... the Little Corporal lost his last throw of the dice, at Waterloo, where he didn't surrender, pace Benny and Bjorn. It is salutary (or at least it is to me) to think that it's still (just) less than two centuries ago (or put it this way: without stretching the bounds of possibility too far, you could still meet someone [born, say, 1930] who had met someone [born, say, 1860] who had met someone who had fought at the battle) and think about the change since then.