"On this day Buonaparte kept his own opposed to our army, notwithstanding he neutralized one of his whole divisions, and he totally defeated the Russian army with a loss, according to their own accounts, of twenty-five thousand men, as their total loss as returned by themselves was upwards of thirty-three thousand: and they could not at Wavre and Waterloo have lost five thousand men.
"The next morning we received orders to retire, and to cover the retreat of the army into the lines at Mont St. Jean. The infantry retired by the high road: the cavalry were formed in line: and the different brigades fronted alternately to prevent the advance of the enemy's cavalry and cannon.
"Notwithstanding the torrents of rain which fell, the French continued to press us closely: their light cavalry charged ours on the road and drove them back: when Lord Uxbridge, seeing them do so, charged at the head of a regiment of the Life Guards and completely upset them, they being unable to stand against the superior weight of the men and horse of the household troops. At this moment it rained in such a way as I never saw either before or since: it rained as if the water were tumbled out of tubs: there was also a good deal of thunder with it. Some of the hussars that were driven in upon us were so covered with mud that it was impossible to distinguish their features. The ground was so soft that at every step our horses sank half way to the knees: and in several places, in our passing over fallow land, it had the appearance of a lake, the rain falling upon it faster than it could either be absorbed or run off. It continued to rain and we to retire till we halted for the night in the position of Mont St. Jean: we were placed in bivouac at the distance of three hundred yards from the front of a farm house which lay between us and the village of Waterloo. The firing of cannon continued till it was dark: but as it was on the other side of the hill we saw nothing of what passed, hearing merely the cannonade. It continued to rain and thunder during the whole of the night: being hungry and cold, and wet through to the skin, we passed a most wretched night: the ground upon which we lay was a fallow upon which it was impossible to lie: we therefore obtained some straw at the farm house: we found there also some wood with which we made a fire, although from the rain it was difficult to keep it burning....