. Every 
 one was putting questions, calling for re- 
 freshments, their horses, or their guides. 
 There were four or five British parties on 
 the field on the day of my visit to it, and 
 two foreign ones, I believe. Miserable pa- 
 ralytics, aged men and women bent dou- 
 ble, and dirty ragged children, gathered 
 about you here, clamorously importunate 
 that you should buy from them eagles, 
 buttons, Serjeants' books of companies, 
 grape-shot, and other refuse of the battle. 
 " Did these bones cost no more the breeding, 
 but to play at loggats with them /" 
 
 The two rooms of this Flemish public 
 house, offered a most singular spectacle in 
 the scribbling on their walls, which were 
 covered, like a seat in Kensington Gardens, 
 with names, inscriptions, drawings, devices, 
 and poetry ; all the fruits of those "longings 
 after immortality," that are peculiarly im- 
 pulsive in the breasts of our country folks, 
 if we many judge by their peculiar taste for
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 217 
 
 these records, written and hieroglyphic. 
 The whimsical humour that distinguishes 
 the public character of these islands, had 
 not been at all repressed by the awful cir^ 
 cumstances of the situation. A " Mr. John 
 Todd," had been careful to leave behind 
 him information that he " came to the field 
 of battle at Waterloo, the 10th July 1815," 
 and some one had done him the justice 
 to supply the deficiency, for which his 
 modesty was accountable, by adding, "veni, 
 vidi, vici /" There was something less plea- 
 sant in the bit of biography, tacked by some 
 impartial person to the rather too concise 
 history, which an individual had thought 
 proper to give of his interesting self, in 
 the words " Thomas Jackson :" a pencil 
 inscription in another hand, rendered the 
 memorial less meagre, and more instruc- 
 tive, by stating, that " he was hanged at 
 the last assizes for sheep stealing !" The 
 portrait of " Thomas SutclifFe, of the second 
 Life-guards," had been delineated on the 
 wall by some friendly hand, in coal outline : 
 a critic on the fine arts, jealous probably 
 of the honour thus paid, had endeavoured
 
 218 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF TATTLE. 
 
 to depreciate it by putting the words " ugly 
 theef" in very prominent connection with 
 this otherwise flattering imitation. The 
 higher flights of the muse were not wanting 
 in this collection of the effusions of elegant 
 imaginations. The following verse seemed 
 to me worthy of selection from several : 
 
 " The tyrant thought our army to destroy, 
 And Belgium to regain by his deceit, 
 But British valour did his hopes annoy, 
 And warm reception did each project meet." 
 
 Less splendid than these commemora- 
 tions of individuals, was the small branch 
 of fir, which had been stuck on the top of 
 a heap of earth, at the back of the house, 
 under which was laid the body of a French 
 general, who had died here of the wounds 
 which he received in the battle that raged 
 below. 
 
 From La Belle Alliance we walked across 
 the ridge of the French position, to the 
 left, as now looking to the English lines, 
 until we reached the ruins of Hugoumont, 
 which formed a strong post in advance of 
 the British right, held by a small detach- 
 ment of the English Guards and Hano-
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 219 
 
 verians, in spite of the most furious at- 
 tempts of the enemy, to get possession of 
 it. In the course of our walk, we stumbled 
 into the deep holes made by the shot from 
 our guns, which had plunged into the midst 
 of the French columns. Every now and 
 then we crossed broad rugged tracks, which 
 seemed as if they had been swept by some 
 fiery up-tearing stream, that had hardened 
 in excrescences on the surface of the earth. 
 These were the traces of the squadrons of 
 French cavalry, and denoted the directions 
 in which they gallopped into the battle. 
 Here, too, the heaps of dead were scattered 
 about, and numerous parties of the pea- 
 santry were employed in raking more earth 
 over the bodies, their first thin covering of 
 mould having been in many instances 
 washed away by the rains. 
 
 The gentle ascent, through a beautiful 
 orchard wood, to the chateau of Hugou- 
 mont, presented the most delightful rural 
 images, in close connection with the un- 
 equivocal signs of death and horror. Every 
 tree here, also, was wounded by the balls, 
 and the fragments of caps and clothing, 
 indicated what was covered by the many
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 brown hillocks of earth, over which we 
 were obliged to step. 
 
 The buildings of Hugoumont were in- 
 finitely more shattered than even those of 
 La Haye Sainte. They belong to a gen- 
 tleman of independent circumstances, who, 
 before the battle, had in this spot one of 
 the pleasantest, and most tranquil-looking 
 retreats that can be imagined. The gar- 
 den, which had been laid out with great 
 care, in the old style of parterres and walks, 
 was the chief post of the English Guards, 
 who obstinately resisted the inveterate at- 
 tacks of the large columns moved by the 
 enemy on this, at times insulated, position. 
 These attacks were the commencement of 
 the battle, and were repeated in the violent 
 style of Buonaparte, with encreased means, 
 but were all finally unsuccessful. In one 
 corner the most terrible ravages attested 
 the violence with which the enemy strove 
 to force a passage : trees were felled and 
 laid cross-wise for the purpose of defence, 
 and in a single spot, a mere point, 
 fifty dead bodies lie together, where they 
 all fell. Near to this, there is a black 
 scorched space, where six hundred human 
 11
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 221 
 
 corpses, found in these grounds, were col- 
 lected and burnt. Fire had been set to the 
 buildings in the course of the engagement, 
 and, in short, the whole place seemed to 
 have been the theatre of some supernatural 
 mischief, some celebration of infernal 
 rites, or manifestation of heavenly ven- 
 geance. 
 
 Proceeding round, to return to the center 
 of the British position by its right, we went 
 along the ridge which here bends backward 
 in the shape of a semi-circle. Near a clus- 
 ter of trees, the fight seemed to have been 
 very heavy : about this spot I observed the 
 complete impression of a man's body on 
 the ground, as distinctly marked as if he 
 had fallen on the snow : he had been of 
 a large size, probably either a Life-guards- 
 man or a cuirassier, and the hole, which 
 had taken the shape of his head, was full 
 of a corrupted fluid, that one shuddered to 
 look at. Downward from this, along the 
 easy slope, which slants off to the farm of 
 La Haye Sainte, the charges of the cavalry 
 had trampled deep scarrings into the 
 ground : all the surface of the field here
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 was torn and scattered by the hurricane of 
 the battle : here too we came upon vast 
 pits, in each of which hundreds of horses 
 had been buried, and which flung a fearful 
 stench over the whole extent of this most 
 impressive scene. 
 
 Returned again to the Wellington tree, 
 we walked from it, along the position of the 
 left wing of the British army. A broken 
 and ragged hedge fringes the top of the line 
 of eminence after crossing the road, and 
 a long rank of graves, lying under this 
 hedge, intimates the loss of the brave high- 
 landers, who from here met and destroyed 
 the imperial guard. 
 
 But enough of particular description has 
 now been given ; I hope, however, not too 
 much. The public and private interests, 
 connecting themselves with the events that 
 have left these affecting vestiges, warrant 
 a considerable minuteness of detail. Cu- 
 riosity cannot be easily surfeited, nor feeling 
 palled on such a theme ; and I trust that I 
 have not come too late to experience a 
 portion of the advantage which has thus 
 been enjoyed by the many writers who have
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 223 
 
 taken Waterloo for their subject. But to 
 my mind, I must confess, it appears, that 
 there can be no tiring in dwelling on what 
 directs and kindles the contemplation of 
 gigantic efforts of character, called up by 
 stupendous circumstances, including almost 
 every ingredient of sublimity, such as 
 pomp, terror, triumph, power, and weak- 
 ness. I would set him down, at once, as 
 either diseased or dull, who would object, 
 either in the tone of humanity or philoso- 
 phy, to the gross exhibitions of these scenes. 
 It is true the materials are of blood, and 
 the various signs of carnage, but the tem- 
 per that shrinks from the spectacle cannot 
 know of what human nature consists, of 
 what it is capable, and how it should be 
 treated. Some who are forward to repre- 
 sent in a favourable light that faulty frame 
 of personal disposition which engenders 
 wars, shrink back within their pampered 
 sensibilities, from all that can direct their 
 imaginations to the actual features of these 
 mortal contests. But this is surely revers- 
 ing the healthy process of a well-constituted 
 mind : the external phenomenon is often
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 grand, when the cause is dark and pesti- 
 lential : the effects in those who are in- 
 fluenced, belong to the highest order of 
 poetry, but the influence itself is hateful 
 selfishness^ For the few, there may be 
 exaltations and exercises of spirit, of a purer 
 and loftier kind than any that great battles 
 can furnish, but the animations of the lat- 
 ter are by far the most Universally operative 
 to lift, to inflame, to agitate, to stir the hu- 
 man affections, to extend the connected 
 chain of feelings, to call forth what is most 
 peculiarly human in the nature of man, - i - 
 what chiefly distinguishes him from the 
 inferior animals. What genius can do for 
 some by its exertions in literature and art 
 a battle can do for all, namely strengthen 
 the action of the faculties, widen the 
 sphere of the sympathies, and encrease 
 the ardour of the passions. A battle 
 and a devotional exercise, are the only t 
 means of raising up the style of thought 
 and feeling in common breasts, to the 
 standard of keen spirits and refined fancies. 
 There is on these occasions a grand com- 
 munity of soul, pervading multitudes, who,
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 225 
 
 ia all common cases, and on all common 
 subjects, have scarcely a point of contact, 
 or a clue to sympathy. There will ever be 
 exceptions ; there will ever be grovellers 
 and dastards in war, and hypocrites in re- 
 ligion, but enthusiasm generally takes 
 place under these stimulants, and en- 
 thusiasm causes " the toe of the peasant to 
 come near the heel of the courtier." 
 
 The feeling on leaving the field of Wa- 
 terloo, was that which attends committing 
 a paltry desertion. What right had the 
 living thus, as a matter of course, to quit 
 the graves of the dead, to go about their 
 pleasures, and their profits, to enjoy their 
 friends and their families, to talk, and to 
 dress, to eat, and to sleep ? Thousands of 
 those who were accustomed to do all this, 
 who were dear to their friends and to 
 their families, who had tastes for plea- 
 sures, and calls to business, entered it 
 never to quit it more : and what interest 
 had they in the cause, more than the crowds 
 who took a summer morning's walk over 
 their bodies, to return when wearied, and 
 derive consequence from the exploit ! There 
 is nothing to be said for it, but as he has 
 Q.
 
 VISIT TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 said, who says what is best for every thing 
 and every body. 
 
 " Why, let the strucken deer go weep, 
 
 The hart ungalled play : 
 For some must watch, while some may sleep, 
 
 Thus runs the world away." 
 
 On returning to the village of Waterloo, 
 I went over from the inn to the church : 
 the boys around the door stood there in 
 waiting for British visitors, and made rather 
 a riotous play of shewing the simple mo- 
 numents to some of the slain, which have 
 been put up against the walls by their sur- 
 viving brother officers. On two plain ta- 
 blets of stone, the names of several gallant 
 gentlemen of the foot guards, and of the 
 fifteenth hussars are engraved, as having 
 " fallen gloriously in the battles of Quatre 
 Bras and Waterloo ;" and it is added, that 
 these memorials have been erected by the 
 officers of the regiments specified, in com-t 
 memoration of their companions. The boys, 
 who were not the most congenial associates 
 in such a pilgrimage, but whom it was im- 
 possible to shake off, w^nt on, laughing and 
 calling, to shew us the way, along the path 
 of a pleasant little Wood, to the spot, rural,
 
 POLITICAL REFLECTIONS. 227 
 
 quiet, and secluded, were two flat stones, 
 lying on the ground, pointed out the graves 
 of Lieutenant Colonel Fitzgerald of the 
 second Life Guards, and of Colonel De 
 Langrehr, commandant of the first batta-* 
 lion of Bremen. 
 
 I am now about to bid adieu to a theme 
 which has occupied a very considerable 
 portion of these pages, and from which to 
 any other, must be a descent. A German, 
 lecturing on the drama in Vienna in the 
 year 1808, alluded, in the hearing of three 
 hundred persons, many of them of high 
 rank and reputation, and all of them of the 
 respectable classes, to the astonishing pub- 
 lic greatness and energy of the British 
 nation. The most signal proof of these 
 qualities, was then yet to come ; it has 
 now been given, and the continent has 
 received an impression of their existence, 
 ' that will never be effaced. It remains for 
 ourselves to provide for the future, and to 
 render our country an exception to the 
 common history of nations, which generally 
 commences political and social decline from 
 the apex of military fame. It is true, that the 
 exertions necessary to attain to the latter, 
 Q 2
 
 228 POLITICAL REFLECTIONS. 
 
 have a debauching as well as an exhausting 
 tendency, but Britain has, more surely 
 and fully than any other state ever had, 
 the principles of counteraction and renova- 
 tion within herself. Difficulties must follow 
 these enormous efforts, but what we have 
 escaped is to be taken into account, when we 
 sit down to estimate our national condition. 
 The great matter is, that men of influence 
 and power among us, should see with a 
 clear eye into what forms the very essence of 
 the strength of Great Britain, and have 
 hearts good enough, and intellects sound 
 enough, to dispose them to address them- 
 selves to strengthen and encourage the 
 only real vital principle of their country's 
 pre-eminence hitherto, and the source from 
 whence must come her recovery from an 
 exhaustion, that need only be temporary, 
 and that attaches no disgrace. From the 
 miserable witling captiousness of an op- 
 position, which, like the common cur, barks 
 without discrimination, and bites at the 
 heel when the body is above its reach, 
 it is not likely that they will consent to 
 take any lesson : the natural, and scarce- 
 ly blamable feeling is to kick the yelping
 
 POLITICAL REFLECTIONS. 229 
 
 creature away, the moment it opens its 
 mouth. But there is a duty owing to 
 the present time, to its reputation, and to 
 its necessities, which presses most incum- 
 bently on all those who stand by the wheel 
 that shapes the course of the state ; and 
 a vast amount of hope depends on their 
 being above turning, either in ignorance 
 or irritation, from the honest discharge of 
 this duty, because they have been pestered 
 with false claims made in its name, and 
 forced to cope with fearful evils, arising 
 out of profligate perversions of its obliga- 
 tions. The most pressing necessity was 
 to get rid of the wicked and injurious im- 
 position, but the great and lasting ad- 
 vantage must be found in acknowledging 
 and practising what is just, valid, and wise. 
 The political institutions of society are at 
 least as far from having reached perfection, 
 as the arts and sciences ; and if change and 
 experiment are not so practicable in the 
 former as in the latter, yet, in proportion as 
 it is mischievous to tamper with them but 
 when the occasion is clear, the opportunity 
 striking, and the call urgent, it is dangerous 
 and guilty to withstand those great invita- 
 Q 3
 
 230 POLITICAL REFLECTIONS. 
 
 tions which at intervals summon mankind 
 to improve their condition. We are all 
 ready to acknowledge how much it has 
 been improved, and nothing can be more 
 clear than the proofs, that the improvement 
 has been shamefully retarded by the self- 
 ishness and prejudices of individuals, who 
 arrogantly pronounced judgement for the 
 public, according to their views for them- 
 selves. It would be monstrous folly to 
 suppose that the present race is quite out 
 of the risk of suffering by such an error, 
 and it would be stupidly base to set down 
 all these disturbances, that have of late 
 years agitated Europe, to a wilful and un- 
 founded temper of popular insubordina- 
 tion : the convulsion can only fairly be 
 considered as a natural working, accom- 
 panied with painful and diseased symptoms, 
 but occasioned by the growth of men's 
 minds beyond the institutions that had 
 their origin in a very inferior state of in- 
 formation. Nor should England consider 
 herself out of the need of advancing her- 
 self further, because she is already advanced 
 beyond her neighbours ; on the contrary, 
 her strength and wisdom lie in maintaining
 
 POLITICAL REFLECTIONS. 231 
 
 her wonted prerogrative of being the first 
 to move forward in a safe road, of first 
 catching the bright prospect of further 
 attainments, and securing for herself, 
 in the independence and fortitude of her 
 judgment, what others tardily copy from 
 her practice. The vigorous habits of action 
 and thought, which her rulers have found 
 so valuable in the late struggle for national 
 fame and pre-eminence, are only to be pre- 
 served, as they were engendered, namely, 
 by admitting popular opinion to busy itself 
 with the internal affairs of the country, to 
 exercise itself freely on the character of its 
 political establishments, to grapple on even 
 ground with professional and official pre- 
 judices and prepossessions, and finally to 
 knock every thing down that does not 
 stand firm in its own moral strength. 
 This is England's duty to herself, and 
 to the world at large she owes an equally 
 sacred one : viz. so to regulate the appli- 
 cation of her influence and power, that it 
 shall oppose no tendency to good, that 
 it shall never be available to evil and bi- 
 gotted designs, masking themselves under 
 canting professions, but justify those loud 
 Q 4
 
 232 POLITICAL REFLECTIONS. 
 
 and confident calls which she has every 
 where addressed to generous hearts and 
 fine spirits, demanding that they should 
 feel and join her cause as a common one 
 for the honor, the interests, and the hopes 
 of human nature. It may be doubted 
 whether she has, in every respect, duly 
 maintained the high ground on which she 
 assumes to stand, and that this is said in 
 no uncandid or malignant motive, the rea- 
 ders of the foregoing part of this work will 
 surely have no hesitation to acknowledge. 
 But I should blush for the exultation pre- 
 viously expressed, if it were hostile to 
 discrimination, or sprung from a disposi- 
 tion careless of principle. If it was, as Eng- 
 land pretended, in pure indignation against 
 tyranny, and the pretensions of villainous 
 imposture, that she fought in Spain, and 
 not solely against Buonaparte as the enemy 
 of England's teas and muslins, her severe 
 maritime code, and her suspicious Indian 
 conquests; if it was for the Spanish 
 people, meaning, in her description of 
 it, the cause of liberty, independence, 
 virtue, and good faith, that she com- 
 batted so gloriously, is it becoming, that 
 
 4
 
 POLITICAL REFLECTIONS. 233 
 
 the signs of personal esteem should be con- 
 veyed from the head of the English govern- 
 ment, to him, who, as an ungrateful despot, 
 as an enslaver of his people contrary to law, 
 as a perfidious ingrate, ought to be deemed 
 quite as distasteful, if not so dangerous an 
 usurper as Buonaparte ? No one, surely, 
 now-a-days, will be found in this country 
 to maintain that mere birth alone consti- 
 tutes royal legitimacy. If so narrow an in- 
 terpretation were that, according to which 
 the principle is understood by that com- 
 bination of persons in authority over so- 
 ciety who have done so much to render it 
 paramount, and who say they are resolved 
 to keep it so, mankind would have much 
 less reason for congratulation than they are 
 instructed to believe they possess. The 
 glory of the people of England has been 
 well proved in what they have sustained and 
 achieved ; the chief glory of their rulers 
 remains still to be proved, hr their shewing 
 to the world at large the general rectitude 
 of the motives by which they have been 
 actuated in their policy : in their shewing 
 that the expence and sacrifice of every sort, 
 incurred to establish the preponderance of
 
 POLITICAL REFLECTIONS* 
 
 English councils, and the invincibility of 
 English arms, have a better justification 
 than the selfish arrogance of a state bent 
 on enriching itself; that they have origi- 
 nated in the consistent pursuit of fair and 
 honourable views, embracing the great con- 
 nection between safety and integrity, and 
 the intimate union of political interests 
 with the principles of political justice and 
 gradual improvement. 
 
 
 i
 
 ( 235 ) 
 
 ' 
 
 yii' 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 nnHE road from Brussels to Paris was by 
 -* no means very open when I took my 
 departure from the former to proceed to 
 the latter capital. The route by Lisle was' 
 a very circuitous one, but it was the only 
 one by which the people at the diligence 
 offices would guarantee the safe progress of 
 travellers. I could not, however, brook 
 the idea of being four days and nights in 
 travelling between two places scarcely dis- 
 tant from each other two hundred miles ; I 
 therefore preferred taking my chance by 
 way of Valenciennes, although the French 
 army in that important fortress, and about 
 its neighbourhood, had not yet so settled 
 into submission to the reinstated govern- 
 ment, as to render it certain that I should 
 be able to accomplish the whole journey. 
 
 A Belgian lady, who was going from 
 Brussels to Mons, the last fortress within 
 8
 
 236 A BELGIAN LADY. 
 
 the frontier of the kingdom of the Nether- 
 lands, gave me very agreeable proofs of 
 the estimation in which the British army 
 was held by the people of this country. 
 The Scotch, however, I must say, drily 
 adhering to the evidence of facts, and pro- 
 tecting myself entirely (if such a thing be 
 possible) from the partialities of a Scotch- 
 man, seemed to occupy the first place of 
 good-will in every breast. My fellow tra- 
 veller, as one of her first questions, asked 
 me if I was Scotch ? Luckily I could answer 
 in the affirmative : " ah," she said, they 
 were bien amiables et tres jolis. " Was I 
 military?" Unfortunately I could not say 
 yes to this ; and her countenance rather 
 fell from the height of its animated cor- 
 diality at my negative : but it still re- 
 tained much friendly warmth as she de- 
 clared that the soldiers, my compatriots, 
 were " tres braves, et bien discrets" She had 
 seen a military friend, with his arm in a 
 sling, bid me good bye at the door of the 
 diligence, had he been severely wounded, 
 she inquired ? Yes, he had : " ah, pauvrc 
 jeun homme /" " But was he recovering ?"
 
 AN IRISHWOMAN. 237 
 
 ' Oh yes, certainly." " Ah, I am so 
 happy !" 
 
 In the several towns through which we 
 passed before reaching Mons, I discovered 
 the same superior neatness to the French 
 towns, that I have before noticed ; and 
 all the signs of means adequate to the 
 comfort of the inhabitants in their various 
 ranks. 
 
 We passed many detachments of English 
 troops on the road, and in the towns I saw 
 them sitting on the steps of the doors of 
 the houses, resting after their march, and 
 apparently on a most good humoured plea- 
 sant footing with the people of the country. 
 As it drew towards evening, the mono- 
 tonous sound and dull motion of the ve- 
 hicle had thrown me into a kind of stupefied 
 half-sleep, in the course of which I heard, 
 with an imperfect confused consciousness, 
 a female voice, loudly exclaiming, in the 
 true Irish accent, " Coachman /" " / say 
 coachman /" " Coachman, will you hear 
 now /" This singular address to a Flemish 
 postilion, cracking his long whip at the 
 tails of his horses, could not fail to rouse 
 me with something of astonishment. I
 
 538 TWO SOLDIERS' WIVES. 
 
 was the more surprised because I had not 
 before supposed that there was any body in 
 or about the diligence who could speak 
 English but myself. Putting my head out 
 of the window, I almost encountered that 
 of a soldier's wife, who was leaning half her 
 body from the cabriolet, continuing to 
 vociferate " Coachman" while the man 
 on the horse was looking back at her, 
 with the most ludicrous expression of not 
 understanding, mingled with benevolent 
 mirth on his face. I inquired of the 
 woman what she wanted? At the first 
 syllable of my interrogation she turned 
 quickly round, and, in a tone of almost 
 frantic joy, cried out " Oh, Lord bless 
 you, Sir, is it English that I hear again /" 
 She had a female companion with her ; 
 they were both soldier's wives, and had 
 intended to go by the diligence to Lisle, 
 near which town they understood they 
 would find their husbands.- They had, 
 however, taken the wrong conveyance from 
 Brussels, and were now not far from Mons, 
 considerably out of the line of march 
 which the regiment they wished to join had 
 pursued. Their distress was loudly, but
 
 ARRIVAL AT MONS. 239 
 
 somewhat whimsically expressed, when I 
 explained to them their unlucky mistake : 
 but they prayed many blessings on my 
 head, when I assured them that I would 
 not leave them in Mons, without finding 
 out some one belonging to our army, who 
 would give them advice and assistance what 
 steps to take. 
 
 About eleven o'clock, on a very dark 
 night, the diligence arrived at the outworks 
 of the fortifications of Mons. A centinel 
 challenged us , and we were obliged to 
 stop till orders came from the guard house, 
 before the gate was jealously opened. 
 Strong temporary works had been formed 
 with turf and palisadoes, and connected 
 with the regular fortifications, as it was 
 very likely that this town would have to 
 sustain one of the first and fiercest bursts 
 of the late war. These new works had 
 entirely interrupted the usual road, and 
 our vehicle had to wind slowly through 
 the zig-zag embankments, challenged by 
 centinels at every few yards, until at 
 length it issued again into the old road. 
 We had still to go over the draw-bridge, 
 and through the town gates. These pre-
 
 240 ARRIVAL AT MONS. 
 
 cautions were not unnecessary, though the 
 war seemed in point of fact over ; for the 
 country between Mons and Valenciennes 
 was infested with lawless corps of French 
 soldiers, who were not at all unlikely to 
 try a desperate enterprise, and had commit- 
 ted many pieces of violence and rapine. 
 
