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shot through the head while leading his division to a charge and defeating the enemy at one of the most critical periods of the day; he fell in an advanced part of the field by a tree on the Genappe causeway. At one time the British infantry seemed in imminent danger from the overwhelming force of their adversaries, when Lord Uxbridge flung a brigade of horse with such fury on the French masses that they had not time to form again, and the havoc, that followed in consequence, was tremendous; the dense columns crushed, struck down, and terrified by the wild death-howl of the Irish, offered but little resistance, and retreated in disorder to the shelter of their own ground. But the British cavalry, not satisfied with this success, pushed forward to the rear of the French infantry, ascended the opposite heights, and began disorganising the artillery of Count d'Erlon's corps, dismounting the guns and killing the horses to render the batteries of as little use as possible.

This

had not escaped the watchful eye of Napoleon, who, seeing that they were unsupported, ordered a brigade of cuirassiers to take them in flank. They were thus compelled to fall back, and as they had to run the gauntlet of artillery, horse, and skirmishers, their retreat was not effected without a heavy loss; amongst other gallant soldiers, Sir William Ponsonby was killed in the attempt; finding himself outflanked by a body of Polish lancers, who had also come up to support the defeated columns, he rushed upon the enemy's infantry, and, in the vain endeavour to cut his way through them, both horse and rider fell to the earth covered with wounds and were despatched in a moment. Much about the same time Colonel Ponsonby also fell, but though pierced more than once he subsequently recovered.

BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

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The result of these various combats was highly in favour of the English; not a square had been broken or obliged to retreat, and though the loss in men was enormous, yet it bore no comparison with the losses of the French. In the morning Count d'Erlon's division was nine thousand strong, but of these full three thousand had been made prisoners, while the number of killed and wounded was enormous.

As the battle slackened on the left, the attack on Hougoumont again grew fiercer, nothing but the most desperate courage enabling the British to keep their ground in defiance of the increased numbers that were now sent against them. Though the French fell fast under the cool, steady fire of their adversaries, yet their ranks seemed never for a moment to be thinned, the places of the dead and dying being instantly filled up as from some inexhaustible source, till at length about three o'clock the shells from their howitzers set fire to the chateau and some adjoining stacks of straw. The flames burst forth with incredible fury, consuming in a short time the whole interior of the house, and burning to death hundreds of wounded, who had crawled thither for shelter, while volumes of smoke enveloped the centre of the allies, under cover of which their assailants endeavoured to surround the building. Some of the most daring even succeeded in forcing their way into the court-yard, but the Duke had foreseen this peril at the commencement of the attack upon his left wing, and had despatched General Byng with the second brigade of guards to the support of the troops in Hougoumont. Between these and the French a fierce struggle now took place, which ended in the Guards silencing the fire of the enemy and driving

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them from the copse at the point of the bayonet. The whole affair did not last an hour, yet with such good will had the ground been contested that full fifteen hundred men lay dead, or mortally wounded, within its narrow limit, the entire wood being at the most about four acres.

The total failure of an attack so strenuously maintained convinced Napoleon that any attempt upon Hougoumont or the centre would be unavailing without the previous possession of La Haye Sainte; against this point, therefore, his next efforts were directed, and the means employed were as tremendous as the success of them was important. The first onset of the French was irresistible; their light troops pressed forward beyond La Haye Sainte, thus intercepting the communication between the farm and the crest of the allied position in the rear, when two massy columns came up to the very walls, and with such resolution that they snatched at the barrels of the rifles, which were aimed at them through the loop-holes, and attempted to wrest them from the marksmen. But fierce as this attack might be, it was met and repulsed with no less spirit, the assailants being repeatedly driven back in their attempts to scale the walls, till at last the ammunition of their adversaries began to fail, and, as the farm was now completely invested, no fresh supply could be introduced. The fire, therefore, of necessity first slackened: then it ceased altogether; and the French, perceiving their advantage, soon got possession of the place, when they mercilessly slew the brave men, who had no longer any means of defending themselves. The Duke states that the place was lost by the fault of a British officer, but he does not mention the nature ́ of his delinquency or of his error.