"Week after week has passed without my having the gratification of hailing your long expected, most welcome letter. I assure you I am most anxious to hear from you, having as yet received only one letter from old England....
"My father has not yet replied to the letters I sent him from Bristol, but my sister says he intends advancing the money I applied for. I shall therefore write to him very soon on the subject as my last bills are unpaid in London for camp equipage, &c., and the tradesmen are continually dunning for their accounts to be settled. Exchange between this country and England is extremely low, only 17⅓ francs for a Bank of England £1. I shall therefore have as little money as possible sent here. We, however, do not expect to receive any pay for four months. The Regiment has been here about a fortnight. It is a miserable small village, not large enough to contain one troop. The remainder, officers and men, are quartered at cottages in the neighbourhood. A pig-sty in England is a palace to my quarters. Hosts of lice, bugs, fleas, and filth of every description, abound in a most extraordinary degree in all the habitations of these dirty vagabonds. To counteract, however, as much as possible, the unpleasant effects of sleeping in such a dirty hut, I have pitched my tent and sleep quite comfortably su Dio, in a green field totally independent of the above-mentioned black backed gentry.
"The men and women are very plain, with mouths that reach from ear to ear, and are extremely ignorant. It is with great difficulty I can make them understand my wants as few can speak French, nothing but the Flemish is spoken among the lower classes. The only answer I can ever obtain is "yaw," in English, "yes."
"To-morrow we are again reviewed, for the fourth time since we landed, by the Earl of Uxbridge, who commands the English cavalry, and on Wednesday this regiment will be inspected by the Prince of Orange and a Prussian General. I assure you we are considered the finest cavalry corps on the continent. Every one wishes to see us, and all the Generals that have reviewed us, speak in the highest possible terms of the excellent appearance and condition of the men and horses. A Prussian General expressed a wish to see an English Dragoon Regiment, the Greys were immediately brought forward as a specimen. In fact we have every compliment paid us.
"A few years ago the Regiment behaved most gallantly in this country in several actions and I think it is probable they will distinguish themselves in this campaign, for I never saw men more anxious for an opportunity. You may perhaps think I speak with partiality, but I assure you what I have expressed is the real matter of fact. We are within about 35 miles of the French army—a day's march.
"The English army will not advance till the Russians, Cossacks, &c., come up. There are a great number of Prussian, Hanoverian and Belgic troops in this neighbourhood.
"I am sorry to hear old Blucher has been insulted by some Saxon troops. He is a gallant old cock.
"Whatever the newspapers say of the increasing popularity of the Bourbons, you have no idea how much Bonaparte is adored by the lower order. There is scarce a house here from which there is not one or two young men now serving in the French army, and the deserters are by no means so numerous as the papers would persuade us.
"The French are collecting a very large force on the frontiers. At Lisle they have near 40,000 men, at Valenciennes and other places they are also very strong. It is the unanimous opinion of the army that we shall have some very hard fighting before we reach Paris. Much will depend on the first battle. It is generally supposed we shall advance in the course of a week and that hostilities will commence immediately.
"I trust the next time I write to you we shall be on the road to the French Capital.