The Admiral has taken a much more efficacious way of preserving his property in thus committing it to my care instead of making a complaint to the Duke, and certainly a more gentlemanly one. I walked down to it this afternoon, and was surprised to find a spacious, well-kept, and most productive garden, enclosed by a high wall, one side of which runs along the side of the road to Garges, and the other along the lane leading up to the village. The house is large, but its exterior not handsome; some fine rooms within, but every scrap of furniture had been removed before our arrival. In the rear, all the offices carefully numbered, and their names and uses painted in large letters on the doors, “_vacherie_,” “_laitérie_,” &c. &c. Our men have behaved well and destroyed nothing, and the produce of the garden has suffered little, the officer of the division having preserved it for himself. I have given directions which no doubt will leave the Admiral no room to repent of the step he has taken, although it is not possible to remove the men and horses. The Duke, it seems, continues to bear malice. I cantered up this morning to Paris, and called on Sir G. Wood to beg him to forward my application for two months’ leave of absence, which he declined doing, as he said it would not be prudent just now “_to remind the Duke of me in any way_.” Rather hard and unjust this! In the anteroom, at the Rue de Richelieu (Sir George’s quarter) I met Captain Light (Bull-dog, as he was called at the academy). He is just returning from Egypt, where he has been travelling, and tells me that he ascended the Nile farther than any one yet. All the honour and glory attending his expedition he would have gladly exchanged for that of having served the campaign with us. He much blamed himself for not having done so. Sir George wanted me to stay and dine, but I begged off. _16th._--The vengeance of the Duke has at last fallen on the 5th Division, and it must be confessed they deserve it, having ruined one of the prettiest villages and some of the most charming villas in the neighbourhood of Paris. It is said that damages are laid at £5000, and that the Duke has ordered it to be paid. There is, however, no depending on reports, everything is sure to be so much exaggerated. Nothing else to-day, except that I took my usual ride into Paris, where I lounged away the time principally in shopping, &c.