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destined to die, too. After the action the corpses were 

 hastily interred ; death has a way of its own of haras- 

 sing victory, and it causes pestilence to follow glory. 

 Typhus is an annexe of triumph. This well was deep 

 and was converted into a tomb. Three hundred dead 

 were thrown into it, perhaps with too much haste. 

 Were they all dead ? the legend says no ; and it seems 

 that on the night following the burial, weak voices 

 were heard calling from the well." 



It was on the 15th August that I visited the Plain of 

 Waterloo ; the fields were then shorn of their harvest. 

 The battle of Waterloo, as you all know, was fought on 

 a Sunday, the 18th June, 1815; the night previous a 

 drenching storm had rendered the roads and plain 

 impassable for heavy artillery trains. Napoleon was 

 above all an artillerist, and he had then to wait until 

 the sun had hardened the mud and soaked up the rain 

 pools, the first gun was fired at twenty-five minutes to 

 12 noon. At the beginning of the campaign, it is stated 

 that the Duke of Wellington's allied army was com- 

 posed of about 105,000 men, of which 35,000 were 

 British, with 196 guns, the Prussian army consisted of 

 115,000 soldiers, artillery: 312 guns, whilst Napoleon 

 on rejoining his army at Avesnes, on the 13th June, 

 reckoned his force at 122,400 men and 350 guns. The 

 combattants in the field on the 18th June, numbered 

 less ; the allied (English, Belgian, &c.,) army is quoted 

 at 67,661 men and 156 guns, and late in the afternoon 

 the Prussians arrived mustering 51,944 men and 104 

 guns. 



The French force is given as 71,947 men and 246 

 guns; the first detachment of Prussians some 15,904 

 men and 44 guns arrived on the field at 4.45 p. m., the 

 second corps, 13,336 and 36 guns, made their appear- 

 ance at 5.45 p. in., and the third detachment number- ' 

 ing 22,700 and 24 guns, came up at 7.45 p. m. The 

 engagement seems to have lasted from 11.35 a. m. to 

 8.15 p. m., eight hours and a-half, so that the whole 



