Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/31

 ii s. xii. JULY 10, 1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

The engagement was one of the most obstin- ate and well contested that we read of in history, whether we consider the valour of the soldiers or the skill of the Generals. The cannonade, which opened at the distance of not many hundred yards, was thought by persons who were present at both battles to be inferior to Leipsic in nothing but extent. Bonaparte had brought against the English the flower of his army, those soldiers who had fought under him in his most successful campaigns, and, having been made prisoners before the war with Russia, had not known what it was to see Bonaparte beaten. The number of the French infantry on the field of battle was 76,000, not reckoning any who were in garrison in the neighbouring places, or in the rear from whatever cause, as Vandammer's corps, &c. The cavalry were 2 1 ; 000. Against them the Duke of Welling- ton had 51,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, and, though the proportion of British amongst the former was very great, yet it is to be remembered that the rest were of different nations and had not yet acquired that confidence in their leader which can only be gained by repeated success, and is in itself half the battle. The several attacks of the French were most skilfully planned, and carried into execution with steady intre- pidity, and indeed were so tremendous that we were repeatedly driven from our guns, and, had it not been for the determined courage of our men, and for that blind resolution which prevents an Englishman from knowing when he is beaten, we must certainly have lost the battle more than once. Regiments were broken by a charge, but not routed. They formed again under the hottest fire, as if on parade, and repeated this till they succeeded in repulsing the enemy in spite of himself, and recovered possession of their guns. The Duke himself said that every engagement he had ever been in sunk to nothing in comparison with this. Once when we had been driven back he observed, " Well, we may still have a chance if that division of Artillery can get up." In five minutes it appeared in sight. Another time he said, " The battle is not lost if Adams' brigade arrives now." An officer came up at the moment to say they were just march- ing up. He found it necessary to expose himself very much, and rode thro' the thickest of the fire, encouraging the troops just as the enemy were commencing their attack. In one instance he had occasion to act with great temerity. Some Dutch troops had been endeavouring vainly for some time to dislodge eight companies of a French

regiment from a wood. It appeared abso- lutely necessary that we should carry it instantly. The Duke put himself at the head of two companies of a regiment of Guards and cheered them to the attack ; the effect upon the men cannot be described. The wood was immediately carried at the point of the bayonet. Lord Uxbridge, who had never before served under the Duke (being senior to him till he was made F.M.), said that his coolness and decision in action surpassed every thing he could have con- ceived ; and I fancy it is not too much to assert that there is no general in the world except himself who could have won that battle. Every one says that the French behaved better than they ever did before. The carnage on both sides was dreadful, and it is supposed that the dead will be in far greater proportion to the wounded than usual, as has been made plain by the returns. The Duke of Wellington felt much on this subject. He could not speak of the battle the next day without tears in his ej^es. One striking circumstance occurred on "the field. The Duke in galloping over the ground stopped to give some orders to an A.D.C. He called "Canning." "My lord, he is killed." " Gordon." " He is just taken to the rear, severely wounded." "Then go and desire Col. - -" "He is killed, my lord." "Then tell the officer commanding the regiment," &c. (quite overcome).

July 14. The above has been in my portfolio a considerable time, having been written within the first week or ten days after the battle ....

STEWART.

MRS. BARBER'S 'A TRUE TALE.'

JONATHAN SWIFT, in his letter to John Gay of 28 March, 1728, says :

" I hope Dr. Delany has shown you the tale, writ by Mrs. Barber, a citizen's wife here, in praise of your Fables. There is something in it hard upon Mr. Congreve, which I sent to her, for I never saw her, to change to Dryden, but she absolutely refused."

The latest mention of this ' Tale " occurs in the recently issued fourth volume of Swift's his note (vol. iv. p. 22, note 4) to this para- graph, says, " The reference to Congreve has disappeared, no doubt in obedience to Swift's behest," &c. From this statement it is evident that he examined Mrs. Barber's own edition of her ' Poems oil Several Occa- sions,' which was published in 1734. By a
 * Correspondence.' Dr. Elrington Ball, in