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right leg is La Haye Sainte ; and in the centre of this 

 string is the exact spot where the battle was concluded. 



It is here that the Lion is placed 



The triangle comprised at the top of the A between the 

 two legs and the string, is the plateau of Mont St. 

 Jean, the dispute for this plateau was the whole battle. 



Behind the point of the A, behind the plateau of 

 Mont St. Jean, is the forest of Soignies. As for the plan 

 itself, imagine a vast undulating ground ; each ascent 

 commands the next ascent and all the undulations 

 ascend te Mont St. Jean, where they form the forest." 



The great word-painter, Victor Hugo, describes thus 

 the Hougomont farm, buildings, chapel and historic 

 well : — " The farm buildings border the court-yard on 

 the south, and a piece of the Northern Gate, broken by 

 the French, hangs from the wall. It consists of four 

 planks nailed on two cross beams, and the scars of the 

 attack may still be distinguished on it. The Northern 

 Gate, which was broken down by the French, and in 

 which a piece has been let in to replace the panel hang- 

 ing to the wall, stands half open, at the extremity of 

 the yard ; it is cut square in a wall which is stone at 

 the bottom, brick at the top, which closes the yard at 

 the north side. It is a simple gate, such as may be 

 seen in all farm -yards, with two large folding doors 

 made of rustic planks ; beyond it are fields. The dis- 

 pute for this entrance was furious ; for a long time all 

 sorts of marks of bloody hands could be seen on the 

 side-post of the gate. The storm of the fight still lurks 

 in the court-yard ; horror is visible there ; the incidents 

 of the fearful struggle are petrified there ; people are 

 petrified there ; people are living and dying in it ; it 



was only yesterday Men massacred each other in 



the chapel, and the interior, which has grown quiet 

 again, is strange. Mass has not been said in it since 

 the carnage, but the altar has been left, an altar of 

 coarse wood supported by a foundation of rough stone. 