 The diligence at length stopped in the 
 great place of Mons : most of the con- 
 tinental towns have spacious places, of 
 which they are very proud, for holding 
 their markets, and around which are built 
 their municipal buildings, court-houses, &c. 
 That at Mons is very fine and large. It 
 was mid-night before we halted at the door 
 of the office. The two soldiers' wives soon 
 made their appearance from the cabriolet, 
 to claim the performance of my promise. 
 It took the people employed, however, 
 almost an hour to untie and bring down from 
 the top the immense mass of luggage ; and 
 until all was fairly arranged and checked 
 by the way-bill, none of the passengers 
 were permitted to move. They are certainly 
 very accurate in the conducting of all these 
 public establishments in the parts of the 
 continent where I have been, but they 

 
 ARRIVAL AT MONS. 241 
 
 are accurate by the strict enforcement of 
 clumsy and unpleasant regulations, by 
 making restraints supply the want of good 
 management, by scrupling not to sacri- 
 fice the time, feelings, and convenience of 
 the public, for the sake of preserving their 
 property, which might be equally well 
 preserved by gentler means, coupled with 
 more business-like habits. 
 
 At last I set off with the women, on the 
 hunt through this strange place, at one 
 o'clock in the morning;. For some time 
 
 o 
 
 I could gain no information likely to be of 
 any service to them. I was told that there 
 was no British detachment stationed in 
 Mons, and nobody, that I could find stirring 
 at that unseasonable hour, was very sure 
 that there were even any British troops at 
 that time marching through it. On re- 
 crossing the large market place for the fifth 
 or sixth time, with the women and their 
 countless bundles following me close, and 
 groaning out many an " Oh, dear !" I was 
 lucky enough to fall in with a serjeant of 
 one of the highland regiments, who was 
 then going to prepare for the early march 
 of a few convalescent men. He very rea~
 
 242 JEMAPPE, &C. 
 
 dily took my fellow passengers off my 
 hands, assuring me that he could give them 
 seats on a baggage waggon, that would pass 
 through where they were likely to join 
 their husbands. I had many blessings from 
 these poor women when we parted. 
 
 The affair, however light it may look on 
 paper, was nevertheless productive of se- 
 rious embarrassment to me, in the peculiar 
 circumstances of my situation. The lug- 
 gage of a traveller requires him to look 
 pretty closely after it, nor is it a matter 
 of course to get comfortably housed in these 
 foreign towns, on arriving in them at so 
 late an hour. But the difficulty and trouble 
 I had thus incurred, were productive of a 
 piece of very good fortune. My great 
 anxiety was to get rapidly on to Paris, and 
 by having been kept from my bed, in the 
 way I have described, till two in the morn- 
 ing, I was able to avail myself of an oppor- 
 tunity that offered of starting, about half 
 an hour before three, for Valenciennes, in 
 one of the open carriages of the country. 
 
 We passed in the early twilight through 
 the village of Jemappe, rendered famous by 
 Dumourier's great victory over the Aus-
 
 FRENCH FRONTIER. 213 
 
 trians. This may be deemed the com- 
 mencement of the system, which, with 
 some changes of feature, but few or none 
 of principle, continued to characterize the 
 history of revolutionized France, till it was 
 closed in the consummation of defeat and 
 disgrace at Waterloo. 
 
 We had travelled, I think, about twelve 
 miles from Mons, when we passed the 
 French frontier, and, shortly afterwards, 
 stopped at a small inn, which, it was very 
 evident, was worse furnished, worse ar- 
 ranged, and less ready, than those of the 
 same class that I had seen in Flanders. 
 We arrived at the gates of Valenciennes, 
 which is distant about twenty-one miles 
 from Mons, at six in the morning, just as 
 they were about to open them. We had, 
 therefore, travelled pretty quickly. 
 
 The regular soldiers had been removed 
 from this town when it sent in its sub- 
 mission to the King : a motley straggling 
 groupe of national guards marched up to 
 the gates, with drums beating, and ad- 
 mitted our vehicle, together with a crowd 
 of peasants, male and female, who brought 
 their milk, vegetables, &c. for the supply 
 R 2
 
 244 VALENCIENNES. 
 
 of the inhabitants, and who had been for 
 some time waiting the moment of admis- 
 sion. These persons were subjected to a 
 summary searching of their persons, by the 
 douajiiers who were in attendance. We 
 were treated with politeness : my passport 
 was scarcely looked at. 
 
 There are three lines of fortifications to 
 protect this immensely strong place, the 
 works of which are contrived according to 
 the very best principles of the art. At a 
 small distance you see its spires rising 
 above its houses, and the aproach seems 
 without restraint or obstacle of any kind. 
 Not an appearance of a wall shews itself: 
 but, on coming nearer, you find high walls 
 and deep ditches, massy gates, and sound- 
 ing draw-bridges. Valenciennes, as is well 
 known, sustained a severe siege early in 
 the revolutionary war, and was at length 
 obliged to capitulate to the allies. This 
 piece of success, however, was followed by 
 sad misfortunes, and the military re- 
 putation of the powers then combined, 
 suffered a long and melancholy eclipse, 
 from whence, however, it has at last glo- 
 riously emerged. Valenciennes is a very
 
 VILLAGES OF FRANCE. 45 
 
 large town, situated in a flat, uninteresting, 
 but not unfruitful country. 
 
 Little other description can be given of 
 any part of the long extent of provinces 
 up to Paris. A great deal of corn was 
 every where on the ground, but there was 
 no beauty to admire, either of artful or- 
 nament, or natural wildness. The roads 
 ran in tedious straight lines, paved in 
 the middle, and neglected at the edges. 
 We rolled on, over the pavement, at a dull 
 pace, of about four miles, or four miles and 
 a half an hour, and were thirty-four hours 
 on our journey, in going a distance of from 
 one hundred and twenty to one hundred 
 and thirty miles. 
 
 The signs of a conquered, exhausted, 
 divided, and wretched nation, were soon 
 very visible. The villages through which 
 we passed on the first day, were more than 
 half empty. Every second house, at least, 
 was shut up, or left entirely open, both 
 of which states equally proved it to be 
 without inhabitants. From most of tkese 
 wretched broken-up tenements, a whitish 
 looking rag was suspended, coarsely tied 
 to a stick, poked out of a broken window, 
 R 3
 
 PRUSSIANS ON THE ROAD. 
 
 or the decayed roof. It was clear, that, 
 amidst so much of real necessity and suf- 
 fering, the refinements of loyalty were not 
 likely to gain a very predominant place in 
 the minds of the peasantry : these flags, 
 therefore, were to be interpreted for what 
 they were, namely, supplications for 
 mercy at the hands of the foreign military 
 who were filling all the roads, villages, and 
 towns of unhappy France. From the 
 forlorn appearance of the places where they 
 were extended, it was very plain that their 
 appeal had in many instances been disre- 
 garded. 
 
 We frequently saw troops of Prussian 
 cavalry on the road : the men carried them- 
 selves with the arrogant air of conquerors, 
 and each detachment had at least one ill- 
 fed cow driven along with it, two or more 
 sheep r and a supply of poultry hanging 
 ffom the pummels of the saddles. These 
 had all been seized from the farms and 
 cottages about. A cart or two accompanied 
 each, driven by French peasants, who were 
 pressed into this service. In these vehicles 
 a few women belonging to the troop, were 
 seated very much at their ease : - they
 
 MISERIES OF WAR, 
 
 stared at those who passed, quite as fiercely 
 and dissolutely as the soldiers, who were 
 smoking segars, as they swung from side 
 to side in their loose seats, with every mo- 
 tion of the horses that carried them. The 
 predatory aspect of armed bands of free- 
 booters, was represented in a very lively 
 manner among these Prussian corps. Their 
 appearance was highly picturesque, but 
 suggested very painful reflections. It is 
 no light matter to subject the inoffensive 
 inhabitants of a country to the will and 
 call of this sort of gentry. The vague, 
 unsubstantial, doubtful, and frequently de- 
 ceptive connection, that exists between the 
 true and felt interests of the people, and 
 the measures of their governments which 
 introduce these violent instruments to 
 adjust national disputes, forms a strange 
 contrast to the positive, certain, and enor- 
 mous damage which they sustain, in order 
 that their rulers may congratulate them 
 on their triumphs, or, at the very worst, on 
 the preservation of their honour. Further, 
 the share that the mass of a nation may 
 have in any outrage committed by its go- 
 vernment, is so necessarily small, and ge- 
 R 4
 
 48 FRENCH SOLDIERS 
 
 nerally venial through circumstances of de- 
 lusion and misrepresentation, that the mind 
 of the impartial observer, seeing no just 
 proportion between the offence and the 
 retribution, where the latter falls heaviest, 
 
 even in the case of a war that is sue-* 
 cessful against those who gave the provoca- 
 tion, becomes lost in indignation and 
 sorrow, in the contemplation of human 
 misery, from which those who are chiefly 
 accountable for it, always chiefly escape. 
 
 We continued, from time to time, to meet 
 or pass the broken-up remnants of French 
 battalions. Small parties of young men, 
 in worn-out regimentals, retaining generally 
 their swords, which they carried across their 
 shoulders to support their bundles, were 
 seen proceeding to their homes, their war- 
 like occupation being over. The French 
 soldier carries with him, in a very peculiar 
 degree, the look and air of military service ; 
 
 there is also a shrewd intelligence in 
 his eye, which is very striking; they in 
 general look like rakes and spendthrifts of 
 good family, driven by their indiscretions 
 into the ranks. This appearance is to be 
 accounted for easily enough. Young men 
 
 11
 
 RETURNING HOME. 
 
 of the most respectable classes of society, 
 appear in the French army as privates, and 
 there soon acquire the most thorough con- 
 tempt for all that is good in principle and 
 practice, become initiated into the foulest 
 contrivances of wickedness, familiarized to 
 cruelty, and bent on rapine. This process 
 was continually at work on the greater pro- 
 portion of the youth of France, under Buo- 
 naparte : and its contagion was dissemi- 
 nated through the whole by companionship. 
 But, in fact, there is no finding a young 
 man in France who has not been in the 
 army in some capacity or other, and the 
 effects of this system on the morals and 
 intellect of the country, are hideous. 
 There has grown up under it a thoroughly 
 depraved generation, a generation that 
 has neither knowledge of, nor feeling for, 
 the qualities of virtue, moderation, truth, 
 or justice, that has been trained to set 
 its glory in what ought to be thought its 
 shame. This generation, most unfortunately, 
 has not only been educated to evil, but is, in 
 a great measure, incapacitated from turning 
 to good. The soldier, disbanded by the King, 
 returned to his friends the most helpless
 
 &50 DEPRAVITY OF THE MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 and destitute creature perhaps in existence : 
 certainly not the less pitiable for being 
 filled with rancour, wrath, and all bad 
 passions. When he should have acquired 
 what would have enabled him to become 
 an independent and a useful member of 
 society, he was dragged away, a mere boy, 
 and chained to the car of the Imperial Mo- 
 loch. Here his tastes were perverted to 
 the abominations and degradations of his 
 condition : his hopes were inseparably con- 
 nected with the success of crime, the dif- 
 fusion of slaughter, and the unbridled ex- 
 ercise of robbery ; his feelings, in short, 
 were poisoned in all their sources, and 
 when thus rendered completely fit for his 
 master, he might be considered in a state 
 of almost hopeless reprobation. This was 
 the sort of the beings that I saw scattered 
 over the roads of France ; despairing 
 because there was joy for mankind, mourn- 
 ing because there was peace, wretched and 
 cast down because there was deliverance. 
 Returning to the homes of relations, they 
 seemed calculated to do much mischief, 
 and they threw confusion and doubt on every 
 train of events which the fancy might have
 
 A YOUNG SOLDIER. 251 
 
 imagined for securing the blessings of tran- 
 quillity, by introducing settled dispositions 
 and habits, and safer and truer views of in- 
 terest and honour, into France. One of 
 these young men got up in the front of our 
 diligence, where I happened to be at that 
 time seated. A beggar-child, from one of 
 the swarms that are posted on the roads of 
 France to assail the traveller, ran along by 
 its side, screaming Vive le Roi, as a claim on 
 our charity. " Sacre Dieu" said the soldier, 
 
 " you'll get nothing from me by that 
 cry." Vive VEmpereur, shouted the child : 
 
 " ah, you are like the others," muttered 
 my companion between his teeth, " but 
 there is a sous for you." There was 
 genuine character in this, and so far it was 
 touching : there evidently were impulses 
 about this person that might have been 
 improved to excellent purposes. He told me 
 he had not been in the battle of Waterloo, 
 but he was in the neighbourhood, and had 
 to retreat with the rest. The French army 
 would certainly have gained the victory but 
 for treachery : this he considered as so in- 
 dubitable that it never entered into his 
 imagination that I could differ from him.
 
 252 PERRONE. 
 
 I preferred listening to him to disputing 
 with him, and he amused me very much. 
 As a reward for my silence, which he ac- 
 cepted for assent, he touched my shoul- 
 der, and said in a kind tone, " But the 
 English are very brave, notwithstanding." 
 
 Every French town through which we 
 passed was occupied by either British or 
 Prussian troops. Perrone is called the 
 pucelle, because it had never been violated 
 by an enemy ; but her immaculacy is now 
 more than questionable. The diligence 
 stopped for supper in this town, and, as 
 we had to wait for horses, I set out, between 
 twelve and one in the morning, to walk in 
 the dark through some of the streets. They 
 were generally very narrow: the houses 
 seemed ancient, with their ends chiefly to 
 the street, and the whole, as far as I could 
 judge, wore a peculiarly foreign aspect. 
 When exploring my way round some stone 
 steps, that bulged from the wall rather dan- 
 gerously, I observed a mass of something 
 lying on the ground, and only just observed 
 it in time, to prevent my stepping upon it. 
 Looking more closely, I saw things that 
 glittered like arms, and rather started back
 
 DIALOGUE WITH HIGHLANDERS. 253 
 
 when I fairly made out a dozen muskets. 
 I soon found that they were men who were 
 thus thrown upon the bare stones, and the 
 free motion of drapery in the wind of the 
 night told me that they were Highlanders. 
 I was astonished, but used a privilege 
 which I thought I possessed, and awakened 
 one of the men. He was a stout, shortish, 
 compactly-made fellow, who got upon his 
 legs without any discomposure, or haste of 
 manner, appearing rather to wait my com- 
 mands than to wonder why he had been 
 disturbed. I told him that, as a country- 
 man, accidentally passing, I could not 
 resist the desire of inquiring how he and 
 his companions came to have such uncom- 
 fortable beds ; and I asked him if it was 
 not usual to receive billets on the inha- 
 bitants for quarters ? 
 
 " Na, Sir," was his composed reply 
 * f we seldom trouble them for billets. They 
 ca' this bivuacking, you see." 
 
 " It does not seem very pleasant, what- 
 ever they may call it. How do the people 
 of the country treat you ?" 
 
 " Ow ! gailies : particularly we that are x 
 Scotch : we ha' but to show our petticoat^
 
 254 DIALOGUE WITH HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 as the English ca' it, an' we're ay weel 
 respected." 
 
 Were you in the battle of Waterloo ?" 
 
 66 Ay, 'deed was I, and in Quatre-bras 
 beside. I got a skelp wi' a bit o' a shell at 
 Waterloo." 
 
 " And were all your companions, who 
 are asleep there, also wounded ?" 
 
 " Aye ware they, some mare, some 
 less. Here's ane o' 'em wakening, you see, 
 wi' our specking." 
 
 A robust soldier rose slowly from his 
 hard resting-couch, shrugging his shoulders 
 and stretching his joints, as if his bones 
 ached. He said not a word on seeing a 
 
 o 
 
 stranger, but deliberately placed himself by 
 the side of my first acquaintance. I :con- 
 tinued the conversation for some time, and 
 heard with interest the particulars of the 
 death of a brave officer, for whose fate I 
 had been much concerned, in consequence 
 of knowing his closest connections. This 
 lamented person belonged to the regiment 
 in which these men were privates ; they 
 said he was the first who fell in their ranks 
 on the 16th, and, in two or three homely
 
 DIALOGUE WITH HIGHLANDERS. 255 
 
 words, gave me proof how much he had 
 been esteemed. 
 
 The Scotchmen, having but small seduc- 
 tion to return to their beds, became quite 
 inclined to talk, particularly when they 
 learned what part of the land o' cakes " I 
 cam' frae." 
 
 " The Duke," they said, " was'na to be 
 blamed as a General at a' ; nor wou'd the 
 men ha'e ony cause to complain, if he 
 wou'd but gi' them a little mare liberty." 
 
 " Liberty ? What sort of liberty do you 
 mean ?" 
 
 " Ow, just liberty, freedom, you 
 see !" 
 
 " What, do you mean leave of absence, 
 furlows ?" 
 
 " Na, na ! De'il a bit : God, this has'na 
 been a time for furlows. I mean the liberty 
 that ither sogers get ; the Prussians and 
 them." 
 
 As I still professed ignorance of their 
 meaning, one of them gave me, in a sud- 
 den burst, a very pithy explanation of the 
 sort of liberty which the Duke was blamed 
 for withholding. The other qualified it a 
 little, by saying : " Aye, aye, he means 
 9
 
 &56 DIALOGUE WITH HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 ; that whan we've got the upper han' we 
 shu'd employ it. There's riae use in our 
 being mealy-mouth'd, if the ithers are to 
 
 tak' what they like. The d d Prussians 
 
 ken better what they're about.' ' 
 
 " Well, but you find that the Prussians 
 are every where detested, and ^ou have 
 just now told me that you Highlanders are 
 every where respected." 
 
 " Ow, aye, we're praised enuch. Ilka 
 body praises us, but very few gie us ony 
 thing." 
 
 More readily interpreting this hint than 
 the last, I proved myself an exception to 
 the general rule, by putting into their hands 
 a franc or two to drink. 
 
 The one who received the money looked 
 at 1 - it very deliberately, and then, raising his 
 head, said, " Weel, sir, we certainly did'na 
 expect this did we, John ?" 
 
 " Eh, na," echoed John : " the gentle- 
 man has our thanks, I'm sure." 
 
 I inquired if the Duke of Wellington 
 took severe means of enforcing on his army 
 that regard for the lives and property of the 
 inhabitants of the seat of war, in maintain- 
 ing which he has evidently placed the pride
 
 DIALOGUE WITH HIGHLANDERS. 257 
 
 of his ambition, not less than in beating his 
 armed adversaries ? 
 
 " Na, sir, no here," was the reply, 
 u for the men ken him gailies now. But, 
 in Spain we aften had ugly jobs. He hung 
 fifteen men in ae day, there, after he had 
 been ordering about it, God knows how lang. 
 And d n me if he did'na ance gar the 
 Provost Marshal flog mare than a dizen of 
 the wimen for the wimen thought them- 
 self safe, and so they were war' than the 
 men. They got sax and therty lashes a 
 piece on the bare doup, and it was lang 
 afore it was forgotten on 'em. Ane o' 'em 
 was Meg Donaldson, the best woman in 
 our regiment, for whatever she might 
 tak', she did na keep it a' to hersel'." 
 
 The noise of the horses, brought out to 
 be harnessed to the diligence, made me 
 take a hasty leave of these Scotch soldiers. 
 
 From Peronne to Paris, the devastations 
 committed by the armies had every where 
 left more terrible traces. The fields on 
 each side of the road were trampled 
 down : dead horses were lying about, 
 and the carcases of animals, and the litter of 
 forage, shewed that the waste of the troops
 
 258 WRETCHEDNESS OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 on a march of this nature must be almost 
 equal to their necessary consumption. The 
 diligence rolled through village after vil- 
 lage, all deserted by the great majority of 
 their inhabitants : not a house had a door 
 or a window left, yet there were no marks 
 of fighting ; all this destruction had been 
 occasioned by the mere passage of the 
 
 / armies. The chateaus near the road were 
 wretchedly dismantled and defaced : over 
 their gardens, straw, garbage, burnt wood, 
 &c. were scattered, and all wore a look of 
 melancholy strange derangement. The 
 features of all the scenes, and of every per- 
 son, spoke of a great public calamity ; it so 
 surpassed in the magnitude of its effects, 
 and the singularity of its operation, any of 
 the common accidents of nature, that the 
 spectator, unaccustomed to a theatre of 
 war, felt as if he was placed amidst the 
 vestiges of some fearful infliction from above, 
 like those which fell on guilty lands of 
 old. 
 
 At the door of an inn I saw an old man 
 standing, and asked of him where the baskets 
 of peaches were, which used to be handed to 
 
 . the travellers, at this season of the year, on
 
 WRETCHEDNESS OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 the French roads ? " We are without bread 
 now, Sir," said he, " if we had that, we 
 should be contented 'to lose our peaches, 
 The troops have taken every thing from 
 us." " Was it the allied troops," I in- 
 quired ? " The French army on their re- 
 treat behaved worse than the allies, but 
 the Prussians have been bad enough. Your 
 countrymen, Sir, are the best but soldiers 
 must eat." He said the poor inhabitants 
 of the villages were in a situation of misery, 
 that was not to be conceived. Having 
 occasion, in my conversation with him, to 
 allude to the public posts on the road, he 
 used the words poste imperiale. " It is the 
 poste royals now," said I. " Yes, Sir, 
 imperial to day, and royal to-morrow." 
 
 Arriving at last, within a few miles of 
 Paris, my French fellow-travellers, were 
 amused with the appearance of a lusty 
 steady-looking British officer, in a drab 
 shooting jacket, squatted on a dumpey po- 
 ney with his double barrelled fowling 
 piece in his hand. Two others were on 
 foot, beating over the trampled fields with 
 dogs. The party, certainly, had a singu- 
 larly English character, and was mightily 
 s 2
 
 260 PARIS. 
 
 tittered at by a very pretty French woman, 
 who had been performing an admirable 
 farce, all the way from Valenciennes, with 
 her little mademoiselle, a child of seven, 
 who was fractious, funny, tired, romping, 
 sleeping, laughing, eating, and crying, all 
 together, or at least with a quickness in 
 the variations that blended the whole into 
 one indescribable effect.
 
 ( 261 ) 
 
 'Ltti-ji-j ' 
 itel-i.-.-- 
 
 ^.rtjtej 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 7E arrived at the barrier of Paris. 
 An original impression is always 
 peculiarly strong, and there is a high degree 
 of excitement occasioned by the first view 
 of any great object, that has been long and 
 actively employing the imagination, which, 
 having once subsided, cannot be again 
 kindled. In the account which I have 
 given of my " Visit to Paris in 1814," I 
 have endeavoured to convey to the reader's 
 mind, something of that anxious, disturbed 
 feeling of curiosity and wonder, rendered 
 gloomy and feverish by recollection, which 
 attended passing the barrier of this 
 strange capital for the first time. It is in 
 these excitements that the great enjoyment 
 of travelling consists, but the charm can 
 be felt but once in regard to one place, 
 and the thoughts, on a second encounter, 
 do not keep up their originally close and 
 brisk attendance on every operation of the 
 s 3
 
 262 PARIS. 
 
 senses of hearing and of the sight. It 
 does not follow from this, that the earliest 
 impression is the least correct : it is the 
 first taste of ardent spirits that gives the 
 truest and most salutary conviction of. their 
 properties. 
 
 The heavy frowning entrance of Paris, 
 its jealous douaniers at the barriers, and 
 its introduction to the most splendid and 
 famous fruits of luxury, genius, and learn- 
 ing, mingled with the grossest indications 
 of .profligacy, and the memorials of hi- 
 deous crimes and terrible reverses, had 
 suffered no change, but they had in some 
 measure exhausted their influence on me. 
 Many circumstances of importance, how- 
 ever, had changed, and the alteration gave 
 novel features to the approach to that city on 
 the occasion of my revisiting it, which were 
 of a striking cast. In the autumn of 1814, 
 when I first saw Paris, France had come 
 well, and it might even be said proudly, 
 out of another great revolution, and, if 
 defeated, had still to boast that the terms 
 of the peace were undeniable proofs that 
 her adversaries considered it advisable to 
 treat her with respect. Paris had then lost 
 4
 
 PARIS. 363 
 
 no solace of her vanity ; she retained what 
 was always enough to constitute her, in 
 one respect, the capital of the world, for 
 the treasures of art and science, the com- 
 mon objects of the desires and wants, and 
 the acknowledged ornaments of the in- 
 tellectual and refined community of the 
 world, were in her keeping. In possessing 
 these she also possessed what most pam- 
 pered the pride of even her vulgar, and 
 what furnished her with a ready answer to 
 any taunting allusion to the reverses which 
 her arms had sustained. In fact, she and 
 her enemies had parted with at least all the 
 external signs of civility, and a mutually 
 good understanding, and she had reason 
 to hug herself on her bargain. A govern- 
 ment had been destroyed but that was a 
 trifle, for the senate had pronounced the for- 
 feiture of Buonaparte : some of the 
 eagles had been effaced, but the lily was a 
 pretty flower, and Five Henri Quatre an 
 inspiring air. If Napoleon was in Elba 
 the Apollo was in the Louvre, and, the 
 allies having politely declined all contribu- 
 tions and seizures, there were no visible 
 or palpable signs of the humiliation of 
 s 4
 
 ^O* PARIS. 
 
