[1] The port of Ostend is what people usually term a “dry harbour.” It is dry at low tide, but the flood brings in about 16 or 18 feet water.

[2] Ghistel, according to the map of Maillart, &c.

[3] The Church of Notre Dame ceased to be a cathedral 1801, when it was united to the diocese of Ghent.

[4] M‘Donald’s troop had arrived ten days before us.

[5] La Folle Marguerite (?), 18 feet long and 3 feet in diameter, near the Marché de Vendredi; it is called the Mannekens Aert. It is named after a Countess of Flanders celebrated for the violence of her temper. It is also designated the Wonder of Ghent, is made of malleable iron, and, according to another account, was used by Philip Van Arteveldt at the siege of Oudenarde in 1382.—Quin’s ‘Moselle,’ &c., vol. i. p. 160.

[6] The moat supplied us daily a dish of very fine carp, and the gardener’s sons occasionally shot us a hare or two.

[7] Such crops I never before saw, particularly those vividly-green crops of trèf, which really appeared so thick that one might walk on them without sinking to the ground. But to me the height attained by the rye was most astonishing. In one field which I rode through nearly every day, it was as high as my head, when mounted on my little horse Cossack, about 14¾ hands high, so that it could not have been less than 7 or 8 feet, the ears remarkably full and looking well.

[8] The captains were—viz., Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Hew D. Ross, Major Bull, —— Ramsay, Lieutenant-Colonel W. Smyth, Major M‘Donald, Captain Mercer.

[9] The Duke of Wellington was so indifferent to the manner in which officers dressed, that they indulged in all sorts of fancies. I remember, at this inspection, Ramsay wore the light-cavalry belt instead of a sash; Bull wore beard and mustache; so did Newland; I wore the mustache. The usual dress of hussars was frock-coat open, with a red waistcoat richly laced with gold. At that time our regimental pantaloons were pepper-and-salt, with straps of brown leather inside the legs and round the bottom, and a red stripe down outside seam.

[10] A report was sent to Brussels, but it never reached the Duke, for the simple people went in the first instance to Sir G. Wood, and there it was strangled.

[11] We had been ordered nearly a fortnight ago to keep this quantity ready, and the hay rolled, &c. &c.

[12] I believe this is the Bois de la Houssier.

[13] Sir Hussey Vivian’s, I believe.

[14] These appear to have been the cuirassiers of Milhaud, together with the light cavalry of the corps commanded by Count Lobau, sent to assist Ney in his attack on Quatre Bras.—See O’Meara’s ‘Translation of Memoir of Napoleon,’ lib. ix. cap. v. p. 109.

[15] That this was Napoleon we have the authority of General Gourgand, who states that, irritated at the delay of Marshal Ney, he put himself at the head of the chasseurs (I think), and dashed forward in the hope of yet being able to catch our rear-guard.

[16] This was the spot where Picton fell on the morrow, and in this hedge was the so well-known Wellington Tree.

[17] The light cavalry of the 2d Corps formed in three lines across the causeway from Nivelle, &c., nearly at the height of the first woods at Hougoumont, scouring all the plain by the left, and having main guards near Braine le Leude, and its battery of light artillery on the causeway of Nivelle.—‘Memoir of Napoleon,’ lib. ix. cap. vi. p. 134; O’Meara’s Translation.

[18] I believe Jägers of the Hanoverian corps.

[19] One day, on the Marine Parade at Woolwich, a battalion coming up in close column at the double march, Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, who stood near me, remarked, “That puts me in mind of your troop coming up at Waterloo, when you saved the Brunswickers.” Until this moment I never knew that our having done so had been remarked by anybody; but he assured me it was known to the whole army; and yet the Duke not only withheld that praise which was our due, but refused me the brevet rank of major; and, more than that, actually deprived me of that troop given to me by Lord Mulgrave, the then Master-General, for that action, as recommended by my commanding officer, Sir G. Adams Wood.

That the Duke was not ignorant of their danger I have from Captain Baynes, our Brigade-Major, who told me that after Sir Augustus Frazer had been sent for us, his Grace exhibited considerable anxiety for our coming up; and that when he saw us crossing the fields at a gallop, and in so compact a body, he actually cried out, “Ah! that’s the way I like to see horse-artillery move.” Another proof.

