I shall write to you again when we are over the mountains, which will be about the 24th. Tell aunt I hope Fritz has by this time joined the Russians. She inquires about the Prince of Orange; nothing can be more kind than his behaviour whenever we meet. I have not mentioned him lately, not having been in the way of seeing him since the army came into quarters.

Remember me to the Douglases when you meet with any of them; I shall not write to Sir Howard till we reach Braganza.'

Outeiro: May 24, 1813.

We reached this place yesterday, guns and all. My guns behaved very well, but their officers required more driving than their horses; and had I not been more interested than they in the success of the enterprise, there was, on more occasions than one, opposition enough to have turned an obstinate man from his opinion. The weather fought against us at the beginning, but it is now settled summer, and we shall fry for the next five months. We halt here to-day and to-morrow, and then make four days' march to Losilla, a place about a league on this side the Esla, and five from Zamora.

There are a few thousand French beyond the Esla, and Zamora is garrisoned. We have four divisions of the army in this neighbourhood, and a large body of cavalry. A battering train will be with us directly. The French cannot hold Zamora long. Henry must certainly be with the Salamanca column. I have not heard from him very lately. I dare say his division had moved before my letter could have reached Rio Torto, in which I apprised him of our movements. I am expecting a letter from you.

A mail has arrived, but we have not yet received half the letters that are due to us, although I dare say we shall get them before we leave this.

'I have had no time to devote to ague since I last wrote to you, and it has deserted me like sea-sickness after one reaches the shore.

I shall ride over to Braganza to-morrow if there is nothing to do. I have rather a curiosity to see it.'

'You see we have been walking through the country without interruption since I last wrote to you, and I think are likely to continue doing so till we reach the Ebro. The whole army is on this side the Duero, and, including the Spaniards, we are advancing with a force little short of a hundred thousand men. The French can oppose nothing like this to us until we reach the Ebro. You will have seen how much we were in the dark about the movements of the 7th Division when I last wrote. I had a visit from Henry He the other day; he was encamped a few miles from us. is very well, and growing fat for want of work. To-day he must be several leagues from us We compose part of the left column, under the immediate command of Sir Thomas Graham. Next to Lord Wellington's self, there is no one who will take so good care of us. He is looking remarkably well, and, although he has not quite recovered the use of his sight, there are no fears entertained of his suffering in this respect from fatigue. We shall move to-morrow in the direction of Valencia.

I have just heard that Sir James Leith has landed at Lisbon, and means to join us immediately. I need not tell you it gives me great satisfaction. On the subject of snuff, tell aunt that it has nearly the same attraction for me that Falstaff describes rebellion to have had for Percy, "It lay in his way, and he found it;" but I should like to know how she found out that snuff had any charm for me.

The people of this town have received us most graciously. For want of something else to do, we have been laying ourselves out a good deal for receiving the compliments of the season; and we find it such a favoured spot by nature, that it almost tempts one seriously to think the Spanish women grow handsomer every year.'

Sotresgudo: June 12, 1813.

The army halts to-day. Our column is within one day's march of the Ebro, the head-quarters at Castrojeriz. The 7th Division are too much to the right for Henry's convenience and mine. We have not met since I last wrote to you.

We have had some bad weather since we left Rio Seco, and I am afraid we have not yet got rid of it. I hope you will admire in England the rapidity with which we have brought 80,000 men to the banks of the Ebro,' in the face of about as many French, somewhere to be found, they say, but we know as little where, I believe, at present, as they know of us. Certain it is, that this fine movement of Lord Wellington's has taken their plans as much aback as their positions, and I am expecting some brilliant result, shortly after we shall have effected the passage of the Ebro, in this part.

