obtain his signature, a traveller who has provided himself with a Belgian passport on quitting London will have to exchange it for an English one at the British Embassy. Railroads.-Northern line (Antwerp, Ostend, Liége). Terminus, Station du Nord, at the end of Longue Rue Neuve. Southern line (Namur, Mons, Valenciennes). Terminus, Station du Midi, near the Church of N. D. de Bon Secours. Omnibuses run from different parts of the town, calling at the chief hotels to convey passengers to the railroads. Diligences daily to Louvain. Booksellers. Muquardt, 11, Place Royale, has a reading-room for English and foreign newspapers, and an English circulating library. N.B.-Belgian and French editions of English books are now absolutely prohibited at the British Custom-house. The best shops are for the most part in the Rue Montagne de la Cour and Rue de la Madeleine. The Gallerie St. Hubert, extending from the Marché aux Herbes to the Rue de l'Evêque, is an extremely handsome arcade, or street glazed over. The most remarkable manufacture at Brussels is that of Lace, celebrated all over the world. The peculiarity, in addition to the fineness, which distinguishes it, is, that the patterns are worked separately with the most microscopic minuteness, and are afterwards sewed on. The flax employed in the manufacture grows near Hal; the best comes from a place called Rebecque. The finest sort costs from 300 fr. to 400 fr. per lb., and is worth its weight in gold; everything depends on the tenuity of the fibre.yard (English) of the finest and most expensive kind of lace costs 150 fr.; but a very good sort is sold for 50 fr., and the prices of some are as low as 10 fr. per aune. It is said that the persons who spin the thread for Brussels lace, and also for the French cambric (batiste) of St. Quentin, are obliged to work in confined dark rooms, into which light is admitted only partially by a small aperture; and that, by being thus compelled to pay more constant and minute attention to their work, they discipline the la Money Changers.-Messel, 70, Rue de Madeleine. Yates, Mont. de la Cour. There are two Chapels in which the English Church service is performed every Sunday: one close to the Museum; the other on the Boulevard de l'Observatoire. Service at the Chapel Royale, Rue du Musée, at 9 A.M. and 2 P.M.; at the Chapel on the Boulevard de l'Observatoire, 1 P.M. and 3 P.M. The shortest way to England.-London may be reached viâ Ostend and Dover in 12 hrs. The steamers now go daily from Ostend to Dover. See p. 119. To reach Calais by railway takes 8 or 10 hrs. The principal Promenades, besides the Park, mentioned before, are the Boulevards, extending nearly round the town; the most fashionable and frequented being those de Waterloo, du Régent, and de l'Observatoire, between the gates of Schaerbeck and d'Anvers; -an entirely New Quarter (Quartier Léopold) has sprung up between the Portes de Louvain and de Namur;-the Botanic Garden, near the Porte de Schaerbeck, which is very prettily laid out, and is open to the public Tues., Thurs., Sat., from 10 to 3;-and the Allée Verte, a treble avenue of limetrees by the side of the canal leading to Mechlin, which were spared by Marshal Saxe, at the entreaty of the ladies of Brussels, when he besieged the town 1746. Excursions may be made from Brussels toLaeken (p. 155). A fiacre costs 5 fr. to go and return, provided it be not detained more than 2 hrs. Laeken is a railway station. From the fields near Laeken is the best view of Brussels. T. Suffell, an Englishman, 12, Rue Rabenstein, supplies carriages and saddle horses for hire. The Excursion to Waterloo (see Rte. 24) will occupy about 8 hrs., allowing 3 hrs. for the horses to rest and for surveying the field. A carriage with 2 horses (voiture de remise), to go and return, ought not to cost more than 20 fr., driver and turnpikes included. A vigilante (cab) may be hired for 10 fr. It is necessary to stipulate that you shall be taken to Mont St. Jean and Hougoumont; or, what is better, let the agreement be to convey you to any part of the field you please, otherwise you will be set down at the village of Waterloo, 2 m. short of the most interesting points in the field of battle, or be compelled to pay 2 or 3 fr. extra for going farther. The hire of a saddlehorse ought not to exceed 8 or 10 fr. The field of Waterloo is 12 m. from Brussels, a drive of about 2 hrs. The high road to Namur and Liége (Rte. 24) runs through Waterloo, and across the field of battle. The Nivelles diligence traverses it daily to and fro. Suffell runs a stage-coach daily from Brussels. Fare to Waterloo and back, 5 fr. It starts from Rue Rabenstein. ROUTE 24. BRUSSELS TO LIEGE, BY WATERLOO AND NAMUR.