were every day discovered and suffocated. Meantime, the bombardment was incessantly kept up. Within the last forty-eight hours, said Palafox in a letter to his friend General Doyle, 6000 shells have been thrown in. Two-thirds of the town are in ruins, but we shall perish under the ruins of the remaining third rather than surrender.' In the course of the siege, above 17,000 bombs were thrown at the town; the stock of powder with which Zaragoza had been stored was exhausted; they had none at last but what they manufactured day by day; and no other cannon-citizens, and soldiers, came to the defence, and balls than those which were shot into the town, and which they collected and fired back upon the enemy." altar, became a point of defence, which was repeatedly attacked, taken, and retaken; the pavement was covered with blood, the aisles and body of the church strewed with the dead, who were trampled under foot by the combatants. In the midst of this conflict, the roof, shattered by repeated bombs, fell in; the few who were not crushed, after a short pause, which this tremendous shock, and their own unexpected escape, occasioned, renewed the fight with rekindled fury: fresh parties of the enemy poured in; monks and the contest was continued upon the ruins, and the bodies of the dead and the dying." Yet, seventeen days after sustaining these extremities, did the heroic inhabitants of Zaragoza continue their defence; nor did they then surrender until their despair had extracted from the French generals à capitulation, more honourable than has been granted to fortresses of the first order. In the midst of these horrors and privations, the pestilence broke out in Zaragoza. To various causes, enumerated by the annalist, he adds, "scantiness of food, crowded quarters, unusual exertion of body, anxiety of mind, and the impossibility of recruiting their exhausted strength by needful rest, in a city Who shall venture to refuse the Zaragozans which was almost incessantly bombarded, and the eulogium conferred upon them by the elowhere every hour their sleep was broken by quence of Wordsworth!" Most gloriously the tremendous explosion of mines. There have the citizens of Zaragoza proved that the was now no respite, either by day or night, true army of Spain, in a contest of this nature, for this devoted city; even the natural order is the whole people. The same city has also of light and darkness was destroyed in Zara-exemplified a melancholy, yea, a dismal truth, goza; by day it was involved in a red sulphureous atmosphere of smoke, which hid the face of heaven; by night, the fire of cannons and mortars, and the flames of burning houses, kept it in a state of terrific illumination. yet consolatory and full of joy,-that when a people are called suddenly to fight for their liberty, and are sorely pressed upon, their best field of battle is the floors upon which their children have played; the chambers where "When once the pestilence had begun, it the family of each man has slept, (his own or was impossible to check its progress, or confine his neighbours';) upon or under the roofs by it to one quarter of the city. Hospitals were which they have been sheltered; in the gardens immediately established, -there were above of their recreation; in the street, or in the thirty of them; as soon as one was destroyed market-place; before the altars of their temby the bombardment, the patients were re-ples, and among their congregated dwellings, moved to another, and thus the infection was blazing or uprooted. carried to every part of Zaragoza. Famine aggravated the evil; the city had probably not been sufficiently provided at the commencement of the siege, and of the provisions which it contained, much was destroyed in the daily ruin which the mines and bombs had effected. Had the Zaragozans and their garrison proceeded according to military rules, they would have surrendered before the end of January; their batteries had then been demolished, there were open breaches in many parts of their weak walls, and the enemy were already within the city. On the 30th, above sixty houses were blown up, and the French obtained possession of the monasteries of the Augustines and Las Monicas, which adjoined each other, two of the last defensible places left. The enemy forced their way into the church; every column, every chapel, every "The government of Spain must never forget Zaragoza for a moment. Nothing is wanting to produce the same effects everywhere, but a leading mind, such as that city was blessed with. In the latter contest this has been proved; for Zaragoza contained, at that time, bodies of men from almost all parts of Spain. The narrative of those two sieges should be the manual of every Spaniard. He may add to it the ancient stories of Numantia and Saguntum; let him sleep upon the book as a pillow, and, if he be a devout adherent to the religion of his country, let him wear it in his bosom for his crucifix to rest upon."WORDSWORTH on the Convention of Cintra.. NOTE 12. The Vault of Destiny.-P. 199. Before finally dismissing the enchanted 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 battel array. 6. Before their face shall the people be much pained; all faces shall gather blacknesse. 