 France that could be intelligible to a French* 
 man's sensibility. She had, therefore, only 
 to pocket the money brought over by her 
 British visitors, to caricature them in the 
 print-shops, -*-* and exercise her ingenuity 
 and industry, both of which qualities she 
 possesses most eminently, in rivalling the 
 manufactures of her most formidable rival 
 the nation against which she entertains the 
 deepest grudge. 
 
 This was the state of things at the time 
 I have mentioned, but their face had en- 
 tirely altered* and plain indications were 
 given on the road to Paris, and at its en- 
 J trance, that the visitor in 1815 would find 
 it placed in circumstances very different 
 m from those which it held in the preceding 
 year. The time for the real humiliation 
 and severe punishment of the nation had 
 now arrived ; there was no longer a dispo- 
 sition to save it from drinking out the bitter 
 contents of the cup of defeat ; in short, 
 Paris, as representing France, was now in the 
 condition of one that is beaten and bound, 
 previously to being mulcted in a heavy for- 
 feiture. A period was about to be put to the 
 days of its finery and its attractions ; and
 
 THE BRITISH IN PARIS. 265 
 
 whatever good fortune might in future 
 await it, could only be contemplated 
 through a long and painful course of ex- 
 ertion, divested of noise, of brilliancy, 
 of all beloved eclat. 
 
 A Scotch and a Prussian soldier stood 
 guard in company at the barrier St. Denis. / 
 The sight of a red coat in such a situation 
 could not fail to strike a visitor from Eng- 
 land very forcibly. The French lady in 
 the diligence pointed to the Scotchman, 
 who was in the Highland costume, and, 
 looking at me, exclaimed, * Ah, que tfest 
 drole /" Going along the rue dufauxburg 
 St. Denis, we saw many of the British pri- 
 vates, sauntering with a lazy air of enjoy- / 
 ment, looking at the print-stalls where 
 they were caricatured, cheapening grapes 
 with the fruit girls, or treating them- 
 selves to a glass of lemonade from the 
 portable supplies of that beverage which 
 abound in the streets of Paris. Our officers, 
 too, swarmed about, mounted, some 
 well, and some very badly, for those who 
 could not procure a decent animal, put up 
 with almost any creature that had four 
 legs. Contrasting themselves remark- 
 .
 
 266 THE BRITISH IN PARIS. 
 
 ably with the heavy cabriolets and clumsy 
 dirty coaches, the awkward caleches 
 and grotesque voitures, English equi- 
 pages, complete, light, and genteel, glanced 
 rapidly by, spattering, as foreigners, mor- 
 tification from their wheels on the vehicles 
 of the country. To estimate this exhibi- 
 tion properly, it is necessary to fancy its 
 counterpart displayed by Frenchmen in 
 London: to imagine a French man of 
 fashion, vested with magnificent amplitude 
 of box-coat and commanding longitude of 
 whip, spanking his four blood greys down 
 Bond-street and St. James' s-street, or drawing 
 smartly up, in a knowing style of driving, 
 to talk over the topics of the morning with 
 the officer of the French Guards, on duty 
 at the Palace of the King of England ! 
 
 This superiority of style, equipment, and 
 means of every sort, which was so visible 
 in the British visitors of all ranks, over 
 the Parisians, coupled with the military 
 command which the British held over the 
 French capital, constituted a grand and 
 touching spectacle, as the consummation of 
 a long series of national struggles, predic- 
 tions, reverses, and trials, which had agi-
 
 PUBLIC FEELING. 67 
 
 tated the minds, disturbed the conditions, 
 and put to the proof the institutions of 
 mankind, throughout what must be regard- 
 ed as the most considerable portion of the 
 globe, in consequence of its influence on 
 all the rest. 
 
 I found Paris in a state of very discom- 
 posed feeling and opinion. Every French- 
 man seemed acutely alive to the calamity 
 that had fallen upon France, and all 
 diversities of political sentiment met in one 
 point of union, namely, that of indig- 
 nation against those who acted as the con- 
 querors of the country. A Royalist would 
 say " Ah, it is very impolitic behaviour 
 in the Allies, to think of taking any terri- 
 tory or money from France, for good 
 Frenchmen, united under the Bourbons, 
 will become more formidable than the 
 nation ever was under Buonaparte, and 
 woe to Europe, in the course of a year or 
 two, for what she now inflicts upon us." 
 A military man would gargle a sacre out of 
 his throat, and anticipate the day of re- 
 venge, under some new leader, when France 
 would shew that she never had been beaten, 
 although she had been betrayed. Of no- 
 thing like a deep settled sense of fact, and
 
 8 PUBLIC FEELING. 
 
 its deductions, do this people seem capable ; 
 they are always upon the shift, the escape, 
 or the contrivance, and in one or other 
 of these they always have occupation and 
 consolation, no matter how far on one side 
 of the real lesson, the proper duty, or the 
 rational hope. Then, again, the course 
 of their feeling ever runs in zig-zags, 
 it turns sharp about, forming the acutest 
 angles, and in all sorts of directions, only 
 consistent in its rapidity. Going up to 
 the fete at Saint Cloud, in one of the 
 boats which, on that occasion of popular 
 festivity, ply on the Seine, betwixt that 
 place arid Paris, I overheard a conver- 
 sation going on among some Parisian young 
 men, at one end of the boat, apparently 
 mechanics, or, at least, in that class of so- 
 ciety : they were talking of the excesses 
 said to have been committed by the Prus- 
 sians. " Two nights ago they burnt a 
 farm-house at Versailles," said one : 
 
 " Ah, b ." was the reply. 
 
 " Then, at Meudon, they took abed from 
 below a poor woman of the village, and 
 stole her poultry." 
 
 Ahdiable!"
 
 A DIALOGUE. 269 
 
 " A party of these brigands made a tra- 
 velling marchand exchange horses with 
 them giving him a poor broken down 
 devil for his excellent little Norman :" 
 
 " Sacristie!" 
 
 " Not a silver spoon or fork can be kept 
 for them in all the country." 
 
 Pester 
 
 " But all this is nothing to what we did 
 in Prussia." 
 
 " Ah, non, vraiment /" 
 
 " It is all very natural that they should 
 treat us so." 
 
 " Ah, oui, vraiment" 
 
 " But France will revenge herself." 
 
 " Avec raison /" 
 
 " The Emperor has behaved but badly." 
 
 " Mafoi, oui" 
 
 " He lost his head." 
 
 Sansdoute" 
 
 " And never had much heart." 
 
 " Ah, diable, non /" 
 
 " But he was all for France. 
 
 " Etlagloire!" 
 
 The dialogue finished with a spirited re- 
 petition ofpeste, diable, mere, $c: fyc, 
 
 This excursion to Saint Cloud may be
 
 270 FETE AT ST. CLOUD. 
 
 more particularly mentioned here, as it 
 will help to illustrate our present subject, 
 which is the appearance of Paris and its 
 neighbourhood in the hands of the Allies. 
 
 The towns of France have all their par- 
 ticular fete days, on which are celebrated 
 popular entertainments very similar to the 
 pleasure fairs in England. That at Saint 
 Cloud, which is held on three successive 
 Sundays, forms a great attraction for the 
 Parisians, on account of the moderate dis- 
 tance, not more than five miles, and 
 the delightful nature of the place where 
 the festivities go forward. The grounds 
 about the royal chateau of Saint Cloud are 
 particularly beautiful ; and the Seine winds 
 here a very noble stream through an ex- 
 quisite valley compressed between pic- 
 turesque mountains. The situation alto- 
 gether is as romantically lovely as can be 
 imagined, and the last sovereigns of France 
 spared no expence in forming those magni- 
 ficent gardens, grand walks, fanciful cas- 
 cades, and regular basins and canals, which 
 are so consonant to the French taste in all 
 the fine arts. The peculiar charms of Saint 
 Cloudy .however, to most of its English
 
 FETE AT ST. CLOUD. 271 
 
 visitors, are to be found in the plantations 
 that adorn its hills, in its rich views of a 
 wildly ornamented country, and its display 
 of Paris in the distance, supporting its 
 towers and white stony projections, and 
 flaunting the golden dome of the Invalids 
 in the face of the sky. The view from the 
 observatory is one of the finest that can 
 any where be seen. 
 
 Along the river side there is a superb 
 gravel walk, and near this a grand cascade ; 
 it is here that the bustling pleasures of the 
 fete are collected : the jets here play their 
 frisking tricks, the lions vomit torrents. 
 and the cascade thunders down an in- 
 clined plane, at the enormous rate of several 
 pail-fuls a second. Lines of painted booths 
 for refreshment, are permitted to stand 
 always in these royal gardens, and on 
 this occasion they are all opened. Marion- 
 ettes, or puppets, go through the most 
 nauseous operations, and indecent evolu- 
 tions, for the amusement of the male and 
 female spectators that crowd to their per- 
 formances ; and rival fire-eaters, conjurors, 
 dancing dogs, and sagacious monkeys, 
 make a din of invitation, and occasion a
 
 FETE AT ST. CLOUD. 
 
 corresponding pressing forward to enjoy- 
 ment, that, with their various concomitants 
 of dancing under the trees, and riding at 
 the ring, &c. constitute altogether a display 
 of the levity of public pleasure, that, in 
 this characteristic, goes far beyond any 
 similar scene in Great Britain. But the 
 finest sight connected with these exhibitions, 
 was the view of the whole, from a small 
 distance, on the other side of the. bridge, 
 after the darkness of the night had fallen. 
 The few lights then scattered among the 
 groves on the sides of the hills, the bur- 
 nished lines formed by the lamps, running 
 along the edge of the water, the indis- 
 tinct flighty appearances of the women's 
 dresses, the motion of the dancing par- 
 ties among the trees, and the reflection 
 of the whole in the deep clear mirror of 
 the river, where it was mingled with the 
 quiet stars and the streaming milky way, 
 had an amazingly fine effect. 
 
 But it was not merely to describe the 
 fete at Saint Cloud, that it has been noticed 
 in these pages. Its introduction here is 
 owing to the striking proof afforded, in 
 one of the circumstances attending it, of 
 7
 
 FETE AT ST. CLOUD. 
 
 the military subjugation, and national^care- 
 lessness of the people. They poured in 
 joyous floods along the bridge, the center 
 arch of which had been blown up by Da- 
 voust a few weeks before, in order to check 
 the progress of the Prussians on their capital. 
 The chasm, however, had been temporarily 
 supplied with boards for the fete, and so all 
 was well. After leaving this vestige of the 
 war, the crowd was received by a strong de* 
 tachment of our English horse guards. 
 These soldiers sat sedately on their noble 
 horses, looking down upon the motley pro- 
 cession, which abated none of its usual 
 numbers, or usual gaiety, for so trifling a 
 reason as that the public merriment was 
 placed under the superintendance of foreign 
 conquerors. At the gate of the garden, 
 British dragoons again took cognizance of 
 the French revellers ; and in the paths, into 
 which no native was admitted on horse- 
 back, the officers of the horse guards rode 
 as they pleased up and down. Every now 
 and then, the eye was caught away from a 
 French grimacier, with his farcical wig and 
 spectacles, by the moving forms of these 
 portly soldiers, guiding their large horses
 
 FETE AT ST. CLOUD. 
 
 through the laughing crowd, and among 
 the fine trees. No one, however, seemed 
 to look upon them as intruders, at least 
 their presence neither interrupted the pro- 
 ceedings, nor clouded the faces of any 
 present. A great variety of foreign mi- 
 litary, and strangers from all quarters, 
 walked in the gardens of Saint Cloud on 
 this occasion, and a concourse of this 
 kind, under such circumstances, was as 
 interesting in character as it was picturesque 
 in appearance. The residence of Saint 
 Cloud was a great favourite with Buona- 
 parte ; it would have startled him a little, 
 if some morning dream had displayed to 
 him the figure which his admired gardens 
 cut on the day in question, in the ab- 
 solute possession of British dragoons, and 
 his subjects only admitted to hold their 
 holiday there under the eye of a colonel 
 of the English horse guards ! Such a vision 
 would have struck him with " a strange 
 fear," even although it had been followed 
 in the course of the morning by one of 
 St. Jean D'Angeley's reports in the name 
 of the senate, holding destiny perforce 
 to the destruction of " the islanders," and
 
 FETE AT ST. CLOUD. QjS 
 
 speaking for providence the election of 
 Napoleon to be its instrument. It is in 
 the retrospect to these cold, tawdry, enor- 
 mities, that the ultimate result appears 
 most valuable and pleasant, for it then 
 seems the triumph of nature and truth over 
 quackery, shallow cunning, and a cant that 
 addressed all the world as dupes or as 
 victims. 
 
 Going round, late in the evening, by one 
 of the more unfrequented walks, running 
 through the woods of Saint Cloud, I came 
 suddenly upon a strong column of British 
 infantry, posted in silence and order 
 amongst the trees, on the hill immediately 
 above the amusements, that jingled upon 
 the ear from below. The regiment was in 
 complete order for action: the officers were 
 all at their posts : and, as I passed by them 
 in the deep shadow, I heard not a word, or 
 even a breath, though I was close to five 
 or six hundred men. 
 
 The whole of the road from Saint Cloud 
 to Paris, was patrolled by piquets of Bri- 
 tish and Prussian troops, and the barrier 
 on this side of the town, like that by 
 T 2
 
 276 MILITARY OCCUPATION 
 
 which I arrived, was in the possession of 
 the former. 
 
 Equally striking were the features of 
 military occupation and mastery in all the 
 public situations of Paris. At the bridges 
 strong detachments were posted, and at 
 that which faces the royal palace, a cannon 
 was kept always loaded, with a lighted 
 match in readiness. There are guard- 
 houses in most of the principal streets of 
 that capital, and these were all filled with 
 either British or Prussians ; at the doors 
 of the great hotels, centinels in foreign 
 uniforms were generally placed, for in most 
 of them there were one or more persons 
 of distinction attached to the staff or the 
 councils of the allied sovereigns in Paris. 
 The latter were seldom seen but at reviews, 
 for they did not now, as at a former time, 
 go about to public places to scrape acquaint- 
 ance with the Parisians and keep them in 
 good spirits. The aspect of the alliance, 
 as it was now settled on the inhabitants of 
 Paris, was clouded and severe ; and a very 
 considerable degree of reserve was main- 
 tained by the representatives of the various
 
 OF PARTS. 277 
 
 powers. Even the court of the Thuilleries 
 was not frequently visited by them : there 
 were few or no courtly entertainments and 
 ceremonies : however friendly the allied 
 sovereigns might feel towards Louis per- 
 sonally, their determination to make France 
 know that the consequences of war are 
 sometimes serious, occasioned a sense of 
 restraint, and an appearance of coolness, as 
 between them and the royal family of the 
 Bourbons. 
 
 For some time after my arrival from 
 Brussels, British and Prussian sentries were 
 placed on the very palace of the Thuilleries, ' 
 but they were at last removed from this 
 post, and the gates were left to the French 
 national guard. At all the other public 
 buildings, however, the allies continued to 
 keep up the outward formal signs of their 
 occupation of the French capital, although 
 one national guard was in some situations 
 permitted to stand along with the foreigners. 
 This was the case at the Palais Royal, by ,- 
 the entrance of which a strong foreign 
 guard was always on duty, with loaded 
 cannon, centinels posted, and muskets 
 piled. It was here, however, that the 
 T 3
 
 278 THE PALAIS ROYAL. 
 
 French, probably, had their best revenge, 
 for the interior of this extraordinary 
 place, the character and nature of which I 
 have fully described in a previous work, 
 was thronged with the conquerors of 
 France, who did not enter it safely, or leave 
 it without sustaining injury. 
 
 All the remarkable features of the Palais 
 Royal were now aggravated. The nume- 
 rous passages leading into it were choked 
 with a living stream of all nations, ages, 
 ranks, costumes, and physiognomies, dri- 
 ven, as if by some irresistible impulse, 
 towards its fatal vortex. The toils of ser- 
 vice, the animation of victory, the careless- 
 ness of the military character, and the sim- 
 plicity of young men, more fraught with 
 confidence than with experience, all assisted 
 to provide the Palais Royal with a glut of 
 prey. The Prussians seemed to live in it ; 
 many of the officers of this nation were but 
 fine boys, and the same may be said of the 
 Russians : these youths, with their flaxen 
 hair, round caps, tightly tapered waists, 
 bending gait, and measured step, were seen, 
 morning, noon, and night, smoking in the 
 rptunda, or regaling in the cafes, or furnishing
 
 THE PALAIS ROYAL. 
 
 themselves with jewellery in the shops, or in 
 the hands of yet more mischievous dealers 
 under the piazzas, carrying themselves with 
 a swagger, and looking out in the pride of 
 supreme attainment, while, in fact, they were 
 scorching themselves bare in the brilliancy 
 with which they were delighted. The 
 spectacle, however, was fine and interesting 
 as a matter of observation : four or five of 
 the Austrian waggon corps, whose dress is 
 about that which one fancies for the robber 
 Moor, hanging linked together, would 
 breast as many Cossacks of the imperial Rus- 
 sian guard, in their wide trowsers and high 
 narrow caps : close behind these a single 
 highlander would be walking steadily along, 
 with a hard-featured woman, his wife, in his 
 arm, both drinking in, with inflexible 
 gravity, the sights around them. The fa- 
 shionable lounge, and bold stare of Bond- 
 street, were to be recognized in the carriage 
 of the young men of our hussar regiments; 
 the slow heavy step of the horse-guards- 
 men, quietly bespoke for itself a pretty 
 free passage, which the quick Prussian, 
 nodding his lofty feather, forced without 
 much ceremony. A veteran of Buonaparte's
 
 280 GAMBLING-HOUSES. 
 
 imperial guard, or a tall cuirassier, was ge- 
 nerally at no great distance, bearing himself 
 fiercely in angry silence, to make out the 
 picture, and give to it the strongest of its 
 interests. 
 
 The gambling-houses were crowded night 
 and day, and the British officers were much 
 too close in their attendance. Those of the 
 Palais Royal, however, were not found the 
 most dangerous. There are in Paris esta- 
 blishments which unite almost every delete- 
 rious influence that can be imagined. A man 
 of title, a nobleman, is found whose 
 gross debaucheries haveleft him almost as des- 
 titute of means as of character. A government 
 institution, belonging to the police, provides 
 him with the furnishing out of a splendid 
 hotel, and Madame, the Marchioness, pre- 
 sides at its table, which is covered with the 
 choicest wines and viands, and to which 
 strangers and Frenchmen are invited, who 
 are received as esteemed guests. There is 
 no sign of purpose or of expectation : you 
 adjourn to the play-tables after dinner, 
 but there is no compulsion, you may 
 play or not, as you please. The contrivers 
 of this scheme, however, know what they
 
 GAMBLING-HOUSES. 281 
 
 are about. Their parties always include a 
 number of fascinating women and these 
 well understand the capacity in which they 
 are to exert themselves. A small venture 
 can scarcely be refused to the request of a 
 pretty woman besides, the champaign 
 has been found excellent, and the conver- 
 sation is not less sparkling. It is, however, 
 thoroughly amable ; there is nothing to of- 
 fend, and all to allure. Politics are handled 
 en badinage ; a forged report is communi- 
 cated enconfiance; the adventurer, who skulks 
 at night in a garret, sits with the German 
 count or the English lord and not a grace is 
 violated, though you are surrounded with 
 every mode and caprice of vice, by in- 
 dividuals whose practices in profligacy reach 
 to the utmost extent of depraved ingenuity, 
 by the devices of a deep and foul system 
 of seduction, by all that is most loath- 
 some as well as fatal to purity of heart, and 
 what would shock, were it clearly seen, any 
 spirit in which honesty and manliness sur- 
 vived dissipation. 
 
 The Palais Royal had, as usual, distin- 
 guished itself during the agitation of the 
 last revolution, caused by Buonaparte's re- 
 
 4
 
 282 THE PALAIS ROYAL. 
 
 turn. The ladies and gentlemen of its pur- 
 lieus were all for the Emperor, and its in- 
 terior was the spot where his cause was 
 most energetically supported. The Cafe 
 Montansier, which, as I have said elsewhere, 
 is the rendezvous of the worst of men and 
 women, became the favourite and principal 
 point of assembly for his partizans. Here 
 a tribune was erected as in the times of the 
 revolution, and male and female orators 
 made the place echo with vive rEmpereur, 
 et la liberte ! Buonaparte was rather an- 
 noyed when he was told of this, and still 
 more so, when he heard that a murderer, 
 when on the scaffold, had bawled out " Live 
 the Emperor ! No Bourbons ! No Priests /" 
 The Palais Royal was the scene of almost 
 all the quarrels that occurred between the 
 French military and the Allies. These 
 squabbles seldom happened between the 
 British and the French, but the disputes 
 and disturbances between the latter and 
 the Prussians were endless. The truth, I 
 believe, was, that the French were charac- 
 teristically arrogant, and that the Prussians 
 did not understand how to repress their 
 insolence in a dignified, prompt, and effec-
 
 PARISIAN STORIES. 283 
 
 tual manner. If a Prussian and Frenchman 
 trod upon each other's toes, and had high 
 words in consequence, the drum was ordered 
 to beat out the guard, and a party took 
 possession of the Palais Royal, where they 
 contented themselves with bivouacking all 
 night. This they were very free to do 
 as often as they took the fancy, for any 
 thing that the French, who went home to 
 their beds, cared. The stories of con- 
 spiracies, explosions, and reactions at Paris, 
 which were circulated in London about this 
 time, had no more formidable foundation 
 than these petty quarrels, that originated 
 in no design, and came to no conclusion ; 
 but these furnished subjects for the talk 
 of the evening in the saloons where the 
 correspondents of the English newspapers 
 picked up their intelligence, and the com- 
 petition that necessarily existed among these 
 gentlemen, as to which should furnish for 
 his particular journal the most striking 
 communication, was nothing, and could 
 naturally be nothing, but a struggle m 
 exaggeration. Any one who should now 
 refer to the contents of the private letters 
 published in the Daily Press, to guide the
 
 PARISIAN STORIES. 
 
 opinions of the public of Britain as to the 
 state of things in France, would find thorn 
 a miserable mass of inconsistent falsehoods, 
 in almost every particular disagreeing with 
 each other, and scarcely ever, even by acci- 
 dent, corr6borated by facts. At the time 
 which I am now .describing, there was no 
 such thing as procuring even intention- 
 ally true statements from Frenchmen, 
 and if one could have been sure of their in- 
 tentional honesty, their ignorance, in nine 
 cases out of ten, would have been no less 
 sur,e. Finesse, imposition, and trick, are 
 the political weapons which the parties in 
 France think it most advisable to wield, 
 and this only indicates that they are, as 
 to politics, in a state of very imperfect in- 
 formation, and clumsy practice. Men are 
 always cunning until they become wise : 
 the Chinese merchant cheats, and he of 
 Lloyd's is honorable in his dealings : the 
 difference is to be accounted for, rather by 
 the superior commercial skill and intelli- 
 gence of the latter, than by any intrinsic 
 superiority of his moral sense. - The 
 writers for the English journals were eagerly 
 laid hold of by the politicians of France,
 
 PARISIAN STORIES. 285 
 
 ladies and gentlemen : according to the 
 views of the mistress or master, the con- 
 versation of the evening assembly was 
 framed j the pun was ready where the 
 argument was deficient ; the copy of 
 verses clenched the doctrine, and a lively 
 story, vouched for, by a fair partizan, who, 
 while she delivered it, looked the most 
 convincing logic at the English visitor, - 
 put contradiction out of the question, and 
 did not leave recollection enough for doubt. 
 Thus charged home, the simple corre- 
 spondent returned to his hotel, and gravely 
 embodied in a letter, as authentic intelli- 
 gence of the French capital, derived from 
 peculiarly respectable sources, the wild lies 
 of a heartless set of French impostors. 
 This, in due course of time, was received 
 and published by the editor of some daily 
 oracle, and then it Jbecame the text for 
 political debaters : the flimsy French 
 fabrication was taken hold of, and exa- 
 
 <w 
 
 mined, and tried, and searched, after the 
 thorough manner of our country, but in a 
 way that it was never meant to bear by 
 its ingenious manufacturers. They would 
 think it as reasonable to make a great coat,
 
 THE BRITISH PRESS. 
 
 of French gauze, as to turn a serious essay 
 on one of their own stories. The only 
 thing in these proceedings creditable to 
 England is, the respect paid to her press 
 in the very attempts made to deceive it. 
 This is certainly worthy notice. A minister 
 of the King of France lately said, that the 
 greatest importance was attached abroad to 
 the articles that appeared in the London 
 news-papers : the same feeling, it is pretty 
 well known, has been expressed by some 
 of the highest individuals of more than 
 one continental state, and a singular 
 proof was given by Buonaparte, in the 
 course of his last short reign, of the dis- 
 tinguished consideration in which he held 
 the editor of a certain morning journal, 
 belonging to the British metropolis. A 
 gentleman who described himself as a co- 
 laborateur in this print, was waited upon by 
 order of Bertrand, pressed to appear at the 
 imperial court, and was received by Ma- 
 dame Bertrand in the most graceful and 
 gracious style. 
 
