it that the wadding of the cartridges remained smoking on the coats of the combatants. The post abandoned by Bylandt's Brigade was reoccupied by the 3rd Battalion Royal Scots and the 2nd 44th; these two weak battalions poured a heavy fire of musketry on the assailants, and for sometime maintained their ground with the unflinching courage of true British soldiers, but were at last compelled by superior numbers for the moment to give way.* Papelotte had been taken from the Nassau troops who held it. "The situation was very critical," Kempt says in his report; and no doubt it was so, for had the French columns penetrated the allied line at this point and gained the heights, the victory would have been more than doubtful.

There had been changes of position by the battalions of Pack's Brigade, and the 42nd was posted at an important spot considerably to the left of the 92nd, who were now reduced to less than 300 men, and were lying down concealed from the French. Marcognet's column, 3000 strong, had passed by Donzelot's right; his leading regiment had reached the hedge of the Ohain road, crying "Victory!" when the Gordons were ordered to stand to their arms. Sir Denis Pack said earnestly, " 92nd, all the troops in your front have given way, you must charge this column." † He then ordered the line to form fours deep, and close on the centre. The enemy on reaching the hedge, thinking themselves victorious, had ordered arms; but becoming aware of the advancing Highlanders, were in the act of shouldering when they received a volley at twenty yards from the 92nd, which they at once returned. At this moment the Scots Greys, who were the left regiment of the Union Brigade (Royal Dragoons, Greys, and Inniskillings), came up, the pipers played, and the regiments mutually cheered each other, calling out, "Scotland for ever!" The Greys doubled round the flanks, and through the openings made by the Highlanders, as best they could, and both regiments charged together, the wildest enthusiasm per

* Cannon's Record and "Military Memoirs."

+ "Waterloo Letters," No. 169, and Cannon's Record, probably alluding to Bylandt's Brigade. In one account it is put, "Everything has given way on your right and left."

vading the ranks of each; many of the Highlanders caught hold of the Greys' legs and stirrups to support them as they ran, determined not to be last. I must own it had a most thrilling effect on me," says one of the Greys. "I didna think ye wad hae saired me sae,' cried some of the Highlanders who were knocked down by the horses, but in our anxiety we could not help it.” * "The Highlanders seemed half mad, and it was with the greatest difficulty the officers could preserve anything like order in the ranks." † 'I never saw the soldiers of the 92nd Regiment so extremely savage as they were on this occasion." An old piper, it was said, in his excited imagination cried out that he saw "Fassiefern" waving his bonnet in front as of yore. § Long after that day, individuals who witnessed the charge used to speak of the thrilling sensation which overcame them when they beheld the small body of bonnets and plumes lost, so to speak, amid a crowd of shakos. ||

+

Staggered by the Highlanders' volley, charged in front and flank by cavalry and infantry, paralysed by its own press, the heavy French column could make but a poor resistance. The

* J. Armour, Scots Greys. Alison (Appendix). +"Waterloo Letters," No. 39.

"Military Memoirs." This feeling was produced principally, says the author, by a report circulated the previous day that the enemy had put to death in cold blood British and Prussian prisoners who had fallen into their hands. Towards the close of the engagement, however, when the French were more to be pitied than feared, they assumed a very different air, and treated the prisoners with the kindness characteristic of the British soldier.

§ This tradition is alluded to in a poem on Waterloo by David Home Buchan, Esq. :

The spirit, too, of him is flown
Who led the gallant Gordons on,
Bold Cameron is no more;
Descendant of the great Lochiel,
In honour's glorious field he fell,
While all his loss deplore.

Of vision keen and versed in spells,
Strange tales the colonel's piper tells.
How he with more of joy than fear

Again beheld his chieftain dear,

High riding in a misty cloud

While war's artillery thundered loud

And broke o'er Waterloo;

That though he heard not there his voice,

He saw him wave his bonnet thrice.

Gleig's "Battle of Waterloo."

men fell back on one another, grouping together so closely that they had hardly room to strike or fire at the Highlanders and horsemen who penetrated their confused ranks; the dragoons traversed these splendid regiments, scattering them and cutting them off as the broken battalions rolled down the slope under their blows. "In three minutes the column was totally destroyed, and numbers of them were taken prisoners.* The grass field in which the enemy was formed, and which had been as green and smooth as the Fifteen Acres in Phoenix Park, was in a few minutes covered with killed and wounded, knapsacks and their contents, arms and accoutrements, etc., literally strewed all over, so that to avoid stepping on one or the other was quite impossible; in fact, one could hardly believe, had he not witnessed it, that such complete destruction could have been effected in so short a time. Some of the French soldiers who were lying wounded were calling out Vive l'Empereur!' and others firing their muskets at our men who had advanced past them in pursuit of the flying enemy." † To those who cried Quarter!" "Prisoner!" the answer was generally "Well, go to the rear, d- — ye."

After this brilliant affair the regiment was recalled; Sir Denis Pack rode up and said, "You have saved the day, Highlanders, but you must return to your former position; there is more work to be done." As they re-formed, they saw the impetuous career of their countrymen as they encountered two batteries half-way up the opposite slope, sabred the gunners and drivers, upset the guns into a ravine, and then, intoxicated by success, assailed the great battery. The recall was sounded in vain, they did not or would not hear it. Napoleon also noticed and admired "ces magnifiques chevaux gris," and sent a regiment of cuirassiers and one of lancers against them. The Greys had lost their colonel and many

* 2000 prisoners were taken in the charge of the Union Brigade, also two eagles-one by the Royal Dragoons, the other by the Greys.

This famous charge is the origin of the firm friendship between the Greys and Gordons, which is still constantly expressed in mutual acts of good comradeship. Alison justly remarks that they could not have a finer motto on their crests than "Scotland for ever."

§ Cannon's Record.