Among the curiosities of Waterloo, to the examination of which the most strenuous persuasion is used to invite the passing stranger, is the grave of the Marquis of Anglesea's leg, and the house in which it was cut off, and where the boot belonging to it is preserved! The owner of the house to whose share this relic has fallen finds it a most lucrative source of revenue, and will, in spite of the absurdity of the thing, probably bequeath it to his children as a valuable property. He has interred the leg most decorously within a coffin, under a weeping willow, and has honoured it with a monument and an epitaph. Waterloo is now nearly joined to Mont St. Jean, a long straggling village (the Hotels are decent little Inns), though once almost a mile from it, and lying on the edge of the field of battle. Here the road divides: the branch on the rt. leads to Nivelles; the other, continuing straight on, is the high road to Genappe and Namur. Travellers ought not to leave their carriage at Waterloo, or even at Mont St. Jean, as it is still a mile short of the centre of the field, and this mile will considerably increase the long walk which they must at any rate take in order to see the ground to advantage. It is more prudent to drive on to Hougoumont, 1 m. If the traveller intend to proceed on to Namur, and not to return to Brussels, the carriage must stop at La Belle Alliance, which is a sorry kind of public-house. Leaving the village of Mont St. Jean, the road reaches an open country, almost entirely without trees; it ascends a gentle rise, and passes the large farmhouse with offices called Ferme de Mont St. Jean, which during the battle was filled with wounded British, and served as a sort of hospital. The Mound sur mounted by the Belgic Lion, by far the most conspicuous object in the field of Waterloo, now appears in sight. It marks the spot which may be considered the centre of the conflict. The field had been examined by the Duke of Wellington in the previous year. In a Memorandum on the defence of the frontier of the Netherlands," addressed to Lord Bathurst, 22nd Sept. 1814, he says, "About Nivelle, and between that and Binch, there are many advantageous positions for an army, and the entrance to the forêt de Soignies by the high road which leads to Brussels from Binch, Charleroi, and Namur, would, if worked upon, afford others." Despatches, xii. 129. Though not a strong position, it was the best between Quatre Bras and Brussels available for the protection of that capital. On arriving at the end of this ascent, the traveller finds himself on the brow of a hill or ridge extending on the rt. and 1. of the road, with a gentle hollow or shallow valley before him, and another ascent and nearly corresponding ridge beyond it. Along the ridge on which he stands the British army was posted, while the position of the French was along the opposite heights. The road on which we are travelling intersected the 2 armies, or, so to speak, separated the 1. wing of the British and rt. wing of the French from the main bodies of their respective armies. To render the declivity more gradual, the road has been cut through the crest of the ridge several feet deep, so as to form a sort of hollow way. At this point 2 Monuments have been erected close to the roadside; that on the right (* in the plan), a pillar to the memory of Col. Gordon, bearing a most touching epitaph, well worth perusal; that on the left (5), an obelisk in honour of the Hanoverian officers of the German Legion who fell on the spot. Hereabouts the high road is traversed nearly at right angles by a small country cross-road. During the first part of the action the Duke of Wellington stood in the angle formed by the crossing of these 2 roads, and on the rt. of the highway, at a little distance from a solitary elm (1 in the plan), called the Wellington Tree, from an unfounded report that the Duke had placed himself beneath it during the action. The Duke knew better than to post himself and his staff close to an object which must inevitably serve as a mark for the enemy to fire at. Upon the strength of this story, however, the elm, after being mutilated and stripped by relic-hunters, was cut down and sold, some time after the battle, to an Englishman. About half-way down in the hollow which separated the 2 armies, and in which the most bloody combats took place, is the Farm of La Haye Sainte (6) close to the roadside on the rt. It was occupied by the soldiers of the German Legion, and gallantly defended till their ammunition was exhausted, when they were literally cut to pieces: the French "got possession of it about 2 o'clock, from a circumstance which is to be attributed to the neglect of the officer commanding on the spot, and were never removed from thence till I commenced the attack in the evening; but they never advanced further on that side."-Despatches, xii. 610. A terrible carnage took place in the house and garden, and the building was riddled with shot. Close to this house a spot is shown as the grave of Shaw the valorous Lifeguardsman, who killed 9 Frenchmen with his own hand in the battle. Not far off, on the opposite side of the road, a vast accumulation of bodies of men, intermixed with horses, were buried in one common grave. It was near this spot that the brave General Picton was killed, and Colonel Ponsonby wounded. 