 The Parisians, however, were able to de- 
 rive some spectacles and gaieties from the 
 military occupation of their city, and so 
 9
 
 AUSTRIAN BAND: PROMENADE, &c. 287 
 
 far it was very pleasant. A fine band play- 
 ed every evening at the door of the hotel 
 on the boulevard, where the Emperor of 
 Austria had his quarters, and a crowd of 
 fashionables used to collect to enjoy the 
 noble pieces of German martial music 
 which they performed. A little farther 
 down was the promenade of Coblentz, as 
 it was called : this crowding together of 
 a mob of ladies and gentlemen, to press 
 and incommode each other on a small space 
 of the boulevard, when they might walk 
 with ease by availing themselves of a little 
 more of its fine shaded length, can only be 
 explained by terming it a freak of fashion, 
 which is sufficient to explain any thing. 
 The foreign military brought some attrac- 
 tions to this place of resort for the Parisian 
 ladies, and the latter drew the soldiers to 
 the spot without fail. The summer air of 
 France is an object of enjoyment, va- 
 luable beyond description to an inhabitant 
 of these islands, who has constitutional 
 susceptibilities that are unpleasantly affect- 
 ed by a humid and inconstant atmosphere. 
 This great advantage gives a vivacity and 
 comfort to the out-of-door meetings of the
 
 288 VIEWS IN PARIS, 
 
 French, which in England we can have no 
 idea of. The spirits catch a clearness from 
 the heavens, there is a richness in all 
 the feelings corresponding to the glow 
 of external nature, and we are helped to 
 a freedom and quickness of thought and 
 observation, by the width and salubrity of 
 the scene about us. Rows of chairs were 
 placed under the trees of the boulevard, 
 where the beaux and belles would sit for 
 hours of these fine evenings, until bonnets 
 and feathers were gradually lost in the 
 shadows of night. But an evening seat in 
 the garden of the Thuilleries combined the 
 greatest number of genuine beauties. The 
 scenery of Paris, as well as its various other 
 characteristics, I have described to the best 
 of my ability in the account of my first visit 
 to that interesting capital, and I fre- 
 quently refer to what has been done in that 
 publication, that I may not be accused of 
 neglect in this. My business on this occa- 
 sion is with the temporary, but important 
 events of which it became the theatre. Yet 
 I cannot avoid noticing incidentally the ex- 
 treme beauty of the views of Paris, as seen in 
 the fine weather ; its projections of massy
 
 VIEWS IN PARIS. 289 
 
 buildings and single towers, standing in 
 the clear blue atmosphere, and connected, 
 in some situations, by the dark green of 
 lofty trees, produced very sublime effects, 
 But nothing can be imagined more grand 
 than the several aspects presented in and 
 from the garden of the Thuilleries. One 
 
 o 
 
 Sunday evening, when the sun was going 
 down behind the great gilt dome of the In- 
 valids, I was particularly struck with the ap- 
 pearances by which I was surrounded. The 
 trees massed themselves into a fine com- 
 position : the water, thrown up in , a line 
 from the jets in the basins, descended in 
 silvery showers, that twinkled as they were 
 seen scattering themselves amongst the in- 
 tervals of the bright leaves of the rows of 
 orange trees. The foliage partly concealed 
 and partly displayed the exquisite forms of 
 the Gods and Goddesses, copied in marble 
 from the antique, and presiding over the 
 enclosed parterres of flowers. The public 
 buildings of Paris elevated themselves in 
 the neighbourhood ; and, here and there, 
 their fronts were displayed in strong lights, 
 contrasting themselves to the vast shadows 
 thrown out by the trees. The Champs
 
 2QO VIEWS IN PARIS. 
 
 Elysees, on the other side of the Place of 
 Louis the XVth. shewed themselves as a 
 wood, rising to the considerable height of 
 the Barrier de rjEtoile, where a piece of 
 architecture crowned the summit. In the 
 middle of the clumps of the garden, there 
 were numerous dancing parties of the Pari- 
 sian young men and women. The dance is 
 a circular one, the dancers joining hands 
 and singing as they go round : the songs 
 were all loyal, it seemed for a moment 
 as if a heart had suddenly got into the 
 people. The scene was highly animating 
 and even affecting, and it became more so 
 when the King appeared abruptly at a win- 
 dow, and presented himself to the cheering 
 of the crowds below, regarding them with 
 a mild beneficent expression of face. 
 
 I do not mention this last circumstance as 
 a decisive proof of the loyal disposition of the 
 public. Louis the XVTIIth at that moment 
 looked out upon an unchanged nation, who 
 danced as enthusiastically around the heads 
 that were stuck upon pikes, and held up in 
 the faces of Louis the XVIth and his Queen. 
 He had before his eyes the very place where 
 they were beheaded, and which was then, as
 
 FRENCH NATIONAL CHARACTER. 291 
 
 now; surrounded by external magnificence. 
 The sans culottes that mutilated and ex- 
 posed the bodies of their murdered, refused 
 to fire at two poor Swiss soldiers who had 
 taken refuge behind the statues in this 
 
 o 
 
 very garden. To have injured these ex- 
 quisite pieces of fine art would have been 
 barbarous, so the trembling wretches 
 were pricked with pikes, till they were tor- 
 mented down from their place of refuge, and 
 then they were massacred. What a triumph 
 for art, what a specimen of national re- 
 finement ! 
 
 That the French national character has 
 sustained no material alteration since then, 
 is very evident ; and therefore it would be as 
 idle to say that they were affectionate be- 
 cause they seemed so, as it would be to say 
 that they had any imagination for what is 
 poetically dignified, tender, and impas- 
 sioned in sculpture and painting, because 
 they form large collections of statues and 
 pictures, and have the cant of art for ever 
 in their mouths. But there was something 
 very agreeable in the external appearance of 
 public enthusiasm, excited in favour of a 
 lately-returned monarch, who had suffered 
 u2
 
 292 SCOTCH SOLDIERS 
 
 many misfortunes and strange reverses. 
 One did not feel inclined to break the spell 
 at the moment ; the spectacle had the 
 look of that of a father blessing his children, 
 and of children expressing their love for a 
 father. It probably could not have been 
 got up so prettily in any other country, 
 for a mask can be made more prominent in 
 its features than a real countenance, and 
 genuine emotion is apt to rest, on its 
 own consciousness, without adopting the 
 strongest means of convincing others I 
 observed several of the British soldiers in 
 the crowds of these French exhibitors, and 
 the national contrast was wonderful. The 
 French were all motion, the British all 
 repose; the French were all challengers 
 of observation, the British all bestowers of 
 it ; the latter were occupied with others to 
 the length of a perfect abstraction from 
 themselves, the former felt only them- 
 selves, in the bustle of addressing those about 
 them. A Highlander, whom I watched for 
 some time, kept his acute grey eyes im- 
 moveably fixed on a circle of French 
 dancers ; the girls skipped on tiptoe past 
 his steady hardy figure, the young men 
 threw back their heads, turned out their
 
 IN THE ROYAL GARDEN. 293 
 
 toes, and loudly chaunted Vive Henri 
 Quatre, and a bas le Buonaparte : he saw 
 and heard all with the same equable, fixed, 
 contemplative expression : one would have 
 thought he had been listening to a Scotch 
 preacher : at last, by casting his eye ac- 
 cidentally about a quarter of an inch from 
 the straight forward line of view which he 
 had so long preserved, he caught sight of 
 one of his comrades, who had been his 
 very counterpart. The instant the mutual 
 recognition took place, the same communi- 
 cation was made, in perfect independence 
 of each other, by both. A loud coarse laugh 
 burst out from each, united as a volley of 
 musquetry, and ending as abruptly. The 
 two then linked their arms and went in- 
 stantly away. 
 
 But there were discernible, in the 
 public behaviour, certain signs that it 
 would be very difficult to reconcile with 
 any violent feeling against the Bourbons. 
 A. fierce-looking soldier stood in the crowd 
 collected below the King's window on the 
 Sunday evening: he stood there uncon- 
 nected with any one else, as the relic of a 
 destroyed system. He was heard to utter 
 u 3
 
 PUBLIC 
 
 to himself an execration against the re- 
 turned family. In an instant I saw him 
 assailed with the utmost fury. It would be 
 quite ridiculous to speak here of persons 
 paid by the police j they were evidently 
 self-animated who acted in this way. I 
 endeavoured to notice what descriptions of 
 the people were most active : they were those 
 of the bourgeois, such as shopkeepers and 
 their wives, the country folks who had 
 come from the neighbourhood of Paris to 
 enjoy the Sunday, also all the young 
 men who had not military decorations, 
 and particularly the women. The soldier 
 was only saved from their rough treatment, 
 which they were carrying to a great length, 
 by the arrival of the national guard, who 
 took him off in custody. It is a fact, noto- 
 rious to every one who has been in Paris, 
 that all the windows of the print shops, 
 and all the stalls of the boulevards, were 
 crammed with caricatures against Buona- 
 parte, and his friends, of the most cutting, 
 and often of the most indecent description. 
 The invention and execution of these 
 might certainly be the work of the police, 
 but if the general disposition of Paris was 
 so warmly in favour of the cause which
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 295 
 
 these prints traduced, as to threaten ano- 
 ther national convulsion, would their exhi- 
 bition lead to no paroxysm of popular in- 
 dignation ? Instead of their exciting any 
 expression of disapprobation or disgust, they 
 were all day surrounded by approving 
 crowds, who seemed to take infinite de- 
 light in their bitterness. In the theatres, 
 when the air of Vive Henri/ Quatre was 
 played, the peals of clapping were as fer-* 
 vent as those which were heard in the 
 British play-houses when the Allied Mo^ 
 narchs visited them. This, probably, may 
 not be so unequivocal an indication as 
 the other : the composition of the audi- 
 ences is liable to suspicion, but it would 
 not be easy to explain how these assem- 
 blies could be packed so completely as to 
 produce those lively appearances of genuine 
 and general sentiment, if there were a deep 
 and extensive real feeling towards the other 
 side. It is said, indeed, by some, that the air 
 in question, is simply a national one, and is 
 not necessarily connected with the existing 
 government of France: but when it is 
 considered that Buonaparte prohibited it, 
 that it was never heard in France from the 
 u 4
 
 296' PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 expulsion of the Bourbons to their return, 
 and was then vehemently sung as the most 
 flattering welcome that could be paid to 
 them, it must be held disingenuous to 
 represent it as any thing else, in the popular 
 estimation at least, than a Bourbon hymn. 
 The ballad singers, too, would seem to 
 put the real political sentiments of the 
 commonalty to the test. I stopped one 
 night to listen to two men on the quays, 
 who were singing a comic description of 
 Buonaparte's various flights; they did it 
 with infinite fun and severity. One of 
 them, in particular, was an admirable co- 
 median : he frequently interrupted his com- 
 panion, who was going correctly on with 
 the regular words, as if he had committed 
 a blunder, and threw in an interpolation of 
 his own, adding tenfold to the bitterness of 
 the ridicule. The crowd was immense, and 
 was most vociferously cordial in its mirth. 
 All the individuals present seemed to enter 
 with the greatest good-will into the satire, 
 - and at any particularly sharp point their 
 delight went beyond all bounds. The sol- 
 diers, on this occasion, seemed as pleased 
 as the citizens. I assuredly saw in Paris
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 297 
 
 indications which were sufficient to con- 
 vince me, that, with the bulk of its middle 
 classes, Buonaparte was not now popular, 
 and that, notwithstanding certain hankerings 
 after glory, and vague notions about the 
 impropriety of priests, they were, never- 
 theless, conscious that the government of 
 Louis the XVIIIth afforded them the best 
 guarantee for national prosperity, and public 
 liberty. It was very clear that the Em- 
 peror stood much higher in the peoples' 
 estimation when he was at Elba, than he 
 did after his return from that island. They 
 attributed his first reverses to accident ; 
 they saw him treated with respect by the 
 sovereigns of Europe, retaining his titles, 
 and exercising an independent sway in 
 their neighbourhood. They could still so- 
 lace themselves with the great achieve- 
 ments which he had led France to accom- 
 plish : they had not been visited with 
 enough of humiliation to impress them 
 with any fear that their fame was not still 
 pre-eminent over their misfortunes ; they 
 retained all the public trophies, and 
 were in the mean while, profiting to a 
 very great degree by the peace. Their
 
 298 PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 public means were thriving unprecedentedly, 
 and they were thus invited to talk bigly of 
 the past, by the satisfactory circumstances 
 in which they found themselves left. It 
 will easily be understood how, in this frame 
 of temper and condition, there might be a 
 good deal heard of discontented reference 
 to their noisy glories under Buonaparte, 
 without their entertaining any serious wish 
 to recur to their happy state under that 
 beneficent Prince ! The continuance of 
 these grumbling allusions would probably 
 have been considerable, for they seemed 
 to a Frenchman a sufficient redemption of 
 his own and his country's honor, which he 
 could not quite conceal from himself, had 
 been rather compromised. While he talked 
 in high terms of the Emperor, he " fought 
 all his battles o'er again," and while he 
 threw contempt on the peace, he fancied 
 that he escaped from the odium of defeat. 
 All this, however, was a very different thing 
 from wishing the Emperor back, though, 
 until the trial was made, it seemed to in- 
 dicate such a wish. It certainly appeared 
 to me, when I was first in France, that 
 there was an unaccountable bias in the
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 299 
 
 popular mind towards the imperial sway : 
 
 the people, in conversation, sunk its atro- 
 cities, and dwelt fondly on its splendours : 
 
 but as it turned out, this was only con- 
 versation. If there be any one political 
 fact to be gathered from mingling with 
 those classes of the French, that are out of 
 the natural limits of faction, it is, that a 
 startle of alarm spread itself over the nation, 
 among all those whose interests were re- 
 concileable with a healthy state of public 
 affairs, when they received the news of 
 Buonaparte's last enterprize. As time 
 elapsed, the sweets consequent on the royal 
 restoration, were more and more felt and 
 enjoyed. The eleven months of the King's 
 reign were the most fortunate that France 
 had known for many years. I shall justify 
 this assertion by particular facts : the com- 
 mon people at Amiens, who were in a 
 starving state under Buonaparte, were in 
 the habit of earning three francs a day 
 under the King. On the re-appearance of 
 the former from Elba, their daily wages 
 instantly fell to seventeen sous, in the pros- 
 pect of the consequences. The manufac- 
 tures of Rouen were rapidly thriving under
 
 300 PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 the royal government. A wholesale house 
 in Paris, with the circumstances of which 
 I had opportunities of being acquainted, 
 sold to the amount of five thousand francs 
 a week, in the months of January and Fe- 
 bruary 1815, and scarcely disposed of goods 
 for five hundred a week when Napoleon 
 replaced himself The public finances 
 were quickly disengaging themselves from 
 all embarrassment ; and it is pretty 
 certain that, if Buonaparte's expedition 
 had not taken place, the prosperity of 
 France would, at this moment, have given 
 England trouble enough to meet her rival- 
 ship. This is so forcibly felt by the French 
 people, that they charge us with having 
 turned Buonaparte loose upon them, in 
 order to avert the danger to which we saw 
 ourselves exposed, by renewing the reign of 
 misery and discord amongst them. This, as 
 every one knows who has lately been in that 
 country, is the obstinate assertion in the 
 mouth of almost every Frenchman. 
 
 It is very apparent, in the facts that have 
 occurred, that Buonaparte was not sup- 
 ported by the French people ; and there is 
 scarcely a public man of any reputation,
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 301 
 
 who has not availed himself of some oppor- 
 tunity to state, that he never connected the 
 hopes of his country, either as they related 
 to domestic freedom or foreign respecta- 
 bility, with that person's return. They 
 have most of them asserted, that, as a mat- 
 ter of comparison, they deemed the chances 
 infinitely more in favor of eventual liberty 
 and prosperity, under the Bourbons, ac- 
 cording to the constitution of their govern- 
 ment, than under any administration of the 
 sovereign power by Buonaparte. But there 
 was an union of persons, strong in talent, 
 and faithful in intention, that would gladly 
 have improved the last revolution, which 
 they were far from desiring, so as to have 
 made it the occasion of stedfastly settling 
 the form of their government on the sound 
 principles of popular rights. Louis's act. 
 giving a constitution to the French, when 
 he first arrived among them, was, in its 
 essence, arbitrary, though in practice it 
 afforded a much larger share of liberty to 
 the subject than had ever before been per- 
 manently provided for in France. The na- 
 tion, with this beginning, might easily have 
 gone on improving its institutions, if it had 
 9
 
 302 PUBLIC OPINION/ 
 
 been fortunate enough to acquire more 
 judicious views, and sounder moral habits : 
 but the individuals are not to be blamed, 
 who would have availed themselves of a 
 change, in producing which they had no 
 hand, to advance their political system a 
 stage in the road of improvement. These 
 persons afforded no support to Buonaparte, 
 and had none of his confidence. They, in 
 fact, were the chief causes of his very rapid 
 fall, for they took instant hold of his 
 disasters to insist on his abdication ; and 
 by their firmness in this respect, prevented 
 that, which, but for their opposition, would 
 most probably have happened, namely, 
 an assumption of despotic power by Napo- 
 leon, backed by his soldiers and creatures, 
 availing themselves of the extremity in 
 which they had involved the country, and 
 convinced that they had no other chance of 
 raising a force sufficient to resist their ene- 
 mies. It certainly is a pity that the few 
 rational and honest friends of liberty in 
 France, who by their dignified avoidance 
 of intimacy with its perfidious betrayer, set 
 a needful example to all those who take the 
 name of, the friends of liberty, and who 
 6
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 303 
 
 vindicated their intellects from reproach by 
 refusing credence to his professions ; it 
 certainly is a pity that they were not more 
 respectfully listened to by the leading men 
 of those powers who professed to regard a 
 just settlement of the internal discords of 
 that country, and the establishment of a 
 liberal and enlightened government over it 
 as essential to the security of all the Euro- 
 pean states, and the general tranquillity of 
 mankind. 
 
 But the great question is still obviously 
 unanswered, viz. how Buonaparte was 
 brought back, and in what quarter, and 
 from what motives, he found the support 
 which enabled him to seize on the throne 
 in violation of both his abdication and de- 
 position, and to hold it until indignant 
 Europe chased him for ever from public 
 life? One specimen out of a large class 
 of the modern French, will, if I mistake 
 not, go a great way towards furnishing the 
 solution. 
 
 Lefebvre Desnouettes was among the 
 most audaciously early in declaring for 
 Buonaparte when on his way to Paris, 
 and he must have been very principally
 
 304 PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 concerned in the conspiracy. His cha- 
 racter is notorious as a breaker of his parole 
 of honor, and his peculiar circumstances 
 are worth explanation. He was particu- 
 larly favored by the emperor, and was 
 united by the imperial mandate to a young 
 lady of fortune. It is well known, that 
 this curious mode of rewarding military 
 merit was frequently adopted by Buo- 
 naparte, and indeed all the unmarried fe- 
 males of France, whose persons were con- 
 nected with fortunes, were placed at his 
 absolute disposal by a law, that rendered 
 his sanction of their nuptial engagements 
 indispensible for their validity. Lefebvre 
 Desnouettes, having been thus provided 
 with a wife, was presented with a palace 
 and its sumptuous furniture by his muni- 
 ficent master. The income of this man, 
 under the Imperial government, is supposed 
 to have amounted altogether to about 
 twenty thousand pounds a year. Under 
 the Bourbons, though he was always de- 
 cently received at Court, and suffered no 
 further reduction of his appointments than 
 naturally accrued from the general change 
 of system, yet it was inevitable that he
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 305 
 
 should feel his consequence in society, 
 his hopes, and even his reputation in- 
 jured- by the disgrace and destruction 
 of the fountain head of all his honors 
 and profits. But, in regard to the latter, 
 his loss was by no means of a spe- 
 culative nature: he was at once reduced 
 from twenty thousand a-year to about two ; 
 a sum scarcely sufficient to keep his splen- 
 did hotel in repair. Of course he was 
 obliged to give it up, and to fall into a 
 sphere immeasurably below what he had 
 occupied. Most of those who may be 
 termed the offspring of the Imperial court, 
 experienced the same sort of reduction in 
 estimation, prospect, and income. Buona-. 
 parte had been sensible that he could only 
 find a substitute for hereditary attachments 
 in the enormous wealth and unbounded 
 luxury of his -adherents : the creatures of 
 his system, therefore, were made to find in 
 it a mine of riches. Their extravagance 
 and dissipation were encouraged, that their 
 desires might bind them fastly to the Im- 
 perial cause. The pomps and luxuries of 
 the courtiers and officers of the new dy- 
 nasty, almost surpass imagination: their
 
 306 PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 hotels groaned under magnificence, that in 
 every thing told the anxious determination 
 to be magnificent : the princesses and 
 duchesses of this modern creation, had 
 much that they wished to expunge from 
 remembrance as to the past, and they 
 deemed that they could only effect this 
 by making a lavish use of the present. 
 The kind of moral principle bred up in 
 this school has been proved to the world : 
 
 the new nobility were as luxurious, as 
 profligate, and as intolerant as the old, 
 but, as they were totally without inborn 
 sensibilities of any kind, they could not 
 give that security which is to be found in 
 a gentleman's sense of private honor, that 
 he will abide by those fundamental rules of 
 conduct, without the observation of which, 
 society would be but an accumulation of 
 ruffianism. It will not to any one seem 
 likely, that a set so formed and trained, 
 would sit down patiently in that humbler 
 state, to which they found themselves con- 
 demned by the restoration of the Bourbons, 
 
 or that they would be very delicate in 
 using any means that promised to relieve 
 them from irksome mortifications. The
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 307 
 
 Madames of this nurture were, I under- 
 stand, even more irritable than their hus- 
 bands, under an order of things so dis- 
 agreeably opposed in its external quiet, 
 decorum, and strictness to the habits of the 
 Imperial court, and the spirit of female 
 intrigue, always so active and powerful in 
 France, was very instrumental in bringing 
 about the re-visit from Elba. In the final 
 result, what a signal piece of retribution 
 has this class pulled down upon itself. It 
 includes individuals who have been the 
 butchers of every system that has prevail- 
 ed for a time by means of butchery, and 
 the profiters by every varying visitation of 
 mischief. These have been the instruments 
 to inflict the most terrible sufferings on 
 mankind, but, under every change, they 
 had hitherto escaped suffering themselves. 
 Their baseness, in fact, had been the prin- 
 ciple of their preservation : but at last 
 they fell into a ditch of their own digging. 
 The greater number of them are now out- 
 casts and wanderers. Buonaparte seems to 
 have been led from Elba only to complete 
 his own ruin, and give farther point to the 
 lesson, by dragging with him to perdition 
 x 2
 
 308 PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 those who had poisoned by their crimes the 
 well-spring of liberty, and darkened, in the 
 storms of murder and desolation, that dawn- 
 ing day, to the light of which millions 
 looked with anxious hopes that were soon 
 turned to disgust and despair. 
 
