The town of Flushing, after the siege, presented a deplorable appearance, with many houses burnt down, and most of them unroofed, and scarcely supplying sufficient covering for the sick soldiers, who continued to increase so fast, that ten inhabitants to each regiment were requested to assist as attendants in the hospitals; the medical officers were extremely harrassed, numbers of them became incapable of attending on their patients, being themselves seized by the same fatal malady, so that, as the fever gained ground, the doctors diminished in numbers. At one period, four hundred and ninety-eight soldiers died in a fortnight in Walcheren, which place the Austrians were very solicitous our troops should continue to occupy as long as any chance remained for them against Napoleon, who was at this time in the very heart of their empire. Early in September, while at dinner, a sudden order reached us to move towards the coast, when we instantly packed up and reached the beach in two hours, where the troops began their embarkation. The captain of the company, with agitated looks, ran towards me, and told me that, in the hurry of moving off, he had left the whole of his company's books in the corner of the room we had occupied, and that the commanding officer had most positively refused him permission to fetch them. Under these circumstances, and at his urgent entreaties, and promises to have a boat in waiting on my return, I undertook the unpleasant excursion, and, rapidly retracing my steps, I re-entered the village at a quick pace, in little more than an hour; it appeared quite tranquil, as if no foreigners had ever been amongst them. One or two natives only were looking from their windows. A sudden thought now struck me that I might be seized and made prisoner, which caused me much uneasiness; but yet to decamp without accomplishing my object, was sorely against the grain with me. While assailed by such conjectures, I entered the door of the house that we had previously occupied, which I found open, and saw the contented inmates enjoying a comfortable meal, nor did they evince the least surprise at my reappearance. Without uttering a word, and passing into the inner apartment, I seized the books, (the dinner was still untouched on the table exactly as we had left it,) and with hasty strides repassed the room where the family were seated, making a slight inclination of the head: they half rose at seeing me loaded; but not a syllable was exchanged between us. Some of the inhabitants had now come out of their houses, and regarded me with suspicious looks: I feigned indifference; but no sooner cleared the village, than I started almost at speed, and had made great progress, when I espied at a distance the light waggons and fat hollow-backed horses, with flowing manes and tails, returning from the beach at a trot; and, being aware that the soldiers were not very ceremonious on these occasions, I was apprehensive the drivers of these vehicles might be