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a storm, and took possession of the dismantled fort, before morning effected a solid lodgment, and although the French cannonaded the work with field artillery all the next day, the garrison was immoveable. Early in March a more minute survey of the general state of the defensive works was made, when it appeared that the force then assigned was quite inadequate, and that to secure it against the efforts of the enemy, twenty thousand soldiers, and a series of redoubts and batteries, requiring the labour of four thousand men for three months, were absolutely necessary; and yet an unaccountable apathy prevailed. In vain did the English engineers present plans, and offer to construct works; the Spaniards would never consent to pull down a house, or destroy a garden; and had the enemy been then prepared to press onward vigorously, the city must have been lost by procrastination so fatal. One word more for Matagorda. The capture of this place by a few intrepid men has been mentioned. Though frequently cannonaded, it had been held fifty-five days, and contributed to prevent the completion of the enemy's works at the Troccadero point. This small fort, of a square form, without a ditch, with bomb-proofs insufficient for the garrison, and with one angle projecting towards the land, was little calculated for resistance; and, as it could only bring seven guns to bear, a Spanish seventy-four, and an armed flotilla, were moored on the flanks to co-operate in the defence. The French had, however, raised great batteries behind some houses on the Troccadero, and, as day-light broke on the 21st of April, a hissing shower of heated shot falling on the seventy-four, and in the midst of the flotilla, obliged them to cut their cables and take shelter under the works of Cadiz. Then the fire of forty-eight guns and mortars of the largest size was concentrated upon the

little fort of Matagorda, and the feeble parapet disappeared in a moment before this crashing flight of metal. The naked rampart, and the undaunted hearts of the garrison remained; but the troops fell fast, the enemy shot quick and close; a staff, bearing the Spanish flag, was broken six times in an hour, and the colours were at last fastened to the angle of the work itself; while the men, especially the sailors, besought the officers to hoist the British ensign, attributing the slaughter to their fighting under a foreign flag. Thirty hours the tempest lasted, and sixty-four men out of one hundred and forty were down, when General Graham sent boats to carry off the survivors. The bastion was then blown up, under the direction of Major Lefebre, an engineer of great promise; and he also fell,-the last man whose blood wetted the ruins thus abandoned. An action must be here recorded truly heroic. A Serjeant's wife, named Retson, was in a casemate with the wounded men, when a very young drummer was ordered to fetch water from the well of the fort. Seeing the child hesitate, she snatched the vessel from his hand, braving the terrible cannonade herself; and although a shot cut the bucket-cord from her hand, she recovered the vessel, and fulfilled her mission. In July, the British force in Cadiz was increased to eight thousand five hundred men, and Sir Richard Keats arrived to take the command of the fleet. The operations of the besiegers were thus greatly checked; and the mighty lines, constructed with so much labour and skill, led to little or nothing.

As the spring of the year advanced, the operations of the campaign became increasingly extended and important. Reinforcements from France continued to crowd the roads. The command of these collected forces, which included seventeen thousand of the Imperial Guards, was entrusted to Massena,

Prince of Essling, on account of his great name in arms. Under his auspices Ney commenced the first siege of Ciudad Rodrigo; and if he expected to carry it without delay, it only shows that, like some of his predecessors, he was liable to mistake. The present Governor, Don Andreas Herrasti, was a veteran of fifty years' service, whose silver hairs, dignified countenance, and courteous manners excited respect; and whose courage, talents, and honour were worthy of his venerable appearance. His garrison amounted to six thousand fighting men, besides the citizens; and the place, built on a height overhanging the northern bank of the Agueda river, was amply supplied with artillery and stores of all kinds. The works were, however, weak. There were no bomb-proofs, and Herrasti was obliged to place his powder in the church for security. The country immediately about Ciudad Rodrigo, although wooded, was easy for troops, especially on the left bank of the Agueda, to which the garrison had access by a stone bridge within pistol shot of the castle-gate. But the Agueda itself rising in the Sierra de Francia, and running into the Douro, is subject to great and sudden floods; and six or seven miles below the town, near San Feliceo, the channel deepens into one continued and frightful chasm, many hundred feet deep, and overhung with huge desolate rocks. Towards the end of April a French camp was formed, upon a lofty ridge five miles eastward of the city, and in a few days a second, and then a third arose. These portentous clouds continued to gather on the hills until June, when fifty thousand fighting men came down into the plain, and, throwing two bridges over the Agueda, begirt the fortress. In the night of the 22d, Julian Sanchez, with two hundred horsemen, passed silently out of the castle-gate, and, crossing the river, fell upon the nearest French posts, pierced

their line in a moment, and reached the English light division then behind the Azava, six miles from Ciudad Rodrigo. We cheerfully received the party, and three days after this feat the batteries opened. The assailants were warmly received. Three of their magazines, by the fire of the besieged, blew up, and killed above a hundred men. On the 27th the Prince of Essling arrived in the camp, and summoned the Governor to surrender. Herrasti answered in the manner to be expected from so good a soldier; and the fire was resumed, until the 1st of July, when Massena, sensible that the mode of attack was faulty, directed the engineers to raise counter-batteries, to push on their parallels, work regularly forward, blow in the counterscarp, and pass the ditch in form. On the 9th of July the besiegers' batteries re-opened with terribleeffect. In twenty-four hours the fire of the Spanish guns was nearly silenced, part of the town was in flames, a reserve magazine exploded on the walls, the counterscarp was blown in by a mine, on an extent of thirty-six feet, the ditch filled by ruins, and a broad way made into the place. At this moment three French soldiers, suddenly running out of the ranks, mounted the breach, looked into the town, and having thus in broad day-light proved the state of affairs, discharged their muskets, and with singular success retired unhurt. The columns of assault immediately assembled. The troops, animated by the presence of Ney, were impatient for the signal to advance. A few minutes would have sent them raging into the midst of the city; when the white flag waved on the rampart, and the venerable Governor was seen standing alone on the ruins, and signifying by his gestures that he desired to capitulate. The defence made did no discredit to the parties. Every one lent a hand. The inhabitants contributed largely in maintaining the

vigour and resolution of the garrison. Women and children, and even the blind, were earnestly engaged in providing necessaries for the fighting men. who were unable to bear arms encouraged those who Those could. Indeed it was to the spirit of determined resistance prevailing among the people generally within the walls that the powerful force without was so long detained there. Above forty thousand shells had been thrown into the place, and not a house remained uninjured.

One of the favourite designs of Napoleon at this period was to establish his power in Portugal. This the British Government was determined, if possible, to prevent; and the person selected to direct the defence of our ancient ally was Lord Wellington. Confidence was felt in no other; and it was a question whether any other military leader was in all respects properly qualified for the arduous undertaking. When his Lordship required thirty thousand men for the defence of Portugal, he considered the number that could be fed rather than what was necessary to fight the enemy. On this principle he asserted that success must depend on the exertions and devotedness of the native forces. Two points were to be secured at the very onset. One was, to concert measures by which sustenance might be secured for the united British and Portuguese army; and the other to devise plans by which the enemy should be deprived of supplies, whenever and wherever he entered the country. In effecting this latter purpose it was demanded, (for the exactions of war are necessarily rigorous,) that the people should destroy their mills, remove their boats, break down their bridges, lay waste their fields, abandon their dwellings, and carry off their property, on whatever line the invader should penetrate; while the entire population, converted into soldiers, and closing on the