 That these heads of revolt would find a 
 body for it, in a soldiery whose former bril- 
 liant prospects, under a ruler with apolitical 
 system and personal character entirely mili- 
 tary, were now much clouded if not utterly 
 closed, was in the nature of things ; and 
 only proves, as has been observed by others, 
 the "great hazard to which civil liberty, 
 national morality, and general prosperity 
 are exposed all over the civilized world, 
 from the prevalence of military habits, and 
 the conversion of an undue proportion of 
 the people into a professional soldiery." 
 That a party, not only far from constituting 
 the majority of the nation in numbers, but 
 with an interest directly opposed to the na- 
 tional welfare destitute of virtues, and 
 degraded in estimation and condition, should 
 be able to dispose of the kingdom by a 
 sudden transfer, is to be explained only by 
 a reference to the peculiarly lamentable 
 z
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 309 
 
 state of public opinion and information in 
 France. The miseries of the revolution, 
 succeeded as they were by the sullen severity 
 of an imperial despotism, had totally indis- 
 posed the people towards any interference 
 with politics. Under Buonaparte it be- 
 came a common remark, in the exercise of 
 private prudence, that it was a foolish and 
 improper thing to take any concern with 
 political affairs, and this disposition was 
 inculcated and diffused by the management 
 of the government, which was most assi- 
 duous to persuade or terrify the people 
 from approaching, even in thought, the 
 operations of authority. Hence it has be- 
 come the boast of good Frenchmen, that 
 they leave events to take their course, and 
 are always ready with obedience to the 
 actual rulers. It requires but little discern- 
 ment to see, that this principle of passive- 
 ness is a fruitful source of disturbance and 
 revolution, and that it deprives established 
 institutions of their strongest security. But 
 they have not generally acquired even the 
 alphabet of political knowledge as yet in 
 France ; and it appeared to me but too 
 plain, that the greatest danger to the Bour- 
 x 3
 
 310 PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 bons lay in the prejudice that existed against 
 all opposition to the measures of their ad- 
 ministration, however palpably reconcileable 
 with a sincere attachment to the family, as 
 constitutionally vested with the prerogatives 
 of the limited French monarchy. Such an 
 opposition must be in active and sanctioned 
 exercise, draining off discontents, and im- 
 peding dangerous abuses, before the govern- 
 ment can be deemed secure from those 
 fatal convulsions, the effects of which on the 
 freedom, morals, happiness, and general 
 respectability of that country have been so 
 deplorable. 
 
 This account of the state of public feeling 
 and opinion in relation to the royal and Im- 
 perial causes, and of the temper of the 
 French nation towards Buonaparte's late en- 
 tei prize, would not probably coincide with 
 that which would be given by any French- 
 man of any party. It is too qualified to appear 
 accurate to any warmly interested individual ; 
 but those who will open their eyes may soon 
 see in France that information must be 
 sought for any how but in direct testimony. 
 A Frenchman can persuade himself of any 
 thing in a moment, and he can get rid of
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 311 
 
 an important belief as easily and quickly. 
 The political conversations of the saloons 
 are not worth a moment's attention except 
 as curious specimens of national character : 
 according to their party is the complexion 
 of their chattering, but, what with plea- 
 sant fabrications, that would in England be 
 taken for serious roguery, and grave dis- 
 cussions, that would in England be thought 
 exquisite pleasantries,^ the simple listener 
 is sure to be misled, and, if he carries his 
 recollection about with him, he must be 
 bewildered with the conflict of inconsisten- 
 cies and the jarring of contradictory reports. 
 He would shew himself more confident than 
 wise, who should pretend to have gathered 
 a thorough understanding of the public 
 mind of France from one or two visits to 
 Paris ; but a careful noting of indirect and 
 circumstantial evidence, a close observa- 
 tion of facts, and a habit of reasoning upon 
 them independently, 1 may safely say, will 
 be found excellent preservatives against im- 
 position, and perhaps the best methods of 
 coming to something like correct notions 
 of the present most extraordinary state of 
 this most extraordinary people, 
 x 4
 
 ( SIS ) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 '"PHE doubtful point that excited the 
 
 greatest interest, both in the minds 
 
 of the French ^,nd the foreign visitors to 
 
 o 
 
 their capital, was the course which the Allies 
 would pursue, in regard to the great collec- 
 tions of the monuments of fine art, and the 
 curiosities of antiquity and science, which 
 had been accumulated in Paris, chiefly at 
 the expence of the states which, in the 
 progress of the military invasions of France, 
 had become the victims of the preponder- 
 ance of her arms. The tide of fortune had at 
 length turned; and these states, with the ex- 
 ception of one, which the others, however, 
 had taken specially under their protection, 
 were now in full possession of the French 
 territory as conquerors, and with no other 
 visible or likely restraint on their manner of 
 dealing with the French people, but what 
 their own notions of propriety might en- 
 force. France had stripped of these trea-
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE, 315 
 
 sures, which are as dear to the common 
 feeling as precious in the estimation of 
 cultivated minds, all the nations that had 
 been unfortunate enough to fall under her 
 iron yoke. In so doing there can be no 
 doubt that she acted contrary to the usages 
 of modern war, and in that coarse spirit of 
 rapacious selfishness which distinguishes to 
 her shame the whole of her revolutionary 
 history. It is very pdssible to find out 
 particular instances of very unjustifiable 
 abuses of -power, committed before she 
 commenced the career in question ; but, 
 so long as they stood exceptions to the 
 general rule, they did faut stand out to their 
 own disgrace, in the exposure of their 
 enormity. France it was, that first incor- 
 porated the most odious vioJations in her 
 regular system of cdnduct; she it was, that 
 first refused to own that any right could 
 stand in the way of her power; and she 
 gave an example of a cold cruelty of prac- 
 tice, quite equal to the worthlessness of her 
 principles. Austria, Italy, Prussia, the 
 Netherlands, and the various smaller states 
 of Germany, were robbed of their finest 
 works of genius and memorials of reputa-
 
 314< STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 tion: Rome had been stripped to enrich 
 Paris ; the Vatican had been despoiled to 
 stock the Louvre. When Frederick of 
 Prussia made himself master of Dresden, 
 he only asked of the magistrates that 
 he might have permission to sit in their gal- 
 lery to admire its pictures ! the French 
 generals made their selection of these, and 
 packed them off for France ! The armies 
 of these plundered states, however, were 
 now on the spot where all that had been 
 taken from them was collected, and that 
 they had the power to cause restitution no 
 one could deny. It remained to be seen if 
 such was their determination. 
 
 The French were not contented merely to 
 express a hope in the forbearance of their con- 
 querors, on this second occasion of the ap- 
 pearance of the Allies in Paris, because they 
 had forborne the first time, but they ground- 
 ed a claim to the retention of the property in 
 perpetuity on this circumstance. Few will be 
 found to imagine for an instant that the 
 nation which seized these articles from 
 their possessors, would have relinquished 
 any opportunity of replacing its own pro- 
 perty that might have been taken from it
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 315 
 
 in the hour of bad fortune ; but certain it 
 is, that its people of all parties, royalists, 
 imperialists, and republicans, affected, in an 
 equal degree, a fine indignant surprise at 
 the bare suggestion that the altar pieces of 
 Antwerp, which were quite destroyed by 
 the cross lights of the Louvre, had better 
 be replaced in the situations for which 
 Rubens painted them, and that Italy 
 had, upon the whole, both in feeling and 
 fact, a stronger claim to the Transfiguration 
 than France. The latter grand work was 
 entered in the French catalogues as secured 
 to them by destiny ; but it is neither de- 
 corous nor safe for mortals to interpret the 
 resolutions of this awful power. The 
 various objections that have been urged 
 against the measure of restoration which 
 was finally adopted by the Allies, I shall 
 notice and comment upon, after I have 
 stated some of the interesting facts that at- 
 tended this, in my view, very proper pro- 
 ceeding. 
 
 The Prussians alone seem to have made 
 up their minds, that if ever they had occasion 
 to pay a second visit to Paris, they would 
 not leave it the spoils of their country to
 
 316 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 boast of. Indeed it is declared officially, 
 that a promise was demanded from the 
 French government in 1814, that the pro- 
 perty of this description, belonging to the 
 state in question, should be quietly restored, 
 in the way least hurtful to the feelings of 
 the restored family, after the bustle of the 
 arrangements was over, and it is added 
 that such promise was given but not kept. 
 Prince Blucher, it seems, waited for no 
 settlement of concert, and sought for no 
 co-operation. When the commissioners 
 came to treat for the surrender of Paris, he 
 at once repelled their endeavour to pre- 
 serve untouched the contents of the mu- 
 seums, and, in truth, he had previously com- 
 menced at Saint Cloud the work of retak- 
 ing. From the first moment of his en- 
 trance into Paris, he proceeded spiritedly, 
 and independently, in removing from the 
 Louvre all that was in it of Prussian pro- 
 perty ; and the blanks on the walls shewed 
 the daily progress of the French loss in this 
 respect. The whole amount of it, how- 
 ever, would have been as nothing to the 
 remainder of the collection, if the other 
 members of the alliance could have been 
 
 3
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 317 
 
 induced -to Forbear, and it was thought, 
 by those who were interested in the reten- 
 tion, that the best way would be to keep 
 very quiet as to the proceedings of Prussia* 
 to affect to take no notice of them what- 
 ever, hoping that silence might cause the 
 affair to die away after the first removals 
 were over, and that either the dull indif- 
 ference or the singular good-nature of the 
 states of Europe, ' might yet leave to Paris 
 the darling boast of being the capital of 
 the world as to Fine Art. 
 
 For some time there was reason to sus- 
 pect that this manoeuvre would be suc- 
 cessful. The Prussians completed their seiz- 
 ures, congratulated themselves on their own 
 good sense, and swaggered about the Louvre, 
 which now possessed nothing of theirs, 
 though it was still rich in the spoils of other 
 nations. The splendid collection was 
 scarcely thinned, and there appeared no 
 signs of an intention to thin it further. 
 The French had almost recovered courage 
 enough to vaunt of what was left to them ; 
 and to insult the motives of that forbearance^ 
 the advantage of which they now made 
 pretty sure of enjoying. This they did in
 
 318 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 the most unqualified style, with reference 
 to the abstinence of the Allies in 1814. 
 Denon is said to have illustrated this, by 
 the fable of the cock, who, scratching in a 
 dunghill, found a diamond, which he 
 spurned from him, while he eagerly picked 
 up a barley-corn. It certainly was the 
 general belief in Paris, that no people knew 
 any thing of the value of paintings and 
 statues, curiosities, and collections of na- 
 tural history, but the French, and that 
 to this general ignorance, coupled with a 
 feeling of dread, as to what the Parisians 
 might have done in their vengeance, if it 
 had been attempted to deprive them of what 
 they so highly prized and relished, they 
 owed the continued possession of these 
 treasures, after the events of 1814. Indeed 
 no Frenchman permitted himself to enter- 
 tain the slightest doubt of the conscious- 
 ness of the Allies, when first masters of the 
 French capital, that they were far too 
 weak to repossess themselves of what was 
 held in it as trophies of their defeat. " You 
 knew well, that we should have arisen as 
 one man to destroy you, if you had dared 
 to lay hands on what every inhabitant of 
 
 9
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 319 
 
 France feels to be his honor, his pride, his 
 delight, his existence of which our coun- 
 try is alone worthy, which are the mo- 
 numents of the days of French glory,- 
 and proofs, that, in the reverse of her for- 
 tunes, she was still deemed formidable!" 
 This was the language which the British 
 and other foreigners heard in the assem- 
 blies of Paris, delivered with vehemence, 
 and even with offensive arrogance, while 
 their countrymen were standing guard over 
 every public edifice in that capital, while 
 they regulated the public festivals, and 
 encamped in the public gardens ! The 
 French military were peculiarly loud and 
 pertinacious in these declarations, yet 
 the majority of this class very inconsistently 
 maintained, that all that was done in 1814 
 in France, was done by the dint of com- 
 pulsion, that the Emperor was forced from 
 a people that wished to retain him as their 
 ruler, and that the army took the oaths 
 of allegiance to another Prince most un- 
 willingly. It seemed strange, after this, 
 to insist, that the Allies who, as it was said, 
 were able to remove by force a beloved 
 sovereign from his people, and dictate
 
 320 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 hateful engagements to a numerous sol- 
 diery, could not repossess themselves of 
 their own pictures ! What was this but to 
 affirm that a man might be strong enough 
 to lift a hundred weight, and yet be so weak 
 that he could not bear himself up under 
 an ounce ! But it very seldom happens that 
 a Frenchman troubles himself to connect 
 two facts together, that they may elucidate 
 each other ; he is vivaciously affected 
 with single circumstances, and forcibly 
 struck with simple impressions, but ge- 
 neralizing and combining are entirely out 
 of his way. 
 
 It certainly seemed, however, as if the 
 Allies at least hesitated very much, to mor- 
 tify this offensive vanity. Every day new 
 arrivals of strangers poured into Paris, all 
 anxiety to gain a view of the Louvre before 
 its, collection was broken up : it was the 
 first point to which all the British directed 
 their steps -every morning, in eager cu- 
 riosity to know whether the business of 
 removal had commenced. They who took 
 the journey to France at this period were 
 gratified : the few pictures seized by the 
 Prussians were scarcely missed, and all the
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 321 
 
 most celebrated works remained. The halls 
 of the statues might be considered unin- 
 jured, and, in the great gallery above, 
 which was perpetually crowded with stran- 
 gers who found it a convenient rendezvous, 
 earnest discussions and disputes were main- 
 tained as to the propriety and probability of 
 further stripping its walls. 
 
 But the business was by no means at 
 rest under this apparent inactivity. The 
 towns and principalities that had been 
 plundered, were making sedulous exertions 
 to influence the councils of the Allies to 
 determine on a general restoration ; and 
 several of the great Powers leaned decidedly 
 towards such a decision. The esteemed 
 sculptor, Canova, appeared as a claimant 
 in behalf of Rome, which had only her 
 venerable name to urge, having no force 
 to support her rights. Attempts were cer- 
 tainly made to contrive an arrangement 
 with the King of France's ministry, by 
 which justice might be done to Europe, 
 observing the greatest possible delicacy that 
 the circumstances admitted of towards the 
 French government and people. But 
 Fouehe and Talleyrand hung back, in that
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 unprincipled, cunning, selfish spirit, which 
 ever characterized the Imperial school of 
 politicians ; hoping that the Allies would 
 either shrink from a forcible seizure alto- 
 gether, or that some of the smaller states, 
 to whom belonged the most valuable ar- 
 ticles in the museums, might fail to receive 
 from their powerful friends that armed 
 assistance which would enable them to 
 repossess themselves of their property. The 
 story went at the time, that Canova's re- 
 presentations, originally made to the French 
 government, were treated with cutting con- 
 tempt : Talleyrand was said to have drop- 
 ped, by way of taunt, that no pictures or 
 statues could be taken from the Louvre, 
 unless there were at least fifty thousand 
 soldiers to see that they were safely taken 
 down ! 
 
 But, at length, it seems, the patience of 
 those, who saw the impolicy as well as the 
 injustice of leaving to France these trophies 
 of a monstrous system of aggression and 
 spoliation, which it was the object of the 
 great combination of Europe to destroy, 
 was utterly exhausted. It was resolved, 
 however, that each power of the alliance 
 7
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 should act in the independent exercise of 
 its own strength, according to its own views 
 of this matter. Russia was generally under- 
 stood to give some support to the pre- 
 tensions of the French, she had, in truth, 
 lost little or nothing, and it was known to 
 be either her taste or her policy, to recom- 
 mend herself to France as the magnani- 
 mous moderator of the severity of her 
 Allies. 
 
 Before actual force was employed, re- 
 presentations were repeated to the French 
 government, but the ministers of the 
 King of France would neither promise due 
 satisfaction, nor uphold a strenuous oppo- 
 sition. They shewed a sulky disregard of 
 every application. A deputation from the 
 Netherlands formally claimed the Dutch 
 and Flemish pictures taken during the 
 revolutionary wars from these countries ; 
 and this demand was conveyed through the 
 Duke of Wellington, as Commander-in- Chief 
 of the Dutch and Belgian armies. About 
 the same time, also, Austria determined 
 that her Italian and German towns, which 
 had been despoiled, should have their pro- 
 perty replaced, and Canova, the anxious 
 Y 2
 
 324 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 represensative of Rome, after many fruit- 
 less appeals to Talleyrand, received assur- 
 ances that he, too, should be furnished with 
 an armed force sufficient to protect him in 
 taking back to that venerable city, what lost 
 its highest value in its removal from thence. 
 Conflicting reports continued to prevail 
 among the crowds of strangers and natives 
 as to the intentions of the Allies, but on 
 Saturday, the 23d of September, all doubt 
 was removed. On going up to the door of 
 the Louvre, I found a guard of 150 British 
 riflemen drawn up outside. I asked one of 
 the soldiers what they were there for? 
 " Why, they tell me, Sir, that they mean 
 to take away the pictures," was his reply. 
 I walked in amongst the statues below. In 
 one of the halls, I found two brown- 
 complexioned, stout, good-natured looking 
 women, the wives of English soldiers, 
 examining, very curiously, the large reclin- 
 ing figure of the Tiber ; one of them ex- 
 claimed with a laugh, " See how the young 
 devils run over his, body !" The streams 
 of visitors to this collection of antique 
 beauty, had, for some time, presented the 
 strangest contrasts between the observers
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 325 
 
 and the things observed. I once caught 
 two Yorkshire men, privates of the Foot 
 Guards, spelling out from their catalogues, 
 syllable by syllable, the title of Poussin's 
 picture of the Rape of the Sabines ; when 
 they had succeeded in putting the words 
 together, and given one momentary glance 
 at the production of the pencil, they went 
 on to the next number, to pursue the same 
 tedious exercise with regard to it, and so 
 they would probably continue at work, until 
 they had laboured through the names of 
 some hundreds of pictures. Going on from 
 these, up the vast length of the gallery, I 
 found a Cossack turning up his simple bar- 
 barian face to the Transfiguration. He was 
 gazing at it with an expression of admira- 
 tion, but it was the same sort of expression 
 with which he would regard the buffaloes 
 and sea-lions in the cabinet of Natural 
 History. A Highland Serjeant was fixed 
 opposite to him, before a picture by one of 
 the early Italians, in which St. Cecilia is 
 represented drawing a bow across a violin. 
 His mind was evidently occupied, to the 
 exclusion of every other consideration, with 
 Y 3
 
 326 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 speculations on the strange appearance of 
 a woman playing on a fiddle. 
 
 I was called from the marbles, on the 
 day which I have mentioned, by a sudden 
 rushing of feet from without, and, on going 
 to the great stair-case, I saw the English 
 guard hastily tramping up its magnificent 
 ascent : a crowd of astounded French 
 followed in their rear, and, from above, 
 many of the visitors to the Gallery of Pic- 
 tures were attempting to force their way 
 past the ascending soldiers, catching an 
 alarm from their sudden entrance. We had, 
 in Paris, our daily reports of the probability 
 of convulsions, massacres, insurrections, and 
 what not, that was terrible, and the Louvre 
 was by many deemed the spot where the 
 disturbance was most likely to break out, 
 it being there that the highest degree of 
 French exasperation would most probably 
 be kindled. It was the general remark of 
 even the people themselves, that no inflic- 
 tion of the Allies, or of their own govern- 
 ment, no loss of territory or violation of 
 liberty, would affect them with such mor- 
 tification, rage, and sorrow, as the seizure of 
 the monuments of art, and the curiosities.
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 327 
 
 This was taking the feather from their caps, 
 and would therefore hurt them more than 
 snatching bread from their mouths, or 
 pulling the coat from their backs. No 
 wonder, therefore, if it was at first ima- 
 gined, that the English guard had been 
 called into the Louvre in consequence of 
 the appearances of some explosion of po- 
 pular fury. 
 
 The alarm, however, was unfounded, 
 but the spectacle that presented itself was 
 very impressive. A British officer dropped 
 his men in files along this magnificent gal- 
 lery, until they extended, two and two, at 
 small distances, from its entrance to its 
 extremity. All the spectators were breath- 
 less, in eagerness to know what was to be 
 done, but the soldiers stopped as ma- 
 chines, having no care beyond obedience 
 to their orders. They proceeded to untie 
 the oil-skins from the locks of their rifles. 
 The bustle, and dust, and buz of the armed 
 men, and of the curious, agitated crowds, 
 presented a marked contrast to the tranquil 
 dignity of the Raphaels and Titians on the 
 walls, which, nevertheless, were the causes of 
 all this hurley burley. It was, indeed, a fine 
 Y 4
 
 328 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 triumph for genius that was now in a course 
 of celebration. Here was every heart agi- 
 tated, every tongue voluble, every arm 
 raised in a zeal to possess its productions, 
 here were Princes and ministers in ear- 
 nest and warm discussion concerning their 
 fate, and here was a nation in a frenzy at 
 the idea of losing them. 
 
 The work of removal now commenced 
 in good earnest : porters with barrows, and 
 ladders, and tackles of ropes, made their 
 appearance. The collection of the Louvre 
 might from that moment be considered as 
 broken up for ever. The sublimity of its 
 orderly aspect vanished : it took now 
 the melancholy, confused, desolate air of 
 a large auction room after a day's sale. 
 Before this, the visitors had walked down 
 its profound* length with a sense of respect 
 on their minds, influencing them to pre- 
 serve silence and decorum, as they con- 
 templated the majestic pictures : but de- 
 cency and quiet were dispelled when the 
 signal was given for the break-up of the 
 establishment. It seemed as if a nation had 
 become ruined through improvidence, and 
 was selling off.
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 329 
 
 The guarding of the Louvre was com- 
 mitted by turns to the British and Aus- 
 trian s, while this process lasted. The 
 Prussians said that they had done their 
 own business for themselves, and would 
 not now incur odium for others. The 
 French door-keepers were entirely super- 
 seded : they who had been so active and 
 official in their management of the place, 
 when I first visited it, were now seen, 
 haunting their usual situations, it is true, 
 
 but without functions or powers of any 
 kind, and they appeared to have very 
 bitter feelings of the sad change. 
 
 The workmen being incommoded by the 
 crowds that now rushed to the Louvre, as 
 the news spread of the destruction of its 
 great collection, a military order came that 
 no visitors should be admitted without per- 
 mission from the foreign commandant of 
 Paris. This direction was pretty strictly ad- 
 hered to by the sentinels as far as the exclu- 
 sion of the French, but the words Je suis 
 Anglais, were always sufficient to gain 
 leave to pass from the Austrians : our 
 own countrymen were rather more strict, 
 
 but, in general, foreigners could, with
 
 330 STRIPPING OP THE LOUVRE. 
 
 but little difficulty, procure admission. 
 The Parisians stood in crowds around 
 the door, looking wistfully within it, as it 
 occasionally opened to admit Germans, 
 English, Russians, &c. into a palace of 
 their capital from which they were ex- 
 cluded. I was frequently asked by French 
 gentlemen, standing with ladies on their 
 arms, and kept back from the door by the 
 guards, to take them into their own Louvre, 
 under my protection as an unknown fo- 
 reigner ! It was impossible not to feel for 
 them in these remarkable circumstances of 
 mortification and humiliation ; and the 
 agitation of the French public was now 
 evidently excessive. Every Frenchman 
 looked a walking volcano, ready to spit 
 forth fire. Groups of the common people 
 collected in the space before the Louvre, 
 and a spokesman was generally seen, exer- 
 cising the most violent gesticulations, suf- 
 ficiently indicative of rage, and listened to 
 by the others with lively signs of sympathy 
 with his passion. As the packages came 
 out, they crowded round them, giving vent 
 to torrents of pestes, diables, sacres, and 
 other worse interjections. This was in-
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 331 
 
 deed making the nation pass under saws 
 and harrows. 
 
 Their only resource now was in absurd 
 stories, bad jokes, and childish calumnies. 
 It became the fashion to abuse the Duke of 
 Wellington, as it had been the fashion to 
 praise him, and no tale was too ridiculous 
 for momentary belief, if it accorded with 
 the national anger. England was to have 
 the Venus and the Apollo : this was 
 settled : Frenchmen would not hear a 
 doubt of it : they knew it to be a fact, 
 and, besides, would England assist in break- 
 ing up a collection of this sort, without 
 securing something for herself? They were 
 certain France would not. In the mean time 
 the English news-papers came over with 
 warm disavowals of a public wish in Eng- 
 land to receive any part of the plundered 
 property, declaring, that it would have 
 a bad look to accept of any of the objects 
 that had been in the Louvre, even if ten- 
 dered by the owners. Of the public spirit 
 which dictated these articles, the French 
 had no understanding, nor were they more 
 affected by the general expression of in- 
 dignation which broke from the British in
 
 332 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 Paris, when the idea was thrown out that 
 London was to be enriched with some of 
 the works of art taken from the former ca- 
 pital. Those of my countrymen who felt the 
 propriety of the measure which the Allies 
 had adopted, had but one answer to all these 
 suggestions : namely, that the statues were 
 Italy's, and that the pride of England 
 would consist in restoring them to Italy, 
 
 as French glory lay in taking them 
 from Italy. But there was a strong party 
 of British who maintained, that Paris 
 ought not to lose her plunder ; that 
 she, vindictive and arrogant as she was, 
 
 should be treated with generosity at 
 the expence of justice to the weaker and 
 aggrieved states whom she had oppressed. 
 It was said by a German, that Englishmen 
 alone would have thus argued in favor of 
 their most inveterate national enemies : 
 that no inhabitant of any other country 
 would have debated and disputed, on ge- 
 neral principles, a measure that would fix 
 for ever the remembrance of the superiority 
 of his nation, and the humiliation of its 
 most arrogant foe. The French, however, 
 could see only the hand of England in all 
 
 11
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 333 
 
 that they suffered : she was the giant in 
 their eyes that hid the rest of their enemies 
 from their sight. Wherever an Englishman 
 went in Paris, at this time, whether into 
 a shop, or a company, he was assailed with 
 the exclamation " Ah ! vos compatriots /" 
 and the ladies had always some wonder- 
 ful story to tell him, of an embarrassment 
 or a mortification that had happened to his 
 duke ; of the evil designs of the Prince 
 Regent, or the dreadful revenge that was 
 preparing against the injurers of France. 
 In short, every where we saw a people suf- 
 fering severely, but who neither knew how 
 to suffer with resignation and dignity, nor 
 to cast off their tormentors by a courageous 
 exertion. 
 
