The Copybook: Readings in history and literature

1

Bad Day at Waterloo by Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby

Frederick Ponsonby’s involvement in the Battle of Waterloo began early, and it seemed to him that it went on for ever.

2

The Button Man of Waterloo by Benjamin Robert Haydon

Amid all the confusion of the Battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington spotted a man in civilian clothes riding busily around on a stocky horse.

3

The Battle of Waterloo by Clay Lane

The Russians had checked it in the East, but in the West the expansion of Napoleon Bonaparte’s empire was far from over.

4

Wellington’s Cook by William Howitt

The hero of Waterloo needed all his men to believe in him that day, but none believed in him more than his cook.

5

Serjeant Munday by William Howitt

William Howitt had some advice for Victorian tourists hoping for an authentic experience at the battlefield of Waterloo.