when there pick out a bivouac; and the alternative that of remaining and being caught in this _coupe gorge_. The idea was not a pleasant one. Disobeying orders, too! We countermarched, however; but on reaching Montay the stream of people and carriages sweeping over the narrow bridge made it evidently useless attempting to move in a contrary direction. I gave up the idea, and established my bivouac in the little churchyard close to the bridge. I felt less compunction at doing this, because several regiments of Hanoverian infantry had extended themselves in bivouac along the meadows, both up and down the stream, on the same side; and, moreover, I had learned from Lord Greenock that two or three troops of horse-artillery and a large corps of hussars were occupying the plateau in front, between us and the enemy. Under the impression of security, therefore, I laid myself down after our evening meal was finished, expecting a good sleep; but my eyes were scarcely closed ere the never-to-be-mistaken sound of a distant cannonade caused me to start up again. Everything around was perfectly still; the Hanoverians seemed to be all asleep; and no stir or bustle of any kind in our immediate neighbourhood indicated an alarm. The cannonade, too, though sometimes more distinctly heard than at others, did not, on the whole, seem to approach. After listening for a time, sleep got the better of me, and I sank down in spite of the distant cannonade and the more immediate concert of thousands of frogs in the adjoining ditch. _23d._--A fine day. Uneasy at hearing nothing of the brigade being in motion. The cannonade during the night proceeded from Sir Charles Colville and the 4th division attacking Cambray.