 The great gallery of the Louvre pre- 
 sented every fresh day a more and more 
 forlorn aspect ; but it combined a number of 
 interesting points of view, and subjects for 
 reflection. Long blank spaces of dirty blue 
 wall daily increased their size and number, 
 and told how rapidly the monuments of 
 the glory of France were disappearing. 
 Strangers continued to flock to Paris, par- 
 ticularly from Britain, hopeful to be yet in
 
 334 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 time to see these fine productions, which 
 few, comparatively, could command the 
 means of seeing after they were dispersed. 
 The gallery now seemed to be the abode of 
 all the foreigners in the French capital : 
 we collected there, as a matter of course, 
 every morning, but it was easy to dis- 
 tinguish the last comers from the rest. They 
 entered the Louvre with steps of eager 
 haste, and looks of anxious inquiry : they 
 seemed to have scarcely stopped by the 
 way, and to have made directly for the 
 pictures on the instant of their reaching 
 Paris. The first view of the stripped walls 
 made their countenances sink under the 
 disappointment, as to the great object of 
 their journey. 
 
 The porters went on lowering the heavy 
 frames, and the last consolation of the 
 French was in spreading reports that the 
 pictures were very clumsily taken down, 
 and that many of them were considerably 
 injured. It appeared to me, however, that 
 the work went on very comfortably, 
 and certainly no picture received serious 
 damage. The great damage had been 
 already done by the French repairers of
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 335 
 
 the works of Raphael, &c. The deputies 
 of the different states who claimed the pic- 
 tures, attended with catalogues of the lost 
 property, and an Italian commissioner was 
 present, under the authority of Austria, to 
 superintend the whole of the arrangements. 
 This gentleman attempted, on one occasion, 
 to give his orders to some Highlanders who 
 were then on guard in the Louvre, but the 
 parties were quite unintelligible to each 
 other : a person interfered as interpreter, 
 "I wish them," said the Italian, " to 
 stand by the pictures as they are taken 
 down, for it has been intimated to me, that 
 some of those who are losing them, mean 
 to cut, or otherwise mutilate them, before 
 they are taken away." 
 
 Crowds collected round the Transfigura- 
 tion, that picture which, according to 
 the French account, destiny had always in- 
 tended for the French nation : it was 
 every one's wish to see it taken down, for 
 the fame which this great work of Raphael 
 had acquired, and its notoriety in the ge- 
 neral knowledge, caused its departure to 
 be regarded as the consummation of the
 
 336 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 destruction of the picture gallery of the 
 Louvre. It was taken away among the 
 last. 
 
 Students of all nations fixed themselves 
 round the principal pictures, anxious to 
 complete their copies before the workmen 
 came to remove the originals. Many 
 young French girls were seen among these, 
 perched up on small scaffolds, and calmly 
 pursuing their labours in the midst of the 
 throng and bustle. Our officers generally 
 posted themselves close to these interesting 
 artists, who seemed quite able to flirt with 
 the foreign hussars, and copy a Holy Family 
 at the same time. Both the males and 
 females in this singular country possess 
 the quality of reconciling themselves to 
 all circumstances, and of permitting no- 
 thing short of a physical obstruction to 
 stop them. This quality would indeed be 
 a most valuable one, if it could exist in 
 union with the fine sensibilities of the 
 mind, instead of being found, as it gene- 
 rally is, in their place. It is the province 
 of philosophy, however, to bring them 
 together, and it is for those who pro-
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 337 
 
 nounce on the French character, to say 
 whether it be its levity, or wisdom, that 
 produces the frame of temper which I have 
 mentioned. 
 
 There was, generally, a large collection 
 of English female beauty in the Louvre, 
 and the military, who walked in attendance 
 on the ladies, bore the air of conquerors 
 and masters pretty strongly impressed on 
 their carriage. A sight more inspiring of 
 the patriotic affections and exultations in 
 a British bosom, cannot be imagined, 
 and, considering it as the triumph of justice 
 and good taste, as well as of our nation, 
 considering it as the downfall of a bar- 
 barous, cold, theatrical imposition, which, 
 under the specious language and show of 
 refinement, practised degradation and cor- 
 ruption, the feelings of satisfaction 
 might be encouraged safely and honour- 
 ably. 
 
 When the French gallery was thoroughly 
 cleared of the property of other nations, I 
 reckoned the number of pictures which 
 then remained to it, and found that the 
 total left to the French nation, of the fi
 
 338 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 teen hundred paintings * which constituted 
 their magnificent collection, was two hun- 
 dred and seventy-four ! The Italian division 
 comprehended about eighty-five specimens : 
 these were now dwindled to twelve : in 
 this small number, however, there are some 
 very exquisite pictures by Raphael, and other 
 great masters. Their Titians are much re- 
 duced, but they keep the Entombment, 
 as belonging to the King of France's old 
 collection, which is one of the finest by that 
 artist. A melancholy air of utter ruin 
 mantled over the walls of this superb gal- 
 lery : the floor was covered with empty 
 frames, a Frenchman, in the midst of his 
 sorrow, had his joke, in saving, " Well, 
 we should not have left to them even these !" 
 In walking down this exhausted place, I 
 observed a person, wearing the insignia of 
 the legion of honour, suddenly stop short, 
 and heard him exclaim, " Ah, my God, 
 and the Paul Potter, too .'" This referred 
 to the famous painting of a bull, by that 
 
 * The catalogues do not give so many ; but there 
 were many pictures not entered in the catalogues, from 
 one cause or other.
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 339 
 
 master, which is the largest of his pictures, 
 and is very highly valued. It belonged to 
 the Netherlands, and has returned to them. 
 It was said that the Emperor Alexander 
 offered fifteen thousand pounds for it. 
 
 The removals of the statues were longer 
 in commencing, and took up more time ; 
 ~-they were still packing these up when 
 I quitted Paris. I saw the Venus, the 
 Apollo, and the Laocoon removed : these 
 may be deemed the presiding deities of the 
 collection. The solemn antique look of 
 these halls fled for ever, when the workmen 
 came in with their straw, and plaster of 
 Paris, to pack up. The French could not, 
 for some time, allow themselves to believe 
 that their enemies would dare to deprive 
 them of these sacred works : it appeared 
 to them impossible that they should be se- 
 parated from France from la France 
 the country of the Louvre and the Insti- 
 tute ; it seemed a contingency beyond 
 the limits of human reverses. But it hap- 
 pened nevertheless : they were all re- 
 moved. One afternoon, before quitting 
 the palace, I accidentally stopped longer 
 than usual to gaze on the Venus, and I 
 z 2
 
 340 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 never saw so clearly her superiority over 
 the Apollo, the impositions of whose style, 
 even more than the great beauties with 
 which they are mingled, have gained for 
 it an inordinate and indiscriminating ad- 
 miration. On this day, very few, if any of 
 the statues, had been taken away, and 
 many said that France would retain them, 
 although she was losing the pictures. On 
 the following morning I returned, and the 
 pedestal on which the Venus had stood for 
 so many years, the pride of Paris, and the 
 delight of every observer, was vacant ! It 
 seemed as if a soul had taken its flight 
 from a body. The other statues followed 
 rapidly. When I quitted the French capi- 
 tal, there were not a dozen articles in the 
 three principal halls, and they were very 
 quickly emptying the others. 
 
 All well-informedpersons, whether French 
 or foreigners, are well assured that nothing 
 has been taken from any of the collections 
 in the Louvre, beyond the spoils of the 
 arms of revolutionized France. The strip- 
 ped state of the Palace, which looked a 
 mere wreck, caused many, who were 
 ignorant of the facts, to suspect, that
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 341 
 
 the Allies had in part copied the system of 
 plundering which they reprobated. But 
 this was not the case. It must be recollec- 
 ted, that the original royal collection was 
 by no means very large putting the Lux- 
 embourg out of the question, which could 
 scarcely be said to be disturbed by the 
 Allies : moreover, several pictures of the 
 French school had been put away in pre- 
 caution, and they would no doubt make 
 their appearance again when all was settled, 
 and the foreigners withdrawn. It is under- 
 stood that the French attempted to hide 
 several valuable works, which fell within 
 the class of plunder. When these were not 
 forth-coming, on demand, or when what 
 was claimed, from its nature or situation, 
 could not be easily or conveniently removed, 
 the Commissioners adjusted exchanges. 
 This was done in the instance of some 
 beautiful pillars which the King of Prussia 
 claimed, and which could not, without 
 causing mischief, be taken down. The 
 great picture of the Marriage in Canaan, by 
 Paul Veronese, though not originally French 
 property, has been secured to the Louvre 
 by exchange with Austria. Many of the 
 z 3
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 Flemish pictures were at first secreted : this 
 led the Deputies from the Netherlands to 
 wait on M. Denon, attended by a superior 
 officer of their country, and to threaten him 
 with the charge of a body of three hundred 
 soldiers, if the pictures wanting were not 
 immediately produced. The greater num- 
 ber of those deficient were brought for- 
 ward, but some could not be found. Many, 
 both Flemish and Italian, that were public 
 property, were discovered in the private 
 palace of Cardinal Fesch (at the end of the 
 Rue Montblanc], which served for the 
 quarters of the Prince of Orange. The 
 collection now possessed by France, as 
 rightfully belonging to it, is still a good 
 one, and may fairly be the boast of French- 
 men. 
 
 But the bitterest mortification of the 
 people of Paris, yet remains to be described. 
 The well-known horses, taken from the 
 church of St. Mark in Venice, had been 
 peculiarly the objects of popular pride 
 and admiration. They were praised (pro- 
 bably without much judgment) as the most 
 beautiful antiques in the world, and thfe 
 revolutionists who seized them, declared,
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 343 
 
 in their public announcement of the fact, 
 that, after having been subjected to the 
 greatest changes, they were " enfin" fixed 
 in a land of liberty and virtue ! Buonaparte 
 had removed them from the low pillars 
 where they were originally stationed, and 
 where they could be seen, and attached 
 them to a very trumpery car of victory, 
 with brightly-gilded harness, clapping the 
 whole on the top of his arch of triumph in 
 the Place Carousel. It was in a very bad 
 taste that all this was done : the forms of 
 the four horses were quite lost, the arch, 
 copied from Constantine's, was by no means 
 suited to the situation, and the new car, 
 the two new figures, and the new braces, 
 all staring in bright gold, completely sub- 
 dued the antique bronze. Still, however, 
 being exposed in the public view, in one of 
 the most public situations of Paris, this was 
 esteemed the noblest trophy belonging to 
 the capital, and there was not a Parisian 
 vender of a pailful of water, who did not 
 look like a hero when the Venetian horses 
 were spoken of. 
 
 " Have you heard what has been deter- 
 mined about the horses ?" was every 
 z 4
 
 344 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 foreigner's question : " Oh they cannot 
 mean to take the horses away," was every 
 Frenchman's remark. On the morning of 
 Thursday the 26th of September, however, 
 it was whispered that they had been at work 
 all night in loosening them from their 
 fastenings. It was soon confirmed that 
 this was true, and the French then had 
 nothing left for it, but to vow, that if the 
 Allies were to attempt to touch them in the 
 day light, Paris would rise at once, ex- 
 terminate its enemies, and rescue its honor. 
 On Friday morning, I walked through the 
 square : it was clear that some considerable 
 change had taken place ; the effect of the 
 forms of the horses was finer than I had 
 ever before seen it. While looking to dis- 
 cover what had been done, a private of the 
 British staff corps came up. " You see, sir, 
 we took away the harness last night," said 
 he. " You have made a great improve- 
 ment by so doing," I replied : " but are 
 the British employed on this work ?" The 
 man said that the Austrians had requested 
 the assistance of our staff corps, for it in- 
 cluded better workmen than any they had 
 in their service. I heard that an angry 
 
 9
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 345 
 
 French mob had given some trouble to the 
 people employed on the Thursday night, 
 but that a body of Parisian gendarmerie 
 had dispersed the assemblage. The French- 
 men continued their sneers against the 
 Allies for working in the dark : fear and 
 shame were the causes assigned. " If you 
 take them at all, why not take them in the 
 face of day ? But you are too wise to 
 drag upon yourselves the irresistible popu- 
 lar fury which such a sight would excite 
 against you !" 
 
 On the night of Friday the order of 
 proceeding was entirely changed. It had 
 been found proper to call out a strong 
 guard of Austrians, horse and foot. The 
 mob had been charged by the cavalry, 
 and it was said, that several had their 
 limbs broken. I expected to find the place 
 on Saturday morning quiet and open as 
 usual ; but when I reached its entrance 
 what an impressive scene presented itself! 
 The delicate plan, for such in truth it 
 was, of working by night was now over. 
 The Austrians had wished to spare the 
 feelings of the King of France the pain of 
 seeing his capital dismantled before his
 
 346 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 palace windows, where he passed in his 
 carriage when he went out for his daily ex- 
 ercise. But the insolent ignorance of the 
 people rendered severer measures neces- 
 sary. My companion and myself were 
 stopped from entering the place by Aus- 
 trian dragoons : a large mob of Frenchmen 
 were collected here, standing on tip-toe to 
 catch the Arch in the distance, on the top 
 of which the ominous sight of numbers of 
 workmen, busy about the horses, was plainly 
 to be distinguished. We advanced again to 
 the soldiers : some of the French, by whom 
 we were surrounded, said, " whoever you 
 are, you will not be allowed to pass." I 
 confess I was for retiring, for the whole 
 assemblage, citizens and soldiers, seemed 
 to wear an angry alarming aspect. But my 
 companion was eager for admittance. He 
 was put back again by an Austrian hussar : 
 
 What, not the English /" he exclaimed 
 in his own language. The mob laughed 
 loudly when they heard the foreign soldier 
 so addressed : but, the triumph was ours ; 
 
 way was instantly made for us, and an 
 officer, on duty close by, touched his hel- 
 met as we passed. It was impossible not
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 to feel for the French thus left behind in 
 their own capital. Entering into the inte- 
 rior, the spectacle became more and more 
 interesting. It was here that Buonaparte 
 held his reviews : it was from hence that 
 his troops defiled, when he sent them forth 
 to establish new dynasties, and displace 
 old : it was here, according to some let- 
 ters, written by Englishmen from Paris 
 during the emperor's last reign of three 
 months, that the national guard and the 
 boys of the schools, rolled, as if drunk with 
 enthusiasm in his cause, and afforded what 
 the writers in question deemed an unequi- 
 vocal pledge of the stability of his power, by 
 proving, as they thought, that it rested deep 
 in the hearts of the French nation. It was 
 here that I now saw one thousand Aus- 
 trians, horse and foot, in full and exclusive 
 possession : debarring the French from 
 using the square, and charging roughly back 
 all who shewed any inclination to violate the 
 prohibition. Five hundred of the soldiers 
 were on the ground, most of them sleep- 
 ing with their heads on their knapsacks, as 
 if they had been pillows of down. Many 
 of their wives, dull-looking German women,
 
 34-8 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 were seated in the midst of them. A strong 
 guard of infantry surrounded their com- 
 rades, and the Arch : on the outside of 
 these, sentinels walked about, and cavalry 
 filled up the rest of the space. The long 
 range of the windows of the Louvre was 
 crammed with the heads of the British and 
 other foreigners, looking earnestly on this 
 remarkable scene. Beyond each of the 
 avenues into the place, the French crowds 
 were to be perceived, stretching forward 
 their necks, and raising their bodies, to dis- 
 cover as much as possible of what was 
 going on, from the distance to which they 
 were confined. The King and the Princes 
 had left the Thuilleries, to be out of the 
 view of so mortifying a business. The 
 court of the Palace, which used to be gay 
 with yoimg Gardes du Corps and equipages, 
 was now silent, deserted, and shut up. 
 Not a soul moved in it. The top of the 
 Arch was filled with people, and the horses, 
 though as yet all there, might be seen to 
 begin to move. The carriages, that were to 
 take them away, were in waiting below, and 
 a tackle of ropes was already affixed to 
 one. The small door, leading to the top,
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 349 
 
 was protected by a strong guard : every one 
 was striving to obtain permission to gratify 
 his curiosity, by visiting the horses for 
 the last time that they could be visited in 
 this situation. Permission, however, could 
 necessarily be granted but to few. I 
 was of the fortunate number. In a minute 
 I had climbed the narrow dark stair, 
 ascended a small ladder, and was out on 
 the top, with the most picturesque view 
 before me that can be imagined. An Eng- 
 lish lady asked me to assist her into Buona- 
 parte's Car of Victory : his own statue 
 was to have been placed in it, when he 
 came back a Conqueror from his Russian 
 expedition ! If it had, I should have lost 
 the opportunity of giving my hand to a 
 countrywoman, to place her in that situa- 
 tion. I followed her and her husband into 
 the car, and we found a Prussian officer 
 there before us. He looked at us, and, 
 with a good-humoured smile, said, " The 
 Emperor kept the English out of France, 
 but the English have now got where he 
 could not !" Ah, pauvre Napoleon ! he 
 added in a sneering tone: but not one 
 of us could well answer him. I felt
 
 350 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 my head turn round. Connecting one 
 event with another, their reverses made 
 one feel the place frightfully unsafe. 
 Below were the victorious Austrian sol- 
 diers ; at a distance immense crowds of 
 the defeated but enraged French ; behind 
 us the Palace of the Thuilleries, now 
 for a moment tenantless after receiving so 
 many tenants ; on one side the long 
 Louvre, filled with our countrymen, and 
 almost stripped of its invaluable contents : 
 close to us were the horses that from 
 Greece had been taken to Rome, to Con- 
 stantinople, to Venice, to Paris, and were 
 now to be sent back to Venice. These re- 
 volutions, more than the height of the arch, 
 made one feel giddy. Buonaparte had 
 stood where we were then standing; he 
 had brought his bride, Maria Louisa, to 
 this spot, and his statue, which was to 
 have been fixed as the consummation of 
 the trophy, was completed by the artist. 
 One thing only was wanting: it had not 
 been erected. 
 
 The top of the Arch being very narrow, 
 it was not possible to see the horses pro- 
 perly. I stooped below them, got up be- 
 10
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 351 
 
 tween two, and rested my arm on these 
 works (as it is said), of Lysippus. They 
 partook of nothing of the whirl and altera- 
 tion about them : they were of distant ages, 
 and had come from distant places : the 
 world might be said to have changed since 
 they were young, but they had changed 
 in nothing. They turned the same un- 
 moved faces on the mobs of modern Paris, 
 as they did on the mobs of Corinth. 
 
 The English staff corps, helping the 
 Austrians, were busy about them. I found 
 myself in the way, and left the top of the 
 Arch. From the Place Carousel I saw the 
 one to which the tackle was fixed make a 
 considerable movement forward : it stea- 
 died again for a moment : the people 
 below pulled again ; it shook, advanced 
 farther, its fore feet were beyond the 
 Arch. One other pull, and it sprung grand- 
 ly off, and swung in the air. I turned to 
 look towards the French : their crowds 
 were in a movement, caused by violent 
 feeling ; arms were up, fingers pointing, 
 heads waving. There was a general bustle 
 too at all the windows of the Louvre.
 
 352 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 The horse slowly descended, and was re- 
 ceived safely in one of the cars. The others 
 followed the same afternoon, but it became 
 dark before the whole were removed. 
 
 The cry of the French now was, that it 
 was abominable, execrable, to insult the 
 ,King in his palace, to insult him in the 
 face of his own subjects, by removing the 
 horses in the face of day ! I adjourned with 
 a friend to dine at a Restaurateur s, near the 
 garden of the Thuilleries, after witnessing 
 what I have described. Between seven 
 and eight in the evening, we heard the 
 rolling of wheels, the clatter of cavalry, and 
 the tramp of infantry. A number of British 
 were in the room : they all rose and rushed 
 to the door, without hats, and carrying in 
 their haste their white table napkins in 
 their hands. The horses were going past, 
 in military procession, lying on their sides 
 in separate cars. First came cavalry, then 
 infantry, then a car ; then more cavalry ; 
 more infantry, then another car, and so 
 on, till all the four past. The drums were 
 beating, and the standards went waving 
 by. This was the only appearance of pa- 
 rade, that attended any of the removals
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 353 
 
 Three Frenchmen, seeing the groupe of 
 English, came up to us, and began a con- 
 versation. They appealed to us if this was 
 not shameful. A gentleman observed, that 
 the horses were only going back to the 
 place from whence the French had taken 
 them : if there was a right in power for 
 France, there must also be one for 
 other states : but the better way to con- 
 sider these events, was, as terminating the 
 times of robbery and discord. Two of 
 them seemed much inclined to come in- 
 stantly round to our opinion : but one 
 was much more consistent. He appeared 
 an officer, and was advanced beyond the 
 middle age of life. He kept silence for a 
 moment, and then, with strong emphasis 
 said, " You have left me nothing for 
 my children but hatred against England ; 
 this shall be my legacy to them." " Sir," 
 it was replied, " it will do your children 
 no good, and England no injury." 
 
 The following are some particulars col- 
 lected from different sources of informa- 
 tion, relative to the losses which France 
 sustained, in her various public establish- 
 ments. It is possible, however, that some 
 A A
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRfi. 
 
 inaccuracies may have crept into the 
 accounts. 
 
 The most unfavourable reports had gone 
 about relative to the fate of the establish- 
 ment of the Garden of Plants, and Museum 
 of Natural History. It had been said that 
 the Allies had not only claimed the restitu- 
 tion of what had been originally taken from 
 them, but, that they had selected out of the 
 French collections whatever was wanting 
 to complete their own. The erroneousness 
 of all these reports was ascertained. Mon- 
 sieur Brugman, the superintendant of the 
 Sladtholder's collection, and who, twenty 
 years since, surrendered to the French power 
 whatever it thought proper to demand, was 
 appointed by the Commissioners of the go- 
 vernment of the Netherlands, to claim, from 
 Louis the Eighteenth's government, the re- 
 stitution of the things taken from Holland. 
 The minister of the interior, in consequence 
 of an application from this gentleman, gave 
 orders that they should be restored ; but, in- 
 stead of the restitution of the identical ob- 
 jects that had been seized from the Dutch, 
 an amicable arrangement took place, by 
 which the greater part of them remain un-
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 855 
 
 touched in the French Museum and a 
 new collection, including a complete series 
 of natural productions, was formed for their 
 original possessors, out of the duplicates in 
 the possession of the French cabinet. 
 
 The collection thus made of the different 
 classes, consists of 
 
 260 quadrupeds, 
 
 800 birds, 
 
 338 reptiles, 
 
 802 fishes, 
 
 3, or 400 shells, 
 
 and it forms, consequently, a much more 
 valuable possession than the productions 
 originally taken would have be,en. None 
 of the above mentioned articles were drawn 
 from the French cabinet to which the pub- 
 lic is admitted, but from a private store 
 which the establishment possesses, and 
 which is immense. As to the library of 
 this establishment, it was very little in- 
 debted to the Orange collection, and the 
 right of claiming the small number of books 
 that might have been demanded, was waved, 
 in consideration of the things received. 
 No plants whatever were claimed. The 
 cause of this amicable settlement of the 
 
 A A t
 
 356 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 Dutch claims, may be worthy of mention. 
 It appears, that, when Monsieur Thouin, 
 (the celebrated professor of botany and 
 agriculture, still living, and holding the 
 direction of the botanical department at 
 the Museum of Paris,) was commissioned 
 by the French government to select from 
 the Dutch collection whatever he thought 
 best calculated to enrich the French one, 
 it was represented to him by Monsieur 
 Brugman, that not only a public injury was 
 sustained by this act of the French govern- 
 ment, but a private one also in his own in- 
 stance ; for that the employment which he 
 held must of necessity cease. In conse- 
 quence of this representation, M. Thouin 
 allowed M. Brugman three days to remove 
 and conceal some of the most valuable ob- 
 jects, and was sufficiently moderate in what 
 he took himself not to affect materially the 
 existence of the establishment. This cir- 
 cumstance, which has not been unremem- 
 bered, together with the consideration which 
 Monsieur Cuvier and all the professors of 
 the establishment of the Garden of Plants, 
 enjoy abroad, gave rise to the friendly ar- 
 rangement in question. 
 
 The removal of the natural productions
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. S5J 
 
 from Holland was never sanctioned by any 
 treaty. The Prussians, on their first ar- 
 rival wanted to encamp in the Garden of 
 Plants, as they did in that of the Luxem- 
 bourg Palace. This would have exposed it 
 to much damage, but, in consequence of 
 the Baron de Humboldt's * interference, the 
 troops received orders to the contrary. 
 
