he Square. Shall I ever forget the tunes
played by the shrill fifes and the buglehorns which disturbed that
night!

At six in the morning, Friday the 16th, I went to Antwerp: Sir William
gave me a letter to Captain Mitchell, in the Q.M.-General's
department, requesting him to take charge of me. Accordingly, soon
after we arrived I was settled in very comfortable apartments. I was
at first for an hour in the inn,(12) and I lay down in a small back
room. In the evening I sent my maid from the lodgings to get some wine
at the inn; when wandering in the passage to find some English person,
she opened the door of the room I had been in, and saw the body(13) of
the Duke of Brunswick on the very bed.

I was fortunate enough to have a room at the back, so shut in with
buildings that I could not hear any noise in the streets. Sir William
had made me promise to believe no reports, and not upon any account to
move without his written order for it. I thought it was best not to
listen to any stories, so I told my maid Emma not to tell me any, and
to do her best to get no alarms herself. Captain Mitchell I found of
great service; he is a very sensible and seemingly good-hearted man.
There was a calmness in his manner which was of infinite use to me
when I could not entirely get the better of fears but too well
founded. Though he was afterwards oppressed with business, night and
day, he never failed to come to me when he had heard any accounts he
could depend upon. But I may say I never saw so much kindness, and
softness indeed, as during that miserable time.

The general and individual distress that rapidly followed the battles
then fought, seemed quite to unman them; and one grew accustomed to
see men weep, without their attempting to conceal it. The same evening
the Town Major, Machel, called. He knew Sir William, and he brought a
Mrs ---- to call. She very kindly asked me to go and visit her in the
country about a mile. I was much obliged to her, but said I hoped to
return to Brussels so soon that I should not have time. She apologised
for Mr ----; he would have called on me, but the report I had brought
of the marching of the troops had given him a great deal of business.
The town was now very bustling, though when I arrived there was
nothing but quiet. Captain Mitchell told me in the evening that the
battle had taken place; that the English had gained a victory, but he
believed there was to be more fighting. He promised to se