fields
became impassable for the French horsemen.

While the pursuers struggled in the mire and aimed wildly through the
pelting haze, the British rearguard raced for safety. Says Captain
Mercer of the artillery: "We galloped for our lives through the storm,
striving to gain the hamlets, Lord Uxbridge urging us on, crying 'Make
haste; for God's sake gallop, or you will be taken.'"[501] Gaining on
the pursuit, they reached Genappe, and, filing over its bridge and up
the narrow street, prepared to check the French. At this time the
Emperor galloped up, drenched to the skin, his gray overcoat streaming
with rain, his hat bent out of all shape by the storm.[502] He was
once more the artillery officer of Toulon. "Fire on them," he shouted
to his gunners, "they are English." A sharp skirmish ensued, in which
our 7th Hussars, charging down into the village, were worsted by the
French lancers, "an arm," says Cotton, "with which we were quite
unacquainted." In their retreat they were saved by the Life Guards,
whose weight and strength carried all before them.

At last, on the ridge of Waterloo, Wellington's force turned at bay.
Napoleon, coming up at 6.30 to the brow of the opposite slope, ordered
a strong force to advance into the sodden clay of the valley. It was
promptly torn by a heavy cannonade; and the truth was borne in on him
that the British had escaped him for that day.

NAPOLEON'S HEALTH IN THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN

As many writers assert that Napoleon at this time was but the shadow
of his former self, we must briefly review the evidence of
contemporaries on this subject; for if the assertion be true, the
Battle of Waterloo deserves little notice.

It seems that for some time past there had been a slight falling off
in his mental and bodily powers; but when it began and how far it
progressed is matter of doubt. Some observers, including Chaptal, date
it from the hardships of the retreat from Moscow. This is very
doubtful. He ended that campaign in a better state of health than he
had enjoyed during the advance. Besides, in none of his wars did he
show such vitality and fertility of resource as in the desperate
struggle of 1814, which Wellington pronounced his masterpiece. After
this there seems to have been a period of something like relapse at
Elba. In September, 1814, Sir Neil Campbell reported: "Napoleon seems
to have lost all habits of study and sedentary application. He
occasionally falls into a s