46 A CONTINENTAL TOUE. 



probably a very heavy one ; for at the place the garden is 

 defended by two "walls, — the outer one and that which was 

 next the French artillery is higher than the inner, yet it 

 remains untouched, whereas there is the space of a foot 

 on the top of the inner, near which the men were ranged, 

 which is entirely driven in. There is the skull and arm- 

 bone of a Frenchman sticking in the wall near this ; and 

 in another part of the garden the shoulder-blade of an 

 English officer, who was buried there, is seen projecting 

 from the ground, and still connected to the body by strong 



ligaments The person who shewed me the grounds 



of Hougoumont was in the house during the battle. A boy 

 whom I saw told me he remained at home till two in the 

 afternoon ; but supposing the house might be set on fire, he 

 set off for the wood with all speed, and, as he himself said, 

 almost blind with fear, he had to cross a good part of the 

 field of battle. All the women and children, as well from 

 Hougoumont as the neighbouring villages, took refuge in 

 the wood of Soignies. Such of the peasants as I conversed 

 with denied having plundered the dead bodies during the 

 night, alleging that it was done by the other soldiers. 

 At Antwerp I supped with a gentleman who was on the 

 field two days after the battle ; it was covered with the 

 dead and dying, and almost all the former, and several 

 of the latter, were completely stripped. Many of the 

 wounded, who had received no sustenance since the day 



