4 their natural leaders, those who entertained this enthusiastic but delusive opinion may be pardoned for expressing their disappointment at the protracted warfare in the peninsula. There are, however, another class of persons, who, having themselves the highest dread or veneration, or something allied to both, for the power of the modern Attila, will nevertheless give the heroical Spaniards little or no credit for the long, subborn, and unsubdued resistance of three years to a power before whom their former well-prepared, well-armed, and numerous adversaries fell in the course of as many months. While these gentlemen plead for deference to Buonaparte, and crave Respect for his great place-and bid the devil Be duly honour'd for his burning throne, it may not be altogether unreasonable to claim some modification of cen sure upon those who have been long and to a great extent successfully resisting this great enemy of mankind. That the energy of Spain has not uniformly been directed by conduct equal to its vigour. has been too obvious; that her armies, under their complicated disadvantages, have shared the fate of such as were defeated after taking the field with every possible advantage of arms and discipline, is surely not to be wondered at. But that a nation, under the circumstances of repeated discomfiture, internal treason, and the mi-management incident to a temporary and hastily-adopted government, should have wasted, by its stubborn, uniform, and prolonged resistance, myriads after myriads of those soldiers who had overrun the world that some of its provinces should, like Gali cia, after being abandoned by their allies, and overrun by their enemies, have recovered their freedom by their own unassisted exertions-that others, like Catalonia, undismayed by the treason which betrayed some fortresses, and the force which subdued others, should not only have continued their resistance, but have atrained, over their victorious enemy, a superiority, which is even now enabling them to besiege and retake the places of strength which had been wrested from them, is a tale hitherto untold in the revolutionary war. NOTE VIII. They won not Zaragoza, but her children's bloody tomb. The interesting account of Mr. Vaughan has made most readers acquainted with the first siege of Zaragoza. The last and fatal siege of that gallant and devoted city is detailed with great eloquence and precision in the "Edinburgh Annual Register" for 1809,-a work in which the affairs of Spain have been treated of with attention corresponding to their deep interest, and to the peculiar sources of information open to the histórian. NOTE IX. The Vault of Destiny. Before finally dismissing the enchanted cavern of Don Roderick, it may be noticed, that the legend occurs in one of Calderon's plays, entitled "La Virgen del Sagrario." The scene opens with the noise of the chase, and Recisundo, a predecessor of Roderick upon the Gothic throne, enters pursuing a stag. The animal assumes the form of a man, and defies the king to enter the cave, which forms the bottom of the scene, and engage with him in single combat The king accepts the challenge, and they engage according y. but without advantage on either side, which induces the Genie to inform Recisundo, that he is not the monarch for whom the adventure of the enchanted cavern is reserved, and he proceeds to predict the downfal of the Gothic monarchy, and of the Christian religion, which shall attend the discovery of its mysteries. Recisundo, appalled by these prophecies, orders the cavern to be secured by a gate and bolts of iron. In the second part of the same play we are informed, that Don Roderick had removed the barrier and transgressed the prohibition of his ancestor, and had been apprised by the prodigies which he discovered of the approaching ruin of his kingdom. NOTES ON THE CONCLUSION. NOTE I. While downward on the land his legions press, Behind their wasteful march, a reeking wilderness. I have ventured to apply to the movements of the French army that sublime passage in the prophecies of Joel, which seems applicable to them in more respects than that I have adopted in the text. One would think their ravages, their military appointments, the terror which they spread among invaded nations, their military discipline, their arts of poli tical intrigue and de.eit, were distinctly pointed out in the following verses of Scripture: 2. "A day of darknesse and of gloominesse, a day of clouds and of thick darknesse, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong, there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the yeares of many generations. 3. "A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behinde them a disolate wildernesse, yea, and nothing shall escape them. 4. "The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses and as horsemen, so shall they runne. 3. "Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in bat ell array. 6. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blacknesse. 7. They shall run like mighty men, they shall climbe the wall like men of warre, and they shall march every one in his wayes, and they shall not break their ranks. 8. "Neither shall one thrust another, they shall walk every one in his path; and when they fall upon the sword they shall not be wounded. 9. They shall run to and fro in the citie; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climbe up upon the houses: they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. 10. "The earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall tremble, the sunne and the moon shall be darke, and the starres shall withdraw their shining." In verse 20th also, which announces the retreat of the northern army, described in such dreadful colours, into a "land barren and desolate," and the dishonour with which God afflicted them for having "magnified themselves to do great things," there are particulars not inapplicable to the retreat of Massena; Divine Providence having, in all ages, attached disgrace as the natural punishment of crue.ty and presumption. NOTE II. The rudest sentinel, in Britain born, Gave his poor crust to feed some wretch forlorn. Even the unexampled gallantry of the British army in the campaign of 1810-11, although they never fought but to conquer, will do them less honour in history than their humanity, attentive to soften, to the utmost of their power, the horrors which war, in its mildest aspect, must always inflict upon the defenceless inhabitants of the country in which it is waged, and which, on this occasion, were tenfold augmented by the barbarous cruelties of the French. Soup-kitchens were established by subscription among the officers, wherever the troops were quartered for any length of time. The commissaries contributed the heads, feet, &c., of the cattle slaughtered for the soldiery; rice, vegetables, and bread, where it could be had, were purchased by the officers. Fifty or sixty starving peasants were daily fed at one of these regimental establishments, and carried home the relics to their famished households. The emaciated wretches, who could not crawl for weakness, were speedily employed in pruning their vines. Is it possible to know such facts without feeling a sort of confidence, that those who so well deserve victory are most likely to attain it?