Such were the distribution and the state of the Prussian troops throughout their Line, when NAPOLEON arrived near the lower extremity of Ligny, with a formidable Reserve. This consisted of eight Battalions of the Guard, of MILHAUD's Corps of Heavy Cavalry, comprising eight Regiments of _Cuirassiers_, and of the _Grenadiers à Cheval_ of the Guard. It was not, however, his sole Reserve; for most opportunely LOBAU's Corps had just arrived and taken post on the right of Fleurus. The troops which the French Emperor held thus in hand ready to launch as a thunderbolt against the weakened Centre of the Prussian Line of Battle, were perfectly fresh, not having hitherto taken any part whatever in the contest, and they might justly be styled the flower of his Army. It was this consciousness of the vantage ground he then possessed which, upon his perceiving the comparatively unoccupied space in rear of Ligny, called forth from him the remark to Count GÉRARD, "They are lost: they have no Reserve remaining!" He saw that not another moment was to be delayed in securing the victory which was now within his grasp, and gave his last Orders for the attack at the very time when BLÜCHER, whose Right had just been strengthened by the arrival of the remaining three Battalions of Colonel LANGEN's (the Eighth) Infantry Brigade, was making his dispositions for vigorously assailing the French Army in its Left Flank. The projected movement that was to decide the Battle was preceded, at about half past eight o'clock, by the rapid advance of several Batteries of the Guard, which opened a most destructive fire upon the Prussians posted within, and formed in the immediate rear of, Ligny. Under cover of this cannonade, GÉRARD, with PECHEUX's Infantry Division, reinforced the troops that still maintained that half of the Village which lay on the right bank of the rivulet, and pushed forward with a determination to dislodge the Enemy from the remaining portion on the left bank. While the Prussian Infantry in rear of Ligny were in movement for the purpose of relieving their comrades who were already giving way before this renewed attack, they suddenly perceived, on the French right of the Village, a Column issuing from under the heavy smoke that rolled away from the well served Batteries which had so unexpectedly opened upon them, and, which continued so fearfully to thin their ranks; and, as the mass rapidly advanced down the slope with the evident design of forcing a passage across the valley, they could not fail to distinguish both by its well sustained order and compactness, and by its dark waving surface of bearskins, that they had now to contend against the redoubted Imperial Guard. Ligny being thus turned, the Prussian Infantry, instead of continuing its advance into the Village, was necessitated, by its inferiority of numbers, to confine its operations to the securing, as far as possible, an orderly retreat for the defenders of the place.