5 Scotch regiments were engaged in this part of the fight. If we now proceed across the valley and up the opposite slope, we reach the farm of La Belle Alliance, a solitary white house, on the 1. of the road (7), now a poor public-house. It was occupied by the French, whose lines were drawn up close behind it; though towards the end of the engagement Napoleon in person marshalled his imperial guards in front of it for the final charge. Napoleon's place of observation during a great part of the battle was nearly on a line with La Belle Alliance, at some distance on the rt. of the road. The Prussians have erected a cast-iron monument (9) at a short distance on the left, in memory of their fellow-countrymen who fell here. Their loss in the battle amounted to nearly 7000; it occurred chiefly in the vicinity of Planchenoit, a village on the 1. of the road, beyond La Belle Alliance, which was stormed and retaken 3 times. It has been erroneously stated that Blücher met the Duke after the battle at La Belle Alliance; but the fact is, that he did not overtake the Duke till he was 2 m. beyond the field, at Maison Rouge, or Maison du Roi, on the road to Genappe. Here the Duke gave orders for the halt of his troops. In spite of the fatigues of the day, he had pursued the French in person till long after dark; and when Colonel Harvey, who accompanied him, pointed out the danger he ran of being fired at by stragglers from behind the hedges, he exclaimed, "Let them fire away: the victory is gained, and my life is of no value now." A little way beyond La Belle Alliance is the house of Coster (8), Napoleon's guide (since dead); and near this spot a glimpse may be had of the farm of Hougoumont, 1 m. off on the rt. Gros Caillou (10), a farm-house in which Napoleon slept, was burnt in consequence by the Prussians next day, to show their hatred of their enemy. The foregoing enumeration of the various localities of the field has been made in the order in which a traveller would pass them in following the high road from Brussels. If he intend to turn aside and examine the field more minutely, the following description may assist him : The Mound of the Belgic Lion (2) is by far the best station for surveying the field. It is a vast tumulus, 200 ft. high, beneath which the bones of friends and foes lie heaped indiscriminately together. A flight of steps leads up to the top. The lion was cast by Cockerill of Liége, and is intended to stand on the spot where the Prince of Orange was wounded. "The mound and the lion have equally been the subject of ill-natured | censures, but would appear appropriate enough, since they serve at once as a memorial, a trophy, and a tomb."Family Tour. The present appearance of the field differs considerably from what it was at the time of the battle, owing to the excavation made along the front of the British position, to obtain earth for this artificial mound. The ridge of Mont St. Jean has been considerably reduced in height; and the spot where the Duke of Wellington stood is quite cut away; the ground near being lowered several feet by the removal of the earth. From the top of the Mound it will be perceived that the ground is a perfectly open and undulating plain. The British force was disposed in 2 lines along one of these undulations: the foremost line occupied the brow of the eminence, and was partly protected by a hedge, running from Mont St. Jean to Ohain, which gave the name to the farm of La Haye Sainte (6); the second stood a little way behind, on the reverse of the slope, so as to be partly sheltered from the enemy's fire. The British were separated by the shallow valley above mentioned-varying from 500 to 800 yards in breadth-from the French, who were posted on the opposite ridge. The situation of both armies was in many parts within point blank range of their opponents' artillery. The position of the British from rt. to 1. did not much exceed a mile and a half,-" small theatre for such a tragedy;" yet on this limited front did its commander place and manœuvre an army of 54,000 men, a remarkable instance of concentration of force. It was drawn up in a sort of curve, to suit the ground along the heights, and the rt. wing extended as far as Merbe Braine. The rt. flank of the centre stood 400 yards behind the house of Hougoumont (3), which was very strongly occupied; the 1. of the centre was posted at a considerable distance behind the farm-house of La Haye Sainte (6), which stood nearly midway between the 2 armies, and was also occupied and fortified as well as its small size and the time would admit. The distance between the 2 farms of Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte is 1300 yards. The French columns could not pass between them without being exposed to a flank fire, nor did Napoleon think it prudent to leave 2 such posts in his rear in the possession of his enemy; and his first efforts, previous to advancing against the English line, were to make himself master of them. hr., The British army remained during the whole day firm in its position; and, formed into squares, received on this ridge, in front, and on each side of the ground now occupied by the Mound, the furious charges of the French cavalry, who were on the plateau between the 2 high roads nearly all firing having ceased on both sides. At the time of the appearance of the Prussians not a square had been broken or shaken; the British had not swerved