66 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
live in; but chance, or its castellated character, had cost it 
dear. The lead was wrenched off the chapel roof; the 
beautiful stained-glass window was broken; the altar was 
a shapeless wreck. Even an antique folio missal had not 
escaped the rancour of an incensed soldiery, and I picked 
up and brought home as relics some of its leaves which were 
strewn on the floor. One shell, after boring through two 
roofs and a granary, had buried itself deep in the founda- 
tion. Another had smashed right into a costly mirror, 
which had probably been too large to take away. Every- 
thing had gone to rack and ruin. Plaster had crumbled, 
lead was curled, slates displaced, wood shivered into pieces.. 
But perhaps the most singular sight was the trees on the 
road pitted with bullet marks, as if the “ franc-tireurs” had 
sheltered behind them, and here and there a large bough 
riven by some fragment of shell. A little to the right were 
two mounds surmounted by a simple cross, but thousands 
of brave men were placed beneath the sod with no sign to 
mark their graves. We heard some revolting stories of 
bodies which were not buried deep enough, but I think my 
readers will spare me the recital. The regulation depth 
was only two feet. The sergeant gave me a few brief par- 
ticulars of the fight. It was commenced, he said, on the 
7th of October, by the “franc-tireurs,” at half-past three in 
morning. The constant firing lit up the horizon, while the 
rattle of the musketry so terrified the Hares and Partridges, 
that they allowed the soldiers to catch them with their 
hands. Bazaine’s troops made several sorties, and at first 
drove the Prussians back ; but running short of ammunition 
were repulsed in their turn, and defeated with the loss ot a 
general. The nearest Prussian post to Metz was the “ Bois 
de Woippy,” near Saulny. The French were finally worsted, 
but not until they had left 4,000 of their foes dead on the 
field. 
6th. As Iwas passing through the streets, I saw some 
