On the right, however, the Brunswickers were suffering heavily from
the cannonade of the French, and were only prevented from breaking by
the coolness of their chief. The Duke of Brunswick rode backward and
forward in front of them, smoking his pipe and chatting cheerfully
with his officers, seemingly unconscious of the storm of fire: and
even the most nervous of his young troops felt ashamed to show signs
of faltering when their commander and chief set them such an example.
Four guns, which at his request Wellington had sent to him, came up
and opened fire; but so completely were they overmatched that in five
minutes two were disabled and the other two silenced.
As soon as this was done two French columns of infantry, preceded by a
battalion in line, advanced along the edge of the wood, while a heavy
mass of cavalry advanced along the Ghent road, and threatened the
Brunswickers with destruction. The Brunswick, Dutch, and Belgian
skirmishers fell back before those of the French. The Duke of
Brunswick placed himself before a regiment of lancers and charged the
French infantry; but these stood steady, and received the lancers with
so heavy a fire that they retreated in confusion on Quatre Bras. The
duke now ordered the infantry to fall back in good order, but by this
time they were too shaken to do so.
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