[20] The following extract, from a related account of a conscript, translated from the French and published by Murray, is so true and exact as to need no comment:—“Through the smoke I saw the English gunners abandon their pieces, all but six guns stationed under the road, and almost immediately our cuirassiers were upon the squares, whose fire was drawn in zig-zags. Now, I thought, those gunners would be cut to pieces; but no, the devils kept firing with grape, which mowed them down like grass.” It is pleasant, after all, to find we were observed and spoken of as we deserved, though not by those who ought to have done it. I may here mention that Sir James Shaw Kennedy in his book is, I think, mistaken in saying that the Brunswickers were saved by Major Bull’s and Captain Mercer’s batteries, since after the usual interval on the right of the Brunswick square occurred one of English and then Major Bull’s battery, and the front of the French attacking column was only equal to our own.

[21] These grenadiers à cheval were very fine troops, clothed in blue uniforms without facings, cuffs, or collars. Broad, very broad buff belts, and huge muff caps, made them appear gigantic fellows.

[22] Gourgand says:—“Cette division de deux mille grenadiers à cheval, et dragons tous gens d’élite, s’étaient engagés sur le plateau, sans l’ordre de l’Empereur,” &c. &c.—P. 88., ed. London. He speaks of the cavalry of reserve of the Guard. Could these be the people?

[23] “The field was so much covered with blood, that it appeared as if it had been flooded with it,” &c.—Simpson’s ‘Paris after Waterloo,’ &c., p. 21.

[24] At one time I thought this a French ruse de guerre. I remember the man perfectly, with his silver arrow and chain attached to his black shoulder-belt. In Sir John Sinclair’s ‘Translation of Baron Muffling’s Account,’ London, 1816, and at p. 29, I find that about 4 P.M., whilst the cuirassiers, after charging through the 1st British line, were roaming over the interval between it and the 2d, “the enemy advanced a battalion on the plain of the platform, at hardly 500 yards’ distance from the position, so as, perhaps, to establish his infantry on this side of the little wood of Hougoumont and in La Haye Sainte.” Could this have been the one? At p. 35 he says, “The shot from Bulow’s artillery reached the British, and the Duke was obliged to send notice of it.” Query—Did the Duke observe this himself, or was it communicated to him by my black hussar?

[25] Here were more cuirasses than men; for the wounded (who could move), divesting themselves of its encumbrance, had made their escape, leaving their armour on the ground where they had fallen.

[26] In some accounts of the battle, and visits to the field, &c., it has been stated that this garden was a scene of slaughter. Totally untrue! As I have stated in the text, I did not see above two or three altogether. There certainly might have been more concealed amongst the vegetation, but they could not have been many.

[27] During the remainder of the campaign Milward carried it; and on returning to England I even rode into Canterbury followed by my lancer—a novelty in those days. Whilst in retirement on half-pay, it was suspended in my library; but on going to America in 1823 I deposited it in the Rotunda at Woolwich. On my return in 1829 the lance was gone. In 1823 or 1824 it seems Lieutenant-Colonel Vandaleur, of the 9th Lancers, came to Woolwich to look for a model. Mine pleased him, and he took it to St John’s Wood Riding-House, where it was tried against others in presence of the Duke of York, and approved of as a model for arming the British lancers. After a long hunt I at last found it at the Enfield manufactory, spoilt completely, the iron-work and thong taken off, and flag gone. It cost me a long correspondence with the Board before I succeeded in getting it restored and put together. When I received it from him who had so long wielded it, the flag was dyed in blood, the blade notched, and also stained with blood; inside the thong was cut Clement, VII., probably the number of his troop. [It is now in the possession of Dr Hall, an old Waterloo man, and sincere friend of my father.—Ed.]

[28] Sir George Wood incurred the Duke’s extreme displeasure for not securing and parking the French guns immediately after the action, for the Prussians got hold of many of them; and it was only through the indefatigable activity of Sir Augustus Frazer that they were regained—partly by coaxing, partly by blustering. However, they were all recovered.