Ralph, who years before had read the history of Ghent, was greatly interested in the quaint old town; though it was difficult to imagine from the appearance of its quiet streets that its inhabitants had once been the most turbulent in Europe.  Here Von Artevelde was killed, and the streets often ran with the blood of contending factions.  Was it possible that the fathers of these quiet workmen in blouses, armed with axes and pikes, had defeated the chivalry of France, and all but annihilated the force of the Duke of Anjou?  What a number of convents there were!  The monks seemed a full third of the population, and it was curious to hear everyone talking in French when the French were the enemy they were going to meet.  The populace were quite as interested in their English visitors as the latter were with them.  The English scarlet was altogether strange to them, and the dress of the men of the Highland regiment, who were encamped next to the Twenty-eighth, filled them with astonishment.

For a fortnight the regiment remained at Ghent, then they with some others of the same division marched to Brussels, and took up their quarters in villages round the town.  The Twenty-eighth belonged to Picton’s division, which formed part of the reserve concentrated round Brussels.  The first army corps, consisting of the second and third divisions of Dutch and Belgians, and the first and third of the British, extended from Enghien on the right to Quatre Bras on the left.  The first British division were at the former town, the third between Soignies and Roeulx, while the Belgians and Dutch lay between Nivelles and Quatre Bras.

The second army corps held the ground on the right of the first, and extended to Oudenarde on the Scheldt.  The cavalry, with the exception of the Brunswick brigade, were posted at Grammont, Mons, and Roeulx, their outposts being thrown forward as far as Maubeuge and Beaumont.  The Prussians were on the left of Wellington’s force, and extended from Ligny through Namur toward Liege, their advanced posts being at Charleroi, where Zieten’s division had their headquarters.  But although the allied armies thus formed together the arc of a large circle covering Brussels, they were entirely distinct.  The British drew their supplies from Ostend, on the right of their position, while Liege on the extreme left was the base of the Prussians.

Napoleon’s movements were uncertain.  He might either advance upon Namur and cut off the Prussians from their base, or between Grammont and Oudenarde, by which measure he would similarly cut the British off from Ostend; or he might advance from Charleroi direct upon Brussels, breaking through at the point where Wellington’s left joined the Prussian right.  The Duke of Wellington believed that he would attempt the second of these alternatives, as in that case he would fall upon the British before the Prussians could come up to their assistance, and if successful would not only cut them off from the