After The Storm | Page 9

display their equipages and horses; and the lower orders assemble at the innumerable guinguettes which are to be met with here, in order to play at bowls, dominoes, smoke and drink beer, of which there is an excellent sort called Bitterman. The avenues on each side of the carriage road are occupied by pedestrians, and on one side of the road is the canal, covered at all times with barges and boats decked with flags and streamers. At the cabarets are benches and tables in the open air under the trees; and here are to be seen the artisan, the bargeman and the peasant taking their afternoon d��lassement, and groups of men, women and children drinking beer and smoking. These groups reminded me much of those one sees so often in the old Flemish pictures, with this difference, that the old costume of the people is almost entirely left off. Female minstrels with guitars stroll about singing French romances and collecting contributions from this cheerful, laughter-loving people. The dark walk, as it is called, near the park is a favourite walk of the upper classes in the evening. There his Grace of Wellington is sometimes to be seen with a fair lady under his arm. He generally dresses in plain clothes, to the astonishment of all the foreign officers. He is said to be as successful in the fields of Idalia as in those of Bellona, and the ladies whom he honours with his attentions suffer not a little in their reputations in the opinion of the comp��res and comm��res of Bruxelles.
I have only been twice to the theatre since I have been here. The _Salle de Spectacle_ is indifferent, but they have an excellent company of comedians. The representations are in French. I saw the Festin de Pierre of Corneille exceedingly well performed. The actors who did the parts of Don Juan and Sganarelle were excellent, and the scene with M. Dimanche, wherein he demands payment of his bill, was admirably given. I have also seen the Plaideurs of Racine, a very favourite piece of mine; every actor played his part most correctly, and the scene between the Comtesse de Pimbeche and Chicaneau and L'Intim�� wherein the latter, disguised as a Bailli, offers himself to be kicked by the former, was given in very superior style. The scene of the trial of the dog, with the orations of Petit Jean as demandeur and L'Intim�� as d��fenseur, were played with good effect. I never recollect having witnessed a theatrical piece which afforded me greater amusement.
NAMUR, May 12.
We left Brussels yesterday afternoon, and having obtained passports to visit the military posts we went to Genappe, a small village half-way between Bruxelles and Namur, where we brought to for the night at a small but comfortable inn called Le Roi d'Espagne. Two battalions of the regiment Nassau-Usingen are quartered in Genappe. We arrived at Namur this morning at nine o'clock and put up at the H?tel d'Arenberg. On the road we stopped at a peasant's house to drink coffee; and we were entertained by our hostess with complaints against the Prussians, who commit, as she said, all sorts of exactions on the peasantry on whom they are quartered. Not content with exacting three meals a day, when they were only entitled to two, and for which they are bound to give their rations, they sell these, and appropriate the money to their own use; then the demand for brandy and schnapps is increasing. But what can be expected from an army whose leader encourages them in all their excesses? Blucher by all accounts is a vandal and is actuated by a most vindictive spirit. The Prussians reproach the Belgians with being in the French interest; how can they expect it to be otherwise? They have prospered under French domination, and certainly the conduct of the Prussians is not calculated to inspire them with any love towards themselves nor veneration for the Sovereign who has such all-devouring allies. I asked this woman why she did not complain to the officers. She answered! "H��las, Monsieur, c'est inutile; on donne toujours la m��me r��ponse: 'Nichts verstehn,'" for it appears when these complaints are made the Prussian officers pretend not to understand French.
Namur is now the head-quarters of Marshal Blucher, who is in the enjoyment of divers noms de guerre, such as "Marshall Vorw?rts," "Der alte Teufel." On the high road, about two miles and a half before we reached Namur, we met with a party of Prussian lancers, who were returning from a foraging excursion. They were singing some warlike song or hymn, which was singularly impressive. It brought to my recollection the description of the Rhenish bands in the Lay of the Last Minstrel:
Who as they move, in rugged verse Songs of Teutonic feuds