sentry over the luggage, which we heaped together on the grass, I went about to try and negotiate the hire of a waggon, to transport ourselves and chattels to head quarters, which was no easy matter; for these waggons having been brought together for government purposes, none of the men would start without an order from the officer in charge, but on explaining matters, we at length were allowed to get one for a few florins.

These waggons are different from an English cart, being very light; the body narrow and long, like a French fourgon, excepting the number of wheels, for all have four; and, in fact, they serve indifferently the purpose of cart and postchaise, and are very useful to armies, being either fitted for a heavy load, or, if need be, an officer on service places his portmanteau in one of them, as a seat, and with four horses can, in dry weather, and a good Jehu, scamper across the pusztas at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour.

The roads, or rather the tracks, being firm, in consequence of the dryness, we soon arrived at Acs, the head quarters of Marshal Nugent, which proved to be a petty Hungarian village in front of Comorn. The only decent looking constructions in the place being the church, with its white spire, and the hunting-box of Prince Lichtenstein, which the general occupied, and which was of one story, with a few acres of garden or shrubbery behind it, all the rest of the country being open, without either fences or ditches. But the air here was very bad; on our way we were frequently regaled with the odours of imperfectly buried carcasses, for this neighbourhood had been, during the two previous months (June and July) the scene of three very severe engagements, in which a great many lives had been lost. Adjoining was a wood called the "Acser Wald," which looked any thing but rural, a pointed peak of it having been stripped and devastated by cannon shot, as well as by those who had laid hands on it to build soldiers' huts.

From my respected friends Count and Countess Nugent, we received a kind and cordial reception and an invitation to remain at head quarters, a room having been obligingly assigned us, and on presenting ourselves in the drawingroom, we found the dinner party to consist of a number of Russian and Austrian generals and other officers, to the amount of thirty to forty daily. To my companion, who was a distinguished cavalry officer, this was no novelty, but these were certainly the most military parties I had ever seen. On entering, I was struck with the very noble appearance of General Grabbe, the Russian commander, whose expression of countenance, intellectual, refined, and dignified, put me a good deal in mind of the Vandyke portrait of Gevartius in the National Gallery. This distinguished officer is, I believe, a Courlander, and commanded for some time in the Caucasus. During the Hungarian campaign he had been entrusted with that corps of the Russian army which, penetrating from Gallicia, occupied the mountainous district in the north-west of Hungary.

A large coloured ordnance survey of the country around Comorn lay on the table, a council of war having just terminated; and on being introduced by General Nugent to the Russian commander, he with the greatest kindness told me that in a few days he intended to review the whole of his corps d'armée, and invited us to go over to his quarters on that occasion, and that on our arrival at the other side of the Danube we should find horses prepared for us. To this we returned our best thanks, delighted to have an opportunity of seeing a Russian review under the auspices of so polite a commander. One of the company I felt sure of having met before, and on making enquiry, found that this was a Baron D————, first aide-de-camp to General Nugent, whom I had seen for a moment in quarantine at Damascus, at the conclusion of the Syrian campaign; there was also an aide-de-camp of the general, a fellow-countryman, Captain Dickenson, a

young gentleman of intelligence and great activity, who did all in his power to render our stay agreeable.

Another of our fellow-countrymen was also at head quarters, whom I saw under circumstances of a much more painful description. When the Russian generals were entering their carriages (for they had a detour of a great many miles to make on the Austrian lines, so as to get round to the head quarters of General Grabbe), the corridor was alarmed with such loud cries, that I saw the Countess Nugent rush out of the drawing-room to see what it was. A Captain W an Englishman in the Austrian service, and attached to General Nugent, had just been seized with cholera and was in a frightful state of contortion; but so accustomed to speak German, that his cry was "Oh! Rettung, Rettung." "Oh! deliverance." So the surgeons came immediately, but his case was even then very doubtful.

