CHAP. II. BRUSSELS. Road from Antwerp to Brussels-Place Royale -Park, with its buildings and ornaments— Preparations in Brussels for the battle-March of the troops-Of the Highland regiments— Visit to Quatre Bras-Two English ladies — Retrograde movement of the British armyAlarms in Brussels-Wounded officer-Lady who had lost her husband-Alarm of fire at Antwerp-Field immediately after the battle -Robbery by a Prussian hussar-Irish officer and his young Belgian wife—Singular fortitude of the latter-Palace of Laken--Theatre A -King of the Netherlands present A blacksmith necessary to disarm a Highland ser geant. BETWEEN Antwerp and Brussels we passed through a country which seemed richer than any we had yet seen, and more varied in its beauty from the undulations of its surface. Some places were of considerable acclivity; and on the ridge was generally an elegant country seat, with gardens extending down to the road. Still the latter, paved in the middle like our streets, was quite straight, and always inclosed with a row of high trees on each side. The crops were in many places reaping; two or three men cutting with a short scythe (the Heinault) in one hand, and a kind of hook in the other, to gather the corn, and to serve the purpose of holding it tight till the other instrument strikes it. They seem to get on quickly enough in this manner; and here, as in Holland, much field labour was going forward, although it was Sunday. We passed through the town of Mechline; so famous for its lace, and also for its cathedral. Sunday is a kind of market day in the Flemish towns; the shops are all open; and, before and after the church service, the peasantry are seen buying cloth, provisions, and other articles. On entering Brussels, the same busy scene presented itself, in a tenfold proportion to that at Mechline. I went with a guide out of the Namur gate, and, about half a mile in the suburbs, found the house of a relation of my own and his wife who had been for some time resident in Brussels. Our way lay through a part of the splendid new town of this capital of the Netherlands. As we passed, it was striking to see on many doors, written in chalk, 1, 2, or 3 blessés. This was probably for the convenience of the medical men. Sometimes it was " 2 officiers blessés*,” and on one door I read “2 Anglais, et 2 Ecossais blessést." This was nearer and "Two officers wounded." "Two English, and two Scotch wounded." 1 nearer Waterloo, and I felt a great veneration for these marked doors. On entering the great square, or Place Royale, I was arrested by its magnificence. It seems about the size of the principal squares of London or Edinburgh, without an inclosed garden in the center. Its houses are on a uniform, regular, and singularly elegant plan; and it has a beautiful church of Grecian architecture in the centre of one side. The streets enter by the middle of the sides, and the corners are filled up by arcades or porticos, surmounted by statues and warlike trophies, in white marble. I have seen nothing which gave me more the impression of a square of palaces than this noble place. Streets run out from the square, and inclose what is called the park or public walk. The houses, arranged in rows at least half a mile long, are in the same style of magnificence with those in the Place Royale; interrupted here and there, in their uniformity, by a sumptuous public building with noble porticos and rails; the whole displaying a rich ness of white ornament in statuary on the cream-coloured brick, which has really a royal appearance. The park is beautifully planted, and traversed by walks in such a manner, that a magnificent palace seems to form a vista to each; every alley besides abounds in copies, in marble, of the finest statues, disposed with much taste. I have no where seen any thing so completely elegant and grand as this new town. of Brussels, with the exception of the Place de Louis XV. at Paris, with its splendid vistas. The rest of the town is like Antwerp, only much inferior. Very Spanish is the appearance of the older houses; and the women of the lower order, as in Antwerp, wear the Spanish veil. In Brussels, perhaps still more than in Antwerp, as so much nearer the scene, the battle was the constant and deeply interesting subject of conversation. With my friend and his lady, who had been in Brussels at the time, and had endured all the alarms, and run all the risks of that unparalleled period, it was naturally an inexhaustibie subject. They had seen the ravages of the plague in Malta, and |