'I regret that our business has not led us as high up as Regnosa, for I have an idle piece of curiosity that I should like to indulge--that of visiting the sources of the Ebro. This fine river is said to be distinguished from all others in

'What will they say in England when the story there is told?' was the first thought then, as it ever is with our men when fighting their country's battles abroad. What they did say in England at the time was simply to record the fact of the advance of Lord Wellington's army and the retreat of the French, evidently not appreciating the value and excellence of what they recorded. What, a few years afterwards, was the opinion of the profoundest of military students and the ablest of war historians, is as follows:- Let those who understand war say whether the English General's mastery of the line of the Douro was an effort worthy of the man and his army. Let them have all the combinations, follow the movement of Graham's columns, some of which marched 150, some more than 250 miles through the wild districts of Tras-os-Montes. Through those regions, held to be nearly impracticable for small corps, 40,000 men, infantry, cavalry, artillery, and pontoons had been carried and placed as if by a supernatural power upon the Esla, before the enemy knew even that they were in movement. Was it fortune or skill that presided? Not fortune, for the difficulties were such that Graham arrived later on the Esla than Wellington intended, and yet so soon that the enemy could take no advantage of the delay. Wellington had, as we have seen, prepared the means of outnumbering the king's army both upon the Douro and the Upper and Lower Eslas, and all these combinations, these surprising exertions, had been made merely to gain a fair field of battle.'-Napier's Peninsular War, vol. v., chap. vii.

this respect, that it does not rise imperceptibly, in many small streams, which, after running a certain course, unite, and take the name of a river; but that it is the Ebro from its beginning, gushing impetuously from several large cisterns in the mountains above Regnosa, and forming at once a mighty river. We have lately been marching through a flat, rich country, but very difficult to get through after much rain. We shall shortly get among the mountains, and make acquaintance with the younger branches of the Pyrenean family.

'I have had some slight attacks of ague since I crossed the Douro, but a change of bank never fails to repulse the fiend. These attacks, indeed, as I have called them, have been so slight, and have caused me so little inconvenience, that I should not have thought of noticing them in writing to you were I not fearful that aunt might discover I had ague fits, through the same channel that brought her the intelligence the other day of my being a snuffer of snuff!

'I am anxious to cross the Ebro, and to know something more than we do at present of the French positions. They seem to be quite unprepared to meet the force Lord Wellington has collected, and to meet it in the way in which he has disposed of it. The guerilla force, under Mina and Longa, will join us immediately, and I think Lord Wellington will have a disposable force little short of 150,000 men upon the Ebro.'

CHAPTER XIV.

1813.

BATTLE OF VITTORIA-BEFORE SAN SEBASTIAN-FAILURE OF ASSAULTWANT OF ENGINEERING CARE-THE DESPATCH OF VITTORIA-BROTHER (LIEUTENANT-COLONEL HENRY GOMM) SEVERELY WOUNDED IN BATTLE

OF PYRENEES-CAPTURE OF SAN SEBASTIAN-TOWN BURNT.

Eredia, three leagues from Vittoria, on the Pamplona Road: June 22, 1813. I AM much afraid my letter will not arrive in time at head-quarters to keep pace with the despatches, but I could not make up my mind to write to you till I had heard something about Henry. We have not yet been able to meet, or to write to each other; but I have so many assurances of his safety, from those who were able to give me information, and I have so much reason to believe that the 6th were not engaged, or very slightly, that nothing but a direct assurance from himself that he is well could make me feel easier than I do on his account. Besides, I dare say he is writing to you himself.

'We attacked the French army yesterday upon the plain of Vittoria, and have beaten them soundly. The 5th Division have again had their full share of employment. We carried by storm the village of Gamarra Mayor, on the flank of the French army, and thereby cutting off their retreat by the Bayonne road. It was a post of the utmost importance to the enemy, and they knew it; for they defended the village obstinately, and charged the bridge over the Zadora river repeatedly after we had taken possession of it. Our loss has, therefore, been severe, particularly from the 4th, 47th, 59th, and Royal regiments, which were the first that advanced upon the village; but judges say we have added to our

1 See Lord Wellington's despatch of this date, extracts from which are given as a foot-note in page 313.