* * * * *
"UP, GUARDS, AND AT THEM!"
(Vol. v., p. 426.; Vol. viii., pp. 111. 184.)
The authority for the Duke of Wellington having used these words at the
battle of Waterloo is Capt. Batty, of the Grenadier Guards, in a letter
written a few days after the battle, published in Booth's _Battle of
Waterloo_, and illustrated by George Jones, Esq., R.A., who is believed to
have superintended the whole publication. I append the extract:--
"Upon the cavalry being repulsed, the Duke himself ordered our second
battalion to form line with the third battalion, and, after advancing
to the brow of the hill, to lie down and shelter ourselves from the
fire. Here we remained, I imagine, near an hour. It was now about seven
o'clock. The French infantry had in vain been brought against our line
and, as a last resource, Buonaparte resolved upon attacking our part of
the position with his veteran Imperial Guard, promising them the
plunder of Brussels. Their artillery and they advanced in solid column
to where we lay. The Duke, who was riding behind us, watched their
approach; and at length, when within a hundred yards of us, exclaimed
'Up, guards, and at them again!' Never was there a prouder moment than
this for our country or ourselves," &c.--Second Letter of Capt. Batty,
Grenadier Guards, dated June 22, 1815, from the village of Gommignies;
his First Letter being dated Bavay, June 21, 1815.
This circumstantial account, written so few days after the battle,
detailing affirmatively the command to the guards as heard by one of
themselves, will probably countervail the negative testimony of C. as
derived from the Duke's want of recollection: as well as the "Goodly
Botherby's" of MR. CUTHBERT BEDE. As an instance of the Duke's impressions
of the battle, I may add, that he stated that there was _no smoke_, though
Mr. Jones told me, that when he was on the ground two days afterwards the
smoke was still hanging over it.