—DESCENT OF THE MEUSE, NAMUR TO MAESTRICHT. To Liége 16 posts 78 Eng. m. English Stage-coach daily to Waterloo. Near the village of Ixelles a good view of Brussels and of the country far and wide is obtained, on which account it is a crowded place of resort with the citizens upon Sundays. About 2 m. from Brussels the road enters or skirts the Forest of Soigne, or Soignies, now much curtailed and partly converted into cornfields. Byron, by a poetical licence, has identified it with the ancient Forest of Ardennes. The march of the British troops through it, on their way to the battle, is described by him in these beautiful lines:"Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, Dewy with nature's tear-drops, as they pass, Grieving, if aught inanimate e er grieves, Over the unreturning brave,-alas! Ere evening to be trodden like the grass Which now beneath them, but above shall grow In its next verdure, when this fiery mass Of living valour, rolling on the foe, And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low." 7 The forest is about 9 m. long and broad. 2 WATERLOO. - Inn: H. de l'Argenteuil. This village, on the outskirts of the forest, about 10 m. from Brussels, was the head-quarters of the English army on the days before and following the battle to which it has given its name (June 17 and 19, 1815). The Duke's quarters were in the Post-house opposite the church. Here, after 16 hrs. in the saddle, he dismounted from his faithful steed Copenhagen (long afterwards a pensioner in the paddocks of Stratfieldsaye), and the spirited animal, conscious of the termination of his labours, is stated to have kicked out in a manner which had nearly proved fatal to his rider. The moment a traveller comes in sight of Waterloo he will be assailed by guides and relic-venders, claiming the honour of serving him in the capacity of guide. The only mode of appeasing the clamours, and rescuing himself from the annoyance, is to fix upon one or other, informing him at the same time what will be his remuneration. 3 or 4 francs will be enough for his services over the whole field; but if this be not settled beforehand, he will not hesitate to demand at least double. English travellers seeking a guide to the Field may safely resort to Serjt. Munday, late of the 7th Hussars, who lives half way between the village and the Field of Waterloo. He may also be heard of at the Waterloo Museum, formed by the late Serjt. Cotton opposite the Hôtel de la Colonne, which contains some really interesting objects. The best Belg. guides are Martin Viseur, Martin Pirson, Jean Jacques Pierson, and Jacques Deligne; the last and Viseur speak English. The little Church and churchyard of Waterloo are crowded with melancholy memorials of English officers: they contain nearly 30 tablets and monuments to those who fell. Among the curiosities of Waterloo, to the examination of which the most strenuous persuasion is used to invite the passing stranger, is the grave of the Marquis of Anglesea's leg, and the house in which it was cut off, and where the boot belonging to it is preserved! The owner of the house to whose share this relic has fallen finds it a most lucrative source of revenue, and will, in spite of the absurdity of the thing, probably bequeath it to his children as a valuable property. He has interred the leg most decorously within a coffin, under a weeping willow, and has honoured it with a monument and an epitaph. Waterloo is now nearly joined to Mont St. Jean, a long straggling village (the Hotels are decent little Inns), though once almost a mile from it, and lying on the edge of the field of battle. Here the road divides: the branch on the rt. leads to Nivelles; the other, continuing straight on, is the high road to Genappe and Namur. Travellers ought not to leave their carriage at Waterloo, or even at Mont St. Jean, as it is still a mile short of the centre of the field, and this mile will considerably increase the long walk which they must at any rate take in order to see the ground to advantage. It is more prudent to drive on to Hougoumont, 1 m. If the traveller intend to proceed on to Namur, and not to return to Brussels, the carriage must stop at La Belle Alliance, which is a sorry kind of public-house. Leaving the village of Mont St. Jean, the road reaches an open country, almost entirely without trees; it ascends a gentle rise, and passes the large farmhouse with offices called Ferme de Mont St. Jean, which during the battle was filled with wounded British, and served as a sort of hospital. The Mound sur mounted by the Belgic Lion, by far the most conspicuous object in the field of Waterloo, now appears in sight. It marks the spot which may be considered the centre of the conflict. The field had been examined by the Duke of Wellington in the previous year. In a "Memorandum on the defence of the frontier of the Netherlands," addressed to Lord Bathurst, 22nd Sept. 1814, he says, "About Nivelle, and between that and Binch, there are many advantageous positions for an army, and the entrance to the forêt de Soignies by the high road which leads to Brussels from Binch, Charleroi, and Namur, would, if worked upon, afford others." -Despatches, xii. 129. Though not a strong position, it was the best between Quatre Bras and Brussels available for the protection of that capital. On arriving at the end of this ascent, the traveller finds himself on the brow of a hill or ridge extending on the rt. and 1. of the road, with a gentle hollow or shallow valley before him, and another ascent and nearly corresponding ridge