at the other, leaving just time to see that the place had a clean and cheerful appearance, and that the street we passed through was well built and had many genteel-looking houses in it. Quitting the town by a steepish hill, we entered the forest of Mormal; and the road was bordered on both sides by a thick coppice of hazel, young ash, &c., over which the larger timber-trees reared their heads. Many corps of infantry had drawn off the road, and were busy cutting down the coppice to prepare their bivouacs by constructing huts of leaves and branches. Fires were made, and cooking already going on. Officers, divested of swords and sashes, were strolling amongst the thickets, or listlessly lolling under their leafy bowers. All this would have been very pretty, but that a heavy shower, which fell as we struggled through Bavay, had left everything dripping, consequently deteriorated the scene much. Still the grouping of the figures round the fires, or interspersed among the thickets, was very good. Emerging from the woods, we again entered on the ocean of corn; but here the features of the ground were bolder, and the view more extensive, though not less cheerless. At some distance ahead, in a deep valley, of which the heights all descended by fine bold slopes, stood the little town of Cateau amidst flat alluvial meadows, the lively verdure of which, and that of a few trees, contrasted strikingly with the golden hue of all the country around it. The road along the plateau on which we now travelled was hard and excellent, so that, by watching our opportunity and pushing in whenever an opening in the crowd permitted, we managed, with some considerable wrangling, to get ahead. This was rather a dangerous operation, for the Belgic, and particularly the Nassau troops, were so savage, and so constantly threatening us with their bayonets, that I feared every minute we should come to blows. In this manner we had struggled on to the crest of the hill descending toward Cateau, where, to lessen the descent, it had been cut down, consequently was confined between high banks. Now, as the devil would have it, we got into this gully at the same time with a battalion of Nassau, and as both parties pressed on to head the other, some jostling ensued. Our wheels were too formidable to be resisted when in motion; but at last we got completely entangled, and then they turned upon us, striking our horses, and even pricking them with their bayonets. Our men, of course, resented this, and a serious affray was likely to take place; but at last, assisted by their officers, we disengaged ourselves without any one being materially hurt, although many had bruises, scratches, and slight bayonet-stabs. In this affair one fellow was very deliberately going to give me a _coup de bayonette_ in the side, but old Quartermaster Hall knocked up the point with his sabre, and could scarcely be prevented from splitting his skull. The English, with