Soon after his entrance into France in 1813, Wellington rested his troops for a time, as also did the French commander. During this short term of inaction, the opposing outposts became quite friendly with one another. The soldiers even established a traffic in brandy in the following ingenious manner. A large stone was placed near the French sentry post, on which the British would put a canteen with a quarter-dollar, for which it would soon be filled with brandy.
One day, three French officers took a table and some chairs out of a house, and bringing them down into the middle of the field which separated the two armies, sat down and drank wine, holding up their glasses as much as to say "Your health" every time they drank.
威靈頓一八一三年揮軍入法國之後不久，讓將士稍為休息，法軍司令同時休兵。在這段短暫的休戰期間，敵對雙方前哨人員變得頗為友好，甚至建立了巧妙的白蘭地酒交易方式：他們在法軍哨站附近，放一塊大石。英軍會在石上放水壺一個，二角五分錢幣一枚。那水壺很快就會盛滿二角五分錢的白蘭地酒。
有一天，三個法國軍官從房子裏搬出一張桌子和幾張椅子，拿到分隔兩軍的原野中央，坐下喝酒，每喝一次，就舉起酒杯，似乎是說：「敬祝健康！」