She had accompanied her husband in the
campaigns in Spain, soon after a marriage _purement d'inclination_.
Captain ---- had been brought up to the Bar; but the mania of war
seized him, and he preferred figuring in the _Army List_, and
practising military tactics, to studying _Burn's Justice_ and
_Blackstone's Commentaries_. She would not lose sight of her new
friend; and at four o'clock on Tuesday morning I conducted her to the
Porte de Namur, where I found the promised escort with two officers,
to whom I could assign her with confidence. She sprang into her saddle
with an alacrity, that expressed she was going to join the husband of
her affection; and she promised to present him to me in Paris.
Old C----, one of the "all-talented Whigs," who you know is half a
buffoon, was a torment to us during the fearful period of the three
days--running to and fro, standing in every body's way, seeking and
reporting news, exclaiming, "but the battle cannot be lost--I do not
see the army in retreat," &c. &c. At length, the battle over, England
victorious, the Duke on Monday rode quietly into Bruxelles, to make
arrangements for the wounded, &c. C---- rushes to his apartment to
make his compliments.
"Thirty thousand men lost!" replied the Duke.
"But what a victory!"
"Thirty thousand men killed!--hard case!"--still answered the Duke,
with his usual simplicity of expression when speaking of his own
exploits.
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