22.
Too much of life hath on thy plains been shed,
Brabant! so oft the scene of war's debate;
But ne'er with blood were they so largely fed

As in this rout and wreck; when righteous Fate
Brought on the French, in warning to all times,
A vengeance wide and sweeping as their crimes :

23.

Vengeance for Egypt and for Syria's wrong;
For Portugal's unutterable woes;
For Germany, who suffer'd all too long

Beneath these lawless, faithless, godless foes;
For blood which on the Lord so long had cried,
For Earth opprest, and Heaven insulted and defied.

24.

We follow'd from Genappe their line of flight

To the Cross Roads, where Britain's sons sustain'd Against such perilous force the desperate fight: Deserving for that field so well maintain'd, Such fame as for a like devotion's meed The world hath to the Spartan band decreed.

25.

Upon this ground the noble Brunswick died, Led on too rashly by his ardent heart; Long shall his grateful country tell with pride

How manfully he chose the better part; When groaning Germany in chains was bound, He only of her Princes faithful found.

26.

And here right bravely did the German band
Once more sustain their well-deserved applause;
As when, revenging there their native land,

In Spain they labour'd for the general cause. In this most arduous strife none more than they Endured the heat and burthen of the day.

27.

Here too we heard the praise of British worth, Still best approved when most severely tried; Here were broad patches of loose-lying earth,

Sufficing scarce the mingled bones to hide,.. And half-uncover'd graves, where one might see The loathliest features of mortality.

28.

Eastward from hence we struck, and reach'd the field
Of Ligny, where the Prussian, on that day
By far-outnumbering force constrain'd to yield,
Fronted the foe, and held them still at bay;

It is odd that the inscription upon the directing-post at Les Quatre Bras, (or rather boards, for they are fastened against a house,) should be given wrongly in the account of the campaign printed at Frankfort. The real directions

are,

de pte ver St. Douler

de pte ver Genappe

de pte ver Marbais

de pte ver Frasne,

spelt in this manner, and ill cut. I happened to copy it in a mood of superfluous minuteness.

A fat and jolly Walloon, who inhabited this corner house,

And in that brave defeat acquired fresh claim To glory, and enhanced his country's fame.

29.

Here was a scene which fancy might delight To treasure up among her cherish'd stores, And bring again before the inward sight

Often when she recalls the long-past hours; . Well-cultured hill and dale extending wide, Hamlets and village spires on every side;

30.

The autumnal-tinted groves; the upland mill
Which oft was won and lost amid the fray:
Green pastures water'd by the silent rill;
The lordly Castle yielding to decay,
With bridge and barbacan and moat and tower,
A fairer sight perchance than when it frown'd in
power:

31.

The avenue before its ruin'd gate,

Which when the Castle, suffering less from time Than havoc, hath foregone its strength and state, Uninjured flourisheth in nature's prime;

To us a grateful shade did it supply,
Glad of that shelter from the noontide sky:

32.

The quarries deep, where many a massive block
For some Parisian monument of pride,
Hewn with long labour from the granite rock,

Lay in the change of fortune cast aside;
But rightly with those stones should Prussia build
Her monumental pile on Ligny's bloody field!

33.

The wealthy village bearing but too plain The dismal marks of recent fire and spoil; Its decent habitants, an active train,

And many a one at work with needful toil On roof or thatch, the ruin to repair,.. May never War repeat such devastation there!

34.

Ill had we done if we had hurried by
A scene in faithful history to be famed
Through long succeeding ages; nor may I

The hospitality let pass unnamed,

And courteous kindness on that distant ground, Which, strangers as we were, for England's sake we found.

ate his dinner in peace at twelve o'clock on the 16th, and was driven out by the balls flying about his ears at four the same day. This man described that part of the action which took place in his sight with great animation. He was particularly impressed by the rage,.. the absolute fury which the French displayed; they cursed the English while they were fighting, and cursed the precision with which the English grape shot was fired, which, said the man, was neither too high nor too low, but struck right in the middle. The last time that a British army had been in this place, the Duke of York slept in this man's bed,.. an event which the Walloon remembered with gratitude as well as pride, the Duke having given him a Louis d'or.

and conduct of your son, during six months that he resided in my house, after the entrance of the French army into the Prussian capital. I do not, however, mean to follow a bad example. You will resume, therefore, your apartment tomorrow, and I will seek lodgings at some public hotel.' The lady then retired, extolling the generous conduct of the Prussian officer, and deprecating that of her son."

"Another Prussian officer was lodged at the house of Marshal Ney, in whose stables and coach-house he found a

4.

Full fain would I have known what lay before,
But lifted there in vain my mortal eye;
That point with cloud and mist was cover'd o'er,
As though the earth were mingled with the sky.
Yet thither, as some power unseen impell'd,
My blind involuntary way I held.

5.

Across the plain innumerable crowds

Like me were on their destined journey bent, Toward the land of shadows and of clouds:

One pace they travelled, to one point they went;..

A motley multitude of old and young,

Men of all climes and hues, and every tongue.

6.

Ere long I came upon a field of dead,

Where heaps of recent carnage fill'd the way; A ghastly sight,.. nor was there where to tread, So thickly slaughter'd, horse and man, they lay. Methought that in that place of death I knew Again the late-seen field of Waterloo.

7.

Troubled I stood, and doubtful where to go,..
A cold damp shuddering ran through all my frame;
Fain would I fly from that dread scene, when lo
A voice as from above pronounced my name;
And looking to the sound, by the way-side
I saw a lofty structure edified.

8

Most like it seem'd to that aspiring Tower
Which old Ambition rear'd on Babel's plain,
As if he ween'd in his presumptuous power

To scale high Heaven with daring pride profane; Such was its giddy height: and round and round The spiral steps in long ascension wound.

9.

Its frail foundations upon sand were placed,
And round about it mouldering rubbish lay;
For easily by time and storms defaced,

The loose materials crumbled in decay:
Rising so high, and built so insecure,
Ill might such perishable work endure.

10.

I not the less went up, and as I drew

Toward the top, more firm the structure seem'd, With nicer art composed, and fair to view:

Strong and well-built perchance I might have deem'd The pile, had I not seen and understood Of what frail matter form'd, and on what base it stood.

great number of horses and carriages. He immediately ordered some Prussian soldiers, who accompanied him, to take away nine of the horses and three of the carriages. Ney's servants violently remonstrated against this proceeding, on which the Prussian officer observed, They are my property, inasmuch as your master took the same number of horses and carriages from me when he entered Berlin with the French army.' I think you will agree with me, that the lex talionis was never more properly nor more justly resorted to."