 This museum had been enriched a little 
 at the expence of the Verona collection, 
 which had supplied it with a good many 
 specimens in the class of fishes. The Em- 
 peror of Austria, who claims in the name 
 of Verona, took birds in exchange. 
 
 The library of the Arsenal is not barely 
 a repository of military works, it em- 
 braces knowledge of every description. 
 It was formed by Monsieur de Pauly 
 d'Argenson, minister of war under Louis 
 XVI. The story told at this establishment 
 is, that, shortly after the entrance of the 
 Allies, some Prussian officers visited the 
 library, and enquired for different works, 
 which were shewn to them. A few days after, 
 
 * The celebrated traveller, brother of the minister, 
 and chamberlain of the King. 
 
 A A 3
 
 355 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 the same officers returned, attended with a 
 strong guard, and desired that works, ac- 
 cording to a list which they produced* 
 should be delivered into their hands. Some 
 difficulties were made, but the works, it is 
 said, were at length' brought forward. M. 
 de Treneuil, the librarian * repaired in all 
 haste to the Baron de Muffling, the Prus- 
 sian governor of Paris, to submit his com- 
 plaint ; this gentleman referred him to 
 M. de Pful, who held Paris, by whom he 
 was again referred to M. de Muffling. In 
 the mean time the works in question were 
 carrying off. Finding all expostulation with 
 these officers unavailing, M. de Treneuil 
 solicited the intercession of the minister of 
 the interior, but French influence could 
 be of little weight, and the collection was 
 about to be despoiled of its most valuable 
 works, when the fortunate interference of 
 M. de Humboldt effected what no other 
 power could have accomplished. He ob- 
 tained an order from the King of Prussia for 
 the immediate restitution of the effects, and 
 
 * A poet, author of the Violation des Tombeaux. 
 
 2
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE, 359 
 
 was unremitting in his exertions till it was 
 carried into execution. The works taken 
 away were thus restored, with the exception 
 of a few maps of Cassini's, which had got 
 dispersed into different Prussian hands. 
 
 The manuscripts of the Vatican and 
 others brought from Florence, Venice, &c. 
 the whole of which were kept in the 
 depot des Archives, Vieille rue du Temple, 
 were claimed partly by the Pope, and 
 partly by the Emperor of Austria, and re- 
 stored. They were very numerous. Some 
 manuscripts which had been deposited in 
 the Imperial, now the Royal Library, have 
 also been restored. The other libraries, 
 such as those of St. Genevieve, and the 
 Quatre Nations, contained no revolutionary 
 or predatory acquisitions. 
 
 The depot of the models of the fortified 
 towns of France at the Invalids, was occu- 
 pied by the Prussians from their first arrival 
 in Paris. I visited it some time after the 
 entrance of the Allies. Twenty-two of the 
 beautiful models had been carried off by 
 the Prussians, who had selected all those 
 of the towns situated on their frontier. It 
 was the stupid clamour of the capital that 
 A A 4
 
 360 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 the English intended taking the models of 
 some of the sea-port towns, such as Brest 
 and Cherbourg. This collection of models 
 has been forming ever since the reign of 
 Louis the XlVth. The execution of them 
 is singularly correct and elegant. They 
 exhibit a bird's-eye view of the town in 
 miniature, and its fortifications. They were 
 constructed for purposes of study, and none 
 were formerly admitted to see them but 
 engineer officers, privileged persons, and 
 foreigners of high distinction. Speaking 
 of the Hotel of the Invalids, it may not be 
 unworthy of notice, that the veterans of the 
 establishment secreted, as some say, the 
 colours taken in battle entrusted to their 
 care, that they might not fall into the hands 
 of the Allies. 
 
 It appeared from all my enquiries, that 
 with the exception of the circumstances 
 related in regard to the library of the 
 arsenal, no act of violence has been com- 
 mitted in any of the public establishments 
 of Paris ; and that, when force was resorted 
 to, as in the instance of the museum of 
 paintings and statues, the only object and 
 4
 
 SHIPPING O,F THE LOUVRE. 361 
 
 result have been to restore property to its 
 original possessors. 
 
 The Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, 
 the Cabinet des Medailles, the Hotel des 
 Monnais or Mint, the Manufacture des 
 GobelinSi have all been respected. 
 
 The manufactory of arms at Versailles, 
 perhaps the finest in Europe, is said to 
 have been destroyed by the Prussians. The 
 manufactory of powder at Essone has also 
 been destroyed by them : all the machines 
 and implements (some of which may be 
 curious since a new process of making gun- 
 powder had been invented at that manu- 
 factory), they carried off and sent in boats 
 along the Seine. 
 
 The exactions enforced, and devastations 
 committed by the Allies collectively, since 
 their invasion of France, may be valued at 
 a hundred and fifty millions of francs. 
 This is independent of the regular contri- 
 bution, till the payment of which, a hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand foreigners are to be 
 maintained at the expence of the nation. 
 The Prussians have not cost less to France 
 than three francs a day, each man, during 
 their stay.
 
 362 STRIPPING OP THE LOUVRE. 
 
 The loss sustained by the possessors of 
 landed property may be estimated, at least, 
 at one year's income, and in many instances 
 at more. The difficulty of raising money 
 upon property may afford an idea of its 
 insecurity, or at least of the opinion of its 
 insecurity. Before the enterprize of Buona- 
 parte, money was to be raised at four, or 
 even three and a half per cent, upon landed 
 property, and at five per cent, upon emolu- 
 ments from office. Now money is to be 
 had upon hardly any terms : and this dif- 
 ficulty of raising money occurs at a period 
 when demands for it are made from all 
 quarters ; which may give an idea of the 
 general distress of the country. 
 
 The following is a list of the statues, and 
 other works of sculpture, conquered by 
 Buonaparte in 1797, and sent to France, 
 all of which she has now lost : 
 
 The Apollo. 
 
 The Meleager. 
 
 The Torso. 
 
 The Antinous (of the Vatican). 
 
 The Adonis. 
 
 The Hercules of Commodus.
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. S63 
 
 The Apollo of the Muses. 
 
 The Discobolus. 
 
 The Piping Faun. 
 
 The Torso of Cupid. 
 
 The Paris. 
 
 The Zeno. 
 
 The Discobolus 2d. 
 
 The Julius Caesar. 
 
 The Augustus. 
 
 The Tiberius (with his toga). 
 
 The Terpsichore. 
 
 The Polyhymnia. 
 
 The Melpomene. 
 
 The Thalia. .. 
 
 The Clio. 
 
 The Calliope. 
 
 The Euterpe. 
 
 The Erato. 
 
 The Trajan. 
 
 The Posidipi. 
 
 The Menander. 
 
 The Shepherd (plucking the thorn). 
 
 The Dying Gladiator. 
 
 The Crouching Venus. 
 
 The Cleopatra. 
 
 The Laocoon. 
 
 The Adrian. 
 
 The Phocian. 
 
 The Demosthenes. 
 
 The Sardanapalus.
 
 364* STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE, 
 
 The Sextus Hipperius. 
 
 The Antinous (of the Capitol). 
 
 The Melpomene, "i different from the 
 
 The Urania, j foregoing. 
 
 The Venus. 
 
 The Juno. 
 
 The Flora. 
 
 The Ariadne. 
 
 The Vestal. 
 
 The Little Ceres. 
 
 The Amazon. 
 
 The Minerva. 
 
 The Hebe. 
 
 The Cupid and Psyche. 
 
 The Jupiter. 
 
 The Homer. 
 
 The Alexander. 
 
 The Jupiter Serapis. 
 
 The Menelaus. 
 
 The Junius Brutus. 
 
 The Marcus Brutus. 
 
 The Ocean. 
 
 The Cato and Porcia. 
 
 The Two Sphinxes. 
 
 The Urania. 
 
 The Three Candelabras. 
 
 The Three Altars. 
 
 The Tomb of the Muses. 
 
 The Tiber, and several other Pieces.
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOCJVRE. 365 
 
 The following is a list of pictures taken 
 by the same personage at the same time, 
 and now restored to the owners : 
 
 The Transfiguration. Raphael. 
 
 The Assumption. Do. 
 
 The Crowning of the Virgin. Do. 
 
 The Annunciation. Do. 
 
 The Adoration of the Magi. Do. 
 
 The Baptism of our Saviour. Do. 
 
 Faith, Hope, and Charity. Do. 
 
 The Resurrection of our Saviour. Do. 
 
 The Resurrection. P. Perugino. 
 
 The Holy Family. Do. 
 
 St. Augustin and the Virgin. Do. 
 
 The Marriage of the Virgin. Do. 
 
 The Virgin and the Saints of Perugium. Do. 
 
 The Prophets. 
 St. Benedict. 
 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 
 St. Placida. 
 
 Do. 
 
 St. Scholastica. 
 The Eternal Father. 
 
 Do! 
 
 St. Sebastian. 
 
 Do. 
 
 St. Augustin. 
 St. Bartholomew. 
 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 
 St. Paul. 
 
 Do. 
 
 St. John. 
 The Virgin. 
 The Deposition of the Cross. 
 A Virgin. 
 The Circumcision. 
 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do, 
 Do. 
 
 One vino,
 
 366 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 St. Petronilla. Guercino* 
 
 St. Thomas. Do. 
 
 St. Jerome. Dominichino. 
 
 Martyrdom of St. Agnes. Do. 
 
 The Virgin of St. Jerome. Corregio. 
 
 The Virgin a 1'Ecuelle. Do. 
 
 The Descent from the Cross. Caravagio. 
 Piety. Hannibal Carracci. 
 
 The Nativity. Do. 
 
 St. Romualdo. Andrea Sacchi. 
 
 A Miracle. Do. 
 
 A Virgin of St. Francis. .^ ^l/ani. 
 
 Fortune. Gwdo. 
 
 Martyrdom of St. Peter. Do. 
 
 The Virgin. Garqfalo. 
 
 Martyrdom of St. Erasmus. Poussin. 
 
 Martyrdom of St. Gervais. Valentino. 
 
 The Crowning. Procadni. 
 
 The St. Sebastian. Do. 
 
 Venice and Modena afforded many other 
 pictures and curious works of art ; and no 
 notice is taken here of the spoliations from 
 Germany, the Netherlands, &c., so that 
 the above include but a small portion of 
 the restorations. 
 
 To the Museum of Natural History 
 Buonaparte sent 
 The Hortus Siccus of Haller.
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 3(5j, 
 
 Spallanzani's Collection of Volcanic Substances. 
 
 The Minerals of Pere Pirn of Milan. 
 
 The Minerals of the Institute of Bologna. 
 
 The Minerals of Aldrovandi, in sixteen volumes. 
 
 The Collection of Marbles and Gems of the In- 
 stitute of Bologna. 
 
 The Manuscript Figures of Aldrovandi, in se- 
 venteen volumes. 
 
 The Needles of Rock Chrystal. 
 
 The following articles were sent to the 
 National Library : 
 The Manuscripts of the Ambrosian Library, 
 
 and of that of Brera. 
 The Manuscripts of the Abbey of St. Salvador of 
 
 Bologna. 
 The Donations made to the Church of Ravenna, 
 
 on Papyrus, in 490. 
 The Manuscripts of the Antiquities of Josephus, 
 
 on Papyrus. 
 
 The Manuscripts of the History of the Popes. 
 A Manuscript of Virgil, which had belonged to 
 
 Petrarch, with Notes in Petrarch's hand- 
 writing. 
 The Manuscripts of Galileo in his hand-writing, 
 
 upon the Flux and Reflux of the Sea ; and 
 
 upon Fortifications. 
 The Port-folio of the Works of Leonardi da 
 
 VincL
 
 368 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 Twelve Manuscripts of Vinci upon the Sciences. 
 
 The Anatomical Tables of Haller, with addi- 
 tions and corrections in his own hand- 
 writing. 
 
 The Books of ancient editions, proceeding 
 from the Ambrosian Library, as well as from 
 those of the Institute of Bologna, of the 
 Abbey of St. Salvador, and of the Univer- 
 sity of Pavia. 
 
 Five hundred manuscripts of the Library of the 
 Vatican. 
 
 All these articles are now lost to France, 
 and many more, which were taken from 
 other states at different times, and in dif- 
 ferent ways. That the people should be 
 exasperated at their loss is not strange, for 
 we none of us like to refund, however ob- 
 jectionable may have been the means of 
 acquiring. What has been harshly com- 
 mented upon in these pages, is that light, 
 superficial turn of public character, which 
 cannot even settle itself into steady anger 
 or sorrow, under a public mortification or 
 calamity, but solaces itself with paltry 
 boastings, encreasing in offensive arrogance 
 as the national condition becomes more 
 debased, whiclj assumes the air of wis-
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 369 
 
 dom on the strength of ignorance, and 
 gratifies itself with a phrase, when it is 
 proved deficient in a quality, or is deprived 
 of a thing. 
 
 But there are others, beside the French, 
 who reprobate the breaking up of the Lou- 
 vre, and these objectors out of France, are 
 chiefly of our own country. So far as they 
 thus shew an independent frame of think- 
 ing, and impartiality of disposition, their 
 opinions are very creditable to them, 
 and, as has been said before, Britain is 
 perhaps the only country in the world, 
 that would furnish a strong party to 
 attack the humiliation and impoverish- 
 ment of her enemy. Nothing can be more 
 proper than that these measures should be 
 judged on general principles, and not ac- 
 cording to the suggestions of pique, pre- 
 judice, or selfishness ; but it is precisely 
 when tried by the test of general principles 
 that the propriety of breaking up the col- 
 lection in the Louvre, is most apparent. 
 
 The question resolves itself into one of 
 good taste, and one of political and 
 moral justice. 
 
 As a matter affecting the interests of Fine 
 B B
 
 370 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 Art, it is by many thought a pity that this 
 great collection should not have remained 
 entire, to be easy of access, to furnish 
 instruction to the student, whose slender 
 means may not permit him to travel to 
 distant and various places, and to stand 
 as a great temple, to which the world of 
 taste might flock to offer its adoration. 
 All this is specious, and will probably 
 remain the favourite doctrine with the 
 many, in spite of any thing that can be 
 here said against it. Nothing, however, 
 can be more fundamentally wrong. It 
 grounds itself entirely upon principles and 
 motives, which have no natural connection 
 with high excellence in the works of art, nor 
 with deep feeling of their beauties. These 
 are facility, common popularity, and eco- 
 nomy : and, on the other hand, it is in 
 opposition to all the qualities and circum- 
 stances that have ever chiefly elicited ge- 
 nius, kindled sensibility, and refined the 
 perception. The idea of the great benefit of 
 these standing collections, and organized 
 academies, originates in the mistake of 
 thinking, that excellence in the arts, which 
 derive their essential graces and value from
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 371 
 
 the imagination, is to be built up in a re- 
 gular ascent from the merits of their first 
 followers, as in those that are guided solely 
 by reasoning, and are entirely composed 
 of the gains of human knowledge. This 
 is to confound fancy with fact, and 
 to suppose that what is favorable to the 
 latter, must encrease the powers of the 
 former : yet, when thus fairly put down 
 on paper, this position will appear to every 
 one absurd. In the imaginative arts, what- 
 ever dissolves a charm of the feeling, does 
 more mischief than can be compensated for 
 by any saving of money or trouble. This 
 being the case, it follows that a picture or 
 a statue in Rome must be of more use to 
 art than two pictures or two statues in 
 Paris. It will be said, and truly, that they 
 are more easily seen, copied, and studied 
 in Paris ; that many can go to see them 
 there, that could not go to Rome ; that 
 it is allowing the young artist to save his 
 money, and to save his time, to put all the 
 fine works of art together, and enable him 
 to sit down before them with every accom- 
 modation. This mode of reasoning has 
 B B 2
 
 372 STRIPPING OP THE LOUVRE. 
 
 reference to an artificial and improper state 
 of things : it will generally be in the 
 mouth of the practical artist, as things are ; 
 for the practice of art is now a trade, or 
 at least a profession, to which thousands are 
 annually devoted, as to the bar, or to surgery, 
 and must therefore be systematically bred 
 up, as young lawyers go to the courts to learn 
 precedents and forms, and young surgeons 
 attend hospitals to see all the varieties of 
 diseases. The convenience and support 
 of a system like this can command no in- 
 dulgence from sound criticism. If great 
 collections did nothing worse than seduce 
 and sustain this large stock of artists, they 
 would deserve to be decried as pernicious 
 mischiefs, as any thing would, that should 
 make fathers talk of making their sons 
 
 o 
 
 poets, poetry being a very genteel and 
 profitable way of gaining a livelihood! 
 To be a good painter is as exclusively the 
 gift of nature, as to be a good poet, 
 though a bungler of the former class is 
 certainly more endurable than a bad versi- 
 fier. In England, we have put the practice 
 in question on the most reasonable footing 
 that it will admit of, by constituting 
 6
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 373 
 
 portrait painting a regular branch of our 
 manufactures : eminence in which may 
 lead a man to the honor of knighthood as 
 certainly as if he were eminent as a soap- 
 boiler, or as a cotton-spinner, or as a ven- 
 der of lottery tickets. Now, though it does 
 not fall within common natures, however 
 trained, to produce poetical paintings, yet 
 there are few who may not be taught how 
 to get up a portrait which shah 1 be very 
 much prized when hung up over family 
 chimney-pieces. These, then, have their 
 sufficient uses, and draw for themselves 
 their own natural encouragement. But, in 
 France, they do by imposition, and in 
 theatrical affectation, what in England is 
 done as a genuine exertion, appealing to a 
 real feeling. In Paris there are some 
 hundreds of historical painters, as they are 
 called, who execute academical studies 
 from the statues, which are colder and 
 harder than the marble itself; and who fill 
 spaces of canvas with representations that 
 are utterly uninteresting to any human 
 being whatever, evincing neither senti- 
 ment nor resemblance, being neither 
 
 B B 3
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 lofty nor familiar, neither gratifying com- 
 mon feelings, nor inspiring any thing be- 
 yond them. As they are uniformly trained 
 according to one pedantic system, to which 
 they all belong, so they are supported, not 
 in a natural way, but by the immediate 
 interference of the government. They are 
 not left to produce, by their powers, cor- 
 responding sympathies in the public breast, 
 leading to the encouragement of their 
 labours ; but the summary way of employ- 
 ing them and paying them by authority is 
 had recourse to, moreover, they have 
 lodgings found them in the Sorbonne, 
 and thus, without the liberality or feeling 
 of individuals being in any way appealed 
 to, or, in fact, doing any thing worth speak- 
 ing of, to nourish art, the French brag of 
 their taste, of their patronage of genius, 
 and the splendour of its productions among 
 them. In England, the thing is left to 
 take a simpler and more independent 
 course. The state of the public mind is 
 permitted fairly to shew itself, and the 
 powers of the artists are left to maintain 
 themselves. These, as the general rule,
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 3^5 
 
 should be allowed to act and re-act on each 
 other : if it be regarded as one of the 
 regular functions of the government to sup- 
 port art, a kind of art is sure to be supported, 
 which is not worth its expense. 
 
 It is very true, that the greatest intellects 
 and most penetrating imaginations, are 
 most sensible of the importance of study, 
 and of the necessity of looking closely to 
 the merit that has preceded them in their 
 own line. But study may be either the sign 
 or the substitute of native feeling : in the 
 former case only will it lead to any worthy 
 result. I would contend that these vast 
 collections, which are inseparably connected 
 with the dogmas of standard awards, and 
 which enable people to talk and criticize, 
 without its being first necessary to under- 
 stand or to feel, are precisely calculated 
 to put study in the place of sensibility. 
 Nor is it perhaps their worst tendency to 
 enable the mere trained pedant to arrogate 
 beyond his title. It is the hackneyed com- 
 plaint that England is without a fine public 
 collection, and she is so : it happens 
 however, that with all the faults of her art, it 
 B B 4
 
 376 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 is more distinguished than that of any other 
 country, or period since the days when 
 there were few or no great public collections, 
 by the vigour of individual humour, the 
 deep impression of particular character, and 
 the reality of acute observation appearing 
 on the face of its productions, and honor- 
 ably distinguishing them from the cold and 
 laboured effects of academical discipline, 
 forming a monotonous manner, and me- 
 diocre standard. It is always safest that 
 the student should be left to search out for 
 himself the means of study provided they 
 are not put quite beyond his reach. There 
 is not, probably, any circumstance that 
 would render abortive the workings of 
 genius, or overwhelm its powers ; but it 
 may be safely said, that genius has more to 
 struggle with in these days of aids and rules, 
 than it had in former times, when it was 
 left to choose and effect in its own spirit 
 and strength. The medium state between 
 the absence of models, and their elevation 
 above original conceptions, seems to be that 
 which is best calculated to produce noble 
 works, in an art, the perfection of which is
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 to be found in an union of dexterity, judg- 
 ment, and imagination. 
 
 Put all argument is rendered unnecessary 
 by the proof afforded us in the modern 
 French art, which has grown up under the 
 influence of the great collection in the 
 Louvre. It shews the deplorable effects of 
 studying a manner in preference to cherish- 
 ing a spirit : it shews, that the weakness of 
 the human mind will not admit that sedulous 
 attention shall be given to what is little and 
 subordinate, without losing the perception 
 of what is great and principal : it shews 
 that, inasmuch as meditative observation 
 seldom exists where there are numbers, 
 and variety, and daily intercourse, a large 
 collection is by no means so useful as dif- 
 fused specimens, even admitting to models 
 and means of study their highest claims. 
 It is proper that it should be stated broadly, 
 for it can be proved, that the taste of the 
 French in fine art is as bad as their taste in 
 poetry, and that their practice is conse- 
 quently bad. This is speaking of their 
 general style, some exceptions may be 
 found in individuals.
 
 378 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 The present opportunity seems a fit one 
 for repelling those aspersions against Eng- 
 land, as utterly barbarous in taste and 
 talent for the arts, which, with a culpable 
 indifference, have been permitted to pass 
 un contradicted from the mouths of our self- 
 sufficient neighbours to the rest of the 
 world. The assertion will be found easier 
 made than proved. Of paintings, England 
 is supposed to possess as fine a collection 
 as any in the world ; but then she preserves 
 them in the retirement of her private fa- 
 milies, where they have been gathered 
 under the influence of a real feeling, and 
 by whom they have been acquired in a re- 
 gular and honest way. The strong sense 
 of individual independence and domestic 
 reserve, which belongs to the national cha- 
 racter, and which one would not wish to 
 see forfeited for the sake of a little more 
 national decoration, has kept these trea- 
 sures in the back ground, kindling only 
 the fervour of private devotion and admi- 
 nistering only to an unaffected delight. It 
 is well observed by the author of two vo- 
 lumes of " Travels in France" lately pub- 
 lished, that Frenchmen " do not seem to 
 
 1
 
 STRIPPING OT THE LOUVRE. 379 
 
 understand why a man should ever be 
 either ashamed or unwilling to disclose any 
 thing that passes in his mind ; they often 
 suspect their neighbours of expressing sen- 
 timents which they do not feel, but have 
 no idea of giving them credit for feelings 
 which they do not express." This at 
 once explains much of that stupid defama- 
 tion which has been directed against Eng- 
 land by foreigners, and which has been 
 chimed in with by some amongst our- 
 selves, who have thus tried to be thought 
 advanced in refinement beyond their 
 country. 
 
 It certainly happened that England was 
 not among the earliest to distinguish her- 
 self in fine Art : we must derive some 
 consolation under the reproach of this, 
 from the circumstance that religion was re- 
 formed of its worst and most absurd super- 
 stitions, and political tyranny was checked 
 and controlled among us, for some hun- 
 dred of years before any of our neighbours 
 stirred in these public undertakings, which 
 are surely not ' quite insignificant. Liter- 
 ature, being essential to the deliverance of 
 the human mind, and the elevation of hn-
 
 380 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE, 
 
 man feelings, was always sedulously at- 
 tended to in England, and in regard to it 
 she has no reason to blush either for her 
 want of taste or want of power. Painting 
 and Sculpture certainly lagged behind : 
 it would be easy enough to account for 
 their lateness in a way that would rather 
 prove it to reflect credit than dishonour on 
 the mind of the people ; but it is not ne- 
 cessary to say any thing invidious of two 
 elegant arts. When the accomplishment 
 of great public duties, involving gallant 
 enterprises, had afforded a fair opportunity 
 for relaxation, when the process of 
 thoughtful inquiry, and the fiery trials of 
 conflict and disputation, had issued in the 
 settlement of a substantial fabric of public 
 strength, freedom, and opulence, when, 
 the useful having been pretty generally at- 
 tained, the merely agreeable might be safely 
 cultivated, England evinced neither a 
 want of taste or talent for elegant imita- 
 tions. Reynolds, Hogarth, and Wilson, 
 are names which suggest high degrees 
 (some of them the highest) of almost all 
 the variety of excellence belonging to 
 painting.
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 381 
 
 London is certainly deficient in the ele- 
 gancies of architecture : though less so than 
 common report declares in consequence of 
 the little parade that is made here of any 
 thing we have. Our palaces are very mean 
 and clumsy : and as these are the first ob- 
 jects to which a foreigner looks, he seldom 
 looks beyond them, being satisfied that 
 they would be elegant if any of our build- 
 ings were so. But he ill understands Eng- 
 land: he must turn to what has been 
 done by private wealth or popular spirit, 
 by commercial prosperity or public charity, 
 for her most magnificent displays : her 
 sovereigns have seldom had it in their 
 power to build even a cottage, but subject 
 to the severest questioning. The point to 
 be settled is, which is most honourable to 
 a country's taste, to say nothing of its ge- 
 neral character ; the enjoyment of public 
 liberty, exercising a controul over the au- 
 thorities of the state, or the erection of 
 such beautiful palaces, as those which the 
 Bourbons gave to their mistresses. 
 
