Paris After Waterloo Author:James Simpson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. VISIT TO THE FIELD. With that intensity of feeling, which the expectation of soon seeing the field of such a battle as Waterloo naturally occa... more »sioned, our party, consisting of three, was in readiness by six in the morning. There had been rain during the night, and the morning was gloomy—having, as we were told, the same appearance as that of the 18th of June. The ground would be wet, but so it was on the day of the battle; and, moreover, in point of time, we should arrive about the hour it commenced. After proceeding three or four miles, we entered the forest of Soigne. It covers a great extent of country from east to west, but is only about five miles broad, where the road passes through it to Waterloo. This forest was the great source of supply of ship-timber for Napoleon's naval schemes at Antwerp, and already had built several ships of the line. The same forest which was intended to furnish the means of her humiliation, protected the rear of her victorious army on the day when Engknd, at one blow, destroyed the power of her would-be destroyer for ever. Every foot of the road was interesting, as it held its straight course through the wood. We contrasted the gloomy quiet of our journey—a few peasants going to their early labour—with its accumulated horrors on theday of the retreat of the baggage and wounded of the army ; the multitudes that dropped and died ; the numbers who were crushed to death; the hurry, the alarm, the confusion; the cries, and shrieks, and groans of that dreadful scene; and the unprotected " Elizabeth," steadily and safely holding her way in the middle of it all. Our carriage kept the paved chaussee, or centre of the way ; the two sides, of about fifteen feet wide each, being deep and muddy, as they were on the great occasion. The w...« less