Key. pitiable attempts to hide themselves from the merciless foe. In the village they crept into chimneys and ovens. To smoke them out or to smother them in their holes, afforded excellent sport to the hunters. Others climbed the huge walnut trees that lined the road, seeking concealment in the foliage. A cry of "Crows!" was immediately raised, and the arquebusiers, gathering in a circle, picked them off one by one, while calling to them to spread their pinions, or asking if there was not air enough to sustain them. But the great mass was driven into the lake, men and horses struggling together and trampling each other down, a few getting rid of their armour and swimming out till they sank from exhaustion, the rest when they had waded up to their chins, standing in a dense crowd, their faces wild with terror, their arms thrown up, their voices sending forth screams for mercy, which were answered with derisive yells. "Ha, they are thirsty! they are learning to swim!" While the spearmen waded after them or collected boats, the arquebusiers calling to each other to mark "the ducks," poured in their fire from the bank. For two hours the slaughter went on, nor ceased until the water over a space of miles was incarnadined with blood.-Kirk. TACITUS, Ann. ii. c. 17, 18. Hist. iii. c. 83. LIVY, xxii. c. 4, 6. XX 1. Ed? BATTLE IN THE MARSHES—DEATH of decius. N the beginning of the action, the son of Decius, a youth of the fairest hopes, and already associated to the honours of the purple, was slain by an arrow in the sight of his afflicted father, who, summoning all his fortitude, admonished the dismayed troops that the loss of a single soldier was of little importance to the Republic. The conflict was terrible, it was the conflict of despair against grief and rage. The first line of the Goths at length gave way in disorder; the second, advancing to sustain it, shared its fate; and the third only remained entire, prepared to dispute the passage of the morass, which was imprudently attempted by the = presumption of the enemy. Here the fortune of the day turned, and all things became adverse to the Romans; the place deep with ooze, sinking under those who stood, slippery to such as advanced; their armour heavy, the waters deep; nor could they wield, in that uneasy situation, their weighty javelins. The barbarians, on the contrary, were inured to encounter in the bogs, their persons tall, their spears long, such as could wound at a distance. In this morass the Roman army, after an ineffectual struggle, was irrecoverably lost; nor could the body of the Emperor ever be found. Such was the fate of Decius in the fiftieth year of his age; an accomplished prince, active in war, and affable in peace; who, together with his son, has deserved to be compared, both in life and death, with the brightest examples of ancient virtue.-Gibbon. TACITUS, Ann. i. c. 68, 70. ii. c. 14. LIVY, xxi. c. 5. CESAR, Bell. Gall. ii. c. 9, 18, 19. xxii. c. 4-6. TH IVRY-THE BATTLE RETRIEVED. HERE was a panic. The whole royal cavalry wavered; the supporting infantry recoiled; the day seemed lost before the battle was well begun. The King and Marshal Biron, who were near each other, were furious with rage, but already doubtful of the result. They exerted themselves to rally the troops under their immediate command, and to reform the shattered ranks. However, the German riders and French lancers under Brunswick and Bassompierre had not done their work so thoroughly as Egmont had done. The ground was so míry and soft that, in the brief space which separated the hostile lines, they had not power horses to full speed. Throwing away their useless lances, they came on at a feeble canter, sword in hand, and were unable to make a very vigorous impression on the more heavily armed troopers opposed to them. Meeting with a firm resistance to their career, they wheeled, faltered a little, and fell a short distance back. The King, whose glance on the battle-field was like inspi to urge their c 2 ration, saw the blot, and charged upon them in person, with his whole battalia of cavalry. The veteran Biron followed hard upon the snow-white plume. The scene was changed, victory succeeded to impending defeat, and the enemy was routed. The riders and cuirassiers, broken into a struggling heap of confusion, strewed the ground with their dead bodies, or carried dismay into the ranks of the infantry as they strove to escape.