“You must please to tell us more about the Duke of Wellington.”
“The duke, notwithstanding the fame and fortune he has acquired, is very simple in his habits, sleeping at the present time in the same narrow bed in which he reposed on the tented field. It has no curtains, and is so narrow that he has hardly room to turn round in it. But he says, ‘when a man thinks of turning, it is time he were up.’ I will give you an anecdote or two of his conduct in battle, which, perhaps, may never have reached you.
“During the scene of tumult and carnage which the battle of Waterloo presented, at every moment, and in every place, the Duke of Wellington exposed his person with a freedom which made all around him tremble for that life on which it was obvious that the fate of the battle depended. There was scarcely a square but he visited in person, encouraging the men by his presence, and the officers by his directions. While he stood in the centre of the high road in front of Mount St. Jean, several guns were levelled against him, distinguished as he was by his suite, and the movements of the officers, who were passing to and fro with orders. The balls repeatedly grazed a tree near him; when he observed to one of his suite, ‘That’s good practice; I think they fire better than in Spain.’ Riding up to the 95th, when in front of the line, and even then expecting a formidable charge of cavalry, he said, ‘Stand fast, 95th, we must not be beat; what will they say in England?’ On another occasion, when many of the best and bravest men had fallen, and the event of the action seemed doubtful to those who remained, he said, with the coolness of a spectator, ‘Never mind, we’ll win this battle yet.’ To another regiment, then closely engaged, he used a common sporting expression: ‘Hard pounding this, gentlemen; let us see who will pound longest.’”
“He must have thought very well of his soldiers, to put such confidence in them in the very midst of the battle.”
“One general officer found himself under the necessity of stating to the duke, that his brigade was reduced to one third of its numbers, and that those who remained were so exhausted with fatigue, that a temporary relief, of however short duration, seemed a measure of necessity. ‘Tell him,’ said the duke, ‘what he proposes is impossible. He, I, and every Englishman in the field, must die on the spot we now occupy.’ ‘It is enough,’ returned the general; ‘I and every man under my command, are determined to share his fate.’”
“What determination there must have been among them!”
“His Grace the Duke of Wellington gives an annual banquet at Apsley House, in celebration of the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. At this banquet the guests are chiefly the most distinguished officers who fought in that memorable battle, which hurled Napoleon Buonaparte for ever from the throne of France, and sent him an exile to St. Helena. The gold and silver services of plate, and the china used on these occasions, are very costly.”
“We should like to see that banquet very much.”
“In the eye of a soldier this banquet is a glorious spectacle, for every beating heart around the festive board has been, at one time or other,
‘Among the foremost in the proud array,