an inch backwards, but were rather in advance of their first position. The Duke says, writing to Lord Beresford, July 2, 1815, "Napoleon did not manœuvre at all. He just moved forward in the old style in columns, and was driven off in the old style. The only difference was, that he mixed cavalry with his infantry, and supported both with an enormous quantity of artillery. I had the infantry for some time in squares, and we had the French cavalry walking about as if they had been our own. I never saw the British infantry behave so well." Far on the 1., in the direction of Wavre, are seen the woods through which the Prussians first advanced to the battle. The Château of Hougoumont or Goumont (3), about 31 m. from Waterloo ch., 1 m. from Mont St. Jean, and 3 m. from La Haye Sainte, is decidedly the most interesting spot in the field of Waterloo, not only for its importance in the history of the battle, but because it still exhibits marks of the dreadful conflict. It formed, in fact, the key of the British position, and the possession of it would have enabled Napoleon to turn the English flank. It was on this account that he directed his utmost efforts towards it. At least 12,000 men, commanded by his brother Jerome, were brought at different times against it, and the fierce attacks continued with hardly any intermission during the whole of the day. It was an old-fashioned Flemish château, with walled gardens and farm offices attached to it. Had these buildings been formed for a fortress to resist the kind of assault which they endured, they could scarcely have possessed greater advantages; being surrounded on all sides by strong walls, which the Duke himself caused to be further fortified by breaking loopholes in them, through which the garrison, if it may be so called, directed the fire of their musketry. But, notwithstanding its strength, so furious were the attacks, and so disproportionably great the number of assailants, that it could not possibly have held out, but for the bravery of the troops by whom it was maintained. The wood, orchard, and kitchengarden were several times in the possession of the French, but they never succeeded in forcing the walled enclosures which surrounded the house. This little citadel, though set on fire by the howitzers and almost gutted by the flames, was maintained to the last by the Coldstream Guards. At the beginning of the battle the house stood in the centre of a wood; but the trees were so mutilated by cannon-shot during the action, that few remain. The old house set on fire by French shells has been entirely removed; some of the outhouses, however, still exhibit a shattered and patched-up appearance; and the walls of the orchard retain the loopholes formed by the English; whilst on the outside they present a broken surface crumbling to the touch, from the effect of the French musketry so long and vainly directed against them; the French, it is asserted, mistaking for some time the red brick wall for the English uniforms. "The Belgian yeoman's garden wall was the safeguard of Europe, whose destinies hung on the possession of this house." In the little chapel is shown a crucifix, saved (as the peasants say) by miracle from the flames, which, after destroying all about it, stopped on reaching the foot of the cross. The autographs of Byron, Southey, and Wordsworth, were once to be discovered among the names which cover the walls. Though it is not intended to give a history of the fight, the following additional facts will not be inappropriately introduced here:-the force which Napoleon brought into the field amounted, by his own confession, to nearly 75,000 men: 54,000 men composed the whole of the Duke of Wellington's army actually engaged; of these only 32,000 were British or of the German Legion. It has been often asserted, and is still believed by many, that the Duke of Wellington was taken by surprise at Waterloo, and that he first heard the news of the advance of the French in a ball-room. This is not the fact: the intelligence was brought to the Duke on June 15, by the Prince of Orange, who found him within 100 yards of his quarters in the park at Brussels, about 3 o'clock; and by 5 the same evening orders had been sent to all the divisions of the British army to break up their cantonments, and move on the 1. of Quatre Bras. A proposal was made to put off the ball intended to be given by the Duchess of Richmond that evening at Brussels; but it was thought better to let it proceed, and thus to keep the inhabitants in ignorance of the course of events: the Duke therefore desired his principal officers to be present, but to take care to quit the ballroom as soon after 10 as possible: he himself stayed till 12, and set off for the army at 6 next morning. On the morning of the 16th, the Duke, having finished the disposition of his forces, rode across the country to Blücher, at Ligny, being unwilling to trust to any one the important point of concerting measures for the co-operation of the Prussians. Blücher then promised to support him with 2 divisions of his army, in case Napoleon should direct his principal attack against the British. This fact is important, and not generally known. Another common error respecting this battle is, that the British were on the point of being defeated when the Prussians arrived: this is sufficiently refuted by the testimony of the Prussian |