Part 35 (2/2)

”Have they given way, Sir?”

”No----”

”Well, then, they must stand where they are I hear cannon towards the left; yonder, near Frischerht cavalry swept past the base of the hill on which we stood, hotly followed by the French heavy cuirassier brigade

Three of our guns were taken; and the cheering of the French infantry, as they advanced to the charge, presaged their hope of victory

”Do it, then,” said the Duke, in reply to soe; and shortly after the heavy trot of advancing squadrons was heard behind

They were the Life Guards and the Blues, ith the first Dragoon Guards and the Enniskilleners, were forround, , Sir, co,” said he, as he threw his hussar jacket loosely behind hiive freedom to his sword-arm--”Forward, my men, forward; but steady, hold your horses in hand; threes about, and together charge”

”Charge!” he shouted; while, as the word flew from squadron to squadron, each horseh instinct with but one spirit, dashed like a thunder-bolt upon the column beneath theht both of man and horse, offered but a short resistance As the tall corn bends beneath the sweeping hurricane, wave succeeding wave, so did the steel-clad squadrons of France fall before the nervous ar death and ruin before theuns were recaptured, and the cuirassiers, repulsed, disordered, and broken, had retired beneath the protection of their artillery

There was, as a brilliant and eloquent writer on the subject mentions, a terrible saes of cavalry upon the squares of our infantry, whose soleinto line to resist the attack of infantry, or falling back into square when the cavalry advanced--perfor fire of artillery, before the unflinching heroislories had been reaped upon the blood-stained fields of Austerlitz, Marengo, and Wagra an unbroken front to the ind swoop of infuriated cavalry;--such were the enduring and devoted services delish troops, and such they failed not to render Once or twice had teh the ranks, ”Are we never to move forward?--Only let us at them!” But the as not yet spoken which was to undaeance upon the now exulting columns of the enemy

It was six o'clock: the battle had continued with unchanged fortune for three hours The French, masters of La Haye Sainte, could never advance further into our position They had gained the orchard of Hougoumont, but the chateau was still held by the British Guards, although its blazing roof and cru wallsvalor than theupon the field rolled in slow and heavy radually discovered to our view the entire of the ar place in their position The troops which on their left stretched far beyond Hougoumont, were now moved nearer to the centre

The attack upon the chateau seeorously supported, while the oblique direction of their right wing, which, pivoting upon Planchenoit, opposed a face to the Prussians,--all denoted a change in their order of battle It was now the hour when Napoleon was at last convinced that nothing but the carnage he could no longer support could destroy the unyielding ranks of British infantry; that although Hougoumont had been partially, La Haye Sainte, coht the farm-houses Papelotte and La Haye were nearly surrounded by his troops, which with any other army must prove the forerunner of defeat: yet still the victory was beyond his grasp The bold stratagems, whose success the experience of a life had proved, were here to be found powerless The decisiveone i hih the centre, were here found irape-shot, he ht send forth the iron storh death in every shape heralded their approach, still were others found to fill the fallen ranks, and feed with their heart's blood the unslaked thirst for slaughter Well allant host, as he watched the reckless onslaught of the untiring ene the proud badge of Britain, alone sustained the fight, well ht, or Blucher!”

It was now seven o'clock, when a dark hts above the French centre, and divide into three gigantic coluht occupied the Brussels road These were the reserves, consisting of the Old and Young Guards, and a to twelve thousand--the _elite_ of the French arreat _coup-de-main_ These veterans of a hundred battles had been stationed, froht; their hour was now come, and, with a shout of ”_Vive l'Empereur!_” which rose triuan theirthe lines, announcing the arrival of Grouchy, to reani spirits of theupon the minds of those who never before, in the most adverse hour of fortune, deelory

”They are co: the attack will be made on the centre, lass upon the column

Scarcely had he spoke when the telescope fell from his hand, as his arm, shattered by a French bullet, fell motionless to his side

”I see it,” was the cool reply of the Duke, as he ordered the Guards to deploy into line, and lie down behind the ridge, which now the French artillery had found the range of, and were laboring at with their guns

In front of them the fifty-second, seventy-first, and ninety-fifth were formed; the artillery, stationed above and partly upon the road, loaded with grape, and waited but the word to open

It was an awful, a dreadful moment: the Prussian cannon thundered on our left; but so desperate was the French resistance, they ress: the dark columns of the Guard had now commenced the ascent, and the artillery ceased their fire as the bayonets of the grenadiers showed thean that treht to left of our line which those who heard never can forget It was the ieance With the instinct which valor teaches, they knew the hour of trial was co frooumont to the far-off valley of La Papelotte ”They come!

they coled with the outburst of the British line

Under an overwhele of cavalry of the Imperial Guard, the head of Ney's column fired its volley and advanced with the bayonet The British artillery now opened at half range, and although the plunging fire scathed and devastated the dark ranks of the Guards, on they came,--Ney hi division of that gallant colu fire wasted and consumed theained the crest of the hill, and the first line of the British were falling back before theuns upon the road opens upon them; the head of their column breaks like a shell; the Duke seizes the e

”Up, Guards, and at theeance had arrived In a moment the Guards were on their feet; one volley was poured in; the bayonets were brought to the charge; they closed upon the enele that the history of all war can present Furious with long restrained passion, the guards rushed upon the leading divisions; the seventy-first, and ninety-fifth, and twenty-sixth overlapped theenerals fell thickly on every side; Michel, Jaround; Ney, his dress pierced and ragged with balls, shouts still to advance; but the leading files waver; they fall back; the supporting divisions thicken; confusion, panic succeeds; the British press down; the cavalry co up to their assistance; and, at last, pell-mell, overwhelmed and beaten, the French fall back upon the Old Guard This was the decisive lass, as he said: