We rattled along, until we came up to the French bivouac, where, round a
large fire, kindled in what seemed to have been a farmyard, were assembled
about fifty or sixty French soldiers. Their arms were piled under the low
projecting roof of an outhouse, while the fire flickered upon their dark
figures, and glanced on their bright accoutrements, and lit up the wall of
the house that composed one side of the square. I was immediately marched
between a file of men into a small room, where the commanding officer of
the detachment was seated at a table, a blazing wood fire roaring in the
He was a genteel, slender, dark man, with very large black mustaches, and
fine sparkling black eyes, and had apparently just dismounted, for the mud
was fresh on his boots and trowsers. The latter were blue, with a broad
gold lace down the seam, and fastened by a strap under his boot, from
which projected a long fixed spur, which to me was remarkable as an
unusual dress for a Dire, the British army being, at the time I write of,
still in the age of breeches and gaiters, or tall boots, long cues and
pipeclay--that is, those troops which I had seen at home, although I
believe the great Duke had already relaxed a number of these absurdities
in Spain.
His single--breasted coat was buttoned up to his throat, and without an
inch of lace except on his crimson collar, which fitted close round his
neck, and was richly embroidered with gold acorns and oak leaves, as were
the crimson cuffs to his sleeves.
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