Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/10

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. xn. JULY 3, 1915.

his whole family at half past four in the morning, not a soul having been in bed, and all of them considering Bonaparte as all but in Brussels. They had ordered horses at four, which, it seemed, had not come. The Guards marched at four the same morning, and Russell had called the last thing before marching for the chance of finding a servant up to get his sword or something that he had left a day or two before. In the course of a day or two we learned that Bonaparte had never quitted Paris, and that the report had been treacherously spread for the purpose of making Louis quit Lille. The best of the joke is that four or five days afterwards Lord Waterpark sent over a lady, his sister- in-law, disguised in a French costume and travelling in a carriage of the country, for the purpose of ascertaining in whose possession Brussels was, whether Boney was here, and what chance Lord Waterpark had of recovering certain heavy packages he had left behind. This lady was recognized, notwithstanding her disguise, in a shop by one of the Ladies L., and was obliged to confess the object of her mission, and expressed surprise that any English persons were found still at large in this town. We are all packed up and ready to start at a moment's warning, but I should not be at all surprised at the Duke's refining a little too much, for he is very sanguine, expecting the success of the Allies, and, in short, of all of us being made prisoners should the great Emperor make a dash at Belgium. Bona- parte said a few days ago : " Je ^plains beaucoup pour ces bons Bourbons." We have had most of the branches of the royal family scampering through Belgium without daring to look behind them.. They certainly have behaved in the most cowardly manner except the king, and he is little better than the rest. Had some individual shown spirit enough *, fall in the cause, there might have been a " civil { war." Lord Wellington [sic] is appointed General-in-Chief of the English, Prussians, Dutch, and Hanoverians, and is expected here daily ....

II.

[To his sisters.]

Brnxelle?, April 11, 1815. ... . .The Duke of Wellington arrived here on the 4th, after having travelled near 700 miles in seven days, at least I believe it is about that distance from Vienna to Brux- elles. He dined here on Thursday the 6th You may conceive the pleasure it gave me to find myself at the same table with such a

man as he is. The company consisted of the Hereditary Prince General, Lord Hill, Lord W.'s second in command, Sir Charles Stewart, Ambassador at this Court, Hon. Charles Gordon,* Secretary of Legation, his Brother Col. Sir Alexander Gordon. Col. Bourg, aides-de-camp to the Duke, the Duke and Duchess of Richmond, two Lady Lennoxes, Lord March, and your humble servant. Upon numbering them up to make up the fourteen. I find I have omitted Mr. apel, a man who holds some high, office in ivery, red cuffs and collar. The Duke of Wellington was in the highest spirits, full of r un and drollery, and made himself the life and soul of the company. When the ladies retired he engrossed the whole of the con- versation, and told many interesting anec- dotes of Bonaparte and his campaigns, which he had heard from some of the French Marshals during his residence in Paris. No source can be more authentic, and every one istened to him with the greatest interest. The day happened to be the anniversary of Badajos, and you may be sure this was not forgotten by the Duke of Richmond.
 * he Prince's household, and wears the royal

The Duke appears to unite those two xtremes of character which Shakespeare gives to Henry V., the hero and the trifler. You may conceive him at one moment commanding the Allied armies in Spain, and at another sprawling on his back or on all fours upon the carpet, playing with a child. His judgement is so intuitive that instant decision follows perception, and consequently, as nothing dwells for a moment on his mind, he is enabled to get through an infinity of business without ever being embarrassed by it or otherwise than perfectly at his ease. In the drawing-room before dinner he was playing with the children, who seemed to look up to him as to one on whom they might depend for amusement, and when dinner was announced, they quitted him with great regret, saying, " Be sure you remember to send for us the moment dinner is over," which he promised he would do and was as good as his word. During the latter part of his residence at Paris that impatience of rest and love of active life, which most

and Col. the Hon. Sir Charles Gordon were the third and fourth sons respectively of George, Lord Haddo (1764-91), who predeceased his father, the third Earl of Aberdeen. The former was a Lieutenant- Colonel and A.D.C. to his uncle, Sir David Baird, and later to the Duke of Wellington. He died of wounds received at Waterloo. See post, Letter IV. The Hon. Sir Charles Gordon was Lieutenant- Colonel of the 42nd Highlanders, and died in 1835,
 * Col. the Hon. Sir Alexander Gordon, K.C.B.,