7. They shall run like mighty men, they shall climb 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 dark, and the starres shail withdraw their shining." cavern of Don Roderick, it may be noticed, that the legend occurs in one of Calderon's plays, entitled La Virgin 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 accordingly, 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 downfall 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, In verse 20th also, which announces the rewe are informed that Don Roderick had re-treat of the northern army, described in such moved the barrier, and transgressed the pro- dreadful colours, into a land barren and hibition of his ancestor, and had been apprized desolate," and the dishonour with which God by the prodigies which he discovered of the afflicted them for having "magnified themapproaching ruin of his kingdom. selves 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 cruelty and presumption. NOTE 13. While downward on the land his legions press, Before them it was rich with vine and flock, And smiled like Eden in her summer dress; Behind their wasteful march, a reeking wilderness.-P. 200. 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 political intrigue and deceit, 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 desolate wilderness, yea, and nothing shall escape them. 4. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they runne. 5. Like the NOTE 14. The rudest sentinel, in Britain born, With horror paused to view the havoc done, Gave his poor crust to feed some wretch forlorn.-P. 201. 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 from weakness, were speedily employed in pruning their vines. While pursuing Massena, the soldiers evinced the same spirit of humanity, and in many instances, when reduced themselves to short allowance, from having out-marched their supplies, they shared their pittance with the starving inhabitants, who had ventured back to view the ruins of their habitations, burnt by the retreating enemy, and to bury the bodies of their relations whom they had butchered. 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 moral obligation, the army which is most orderly in a friendly country, has always proved most formidable to an armed enemy. NOTE 15. Vain-glorious fugitive !-P. 201. tempt at formation, the enemy 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 nowise 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, (let me be permitted to name a gallant countryman,) who commanded the two guns, dismissed them at the gallop, and putting himself at the head of the mounted artillerymen, ordered them to fall upon the French, sabre-in-hand. This very unexpected conversion of artillerymen into dragoons, contributed greatly to the defeat of the enemy already disconcerted by the reception they had met from the two British squadrons; and the appearance of some small reinforcements, notwithstanding the immense disproportion of force, put them to absolute rout. A colonel or major of their cavalry, and many prisoners, (almost all intoxicated,) remained in our possession. Those who consider for a moment the difference of the services, and how much an artilleryman is necessarily and naturally led to identify his own safety and utility with abiding by the tremendous implement of war, to the exercise of which he is chiefly, if timate the presence of mind which commanded not exclusively, trained, will know how to esso bold a manœuvre, and the steadiness and confidence with which it was executed. NOTE 17. And what avails thee that, for Cameron slain, Wild from his plaided ranks the yell was given.-P. 201. 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 March 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 themselves in parading their bands of music, and actually performed "God save the King." Their minstrelsy was, however, deranged by the undesired accompaniment of the British horse-artillery, on whose part in the concert they had not calculated. The surprise was The gallant Colonel Cameron was wounded sudden, and the rout complete; for the artil-mortally during the desperate contest in the lery and cavalry did execution upon them for streets of the village called Fuentes d'Honoro. about four miles, pursuing at the gallop as He fell at the head of his native Highlanders, often as they got beyond the range of the guns. 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 Bonaparte's selected guard. The officer who led the French, a man remarkable for stature and The symmetry, was killed on the spot. Frenchman who stepped out of his rank to In the severe action of Fuentes d'Honoro, take aim at Colonel Cameron was also bayoupon 5th May, 1811, the grand mass of the neted, pierced with a thousand wounds, and French cavalry attacked the right of the almost torn to pieces by the furious HighBritish position, covered by two guns of the landers, who, under the command of Colonel horse-artillery, and two squadrons of cavalry. Cadogan, bore the enemy out of the contested After suffering considerably from the fire of ground at the point of the bayonet. Massena the guns, which annoyed them in every at-pays my countrymen a singular compliment NOTE 16. Vainly thy squadrons hide Assuava's plain, And front the flying thunders as they roar, With frantic charge and tenfold odds, in vain -P. 201. In his account of the attack and defence of this village, in which he says the British lost many officers, and Scotch. NOTE 18. O who shall grudge him Albuera's bays, Who brought a race regenerate to the field, Roused them to emulate their fathers' praise, Temper'd their headlong rage, their courage steel'd, And raised fair Lusitania's fallen shield. P. 202. the liberal and highly honourable manner in — a race renown'd of old, the conquering shout of Grame.—P. 203. 