 in a cloth; then robbing me of my money and jewels,
even to my shoe-buckles and sleeve-buttons, took my footman's laced hat, and
gave it, by way of gratification, to a peasant, who came from behind the bushes,
and assisted them in packing.
    This affair being dispatched, they ordered us to return to the road, by a
different way from that in which we were carried into the wood; and mounting
their horses, rode off with the plunder, though not before the little fellow,
who was the least ferocious of the two, had come and shaken me by the hand,
wishing us a good journey; a compliment which I heartily returned, being
extremely well pleased at the retreat of two such companions, who had detained
us a whole half hour; during which, notwithstanding the assurance I had
received, I was in continual apprehension of seeing their operation conclude
with the murder of us all; for I supposed they were of that gang, who had some
time before murthered a French officer, and used a lady extremely ill, after
having rifled her of all she had.
    Having thus undergone pillage, and being reduced to the extremity of
indigence in a foreign land, it is not to be supposed that my reflections were
very comfortable; and yet, though I sustained the whole damage, I was the only
person in the company who bore the accident with any resolution and presence of
mind. My coachman and valet seemed quite petrified with fear; and it was not,
till I had repeated my directions, that the former drove farther into the wood,
and took the first turning to the right, in order to regain the road, according
to the command of the robbers, which I did not choose to disobey.
    This misfortune I suffered by the misinformation I received at Antwerp,
where I would have provided myself with an escort, had I not been assured, that
there was not the least occasion to put myself to such extraordinary expence:
and indeed, the robbers took the only half hour in which they could have had an
opportunity of plundering us; for we no sooner returned into the Highway, than
we met with the French artillery coming from Brussels, which was a security to
us, during the rest of our journey. We were afterwards informed at a small
village, that there was actually a large gang of deserters, who harboured in
that wood, from which they made excursions in the neighbourhood, and kept the
peasants in continual alarms.
    Having proceeded a little way, we were stopp'd by the artillery crossing a
