The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine (May 1913): Vol. LXXXVI. New Series: Vol. LXIV. May to October, 1913Various
History
The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine (May 1913): Vol. LXXXVI. New Series: Vol. LXIV. May to October, 1913
Various
Periodicals
Lady de Ros, the last survivor of those who danced at the Duchess
of Richmond’s ball in Brussels on the evening before the battle of
Waterloo, also the last among those who had mounted “Copenhagen,”
published a little volume of recollections of Wellington which
contained the following extract:
We often stayed with the duke at Abbaye, Mount St. Martin,
Cambrai, and one morning he announced that there would be a sham
battle, and that he had given orders to Sir George Scovell that
the ladies riding should be taken prisoners, so he recommended our
keeping close to him. I had no difficulty in doing so, as I was
riding the duke’s Waterloo charger “Copenhagen,” and I found myself
the only one within a square where they were firing. To the duke’s
great amusement, he heard one of the soldiers saying to another:
“Take care of that ’ere horse; he kicks out. We knew him well in
Spain,” pointing to “Copenhagen.” He was a most unpleasant horse to
ride, but always snorted and neighed with pleasure at the sight of
troops. I was jumping with him when the stirrup broke, and I fell
off. In the evening the duke had a dance, and said to me, “Here’s
the heroine of the day--got kicked off, and didn’t mind it.”
[Illustration: LEE’S CELEBRATED CHARGER “TRAVELLER”]
The first Duchess of Wellington, with whom “Copenhagen” was a great
favorite, wore a bracelet of his hair, as did several of her friends.
Her daughter-in-law, the second duchess, who died in August, 1894,
and who was much admired by the great duke, accompanying him on his
last visit to the field of Waterloo, showed the writer a bracelet and
breastpin made of “Copenhagen’s” mane. On my last sojourn of several
days at Strathfieldsaye in September, 1883, I received from the second
duke as a parting gift a precious lock of the Waterloo hero’s hair and
a sheaf of the charger’s tail. It may be mentioned _en passant_ that
Sir William Gomm’s redoubtable Waterloo charger “Old George,” once
mounted by Wellington, which lived to the unusual age for war-horses of
thirty-three years, is buried beneath a stone seat at Stoke Pogis, the
pastoral scene of Gray’s familiar and beautiful elegy.
On the authority of his eldest son, who mentioned the circumstance
to the writer, it may be stated in conclusion that the last time
Wellington walked out of Walmer Castle, on the afternoon of the day
previous to his death, it was to visit his stable and to give orders to
the groom concerning his horses.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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