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 Friths of Forth and Clyde, the fragments of which are still popularly called Græme's Dyke. Sir John the Græme, "the hardy, wight, and wise," is well known as the friend of Sir William Wallace. Alderne, Kilsythe, and Tibbermuir, were scenes of the victories of the heroic Marquis of Montrose. The pass of Killycrankie is famous for the action between King William's forces and the Highlanders in 1689, 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 experiment 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 a military man had to offer, and nothing but the deepest conviction of the high and essential importance attached to success can be supposed an adequate motive. How great the chance of miscarriage was supposed, may be estimated from the general opinion of officers of unquestioned talents and experience, possessed of every opportunity of information; how completely the experiment has succeeded, and The allusions to the private history and how much the spirit and patriotism of our character of General Grahame may be illusancient allies had been underrated, is evident,trated by referring to the eloquent and affectnot only from those victories in which they ing speech of Mr. Sheridan, upon the vote of have borne a distinguished share, but from thanks to the Victors of Barossa. "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. NOTE I. ROKEBY. magnificent fortress derives its name from its founder, Barnard Baliol, the ancestor of the In Barnard's towers, and Tees's stream, &c. short and unfortunate dynasty of that name, which succeeded to the Scottish throne under the patronage of Edward I. and Edward III. Baliol's Tower, afterwards mentioned in the poem, is a round tower of great size, situated at the western extremity of the building. It bears marks of great antiquity, and was remarkable for the curious construction of its vaulted roof, which has been lately greatly NOTE 4. injured by the operations of some persons, to On his dark face a scorching clime, NOTE 2. no human ear, Unsharpen'd by revenge and fear, De Montfort. (Off his guard.) 'Tis Rezenvelt: 1 From the first staircase mounting step by step. sound! I heard him not. (De Montfort looks embarrassed, and is silent.)” NOTE 3. The morion's plumes his visage hide, Death had he seen by sudden blow, In this character, I have attempted to sketch one of those West Indian adventurers, who, during the course of the seventeenth century, were popularly known by the name of Bucaniers. The successes of the English in the predatory incursions upon Spanish America, during the reign of Elizabeth, had never been forgotten; and, from that period downward, the exploits of Drake and Raleigh were imitated, upon a smaller scale indeed, but with equally desperate valour, by small bands of pirates, gathered from all nations, but chiefly French and English. The engrossing policy of the Spaniards tended greatly to increase the number of these freebooters, from whom their commerce and colonies suffered, in the issue, dreadful calamity. The well-known and desperate battle of Long-Marston Moor, which terminated so unfortunately for the cause of Charles, comThe use of complete suits of armour was menced under very different auspices. Prince 'fallen into disuse during the Civil War, though Rupert had marched with an army of 20,000 they were still worn by leaders of rank and men for the relief of York, then besieged by importance. "In the reign of King James I.," Sir Thomas Fairfax, at the head of the Parsays our military antiquary, "no great altera- liamentary army, and the Earl of Leven, with tions were made in the article of defensive the Scottish auxiliary forces. In this he so armour, except that the buff-coat, or jerkin, completely succeeded, that he compelled the 'which was originally worn under the cuirass, besiegers to retreat to Marston Moor, a large now became frequently a substitute for it, it open plain, about eight miles distant from having been found that a good buff leather the city. Thither they were followed by the would of itself resist the stroke of a sword; Prince, who had now united to his army the this, however, only occasionally took place garrison of York, probably not less than ten among the light-armed cavalry and infantry, thousand men strong, under the gallant complete suits of armour being still used Marquis (then Earl) of Newcastle. Whiteamong the heavy horse. Buff-coats continued locke has recorded, with much impartiality, to be worn by the city trained-bands till within the following particulars of this eventful the memory of persons now living, so that day:-"The right wing of the Parliament defensive armour may, in some measure, be was commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax, and said to have terminated in the same materials consisted of all his horse, and three regiments with which it began, that is, the skins of of the Scots horse; the left wing was comanimals, or leather."-GROSE'S Military An-manded by the Earl of Manchester and Colonel tiquities. Lond. 1801, 4to, vol. ii. p. 323. Of the buff-coats, which were worn over the corslets, several are yet preserved; and Captain Grose has given an engraving of one which was used in the time of Charles I. by Sir Francis Rhodes. Bart. of Balbrough-Hall, Derbyshire. Cromwell. One body of their foot was commanded by Lord Fairfax, and consisted of his foot, and two brigades of the Scots foot for reserve; and the main body of the rest of the foot was commanded by General Leven. "The right wing of the Prince's army was commanded by the Earl of Newcastle; the |