BRUSSELS. 289 



our matronly expositor, that the drift of her interference 

 was to enhance the gratuity about to be given to her young- 

 sters ; and having satisfied them, or tried to do so (for they 

 were not more poor than importunate, and had evidently 

 benefited by the lessons of our lavish countrymen), we made 

 our way into the garden. Here the Coldstream Guards were 

 posted, and maintained themselves throughout the bloody 

 day. In the course of the night previous to the battle, two 

 rows of loop-holes, were formed along the wall, and a sort 

 of scaffold was erected for those who were to fire through the 

 upper tier. To each loop-hole, six soldiers were assigned, 

 three continually discharging their pieces, while other three 

 were loading. By these means the Guards harassed the ap- 

 proaching enemy in the most galling manner. The French, 

 however, boldly forced their way through the grove and or- 

 chard already mentioned, till they came to the edge of a 

 ditch on the outside of this fatal wall, where of course they 

 fell in hundreds, or even thousands, till the ditch was lite- 

 rally filled. Such was the report of our guide ; and we 

 believe he was pretty correct. — The garden had been neatly 

 laid out in the Flemish style, with clipped hedges, berceau 

 walks, and fancy parterres ; and some of the plants which 

 still survive in the borders, afford evidence that a select 

 collection of rarities had once existed here. We noticed 

 a large tuft of the double purple DameVviolet (Hesperis 

 matronalis, var.), which is a rare garden-flower ; and a well 

 established stool of one of the less common species of Peo- 

 ny (perhaps Paeonia hybrida of Pallas), of which the leaves 

 only presented themselves at this season of the year. 



Leaving Hougomont, we returned towards Mount St 

 John, by the right of the British position, and nearly in a 

 line with the Nivelles road. Here a symptom of the slaugh- 

 ter, rather of a disgusting kind, presented itself, — a human 



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