334 THE BATTLE OF INKEEMAN. CHAP. VI. id Period. Forces that could be collet-tt'd to meet it. Tlio i)osi- lioTi3 they occupied. compact trunk from all the earlier perils of the advance, and brought it in unimpaired strength home up to the foot of the Ridge. How would this great trunk column be met by troops so dis- posed near the centre of the Eidge as to be able to take part in the struggle ? France and England were there ; but in what proportion and strength ? France had on the Eidge her battalion of the 7th L^ger, and some 60 fresh soldiers approach- ing would bring up her numbers here gathered to little short of 1000. As regards our own people, we shall not find that Upton's 120 men on our right, or Farren's 200 on our left, were withdrawn from their posts to meet the attack on our centre; and the only English troops destined to act in this threatened part of the field were the remnant of the 55th, now counting about 80 or 90, and the 170 men under the colours of the 57th, with besides Colonel Egerton's 200 coming up the ridge-side in support. These 450 English, when added to the numbers of the French, would bring up the Allies now awaiting attack to a strength of rather more than 1400. The remnant of the 55th, as before, was some way to the west of the Post-road, and on its left, though thrown forward diagonally a little beyond the crestwork, the men under the colours of the 57th were on that more advanced .strip of ground which we saw them directed to occupy ; * but the 7th L(jger on the right of the Post-road and Egerton's force on it-s left were still on the reverse slope.
- See ante, p. 322.
