MARIA is surmounted by a crown of glory; above this is inscribed, AVE, and below, MUTANS EVE NOMEN!

We also entered the Church St. Finisterre, which contained nothing remarkable. Got some coffee in the Café des Suisses, opposite the Theatre, and then went to the play.

We found the Theatre a good deal like those of Gand and Anvers. We sat in the front division of the pit (3 francs each), as the boxes, we understood, were all private. A side box was decorated as thè King of Holland's box. Under the arms the motto "Je maintiendrai." The spectacle was, according to the bills, to have commenced at a quarter before seven o'clock, with a Comedy called Le Medicin mulgre lui, and to conclude with Gulistan, the same Persian piece as we saw at Antwerp. But we soon learnt that the first piece would be omitted, on account of the illness of one of the performers. We heard the overture to Henri IV. played very well, and then the curtain rose at half past eight o'clock. The audience received every thing very peaceably; and I could not avoid thinking that a London audience would have acted very differently under similiar circumstances.

Sunday, 15th.-Did not get up very early; called on M. Van M. two or three times during the forenoon, but did not find him at home. On Mr. P., also, we called, who was likewise out. On returning to

PALACE OF LAKEN.

509

the hotel we met a procession of the Virgin, accompanied with music, &c., and found Mr. Van M.'s son waiting for us at the inn door. We attended him to Counsellor Burtin, but found that he was gone into the country; we were, therefore, at present disappointed. Dined at the Table d'Hôte. Music at dinner, as usual, by four men (one blind), three violins and a bass. The blind man gave a good imitation of a trumpet by taking the smaller string down from the bridge and letting it lie along the belly of the fiddle. Walked afterwards with our laquais de place (whom we had also taken with us in the morning) to the Palace of LAKEN. Our road lay through the Allée Verde, which consists of two walks or roads; one on each side of the canal, lined with several rows of trees, extending nearly a mile from the town. The evening was charming, the day having been excessively warm, and the walk was filled with much gay company. At the end of the avenue we crossed the bridge beforementioned, and then, instead of turning to the right into the high road from Malines, proceeded straight across into a by-road which wound round to the front of the PALACE. There were elegant gates at the entrance, and a lawn before the chateau. We were conducted by a servant through the suite of rooms on the ground floor, which were very sumptuously furnished by BUONAPARTE, for so sure was he of success at Waterloo, that dispatches were found after the battle, dated LAKEN. Here he meant to have taken up his

510

WATERLOO.

abode next day-reposing after victory!

It is at

present one of the residences of THE KING of the

Netherlands.

WATERLOO.

Here HAROLD stands upon this place of skulls,
The grave of France-the deadly Waterloo-
How in an hour the Power that gave annuls
Its gifts transferring Fame as fleeting too!
In pride of place here the last Eagle flew,
Then tore with bloody talon the rent plain,
Pierc'd by the shaft of banded nations through,
AMBITION'S life and labours all in vain ;

He wears the shatter'd links of the World's broken chain!

BYRON.

Monday, 16th.-After breakfast we proceeded fa party of thirteen) in two cabriolets to WATERLOO. The first party having started, the second, to which Mr. B. and I belonged, entered a Gand voiture by mistake, and we were just driving out of the inn yard when we discovered our error. The landlord had forgotten to order two carriages. It occasioned a delay of some minutes before the other vehicle made its appearance. We set off about half-past nine o'clock, proceeded through THE PLACE ROYALE, near which the driver of a cabriolet very clumsily broke his pole in drawing up out of our way. left the city by the Gate of Namur, proceeded a little distance, and then turned off to the right by the side

We

WATERLOO.

511

of a large sheet of water. A little distance farther we entered the Forest of Soigne, through which the road passed for some miles. Previous to emerging from the wood we perceived the domed Church of Waterloo forming a finish at the extremity of the vista of trees. We soon reached the Village of WATERLOO, which consists of several white-washed cottages on each side of the road. The first house on the righthand was pointed out to us as the place where the Marquis of Anglesea's LEG was amputated, and the next building, on the same side, is Waterloo Church. The body of the church is of red brick faced (if I may so express myself) with white; the portico coloured a slate grey, with facings of yellow; two red lions over the gate. We dismounted for a short time and walked to the small square inclosure of ground at a little distance from the road, which serves as the buryingplace. Here we saw two or three grave-stones to the memory of some officers who were slain in THE BATTLE! A stone or two may also be seen without the inclosure. We did not spend much time in viewing these monuments of the dead, but re-entered our machines and proceeded through the village. The first house on the left-hand is a small public-house, bearing the sign of Le Roi d'Angleterre; the second or third beyond, has on its board Les grands Quartiers du Duc de Wellington, &c. This house was the place where WELLINGTON's Staff put up. The house from which THE DUKE dated his dispatches,

after the battle, is still farther on the right, and may be known by its having green window shutters on the outside. At the extremity of the village, on the right, stands the house which the Marquis of Anglesea first entered after being wounded. A mile or two still further brought us to the Village of MONT ST. JEAN.

We dismounted again and left our carriages. The road divided, and we took the right branch which led to Hougoumont. The road led us down into a hollow in which our men suffered greatly from the French artillery, who fired over from the other side upon them.*

After ascending the acclivity, and proceeding along the road a little farther, we perceived HOUGOUMONT amidst some trees, to our left. It stands out of the road. The country was almost entirely occupied in fields of wheat, rye and other grain, which were at that time giving employment to the reapers.

When

* As to the position of Buonaparte during the battle, he was not, as it has been said, elevated on a lofty scaffolding out of the reach of danger, but on "a raised Mound of Earth, where HE placed himself with his Staff, and the ground being sloppy and slippery, he ordered some trusses of straw to be placed under his feet to keep them dry and keep them from sliding!" See an interesting Volume-LETTERS from St. Helenu, in which the conduct and conversations of Napoleon Buonaparte and his suite are described and related. By W. Warden, Surgeon, on board the Northumberland. Second Edition.