-Motley. CESAR, Bell. Civil. ii. c. 41. Bell. Gall. vii. c. 80. viii. c. 48. HEROIC DEATH OF DUNDEE AT THE BATTLE OF L OCHIEL knew with how much difficulty Dundee had been able to keep together, during a few days, an army composed of several clans; and he knew that what Dundee had effected with difficulty, Cannon would not be able to effect at all. The life on which so much depended must not be sacrificed to a barbarous prejudice. Lochiel therefore adjured Dundee not to run into any unnecessary danger. "Your lordship's business," he said, "is to overlook everything, and to issue your commands. Our business is to execute those commands bravely and promptly." Dundee answered with calm magnanimity, that there was much weight in what his friend Sir Ewan had urged, but that no general could effect anything great without possessing the confidence of his men. "I must establish my character for courage. Your people expect to see their leaders in the thickest of the battle; and to-day they shall see me there. I promise you, on my honour, that in future fights I will take more care of myself." At the beginning of the action Dundee had taken his place in front of his little band of cavalry. He bade them follow him, and rode forward. But it seemed to be decreed that, on that day, the Lowland Scotch should in both armies appear to disadvantage. The horse hesi tated. Dundee turned round, stood up in his stirrups, and, waving his hat, invited them to come on. As he lifted his arm his cuirass 66 འ་་ rose, and exposed the lower part of his left side. A musket ball struck him his horse sprang forward and plunged into a cloud of smoke and dust which hid from both armies the fall of the victorious general. A person named Johnstone was near him and caught him as he sank down from the saddle. How goes the day?" said Dundee. "Well for King James," answered Johnstone; "but I am sorry for your lordship." "If it is well for him," answered the dying man, 66 it matters the less for me." He never spoke again; but when half an hour later, Lord Dunfermline and some other friends came to the spot, they thought that they could still discern some faint remains of life. The body, wrapped in two plaids, was carried to the castle of Blair.-Lord Macaulay. LIVY, xxii. c. 49. Afric. c. 16. CÆSAR, Bell. CICERO, de Finibus, ii. § 96, 97. A BATTLE-FIELD OF ALBUERA. TEMPESTUOUS night closed the memorable day of Albuera. The rain, which during the action had fallen heavily at intervals, became more constant and severe as evening advanced; and the streams which rolled down the heights and mingled with the waters of the river, were not unfrequently observed to be deeply tinged with blood. The village of Albuera had been plundered and destroyed by the enemy-every house was roofless-every inhabitant had disappeared; and had there been a place of shelter near, there was neither carriage nor beast of burden by which the wounded could have been removed. Throughout the night, and during the following day, the dead and the disabled lay upon the field as they had fallen; and nothing could be more painful than the groans and complainings of the wounded. Almost every man who had escaped unhurt was wanted for picketduty; and the few who remained otherwise disposable were quite unable to afford assistance to half the sufferers who required it.— Napier. LIVY, xxi. c. 56, 58. xxiv. c. 46. FIELD OF WATERLOO-IMPOSING ARRAY OF THE FRENCH - STEADINESS AND COURAGE OF THE ENGLISH ACKNOWLEDGED BY SOULT. EVER was a nobler spectacle witnessed than both armies N now exhibited; its magnificence struck even the Penin sular and Imperial veterans with a feeling of awe. On the French side eleven columns deployed simultaneously, to take up their ground; like huge serpents, clad in glittering scales, they wound slowly over the opposite hills amid an incessant clang of trumpets and rolling of drums, from the bands of 114 battalions and 112 squadrons, which played popular French airs. Soon order appeared to arise out of chaos; four of the columns formed the first line, four the second, three the third. The formidable forces of France were seen in splendid array; and the British soldiers contemplated with admiration their noble antagonists. Two hundred and fifty guns, stretched along the crest of the ridge in front, with matches lighted and equipment complete, gave an awful presage of the conflict which was approaching. The infantry in the first and second lines, flanked by dense masses of cavalry, stood in perfect order. Four-and-twenty squadrons of cuirassiers, behind either extremity of the second, were already resplendent in the rays of the sun; the grenadiers and lancers of the guard in the third line were conspicuous from their brilliant uniforms and dazzling arms; while, in the rear of all, the four-andtwenty battalions of the guard, dark and massy, occupied each side of the road near La Belle Alliance, as if to terminate the contest. The British army, though little less numerous, did not present so imposing a spectacle to either army, from their being in great part concealed by the swell of the ridge on which they stood. They were drawn up in two lines, some in squares, with the cavalry in rear, and the artillery in front skilfully disposed along the summit of the ascent. No clang of trumpets or rolling of drums was heard from their ranks; silently, like the Greeks of old, the men took up their ground, and hardly any sound was heard from the vast array but the rolling of the guns, and occasional words of command from the officers. Napoleon had been afraid that the |