d at a peasant's house to drink coffee; and we were entertained by
our hostess with complaints against the Prussians, who commit, as she said,
all sorts of exactions on the peasantry on whom they are quartered. Not
content with exacting three meals a day, when they were only entitled to
two, and for which they are bound to give their rations, they sell these,
and appropriate the money to their own use; then the demand for brandy and
_schnapps_ is increasing. But what can be expected from an army whose
leader encourages them in all their excesses? Blucher by all accounts is a
vandal and is actuated by a most vindictive spirit. The Prussians reproach
the Belgians with being in the French interest; how can they expect it to
be otherwise? They have prospered under French domination, and certainly
the conduct of the Prussians is not calculated to inspire them with any
love towards themselves nor veneration for the Sovereign who has such
all-devouring allies. I asked this woman why she did not complain to the
officers. She answered! "Helas, Monsieur, c'est inutile; on donne toujours
la meme reponse: '_Nichts verstehn_,'" for it appears when these complaints
are made the Prussian officers pretend not to understand French.

Namur is now the head-quarters of Marshal Blucher, who is in the enjoyment
of divers _noms de guerre_, such as "Marshall Vorwaerts," "Der alte Teufel."
On the high road, about two miles and a half before we reached Namur, we
met with a party of Prussian lancers, who were returning from a foraging
excursion. They were singing some warlike song or hymn, which was
singularly impressive. It brought to my recollection the description of the
Rhenish bands in the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_:

Who as they move, in rugged verse
Songs of Teutonic feuds rehearse.

The Prussian cavalry seem to be composed of fine-looking young men, and I
admire the genuine military simplicity of their dress, to which might be
most aptly applied the words of Xenophon when describing the costume of the
younger Cyrus: [Greek: _En tae Persikae stolae ouden ti hubrsmenae_][7] in
substituting merely the word [Greek: _Prussikae_] for [Greek: _Persikae_].
One sees in it none of those absurd ornaments and meretricious foppery
which give to our cavalry officers the appearance of Astley's men.[8]

The situation of Namur is exceedingly picturesque, particularly when viewed
from the heights which tower above the town, whereon stood the citadel