tions drove him into the army. He
discovered that he was made for the profession; and, combining the
accomplished diplomatist with the almost chivalric soldier, he had
rapidly risen to the highest rank of the royal staff. But he had the
still rarer qualities of a sincere heart, and was a firm and willing
friend.

The orderly now returned with the leave for which I had applied. The
post was left in charge of the captain of dragoons; and Guiscard and I,
without mentioning our purpose, rode out quietly, as if to enjoy the
cool of the evening. It was well worth enjoying. The storm had gone down
at daybreak, and been succeeded by a glowing sun; the fields flourished
again, and if I had been disposed to forget the tremendous business
which might be preparing for the morrow, I might have lingered long over
the matchless luxuriance of the Flemish landscape. There certainly never
was one which gave slighter evidence of the approach of two hostile
armies. From the first hill which we ascended, the view, for leagues
round, exhibited nothing but the rich tranquillity of a country wholly
agricultural; soft uplands, covered with cattle grazing; ploughed
fields, purpling in the twilight; clumps of trees sheltering villages,
from which the smoke of the evening fires rose slowly on the almost
breathless air, giving an impression of the comfort and plenty of the
meal within; and at intervals, some huge old chateau, with its
buttressed and richly-wrought architecture--those carvings and
colourings which so strikingly convey the idea of a past age of quaint
luxury and lavish wealth--rose from the centre of its beech grove,
glaring against the sunset, as if it had been suddenly covered with a
sheet of gold. All was peace, and the few peasants whom we met, as the
night fell, were all in the same tale, that there had been no patrols in
their neighbourhood of late, and that, with the exception of the attack
on the "outposts of the English," they had not heard or seen any thing
of the French for a month before.

The night had now fallen, and though calm, it was one of remarkable
darkness. We passed village after village, but by this time all were
fast asleep, and except the disturbance of the house-dogs as we rode
by, not a sound was to be heard. I felt every inclination to take my
share of "nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," and proposed to my
companion to turn our horses into the first farm-yard, and "borrow an
hour" or two's rest from