These towers, with high conical roofs, which one meets almost everywhere throughout the Continent, particularly in this country, form a characteristic feature, distinguishing its scenery from that of the British Islands, where the ruins of ancient castles have almost invariably their round or square towers terminated by a castellated parapet and flat roof. True it is that the Irish round-towers have such roofs; but they are low, and form a very small portion in the general aspect of the building: as also those solitary square towers seen along the Scottish Border, and sprinkled here and there over the soil of Ireland--the dwellings or keeps of petty chieftains--were also surmounted by high, but not conical roofs. Tired of rambling about the streets, I returned to our hotel, where, to my surprise, an excellent dinner awaited me, exceedingly well served, and the attendants (who had made themselves clean) very active and obliging. Among these a boy of fifteen or sixteen was a perfect beauty--so much so as to excite universal admiration. Nor must I forget another beauty of a far different kind--some very old and genuine cognac. It was quite a liqueur; and we were so pleased with it, that each secured a small stock to carry forward with him. In short, we went to bed in better humour with the Hôtel de Commerce. CHAPTER IV. _16th._ Marched through a country very similar to that of yesterday--that is, flat rich soil, highly cultivated, very populous, and diversified with patches of wood, &c.--to Eccloo (_chêf lieu du canton_), a neat little village consisting of two broad streets forming a sort of place at the point of union, where we parked our guns, despite the objections of the inhabitants, who were woefully afraid of an explosion. The Duke of Wellington, _en route_ to Ostend, passed as we were forming up, and scrutinised us pretty closely, but said nothing, although I afterwards learned that it was positively against orders to park ammunition of any kind in a village. The landlord of the only auberge was so very insolent that we formed a mess for the day in one of our billets, our own servants cooking for us. The fare was not sumptuous, but, _en revanche_, very cheap, consisting entirely of our rations. My own billet here was in the house of a widow, who kept a hardware shop--humble, but, as usual in this country, a pattern of cleanliness. Returning from the mess, I joined the old lady and her daughter in their little parlour behind the shop, and two or three neighbours coming in, the conversation became animated. The subject was the return of Napoleon and the probable consequences. According to their ideas, our cause was hopeless. Last year our hostess had lodged an officer of Cossacks, whom she described as a most gentlemanly man.