my route independent as heretofore of my brigade. Nothing could be more horridly uninteresting than this country. Well cultivated, yet no habitations, or very few--no enclosures, or rather no hedges, there being banks to some of the fields; no trees, and hills just high enough to prevent an extended view, without adding one jot of beauty to the landscape. Most dismal country! To add to our wretchedness, the clouds which had been collecting all the morning began to drop their contents, so, snugging ourselves under our cloaks, on we jogged sulkily enough. We had left the great Chaussée de Maubeuge, and had been marching some time on a cross-road, occasionally confined between bare banks--not such ramparts as one sees in the county of Cork, but low clay banks about knee-high, with the ditch whence the material has been taken. In this way we had reached a point where a greater elevation of the ground allowed some scope of vision; and when emerging from between the banks, we came on something like a heath, bordered on one side by a large wood. Here an assemblage of rustics appeared awaiting us. Their principal object, no doubt, was to gaze at the strangers; but they gave themselves infinite trouble to make us comprehend that we were about to cross the frontier and enter on the soil of France. Drawing a long line in the mud, right across the road, and vociferating altogether, “Ici, monsieur!” “Voila, monsieur!” “Regardez, monsieur!” “C’est ici, monsieur, que vous entrez en la France!” and when we crossed their line, they grinned and jumped about like so many monkeys. I could not divine what pleasure they derived from seeing strangers violate the sacred territory, nor what could induce the energetic “Voici, monsieur, la France, voilà la Belgique!” which they roared in chorus. How different would have been the feelings and actions of Englishmen on a similar occasion! Frenchmen, however, draw amusement from everything--even misfortune. But did they look upon our invasion as a misfortune? From what I have seen of these people, it appears very doubtful whether they care a farthing who reigns over them. Be that as it may, we undoubtedly entered France amidst cheers and greetings of the populace.