der,
Chotusitz on its northern; flanked, on the west, by a straggle of
Lakelets, ponds and quagmires (which in our time are drained away,
all but a tenth part or so of remainder); flanked, on the east, by
a considerable puddle of a Stream called the Dobrowa; and cut in the
middle by a nameless poor Brook ("BRTLINKA" some write it, if anybody
could pronounce), running parallel and independent,--which latter, of
more concernment to us here, springs beyond Czaslau, and is got to be of
some size, and more intricate than usual, with "islands" and the like,
as it passes Chotusitz (a little to east of Chotusitz);--this is our
Field of Battle. Sixty or more miles to eastward of Prag, eight miles or
more to southward of Elbe River and the Ford of Elbe-Teinitz (which we
shall hear of, in years coming). A scene worth visiting by the curious,
though it is by no means of picturesque character.

Uncomfortably bare, like most German plains; mean little hamlets, which
are full of litter when you enter them, lie sprinkled about; little
church-spires (like suffragans to Chotusitz spire, which is near you); a
ragged untrimmed country: beyond the Brook, towards the Dobrowa, two
or more miles from Chotusitz, is still noticeable: something like a
Deer-park, with umbrageous features, bushy clumps, and shadowy vestiges
of a Mansion, the one regular edifice within your horizon. Schuschitz is
the name of this Mansion and Deer-park; farther on lies Sbislau, where
Leopold happily found his Bridge unbroken yesterday.

The general landscape is scrubby, littery; ill-tilled, scratched rather
than ploughed; physiognomic of Czech Populations, who are seldom trim at
elbows: any beauty it has is on the farther side of the Dobrowa, which
does not concern Prince Leopold, Prince Karl, or us at present. Prince
Leopold's camp lies east and west, short way to north of Chotusitz.
Schuschitz Hamlet (a good mile northward of Sbislau) covers his left,
the chain of Lakelets covers his right: and Chotusitz, one of his
outposts, lies centrally in front. Prince Karl is coming on, in four
columns, from the Hills and intricacies south of Czaslau,--has been on
march all night, intending a night-attack or camisado if he could;
but could not in the least, owing to the intricate roadways, and the
discrepancies of pace between his four columns. The sun was up before
anything of him appeared:--drawing out, visibly yonder, by the east
side of Czaslau; 30,000 strong, they say.