to draw out the charge, it was so swelled with damp that it would not yield.

7. It seemed at one time as if there was to be no battle, or a battle without musketry. However, an English sergeant found that, by taking his gun by the stock and whirling it round his head, the cartridge became loose and gradually came out. His example was followed, and all along both lines of battle groups of men were seen whirling their guns round their heads, as if they were going to fling them away.

8. The battle began about half-past eleven in the morning. The

Duke of Wellington was engaged all day in directing the movements of the British army, wishing earnestly the while that "either night or Blücher (the Prussian general) would come;" but even Wellington had a very confused idea, after all was over, of the details of the fight. Napoleon's

plan of attack was to open a heavy fire of cannon on the British array, and then to send forward at full gallop regiment after regiment of horse soldiers,

some 'defended by steel breastplates, some car

rying lances, and some having the loose jacket of the hussar, with its rich gold lace and fur hanging from their shoulders.

9. The method taken by the British to meet these fierce charges was the formation of squares. With the front rank kneeling, the second stooping, and the third and inmost standing erect, all with extended bayonets, each square presented a hedge of bristling points, through which the French cavalry tried in vain to force or cut their way. It was a hard task for the British soldiers to bear these attacks all day without moving to meet the foe: yet they endured this; and when the round shot and the grape cut through the sides of the squares, the men closed up the gaps without flinching.

10. About four o'clock the bear-skin caps of the Prussians were seen coming out of a wood to the east. Napoleon seems to have thought that a junction between the British and Prussian armies would be impossible; and when he saw the approach of the latter, he must have known that his defeat was certain.

The Old Guard,

11. Yet he tried a last resource. composed of the flower of his tried 'veterans,—old enough to have acquired skill and steadiness, yet not old enough to have lost anything of their manly fire and vigour,-was formed for a final charge. He led them himself to the foot of the ridge, and then 'committed them to Ney. With firm and swift tread they went up the slope; but before they had reached the top, a body of English soldiers, four deep, rose into sight from a place where they had been lying

down, and poured into the ascending column so close and deadly a shower of balls, that the French became confused and scattered, and then ran down the hill.

12. When Napoleon saw the effect of the British fire upon this advance, he cried out, "They are mixed together!" and rode away to the rear. Wellington was then engaged in galloping, as fast as his horse could go, towards the front of the line, to direct the final movements, which swept the wreck of the French army completely from the field.

mag-nif-i-cent, very grand.
main-tained', held; kept.
method, plan.

per-mit-ted, allowed.

de-ci-sive, final; settling the contest. prep-a-ra-tions,

com-mit-ted, intrusted.

de-fend-ed, guarded.

en-dured', bore.

in-tel-li-gence, information.

1 A white farm-house.--La Haye Sainte.

2 Another.-La Belle Alliance. 3 A chateau.-A country house, the Chateau of Hougoumont. (See Plan, p. 170.)

plans.

re-source', plan.

arrangements;

vet-er-ans, seasoned soldiers.

4 Ney. One of the most distinguished of Napoleon's marshals. Napoleon called him "the bravest of the brave." He was shot as a traitor to France in 1815, by order of the restored government.

52. THE FIELD OF WATERLOO.

1. There was a sound of 'revelry by night,
And Belgium's capital had gathered then
Her Beauty and her Chivalry; and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men :
A thousand hearts beat happily; and when
Music arose with its voluptuous swell,

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,
And all went merry as a marriage-bell;--

['knell !

But hush! hark!—a deep sound strikes like a rising

2. Did ye not hear it?—No; 'twas but the wind,
Or the car rattling o'er the stony street:
On with the dance! let joy be 'unconfined!
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet.-
But, hark! that heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat;

And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!
Arm! arm! it is—it is—the cannon's opening roar!

3. Within a windowed niche of that high hall
Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain :1 he did hear
That sound the first amidst the 'festival,
And caught its tone with Death's 'prophetic ear;
And when they smiled because he deemed it near,
His heart more truly knew that peal too well
Which stretched his father on a bloody bier,
And roused the vengeance blood alone could quell :
He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell.

4. Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,

And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress; And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness : And there were sudden partings, such as press The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs Which ne'er might be repeated ;-who could guess If ever more should meet those mutual eyes,2 Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise?

5. And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war :
And the deep thunder peal on peal afar;

And near, the beat of the alarming drum Roused up the soldier ere the morning star; While thronged the citizens with terror dumb, Or whispering, with white lips, "The foe!--they come! they come !"

"3 rose!

6. And wild and high the "Camerons' gathering
The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hills4
Have heard—and heard, too, have her Saxon foes.5
How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills
Savage and shrill ! But with the breath which fills
Their mountain-pipe, so fill the mountaineers
With the fierce native daring which 'instils

The stirring memory of a thousand years;

And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears!

7. And Ardennes7 waves above them her green leaves,
Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass,
Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,
Over the unreturning brave-alas!

Ere evening to be trodden like the grass

Which now beneath them, but above shall grow

In its next verdure, when this fiery mass

Of living valour, rolling on the foe,

And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low!

8. Last noon beheld them full of lusty life—
Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay;

The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife-
The morn, the 'marshalling in arms—the day,

Battle's magnificently stern array!

The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which, when rent,
The earth is covered thick with other clay,