d hats, and shoes, and various relics of the
fray which the peasants have not {p.050} thought worth
removing. Besides, at Waterloo and all the hamlets in the
vicinage, there is a mart established for cuirasses; for the
eagles worn by the imperial guard on their caps; for
casques, swords, carabines, and similar articles. I have
bought two handsome cuirasses, and intend them, one for
Bowhill, and one for Abbotsford, if I can get them safe
over, which Major Pryse Gordon has promised to manage for
me. I have also, for your Grace, one of the little
memorandum-books, which I picked up on the field, in which
every French soldier was obliged to enter his receipts and
expenditure, his services, and even his punishments. The
field was covered with fragments of these records. I also
got a good MS. collection of French songs, probably the work
of some young officer, and a croix of the Legion of Honor. I
enclose, under another cover, a sketch of the battle, made
at Brussels. It is not, I understand, strictly accurate; but
sufficiently so to give a good notion of what took place. In
fact, it would require twenty separate plans to give an idea
of the battle at its various stages. The front, upon which
the armies engaged, does not exceed a long mile. Our line,
indeed, originally extended half a mile farther towards the
village of Brain-la-Leude; but as the French indicated no
disposition to attack in that direction, the troops which
occupied this space were gradually concentrated by Lord
Wellington, and made to advance till they had reached
Hougomont--a sort of chateau, with a garden and wood
attached to it, which was powerfully and effectually
maintained by the Guards during the action. This place was
particularly interesting. It was a quiet-looking gentleman's
house, which had been burnt by the French shells. The
defenders, burnt out of the house itself, betook themselves
to the little garden, where, breaking loopholes through the
brick walls, they kept up a most destructive fire on the
assailants, who had possessed themselves of a little wood
which surrounds the villa on one side. In this spot vast
numbers {p.051} had fallen; and, being hastily buried, the
smell is most offensive at this moment. Indeed, I felt the
same annoyance in many pa