-It is not the least of Lord Wellington's military merits, that the slightest disposition towards marauding meets immediate punishment. Independently of all modern obligation, the army which is most orderly in a friendly country, has always proved most formidable to an armed enemy. NOTE III. vain-glorious Fugitive! The French conducted this memorable retreat with much of the fanfaronnade proper to their country, by which they attempt to impose upon others, and perhaps on themselves, a belief that they are triumphing in the very moment of their discomfiture. On the 30th May, 1811, their rear-guard was overtaken near Pega by the British cavalry. Being well posted, and conceiving themselves safe from infantry (who were, indeed, many miles in the rear), and from artillery, they indulged them selves in parading their bands of music, and actually performed "God save the King." Their minstrelsy was, however, deranged by the unde sired accompaniment of the British horse-artillery, on whose part in the concert they had not calculated. The surprise was sudden, and the rout complete; for the artillery and cavalry did execution upon them for about four miles, pursuing at the gallop as often as they got beyond the range of the guns. NOTE IV. Vainly thy squadrons hide Assuava's plain, And front the flying thunders as they roar, With frantic charge and tenfold odds, in vain! In the severe action of Fuentes d'Honoro, upon 5th May, 1811, the grand mass of the French cavalry attacked the right of the British position, covered by two guns of the horse-artillery and two squadrons of cavalry. After suffering considerably from the fire of the guns, which annoyed them in every attempt to formation, the army turned their wrath entirely towards them, distributed brandy among their troopers, and advanced to carry the field-pieces with the desperation of drunken fury. They were in no ways checked by the heavy loss which they sustained in this daring attempt, but closed, and fairly mingled with the British cavalry, to whom they bore the proportion of ten to one. Captain Ramsay, who commanded the two guns, dismissed them at the gallop, and, putting himself at the head of the mounted artillery. men, ordered them to fall upon the French, sabre in hand. This ve y unexpected conversion of artille ymen into dragoons contributed grea ly to the defeat of the enemy; and the appearance of some small rein forcements of the enemy put them to absolute rout. A colonel or major of their cavalry, and many prisoners (almost all intoxicated) remained in our possession. NOTE V. And what avails thee that, for Cameron slain, Wild from his plaided ranks the yell was given He The gallant Colonel Cameron was wounded mortally during the desperate contest in the streets of the village called Fuentes d'Honoro fell at the head of his native Highlanders, the 71st and 79th, who raised a dreadful shriek of grief and rage. They charged with irresistible fury. the finest body of French grenadiers ever seen, being a part of Buona parte's selected guard. The officer who led the French, a man remarkable for stature and symmetry, was killed on the spot. The Frenchman who stepped out of his rank to take aim at Colonel Cameron, was also bayoneted, pierced with a thousand wounds, and almost torn to pieces by the furious highlanders, who, under the command of Colonel Cadogan, bore the enemy out of the contested ground at the point of the bayonet. Massena pays my c untrymen a singular compliment in his account of the attack and defence of this village, in which he says the British lost many officers, and Scotch. NOTE VI. Oh, who shall grudge him Aibuera's bays, Temper'd their headlong rage, their courage steel'd. Nothing during the war of Portugal seems, to a distinct observer, more deserving of praise, than the self-devotion of Field-Marshal Beresford, who was contented to undertake all the hazard of obloquy which might have been founded upon any miscarriage in the highly important experi ment of training the Portuguese troops to an improved state of discipline. In exposing his military reputation to the censure of imprudence from the most moderate, and all manner of unutterable calumnies from the ignorant and malignant, he placed at stake the dearest pledge which ali tary man had to offer, and nothing but the deepest conviction of the high and essential importance attached to success can be supposed an adequa e motive. How great the chance of miscarriage was supposed, may le estimated from the general op nion of officers of unquestioned talents and experience, possessed of every opportunity of information,-how com pletely the experiment has succeeded, and how much the spirit and patriotism of our ancient allies had been under-rated, is evident, not only from those victories in which they have borne a distinguished share, but from the liberal and highly honoured manner in which these opinious have been retracted. The success of this plan, with all its important consequences, we owe to the indefatigable exertions of Field-Marshal Beresford. NOTE VII. a race renown'd of old, Whose war-cry oft has waked the battle-swell. This stanza alludes to the various achievements of the warlike family of Græme, or Grahame. They are said, by tradition, to have descended from the Scottish chief, under whose command his countrymen stormed the wall built by the Emperor Severus between the Firths of Forth a d Clyde, the fragments of which are still popularly called Græme's Dyke. Sir John the Grahame, "the hardy wight, and wise," is well known as the friend of Sir William Wallace. Alderne, Kilsyth, and Tibbermuir, were scenes of the victories of the heroic Marquis of Montrose. The pas of Killy-crankie is famous for the action between King William's forces and the Highlanders in 1689, "Where glad Dundee in faint huzzas expired." It is seldom that one line can number so many heroes, and yet more rare when it can appeal to the glory of a living descendant in support of its ancient renown. The allusions to the private history and character of General Grahame may be illustrated by referring to the eloquent and affecting speech of Mr. Sheridan, upon tue vote of thanks to the Victor of Вагова. |