The firing had now become very indistinct, and ceased to occupy our attention, for here we found the troops quietly establishing themselves, and no appearance whatever of any fighting. There, to be sure, was the intrenchment and abatis similar to that we had seen near Bourget; and there were the French vedettes extending across the plain and those of our Rifles opposite them; but all remained peaceable and quiet. The troops in bivouac presented in the twilight many a picturesque group as we marched along, none more so than a corps of Brunswick lancers, with their sombre uniforms and drooping black plumes--the horses, all saddled, picketed in a line, and in rear of them the lances stuck upright in the ground. The dark mustachioed visages of these men completed the colouring of the picture. Amongst these I met some old acquaintances, who were lounging at the roadside to see us pass. They were all elated and eager for the morrow, which they confidently expected would see Paris delivered up to the punishment she deserved. Leaving them, we turned to the right up the treeless chaussée and soon reached Garges, which we found principally occupied by our artillery; but here the scene we passed through greatly cooled the excitement caused by our march through the bivouacs. The village, or town I should call it, is composed of one long and broad street of good houses--generally, I fancy, the country residences of the Parisian cockneys. These have all been gutted and disfigured in the same manner as at Loures: torn carpets and paper-hangings, broken furniture and glass, and even pianofortes, encumbered the streets in all directions. Inhabitants there were none--not a cat remained in the place; and our soldiers and their horses were the only living animals to be seen. The sight of this devastation cast an inexpressible gloom over me; and I shall never forget the sickening sensation I experienced whilst traversing the street of Garges in search of some unoccupied garden in which we might establish ourselves for the night. All the best houses and gardens were already occupied; so, after marching through the whole place, on arriving at the end of it we were obliged to content ourselves with a great unsheltered market-garden, close to a muddy sluggish rivulet; and here we are, Hitchins and I, sitting amongst potatoes and artichokes. This fine rich soil does not make the most agreeable parlour-floor. In short, contrasting our position with that of our other troops, we think we have a right to grumble. Every one that I looked in upon in my search had a house and offices more or less convenient (shells, to be sure), and the troop-horses and men who could not be accommodated under cover found themselves almost equally well off amongst the _allées_, _berceaux_, and shrubberies of the gardens. On the contrary, we have a damp location; no shelter of any kind higher than an artichoke, or, much the same thing, a vine.