As plies the smith his clanging trade,
Against the cuirass rang the blade.—[P. 208.]
A private soldier of the 95th regiment compared the sound which took place immediately upon the British cavalry mingling with those of the enemy, to “a thousand tinkers at work mending pots and kettles.”
Note VII.
Or will thy Chosen brook to feel
The British shock of levell’d steel.—[P. 210.]
No persuasion or authority could prevail upon the French troops to stand the shock of the bayonet. The imperial guards, in particular, hardly stood till the British were within thirty yards of them, although the French author, already quoted, has put into their mouths the magnanimous sentiment, “The guards never yield—they die.” The same author has covered the plateau, or eminence, of St Jean, which formed the British position, with redoubts and entrenchments which never had an existence. As the narrative, which is in many respects curious, was written by an eye-witness, he was probably deceived by the appearance of a road and ditch which runs along part of the hill. It may be also mentioned, in criticising this work, that the writer states the Chateau of Hougomont to have been carried by the French, although it was resolutely and successfully defended during the whole action. The enemy, indeed, possessed themselves of the wood by which it is surrounded, and at length set fire to the house itself; but the British (a detachment of the Guards, under the command of Colonel Macdonnell, and afterwards of Colonel Home,) made good the garden, and thus preserved, by their desperate resistance, the post which covered the return of the Duke of Wellington’s right flank.
WORKS
OF
WALTER SCOTT, Esq.
I.
The MINSTRELSY of the SCOTTISH BORDER, consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads, collected in the Southern Counties of Scotland; with a few of Modern Date, founded on Local Tradition. With an Introduction and Notes by the Editor. Fifth Edition. 3 vol. 8vo. 1l. 16s. boards.