 Referring again to the collection in the 
 Louvre, it ought to be noticed, that many 
 of the finest pictures there, were utterly
 
 382 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE* 
 
 destroyed by being in that gallery. No 
 cruelty of violation can be imagined which 
 has not been perpetrated in the formation 
 of this collection, and scarcely an injury to 
 its objects which they have not sustained, 
 as the price of the honour of standing in 
 Paris rather than in Rome or in Florence. 
 The pictures which Rubens painted for the 
 churches of his favourite town, and adapted 
 to the lights of the situations which he him- 
 self selected, were taken and hung up in 
 the narrow gallery of a French palace, 
 where, if they were admired by any one, 
 it was by faith and not by sight. The 
 Venus which presided in the majesty of her 
 loveliness in Italy, which struck a solemn 
 feeling of admiration into every breast that 
 approached her single shrine, was sought 
 out with trouble, and found with difficulty, 
 among the numbers of a long Parisian ca- 
 talogue. When at last observed, what 
 could be thought of her, amidst such a 
 congregation of busts, and pillars, and co- 
 lossal statues, but that she was smaller than 
 life, and had been injured in the carriage. 
 Not six feet off, and overwhelming her by 
 its neighbourhood, stood the group of the
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 383 
 
 Laocoon, and at a few yards distance was 
 the Apollo ! Each of these had before 
 held an undivided empire, and drew wise 
 men to worship them in their sacred re- 
 cesses. But in Paris they were but as feeble 
 auxiliaries to the Champaign of Beauvilliers, 
 and the profligacies of the Palais Royal : 
 they were included in the guides to the 
 amusements of this gross city, along with 
 the Marionettes, and the exhibition of a 
 living hermaphrodite. Thus have objects, 
 that formerly gave a fame and attraction to 
 a number of towns and spots of Europe ; 
 which stood singly, or in small collections, 
 fastened to their places by all that men 
 knew of the past, or felt for the present, 
 which had connected themselves with the 
 foundations of property, as well as with all 
 received and cherished recollections and 
 associations, been violently torn away, 
 packed up, and crowded together, to fill 
 long tawdry halls, to give employment to 
 a tribe of cleaners, keepers, and porters, 
 and conversation to the mob of the most 
 heartless city in the world. Surely the 
 country to which Milton made a poetical 
 pilgrimage, should not be rendered bare of
 
 384 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 its curiosities and beauties, for the sake of 
 a land which has given models chiefly to 
 dancing masters, cooks, and tailors ; which 
 has never meddled with any thing fine but 
 to debase it, and never professed a just 
 principle but to the disgrace of its own 
 practice. 
 
 Each nation being now in possession of 
 its own treasures of this description, and 
 their value being fully impressed on the 
 public mind, by the noise that has been 
 made about them, we are now more likely 
 to see good effects result from their study 
 and contemplation, than when they were 
 altogether in the keeping of the French, 
 who corrupted and weakened their influence 
 by low practice and pernicious maxims. 
 
 Something has been said in favour of 
 France because she has always opened her 
 exhibitions very freely, and given every 
 accommodation to those who visited them 
 for the purposes of pleasure or of improve- 
 ment. More disgrace ought to attach to 
 those that are deficient in this courtesy and 
 wisdom, than credit to her for acting as 
 she did. Her collections, be it remem- 
 bered, were the offspring of her public
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 385 
 
 policy, not the signs of her genuine feel- 
 ing. Her system, therefore, required that 
 they should be unboundedly displayed. She 
 amassed them for external effect more than 
 for internal enjoyment ; she could no more 
 think of restricting their exhibition than 
 a lady could think of keeping her ribbons 
 in the mystery of her cabinet. But, as 
 England is miserably and most impolitically 
 churlish in regard to what she possesses, as 
 public property, of the curious and the 
 beautiful, she deserves severe reprehension. 
 It is to be hoped that, as the stir encreases 
 on this subject, sounder notions will spread, 
 and all cause for blame be removed by a 
 more liberal course of management. 
 
 The moral and political justice of these 
 restorations, it might have been supposed 
 could not have suggested itself as doubt- 
 ful. Attention to the claims made by the 
 smaller and weaker states to receive back 
 their property of this description, seems to 
 belong to the general purpose of the Al- 
 liance, which was to break up the French 
 system of forcible spoliation, and restore 
 the relative importance, and natural inde- 
 pendence, of European states, 
 c c
 
 386 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 No, calamity attending French invasion 
 was so much deplored as these rapes : the 
 Grand Duke of Parma offered a million of 
 francs to be permitted to keep one of the 
 finest works of Corregio, and when the 
 robbers refused his offer, saying that it was 
 worth more than twenty millions as calcu- 
 lated to inspire the French mind with the 
 love of " glory," he caused a black marble 
 to be inserted where the picture was for- 
 merly hung, to attest his grief. The anxiety 
 shewn to procure the restitution of the 
 works of art is the finest tribute that could 
 be paid to the genius of their authors, 
 and, by proving the value attached to the 
 possession of them, forms a strong reason 
 for their being replaced. As to saying that 
 France held some of them by treaty, what 
 is that to the purpose, when it is known 
 that she held Spain, and Italy, and the 
 Netherlands, and Holland by treaty ? Her 
 plan of putting the language of agreement 
 and approbation into the mouths of her 
 victims, is what chiefly raises the indigna- 
 tion of manly natures against her. Her 
 slaves were made to bless her for the cud- 
 gelling they received at her hands, and to
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 387 
 
 record that it was by their own free consent 
 that she enriched herself with their pro- 
 perty. But much of the spoliation collected 
 in Paris was mere seizure, in utter careless- 
 ness of all forms. It was said, when the 
 territory of a formerly independent state 
 became French, that France had a right to 
 take from its towns what she pleased : 
 thus a second wrong was justified by the 
 first. But the infamous nature of this pre- 
 tence becomes most apparent, when it is 
 considered, that the property of particular 
 towns and places in the works of fine art, 
 had not usually been disturbed, even by 
 their national governments. It was never 
 before thought a regular or just thing to 
 enrich the collection of the capital at the 
 expence of every church and gallery through- 
 out the dominions : on the contrary, the 
 pride of cities, districts, and provinces in 
 their ancient inheritances, and modern per- 
 formances, was respected, the benefit of 
 their exhibition was left to them, and the 
 patriotic attachments, thus fostered, were 
 found of signal use in causing a general 
 gravitating tendency towards the centre of 
 the state. It is by a combination of small 
 c c 2
 
 388 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 orbits, that the steadiness and order of a 
 large system is produced. 
 
 The French urged that it was unjust to 
 strip them on the second visit of the Allies 
 to their capital, because they had been 
 left in full possession of their spoils when 
 Paris first fell into the hands of the foreign 
 armies. Their most plausible argument to 
 illustrate this position was, that, on the 
 second occasion, the Allies came profes- 
 edly as the friends of the King of France, 
 and even as the friends of the nation, which 
 by no means identified itself with the en- 
 terprize of Buonaparte. The answer, how- 
 ever, is easily given. The plundered works 
 of art were not left as belonging of right 
 to the French nation ; nor (and it is 
 material to observe this) were they so 
 unequivocally and fully left as is pretended. 
 Prussia stipulated with the King's govern- 
 ment, in 1814, that her property should 
 fce restored, and, if the engagement was 
 not kept, France surely ought not to derive 
 a right from her wrong. If Prussia did not 
 quarrel with her on this score, it only shews 
 that France was treated with more forbear- 
 ance thas she had ever shewn.
 
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 389 
 
 Most of the other powers, it is true, con- 
 sented, that, as a pledge of union and for- 
 getfulness of the past, the French nation 
 should retain its trophies. This was an 
 instance of great generosity, but it had 
 a distinct and understood object. It was 
 to reconcile and attach all classes of the 
 nation, and most particularly the army, 
 to the restored government, by enabling 
 them to regard it unconnectedly with cir- 
 cumstances of humiliation. In fact, it was 
 to shew that no disposition was entertained, 
 in any quarter, to reduce France below the 
 standard of a great and even a glorious state, 
 while she gave proofs that her greatness 
 and her glory were kept in harmony with 
 the rights of mankind and the safety of 
 the world. 
 
 But the attempt failed of success ; and, 
 whether the French people were, or were 
 not, participators in the scheme that again 
 threw Europe into confusion, the result was 
 the same, and the end of leaving the tro- 
 phies was disappointed. As no right to 
 them had ever been acknowledged to rest 
 in France, or rather as the pretence to 
 this right had always been denied and op- 
 c c 3
 
 390 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 
 
 posed, it remained fairly with the Allies 
 to retract their indulgence in consequence 
 of their experience of its inutility. 
 
 Further, however, it was pretty certain, 
 that the intended remedy had an influence 
 to encrease the disease. The favour shewn 
 to France was attributed to the fears of her 
 enemies, and the bad propensities and 
 fiery passions of the factious and selfish, 
 were stimulated and kept in play by the 
 presence of the memorials of the days of 
 her aggressions. The dangerous classes of 
 her people were nourished in their vicious 
 dispositions by the trophies of their violence, 
 and these supplied a hurtful excitement 
 to the public mind. The insolence with 
 which they bore themselves towards the 
 indulgence which had been shewn to them, 
 rendered it necessary, not as a matter of 
 pique, but of strict justice and prudence, 
 that the second lesson should be given the 
 other way, and a deep conviction be forced 
 on all the parties of France, that punish- 
 ment is sure to follow provocation, that 
 the days are over when war was always a 
 safe game for France to play, and that 
 what is due to good neighbourhood may be
 
 STRIPPING OF THE LOUVRE. 391 
 
 enforced from her weakness, if it is not to 
 be found in her disposition. As to the 
 pretensions rested on the terms of the 
 convention of Paris, the Duke of Welling- 
 ton's letter, which is a public document, 
 completely refutes them. He states that 
 it was distinctly refused to the commis- 
 sioners' request, that France should be 
 secured in the possession of the property 
 in the Louvre. 
 
 
 
 
 
 c c 4
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE political temper and condition of 
 France, afford but little that is encou- 
 raging or even certain. The degradation 
 of a people cannot be contemplated with 
 any satisfaction, but as a measure due to 
 the general safety, or likely to lead to the 
 reformation of the suffering party. As far 
 as relates to the security of the Continent, 
 the first end seems to have been for the 
 pf esent entirely attained, but the dura- 
 tion of the blessings of tranquillity is con- 
 fessedly acknowledged to have a material 
 dependence on the settlement of the French 
 people into contented feelings, and a com- 
 fortable condition. That this desirable 
 event is in progress may be possible, but 
 assuredly it has not yet happened, and there 
 are many perplexing circumstances to in- 
 terfere with our hopes, and leave us at a 
 loss in the midst of our deductions. 
 
 I have considered the severities inflicted
 
 CONCLUSION. 39S 
 
 on France as necessary, and therefore justi- 
 fiable ; but their immediate effect has been 
 to kindle the irritation of party, and diffuse 
 misery among the people. These causes, 
 operating on a light, ill-informed, inflam- 
 mably-constitutecl public mind, < com- 
 pletely unfit it for acquiring, what it so 
 much wants in these times of restored go- 
 vernments and proposed constitutions, 
 viz. rational views of its duties in connection 
 with its rights, and a conviction of the 
 strength which the claims of the latter can 
 derive from an honest observance of the 
 obligations of the former. 
 
 It has already been noted in this work, 
 that the deadliest misfortune of France, is 
 the training which she received under her 
 late ruler, to render her fit for his purposes. 
 This has detached the interests of a large 
 part of her population from the welfare of 
 their fellow men, it has left them with- 
 out taste for virtue, or hope in peace, 
 and it has generally corrupted the princi- 
 ples of the mass. Coming, as he did, 
 when the nation was wearied and terrified 
 wjith the bloody scenes of the revolution, 
 he found the people inclined to submit to
 
 394< CONCLUSION. 
 
 any power that could maintain itself, and 
 would afford safety to their persons. Of 
 this principle of submission, and of the 
 aptitude of the nation to be intoxicated with 
 itself, he took advantage to debauch the 
 general feeling and pervert the public ha- 
 bits until at last glory was in every one's 
 mouth, and honesty in no one's. He con- 
 tinued the process, opposing splendour to 
 refinement and boasting to worth. Hero- 
 dotus tells of a king, who built a great 
 monument by the gain of his daughter's 
 prostitution, and this was the system of 
 Buonaparte in regard to the French na- 
 tion. 
 
 His reverses, and the extremity to which 
 he had reduced them, inclined them to 
 pass over to the government that was found 
 agreeable to the wishes of their conquerors, 
 and which was permitted to negociate for 
 them better terms than they could have 
 demanded in their exhausted condition. 
 This was an alteration, upon the whole, 
 certainly for the better, but there were 
 considerable alloys of the good, and much 
 to impede and counteract its tendencies. 
 The king's government came in too much
 
 CONCLUSION. 395 
 
 on the strength of an old title, which 
 was neither generally acknowledged by the 
 nation in point of fact, nor very worthy of 
 being so. It should have conceded more 
 to the temper of the time, and the claims 
 of sound principle, by chiefly resting its 
 re-elevation on the foundation of popular 
 choice, and considering its inheritance as 
 only valid, so far as it was sanctioned 
 by the former. But it reversed this ; and 
 regarded the principle of authority as vested 
 in itself, conceding certain modifications 
 and abatements of the original royal prero- 
 gative, as of its own indulgence, rather 
 than as a debt due to the right of the subject 
 to stipulate for the form of his govern- 
 ment. 
 
 This was a great error, but, in justice, 
 it should be said, that the constitution 
 granted by Louis the XVIIIth, established 
 a limited monarchy in France ; and, after it 
 was passed into law, the liberties of the 
 people were better guarded and respected, 
 both in the spirit and the practice of the 
 government, than they ever had been be- 
 fore, unless, perhaps, in the first stage 
 of the revolution, when Louis the XVIth
 
 396 CONCLUSION. 
 
 was willingly acting with the wishes of 
 the nation. 
 
 It was easy to see, that there were many 
 imperfections in the Bourbon constitution ; 
 and that it was by no means what a sen- 
 sible, determined people, would remain 
 contented with, as establishing a just de- 
 gree of public freedom. But it required a 
 good deal of confidence to say, that the 
 fault was all on the side of the government. 
 The French people, whatever may be pre- 
 tended to the contrary, are in a state of 
 great ignorance, and this leaves them in 
 a condition to be practised upon for any 
 factious purpose. The grossest absurdi- 
 ties will be believed by them, if recom- 
 mended by what flatters their vanity, or 
 seems to address their interests. It is too 
 much to decide at once that the unlimited 
 liberty of the press was desirable for a 
 people of this description, and ought to 
 have been instituted amongst them on the 
 instant of their rising from the depths of 
 slavish submission, in which they had been 
 sunk for twelve years under the weight of 
 Imperial tyranny. 
 
 The despotism in question had naturally
 
 CONCLUSION. #97 
 
 many friends of influence remaining, and 
 almost the whole of the military were 
 known to be in its favour, from motives the 
 most opposed to those which are calculated 
 for a free state. But the cant of liberty 
 might have been used by infuriated and un- 
 principled men, if the means of appeal to 
 the public opinion had been left as open 
 as they ought to be in more matured and 
 settled states of society. 
 
 Of all the accusations brought against the 
 Bourbon government, that of attempting to 
 restore the reign of bigotry and superstition, 
 has been most eagerly listened to in Eng- 
 land, and has excited the greatest prejudice 
 against the family. It is to be remembered 
 however, that the decay of religion in France 
 has been deemed the most fatal and dis- 
 gusting symptom of her condition ; the 
 hideous source of the mischiefs she has 
 committed, and the miseries she has suf- 
 fered, and that it has been said she could 
 give no security for preserving public faith 
 until there appeared in her domestic con^ 
 dition a renovation in this particular. The 
 religion of France before the Bevolution 
 was the Catholic religion, and whatever
 
 398 CONCLUSION. 
 
 remained to her after the Revolution was 
 chiefly the Catholic religion. It includes 
 ceremonies and priests, rather more pom- 
 pously displayed than our own, but of the 
 same family, and if the King was to en- 
 deavour to restore religion in France, he 
 could not be expected totally to abolish 
 processions and expel priests. There was 
 a provision in the constitution for the tole- 
 ration of sectaries : and while, in point of 
 fact, Protestants, in great number, are 
 settled in France, while they have their 
 preachers and places of worship, while the 
 regular clergy continue destitute of rich 
 endowments, and degraded in the conse- 
 quence of their characters the reign of 
 bigotry in France can never be what it was, 
 nor can there be rationally much fear en- 
 tertained of falling back into the supersti- 
 tious follies and severities of the dark ages. 
 The disturbances in the south of France, 
 of which we have recently heard so much, 
 have, beyond a doubt, been greatly exagge- 
 rated, and materially misrepresented as 
 wholly religious when they have been chiefly 
 political. In this quarter the fire of poli- 
 tical discord has always been alive; and
 
 CONCLUSION. 399 
 
 parties have always here had a desperate 
 struggle for the upper hand, at every revo- 
 lution of public affairs that has occurred 
 in France. 
 
 A scanty portion of liberty, therefore, 
 but sufficient, as it would seem, to serve as 
 seed for future abundance, I consider to 
 have been established in that country by 
 the restoration of the Bourbons : and 
 surely no violation of the principles of po- 
 pular rights, that was connected with their 
 return, ought to be considered so odious or 
 so dangerous as the general profligacy of 
 the Imperial system, which was founded in 
 gross apostacy from freedom, the exist- 
 ence of which was utterly irreconcilable 
 with independent sentiment, that ac- 
 knowledged in nothing a right sacred from 
 the interference of its power, and that 
 drew its growth from the rankness of cor- 
 ruption, moral, political, and personal. 
 
 I have discussed in a previous chapter, 
 the feeling with which Buonaparte's last en- 
 terprize was regarded. The nation shewed 
 no strength of attachment to the Bourbons, 
 but as the visitor from Elba had not 
 been desired by the people, so he did not
 
 1<00 CONCLUSION. 
 
 receive what can fairly be called popular 
 support. The army joined him on the 
 principle that full pay is better than half 
 pay, and the chance of promotion than the 
 certainty of reduction. 
 
 His fall this time, seems final, and so 
 far the Bourbons are relieved from a dan- 
 ger : but it may be questioned whether 
 the course of things was not proceeding, 
 on the whole, better for them, and for the 
 cause of improvement in France, before 
 Buonaparte made his second appearance. 
 The passions of parties have now been 
 kindled with encreased violence ; ultra- 
 royalisni, as it is called, has raised its mon- 
 strous head, professing to see in the last 
 disturbance the necessity for giving a 
 stronger hand to authority, and for its 
 holding a higher language of prerogative. 
 The punishment of some of those most 
 active in the revolt, of necessity followed 
 the return of the King, though nothing, 
 in the shape of a plan of punishment, 
 could well be more mild than that which 
 the royal administration chalked out. But 
 in these collisions, and exercises of royal 
 authority, they, whose interests are con- 
 12
 
 CONCLUSION. 401 
 
 nected with the foundations of the Revo- 
 lution, see ground for alarm, and the 
 general want of political information, and 
 the demoralized state of the public cha- 
 racter, render it impossible for the King, 
 whose inclinations and principles are de- 
 cidedly moderate, to reckon on a substan- 
 tial support, supplied from the sense of 
 his subjects, which would enable him to 
 resist the zealotry of the friends of ar- 
 bitrary usages, without incurring danger 
 from the opposite side of disappointed 
 anarchists. 
 
 That the Allies would have made a very 
 dangerous experiment by trusting to the 
 peaceable and virtuous professions of Buo- 
 naparte, when he was Emperor for the 
 second time, will be allowed by most peo- 
 ple. I am inclined to think that they acted 
 very wisely and justly in disregarding them, 
 for it seems that no well-informed 
 Frenchman, even of those about his person, 
 deemed that he had any sincere intention 
 in what he declared in favour of a liberally 
 constructed government. This being the 
 case, and the alterations made by him 
 in the Bourbon constitution, being, on the 
 D D
 
 402 CONCLUSION. 
 
 whole, in a despotic spirit, the world was 
 imminently threatened with a renewal of 
 all his old perfidies and violations. The 
 army was as much devoted to him as ever, 
 and would have done his bidding as rea- 
 dily. Many of the old republicans had 
 become tainted in his despotic school, and 
 had fallen in love with titles and rich ap- 
 pointments. The nation stood in awe, even 
 to infatuation of his personal influence, 
 and had not improved in any one quality, 
 since his banishment, which would have 
 been of use to them in opposing his en- 
 croachments. His marshals were profes- 
 sionally indifferent about civil liberty, or 
 rather, in their interests as military men, 
 hostile to it. It is difficult, therefore, to 
 understand on what ground it has been 
 argued, that it was very unlikely that Buo- 
 naparte, if established as Emperor for the 
 second time, could have backslided from 
 his engagements. That he would have 
 done so is most probable, for the spirited 
 manner in which the House of Represen- 
 tatives forced upon him his second abdica- 
 tion, is to be traced to the circumstances 
 of distress in which he was then placed, and 
 shews only their distrust of the man.
 
 CONCLUSION. 403 
 
 His removal, I repeat, was indispensable 
 as an example and a security, but the 
 means employed, and their consequences, 
 demand vigilance, and even suggest anxiety. 
 France, through her own vices and ignor- 
 ance chiefly, has left herself at the mercy 
 of mere authority: rulers have been ac- 
 customed to contemplate the exercise of 
 power in its most absolute shape and 
 they have found what they can do in com- 
 bination. On the other hand, it seems evi- 
 dent, that in general, they see the prudence 
 of softening down the harsher features of 
 the old political institutions of Europe, and 
 of, in some degree, incorporating public sen- 
 timent among the forces of government. 
 They have felt and acknowledged, that the 
 popular spirit was the soul of their cause in 
 the hour of its trial, and there are signs 
 abroad which give little short of an asurance 
 that this spirit must still continue to be 
 respected. 
 
 In conclusion, the writer would justify 
 the general turn of his political views as 
 expressed throughout this work, by a re- 
 petition of his conviction, that the cause 
 of liberty is on the growth in the world ; 
 DD 2
 
 404 CONCLUSION. 
 
 and that, though the hopes of society 
 may still be encompassed with dangers, yet 
 that the greatest danger has been escaped, 
 
 viz. that of wandering from the path of 
 real improvement, in the fatal mistake of 
 following an ignis fatuus for a light of the 
 time. Slowness may be quickened into 
 activity; a stoppage may be goaded into 
 an advance ; even a retrograde motion still 
 leaves the right line in view : but if man- 
 kind had plunged with confidence and joy 
 into the way that falsely promised to lead 
 unto life, their progress would have 
 caused one evil and error to succeed to an- 
 other, and return would have been pre- 
 vented by a Circean intoxication of faculty 
 and poisonous corruption of heart. Every 
 thing genuine, cordial, and good, would 
 then have been killed or depraved, in the 
 deluge of that abominable style of acting and 
 thinking to which Buonaparte has formed 
 the public character of present France. 
 According to this, fine words are substitutes 
 for fine feelings, loud boastings for excellent 
 qualities, and the cant and counterfeit of 
 taste and morality are employed to beguile 
 the consciousness of the multitude, while the 
 
 6
 
 CONCLUSION. 405 
 
 people are made the instruments and dupes 
 of a system essentially savage, coarse, and 
 guilty. But from this danger mankind 
 have been relieved : they may not, it is 
 true, now seem to proceed so rapidly to- 
 wards all that is desirable in condition as 
 some of zealous temperaments may wish ; 
 but most of those, who complain of tardi- 
 ness, would shew themselves more worthy 
 of the cause they profess, if they were to 
 discover a due sense of joy that the world 
 has escaped from death. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Printed by A. Strahan, 
 New-Sueet-Sqiiare, London.
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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