In the evening, at eight o'clock, a small party again assembled in Countess Nugent's rooms; the general, and all the officers, wearing their grey great-coats ready for war's alarms; for, although no Hungarian army existed anywhere in the field, the Comorn people would not believe that their armies had been swept away, and had all sorts of strange ideas and reports of a French army descending the Danube towards Linz, and firmly believing that large Magyar armies were still combatting with the Imperialists; so that, although the campaign was ended, every precaution was taken against any outbreak such as that of the previous month.

At about ten o'clock we retired to rest in a comfortable room, and in the morning in came Count Nugent's English groom, with an offer of horses to ride; but as the rain poured, I declined, and went to see the cholerastricken Englishman, whose intense pains were past, but death was on his countenance, although his eye brightened as we entered, and he said how pleased he was to see fellow-countrymen-shook us by the hand-and evidently,

quite unconscious of his situation, apologised for not having it in his power to shew us any civilities. On the second morning he died; his wife, Lady Louisa Warrived from Vienna two hours after he had quitted this mortal scene; but not a tear did she shed, pale as alabaster, reason was for the moment extinct, and she sat like a marble statue, unconscious of the consolations that were proffered her.

When the weather cleared up I rode to the outposts and saw the Hungarian videttes forming a great ring around the north of the tête-de-pont, opposite Comorn, and visited the various detachments, who had constructed their huts very ingeniously of leaves, turf, and branches of trees from the neighbouring wood; and wherever I rode or drove I was struck with the fat black soil, a very small portion of which is taken advantage of, much ground being devoted to pasture, which in other countries would bear excellent crops. As to Acs, and the surrounding villages, they are all whitewashed and mostly thatched. Up and down their streets was a constant movement of troops, and pools of mud, almost knee deep, glistened in the sun as a squadron of cuirassiers slapped through them, or a block-up took place of baggage or provision-waggons. All along the sides of the dry ground were the stalls and carts of camp-follower; here a dame of sixteen or seventeen stone weight, of colossal stature, was serving red Ofen wine, or brandy, from a light cart, and there is a Jew's store, with a display of camp necessaries and luxuries, of which boxes of cigars were, in this swampy climate, very prominent. Nor was the camp by moonlight less picturesque as, in the evening, with Count Albert Nugent, (no longer a naval officer, but now wearing epaulettes of Lieutenant Colonel), we strolled from watch-fire to watch-fire, and every corps, after its arduous campaigns, indulged in songs and chorusses, while the branches of the wood crackled and blazed in the pale silver light. One Istrian regiment, instead of huts of branches, had constructed for their officers little cottages

of brick, and they were delighted beyond measure when Count Albert Nugent spoke to them both in Illyrian, Istrian, as well as in the Venetian dialect of Italian which is used in that part of the Adriatic, and tasted the supper in preparation for the men.

RUSSIAN

CHAPTER II.

AR

REVIEW-THE INFANTRY, THE CAVALRY, AND TILLERY-THE COSSACKS-THE FETE-AUSTRIAN TROOPS.

Next day all were a-foot before dawn in preparation for the visit to the Russian camp, and we made in the course of the morning the détour of the Austrian posts as far as the Danube at Almas, some miles below Comorn, where a steamer was waiting for us, and having crossed it, saw on the bank a body of dark-complexioned Cossacks, who were appointed to escort us; and, having mounted a strong grey stallion, I started for Marczalhaza, where we arrived in a couple of hours. The lodging of General Grabbe was the country-house of the landed proprietor of the place, and he came out to receive Countess Nugent as fine as finery could make him, as he wore the uniform of his office, which is that of generalissimo of the Cossacks of the Russian empire, in token of which he wore neither cocked hat nor helmet, but a fur calpak and feather, with a diamond toque sheath.

Countess Nugent, having descend from her carriage and reposed a little, then mounted, en Amazone, and proceeded to the field, which costume it must be admitted she was entitled to wear, having, instead of resigning herself to a life of timidity and ease, courageously accompanied her husband through the whole campaign. It was at Gratz, in Styria, just after having completed my tour