Of brokers and their clients. Who can guess
How many a “stag” already panting flies,
When upon times so bright such awful panics rise?
(This alludes to the panic subsequent on the Railway Mania of 1845-6)
From “Our Iron Roads,” by F. S Williams. London: Bemrose and Sons.
Waterloo at Astley’s Theatre.
“According to the latest Astley authorities, dated last June, the Battle of Waterloo occupied six minutes exactly. Several French soldiers walked undisguisedly into the quarters of the English army before the fight commenced; and some, at the extreme back of the scene, fought indiscriminately on either side, as occasion required. But the gravest circumstance is, that in the heat of the action the Duke of Wellington, approaching Marshall Soult, said to him, ‘Don’t let your fellows fire until mine have’! a course which must have led them to destruction, had not General Widdicombe roared, with a voice of thunder, ‘what the devil are you doing there, you stupid asses?’ which produced the last grand charge. The following beautiful lines are but little known, and well deserve a place in this report. They are the production of Lord Byron, and were written at the request of the late Andrew Ducrow, Esq., describing the scene immediately before the commencement of the battle.”
There was a sound of revelry by night;
And Astley’s Manager had gathered then