nd did not know where any were to be procured, but that she
would kill a hen and dress it if we liked! We sent Donald and Edward, as
a forlorn hope, to see if there was another inn, and after a long
search they found one, whereupon the postillion found out that he had
no drag-chain and could not properly descend the _montagne._ However,
after some arguments, and my descent from the carriage, and Donald and
John walking on each side the wheels with large stones ready to place
before them in case they were disposed to run too fast, we arrived at
the Inn at the foot of the Hill, from which issued an old woman who
might have sat for Gil Blas' or Caleb Williams' old woman. When she
heard where we were going, she shook her head and said she did not like
to be _un oiseau de mauvais augure_ but that the only road we could go
was very nearly impassable. The people and the children in the street
crowded round the carriage as if they had never seen one before, and, in
short, we found that we had got into a _cul-de-sac._

[Illustration: PORTE DE HALLE, BRUSSELS, LEADING TO WATERLOO.

_To face page 278._]

However, our adventures for the night finished by the old woman giving
us so good a dinner and so many good stories of herself and the
Cossacks, that we did not regret having been round, especially now when
we are safely landed at Valenciennes without either carriage or bones
broke--over certainly the very worst road I ever saw.

We shall be at Paris on Monday or Tuesday, I think. Adieu.

_Rev. E. Stanley to his niece, Rianette Stanley._

...Before leaving Brussels for ever, it is impossible not to speak about
the dogs. What would you say, what would you think, and how would you
laugh at some of these wondrous equipages. You meet them in all
directions carrying every species of load. They were only surpassed by
one vehicle we met on the road drawn by nine, and as luck would have it,
just as we passed, the five leaders fell to fighting and ran their
carriage over some high stones. Then the women within began to scream
and the driver without began to whip, which caused an inevitable scene
of bustle and perplexity....

At Quiverain we passed the line of separation between France and Belgium
and were subjected to a close inspection by the Custom House Officers,
during which some Bandana handkerchiefs of Edward's were for a time in
great jeopardy, but they were finally returned and "nous voila" in "la
belle France." The change