the steep ridge by which its eastern boundary is formed. It was
on the summit of this ridge that Marshal Blucher's army was drawn up,
80,000 strong, at the time when a detachment of his troops, under Count
Langeron, was defending Soissons against the French army. Immediately
below this position, there is placed a small village, which bore the
marks of desperate fighting; all the houses were unroofed or shattered
in every part by musket balls; and many seemed to have been burnt during
the struggles of which it was formerly the theatre. There is an old
castle a little higher up the ascent, which was garrisoned by the allied
troops; in the neighbourhood of which, we perceived numerous traces of
the immense bivouacs which had been made round its walls; particularly
the bodies of horses and oxen, which the Russians had left on the
ground, and which the peasants had taken no pains to remove.

From thence the road runs over a high level plateau, covered with
miserable corn, or worse fallows, and having an aspect of sterility very
different from what we were accustomed to in the rich provinces of
France. In the midst of this dreary country, we beheld with delight
several deep ravines, formed by streams which fall into the Aisne,
sheltered from the chilling blasts that sweep along the high plains by
which they are surrounded, the steep sides of which were clothed with
luxuriant woods, and in the bottom of which are placed many little farms
and cottages, which exhibited a perfect picture of rural beauty. Even
here, however, the terrible effects of war were clearly visible; these
sequestered spots had been ravaged by the hostile armies; and the ruined
walls of the peasants dwellings presented a melancholy spectacle in the
midst of the profusion of beauty with which they were surrounded.

Half way between Soissons and Laon, is placed a solitary inn, at which
Bonaparte stopt six hours, after the disastrous termination of the
battle of Laon. The people informed us, that during this time, he was in
a state of great agitation, wrote many different orders, which he
destroyed as fast as they were done, and covered the floor with the
fragments of his writing. Many Cossacks and Bashkirs had been quartered
in this inn; the people, as usual, would not allow them any good
qualities, but often repeated, with evident chagrin--"Ils mangent comme
des diables; ils ont mange tous les poulets."

The features of the country continue with little var