_21st._--Paraded early, and, considering all things, tolerably clean and neat. Descended to a lower country, equally dismal and uninteresting, without the one advantage which the other possesses--viz., that of commanding a distant prospect, always more or less pleasing. At noon arrived in the neighbourhood of Mons, where we overtook the Greys, Inniskillings, Ross’s troop of Horse-Artillery, and several other corps, both of cavalry and infantry. We had, in short, now rejoined the army. The Greys and the Inniskillings were mere wrecks--the former, I think, did not muster 200 men, and the latter, with no greater strength, presented a sad spectacle of disorganisation and bad discipline; they had lost more than half their appointments. Some had helmets, some had none; many had the skull-cap, but with the crest cut or broken off; some were on their own large horses, others on little ones they had picked up; belts there were on some; many were without, not only belts, but also canteens and havresacks. The enemy surely had not effected in a single day so complete a disorganisation, and I shrewdly suspect these rollicking Paddies of having mainly _spoilt_ themselves. The other corps all looked remarkably well, although they, too, had partaken in the fight. We overtook these corps about a mile from Mons, on a hill, whence that place, with its old fortifications, looked venerable and picturesque. Descending thence, the road crossed a broad, flat, marshy piece of ground, which appeared nearly, if not entirely, to surround the place. Here our further progress was obstructed by a number of trees felled across the road, and forming a sort of abatis, and we were consequently obliged to make a detour through the meadows, and cross a rivulet by (I think the Trouille) a mill-dam, over which the cavalry were obliged to file. This rendered it a very tedious operation; and that part where at the mill we had to pass our guns, &c., over a bridge of planks barely broad enough, was a rather ticklish one. We crossed after the Greys, and came with them on the main road to Maubeuge at the moment a Highland regiment (perhaps the 92d), which had come through Mons, was passing. The moment the Highlanders saw the Greys an electrifying cheer burst spontaneously from the column, which was answered as heartily; and on reaching the road the two columns became blended for a few minutes--the Highlanders running to shake hands with their brave associates in the late battle. This little burst of feeling was delightful--everybody felt it; and although two or three general officers were present, none interfered to prevent or to censure this breach of discipline. A few hundred yards further on I found Lord Edward Somerset, with his brigade, formed in a field of clover by the roadside; and now, for the _first time_, I reported myself to him, and requested orders. These were simply to proceed straight to Malplaquet, and there bivouac for the night. Accordingly I continued