cavalry, of which their Polish lancers were particularly active, causing us great loss. Major Arbuthnot, of the guards, was the officer selected to carry the dispatches to England.

18th. Lord Wellington arrived at Elvas, and there met Marshal Beresford. The 3d and 7th divisions, under the command of Generals Picton and Houston, arriving at the same time, the siege of Badajos was resumed with increased means and activity, under the auspices of Lord Wellington. At this period Major General Hill arrived from England, and relieved Marshal Beresford in the command of the corps which had followed the French army on the road to Seville.

June. Marshal Soult was not so crippled but that he determined upon making another effort to relieve Badajos. The army of Marshal Marmont having moved to the south by Placentia and the bridge of Almaraz, induced Sir Brent Spencer (upon whom the command of the army on the frontiers of Castile had devolved), to put his troops in motion, and marching by Castello Branco and Villa Velha, they joined Lord Wellington in the Alentejo about the time that Marshal Marmont arrived at Merida. The junc

tion of the two French armies being thus effected, they advanced again upon Albuera, where it was expected that another battle would have been fought; but Lord Wellington (probably not deeming the object worth so great a sacrifice) withdrew the army over the Guadiana, and posted it in a strong position near Elvas. Badajos was in consequence left in communication with the French army; and the two marshals made a pompous entry into the town. Having recruited and provisioned the garrison, they again left general Phillipon in command, and the French army, after reconnoitring our position, without daring to attack it, fell back again upon Seville and Merida, and, as Lord Wellington had foreseen, began to separate and disperse for the want of subsistence, which together with the increasing activity of the Spanish Guerillas, rendered it impossible for so large a force to remain assembled for any length of time in one province.

July 13th. We joined the camp near Elvas, having marched by Guarda, Belmonte, Castello Branco, Niza and Portalegre from Celorico, where we had been on

duty more than five weeks. Here we bivouacked in a little meadow by the side of a rivulet near the Quenta de St. Joze, and not far from the 1st division camp. We slept out four nights, and then got into a small convent.

22d. Head-quarters (to which I was now attached) set out for Portalegre. At o'clock at night we halted at a house by the road side in a wood, and requested admittance, which was refused under the plea of there being a doente or sick person in the house with an infectious fever; but we were too much accustomed to hear this excuse to be alarmed, and after a little altercation with the old woman we were admitted, and four of us slept upon the floor in the kitchen, in our blankets or boat-cloaks.

23d. Soon after sunrise we passed through Assumar, a little town pleasantly situated in a fine fruitful country, and arrived at Portalegre early in the day: here I obtained neat quarters. The people were extremely civil, and placed beds for us upon the floor, but we were obliged to move out on the following day, when the 1st division marched in,

and a change of quarters took place.--About this time Lieut.-General Sir Brent Spencer left the army, and General Graham (the hero of Barrosa) arrived as second in command. His Serene Highness the hereditary Prince of Orange joined Lord Wellington as extra aide-de-camp.

20th. Late in the afternoon, after the heat of the day had subsided, the 1st division and head-quarters marched out of Portalegre. I slept in a field near Alpalhão, and passed the night very miserably.

31st. Passing through Niza, we crossed the river Tagus this afternoon in boats, and slept under a tree near Villa Velha. The light division had hutted themselves with the boughs of trees on the banks of the river.

August 1st. We moved on to Castello Branco, and remained there seven days, during which time the troops crossed the Tagus, excepting the 2d division and four regiments of cavalry, which were to remain in the Alentejo, under the command of General Hill, whose head-quarters were fixed at Estremoz. Marshal Soult had withdrawn his troops en-tirely from Spanish Estremadura, and

Marmont re-crossed the Tagus at Almaraz, leaving a French corps of observation on the frontiers near a village called Arroyos dos Molinos. The celebrated Heroine of Saragosa was at Castello Branco at this time, and called one morning at the Commissary General's office. In the memorable siege of Saragosa, sustained by the patriot Palafox, where the inhabitants and women of the place assisted in bringing balls and ammunition to the batteries; the husband of this extraordinary woman, holding an impor tant command, was killed in her presence. The fall of this officer was about to be followed by the loss of the battery, when in an animated tone she addressed the troops, and by her personal intrepidity and address so rallied them, that they not only repulsed the enemy, but in a successful sortie beat them back from the walls. For this extraordinary act she was at her own request rewarded with a commission in the Spanish army, in which she ranks as a field officer.

4th. Head-quarters left Castello Branco, and were fixed at the village of Fuentes de Guinaldo, a few miles on the Spanish side of