beyond it. Along the ridge on which he stands the British army was posted, while the position of the French was along the opposite heights. The road on which we are travelling intersected the 2 armies, or, so to speak, separated the 1. wing of the British and rt. wing of the French from the main bodies of their respective armies. To render the declivity more gradual, the road has been cut through the crest of the ridge several feet deep, so as to form a sort of hollow way. At this point 2 Monuments have been erected close to the roadside; that on the right (* in the plan), a pillar to the memory of Col. Gordon, bearing a most touching epitaph, well worth perusal; that on the left (5), an obelisk in honour of the Hanoverian officers of the German Legion who fell on the spot. Hereabouts the high road is traversed nearly at right angles by a small country cross-road. During the first part of the action the Duke of Wellington stood in the angle formed by the crossing of these 2 roads, and on the rt. of the highway, at a little distance from a solitary elm (1 in the plan), called the Wellington Tree, from an unfounded report that the Duke had placed himself beneath it during the action. The Duke knew better than to post himself and his staff close to an object which must inevitably serve as a mark for the enemy to fire at. Upon the strength of this story, however, the elm, after being mutilated and stripped by relic-hunters, was cut down and sold, some time after the battle, to an Englishman. About half-way down in the hollow which separated the 2 armies, and in which the most bloody combats took place, is the Farm of La Haye Sainte (6) close to the roadside on the rt. It was occupied by the soldiers of the German Legion, and gallantly defended till their ammunition was exhausted, when they were literally cut to pieces: the French "got possession of it about 2 o'clock, from a circumstance which is to be attributed to the neglect of the officer commanding on the spot, and were never removed from thence till I commenced the attack in the evening; but they never advanced further on that side."-Despatches, xii. 610. A terrible carnage took place in the house and garden, and the building was riddled with shot. Close to this house a spot is shown as the grave of Shaw the valorous Lifeguardsman, who killed 9 Frenchmen with his own hand in the battle. Not far off, on the opposite side of the road, a vast accumulation of bodies of men, intermixed with horses, were buried in one common grave. It was near this spot that the brave General Picton was killed, and Colonel Ponsonby wounded. 5 Scotch regiments were engaged in this part of the fight. If we now proceed across the valley and up the opposite slope, we reach the farm of La Belle Alliance, a solitary white house, on the 1. of the road (7), now a poor public-house. It was occupied by the French, whose lines were drawn up close behind it; though towards the end of the engagement Napoleon in person marshalled his imperial guards in front of it for the final charge. Napoleon's place of observation during a great part of the battle was nearly on a line with La Belle Alliance, at some distance on the rt. of the road. The Prussians have erected a cast-iron monument (9) at a short distance on the left, in memory of their fellow-countrymen who fell here. Their loss in the battle amounted to nearly 7000; it occurred chiefly in the vicinity of Planchenoit, a village on the 1. of the road, beyond La Belle Alliance, which was stormed and retaken 3 times. It has been erroneously stated that Blücher met the Duke after the battle at La Belle Alliance; but the fact is, that he did not overtake the Duke till he was 2 m. beyond the field, at Maison Rouge, or Maison du Roi, on the road to Genappe. Here the Duke gave orders for the halt of his troops. In spite of the fatigues of the day, he had pursued the French in person till long after dark; and when Colonel Harvey, who accompanied him, pointed out the danger he ran of being fired at by stragglers from behind the hedges, he exclaimed, "Let them fire away: the victory is gained, and my life is of no value now." A little way beyond La Belle Alliance is the house of Coster (8), Napoleon's guide (since dead); and near this spot a glimpse may be had of the farm of Hougoumont, 1 m. off on the rt. Gros Caillou (10), a farm-house in which Napoleon slept, was burnt in consequence by the Prussians next day, to show their hatred of their enemy. The foregoing enumeration of the various localities of the field has been made in the order in which a traveller would pass them in following the high road from Brussels. If he intend to turn aside and examine the field more minutely, the following description may assist him : : The Mound of the Belgic Lion (2) is by far the best station for surveying the field. It is a vast tumulus, 200 ft. high, beneath which the bones of friends and foes lie heaped indiscriminately together. A flight of steps leads up to the top. The lion was cast by Cockerill of Liége, and is intended to stand on the spot where the Prince of Orange was wounded. "The mound and the lion have |