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illuminated by the sweep of bursting shells , while the flashing of exploding magazines varied the . horrors of the scene . To this were added the hush of the spectators , the gloom of night , the intense
conviction that a year ' s struggle , with its heroism and endurance , its daring courage and inflexible determination , was approaching its culminating point ; and it may be imagined that these hours ¦ of silent watching , this deadly display of fireworks , were such as a lifetime could not efface from the memory
Still we stood and ^ gazed : at last there was a lull m the iron , storm , it broke the spell , and we turned to pursue our homeward route . Day had fully dawned when we reached the yacht . We were all much exhausted , but determined to renew our watch to-night .
7 th , —A repetition of yesterday : at night the ladies ventured to the same ground we had : occupied the night before , and were deeply affected by the awful magnificence of the scene . The colonel has got us passes for Cathcart's Hill , whence we shall have a tolerable view . We are determined to remain there till after the assault , which they say is to take place at noon
to-morrow . Miss P . implored her brother , even with tears , not to venture : he pacified her by saying he would only go to the old ground ; but begged she would not be frightened if he did not return till evening next day , —thus leaving himself free to go as he liked .
The town is almost deserted to-day : the tourists and stragglers pressing to the front . At night we hastened to Cathcart ' s Hill . Here a crowd of military were collected , sprinkled with a few distinguished civilians : the cannonade continued in salvoes , and various fires appeared .
8 th . —Had breakfast early this morning m H . ' s tent . He is attached to the light division , poor fellow , and , as he pressed whatever his camp-fare offered of greatest delicacy upon us , I could not keep myself from conjecturing how soon this brilliant young creature might be lying amid a heap of dead or wounded .
I made no attempt to join the jocular tone which was assumed by the party generally . They soon however dispersed , and Sir Arthur and I lay down to snatch a moment ' s repose , as the assault was not to take place before noon . The memorable events of the 8 th have been so lately and so
graphically laid before you in the public journals that I suppress attempts to record my own impressions of that terrible day . The approach of the French to the Malakoff was superb . I can compare it to nothing but the burst of an eager pack reckless of every difficulty , and intent only on the game before them . But it was an awful sight to see our line fellows , our brother
Englishmen , inarch down so proudly to the harvest of death , on the fatal space that intervened between our trenches and the IJedan ! 1 could not , if I would , describe what followed : it is a fearful confusion of smoke and musketry , and a distant din of battle borne
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
illuminated by the sweep of bursting shells , while the flashing of exploding magazines varied the . horrors of the scene . To this were added the hush of the spectators , the gloom of night , the intense
conviction that a year ' s struggle , with its heroism and endurance , its daring courage and inflexible determination , was approaching its culminating point ; and it may be imagined that these hours ¦ of silent watching , this deadly display of fireworks , were such as a lifetime could not efface from the memory
Still we stood and ^ gazed : at last there was a lull m the iron , storm , it broke the spell , and we turned to pursue our homeward route . Day had fully dawned when we reached the yacht . We were all much exhausted , but determined to renew our watch to-night .
7 th , —A repetition of yesterday : at night the ladies ventured to the same ground we had : occupied the night before , and were deeply affected by the awful magnificence of the scene . The colonel has got us passes for Cathcart's Hill , whence we shall have a tolerable view . We are determined to remain there till after the assault , which they say is to take place at noon
to-morrow . Miss P . implored her brother , even with tears , not to venture : he pacified her by saying he would only go to the old ground ; but begged she would not be frightened if he did not return till evening next day , —thus leaving himself free to go as he liked .
The town is almost deserted to-day : the tourists and stragglers pressing to the front . At night we hastened to Cathcart ' s Hill . Here a crowd of military were collected , sprinkled with a few distinguished civilians : the cannonade continued in salvoes , and various fires appeared .
8 th . —Had breakfast early this morning m H . ' s tent . He is attached to the light division , poor fellow , and , as he pressed whatever his camp-fare offered of greatest delicacy upon us , I could not keep myself from conjecturing how soon this brilliant young creature might be lying amid a heap of dead or wounded .
I made no attempt to join the jocular tone which was assumed by the party generally . They soon however dispersed , and Sir Arthur and I lay down to snatch a moment ' s repose , as the assault was not to take place before noon . The memorable events of the 8 th have been so lately and so
graphically laid before you in the public journals that I suppress attempts to record my own impressions of that terrible day . The approach of the French to the Malakoff was superb . I can compare it to nothing but the burst of an eager pack reckless of every difficulty , and intent only on the game before them . But it was an awful sight to see our line fellows , our brother
Englishmen , inarch down so proudly to the harvest of death , on the fatal space that intervened between our trenches and the IJedan ! 1 could not , if I would , describe what followed : it is a fearful confusion of smoke and musketry , and a distant din of battle borne