dle in a lantern,
properly used, probably saved both our lives, the lives of some
thousands of your brave troops, the fate of the campaign, and, with it,
half the thrones of Europe, trembling on the chance of a first campaign.
I shall yet have some of my mystical countrymen writing an epic on my
Flemish lantern."

During this little narrative, we had been riding over the bleak downs
which render the environs of Valenciennes such a barren contrast to the
general luxuriance of northern France; and were examining the approaches
to the city, when Guiscard called to his attendant for his telescope. We
were now in the great coal-field of France; but the miners had fled, and
left the plain doubly desolate. "Can those," said he, "be the miners
returning to their homes? for if not, I am afraid that we shall have
speedy evidence of the hazards of inactivity." But the twilight was now
deepening, and neither of us could discern any thing beyond an immense
mass of men, in grey cloaks, hurrying towards the city. I proposed that
we should ride forward, and ascertain the facts. He checked my rein.
"No! Amadis de Gaul, or Rolando, or by whatever name more heroic your
chivalry prefers being called, we must volunteer no further. My valet
shall return to the camp and bring us any intelligence which is to be
found there, while we proceed on our survey of the ground for our
batteries."

We had gone but a few hundred yards, and I was busily employed in
sketching the profile of the citadel, when we heard the advance of a
large party of British cavalry, with several of the staff, and the Duke
of York, then a remarkably handsome young man, at their head. I had seen
the Duke frequently on our parades in England; but even the brief
campaign had bronzed his cheek, and given him the air which it requires
a foreign campaign to give. He communicated the sufficiently interesting
intelligence, that since the victory over Dampier, the enemy had
collected a strong force from their garrisons, and after throwing ten
thousand men into Valenciennes, had formed an intrenched camp, which was
hourly receiving reinforcements. "But we must put a stop to that," said
the Duke, with a smile; "and, to save them trouble and ourselves time,
we shall attack them to-morrow." He then addressed himself to Guiscard,
with the attention due to his name and rank, and conversed for a few
minutes on the point of attack for the next day--examined my
sketch--said some flattering