THE third division, under Sir Edward Pakenham, the artillery and some regiments of dragoons particularly distinguished themselves. But our division, very much to our annoyance, came in for a very slender portion of this day's glory. We were exposed to a cannonade the whole of the afternoon; but, as we were not permitted to advance until very late, we had only an opportunity of throwing a few straggling shot at the fugitives before we lost sight of them in the dark and then bivouacked for the night near the village of Huerta (I think it was called).
    We started after them at daylight next morning and, crossing at a ford of the Tormes, we found their rearguard, consisting of three regiments of infantry, with some cavalry and artillery, posted on a formidable height above the village of Serna. General Bock, with his brigade of heavy German dragoons, immediately went at them and, putting their cavalry to flight, he broke through their infantry and took or destroyed the whole of them. This was one of the most gallant charges recorded in history. I saw many of these fine fellows lying dead along with their horses, on which they were still astride, with the sword firmly grasped in the hand as they had fought the instant before, and several of them still wearing a look of fierce defiance which death itself had been unable to quench.
    We halted for the night at a village near Penaranda. I took possession of the church and, finding the floor strewed with the paraphernalia of priesthood, I selected some silk gowns, and other gorgeous trappings, with which I made a bed for myself in the porch, and where, "if all had been gold that glittered," I should have looked a jewel indeed; but it is lamentable to think that, among the multifarious blessings we enjoy in this life, we should never be able to get a dish of glory and a dish of beefsteak on the same day; in consequence of which the heart, which ought properly to be soaring in the clouds, or at all events in a castle half way up, is more generally to be found grovelling about a hen-roost, in the vain hope that, if it cannot get hold of the hen herself, it may at least hit upon an egg; and such, I remember, was the state of my feelings on this occasion, in consequence of my having dined the three preceding days on the half of my inclinations.
    We halted the next night in the handsome little town of Olmeda, which had just been evacuated by the enemy. The French General, Ferez, died there, in consequence of the wounds which he received at the battle of Salamanca, and his remains had the night before been consigned to the earth with the highest honours, and a canopy of laurel placed over his grave: but the French had no sooner left the town than the inhabitants exhumed the body, cut off the head and spurned it with the greatest indignity. They were in hopes that this line of conduct would have proved a passport to our affections, and conducted us to the spot as to a trophy that they were proud of, but we expressed the most unfeigned horror and indignation at their proceeding, and, getting some soldiers to assist us, we carefully and respectfully replaced his remains in the grave. His was a noble head and even in death it looked the brave, the gallant soldier. Our conduct had such an effect on the Spaniards that they brought back the canopy of their own accord and promised solemnly that the grave should henceforth rest undisturbed.
    July 26th. — We arrived on the banks of the Douro, within a league of Valladolid, where we halted two days and Lord Wellington, detaching a division of infantry and some cavalry to watch the movements of the defeated army, proceeded with the remainder of us towards Madrid.
    August 1st. — On approaching near to our bivouac this afternoon I saw a good large farmhouse about a mile off the road, and, getting permission from my commandant, I made a cast thereto in search of something for dinner. There were two women belonging to the German Legion smoking their pipes in the kitchen when I arrived, and, having the highest respect for their marauding qualifications, I began to fear that nothing was to be had, as they were sitting there so quietly. I succeeded, however, in purchasing two pair of chickens, and, neglecting the precaution of unscrewing their necks, I grasped a handful of their legs, and, mounting my horse, proceeded towards the camp; but I had scarcely gone a couple of hundred yards when they began opening their throats and flapping with their wings, which startled my horse and sent him off at full speed. I lost the rein on one side, and, in attempting to pull him up with the other, I brought his foot into a rut, and down he came, sending me head-foremost into a wet ditch! When I got on my legs and shook myself a little, I saw each particular hen galloping across the field, screeching with all its might, while the horse was off in a different direction; and, casting a rueful look at the chickens, I naturally followed him, as the most valuable of the collection. Fortunately a heavy boat-cloak caused the saddle to roll under his belly, and, finding that he could not make way in consequence, he quietly waited for me about a quarter of a mile off. When I had remounted, I looked back to the scene of my disaster and saw my two German friends busily employed in catching the chickens. I rode towards them, and they were, no doubt, in hopes that I had broken my neck, that they might have the sacking of me also; for, as I approached, I observed them concealing the fowls under their clothes, while the one took up a position behind the other. After reconnoitring them a short time, I rode up and demanded the fowls, when the one looked at the other, and, in well-feigned astonishment, asked, in Dutch, what I could possibly mean, then gave me to understand that they could not comprehend English; but I immediately said, "Come, come! none of your gammon; you have got my fowls, here's half a dollar for your trouble in catching them, so hand them out." "Oh!" said one of them, in English, "it is de fowl you want," and they then produced them. After paying them the stipulated sum, I wished them all the compliments of the season and thought myself fortunate in getting off so well; for they were each six feet high, and as strong as a horse, and I felt convinced that they had often thrashed a better man than myself in the course of their military career.
    August 7th. — Halted near the ancient town of Segovia, which bears a strong resemblance to the old town of Edinburgh, built on a lofty ridge that terminates in an abrupt summit, on which stands the fortified tower celebrated in the Adventures of Gil Blas. It is a fine old town, boasts of a superb Roman aqueduct and is famous for ladies' shoes.
    Our bivouac this evening was on the banks of El Rio Frio, near to a new hunting-palace of the King of Spain. It was a large quadrangular building, each side full of empty rooms, with nothing but their youth to recommend them.
    On the 9th we crossed the Guadarama mountains and halted for the night in the park of the Escurial.
    I had from childhood upwards considered this palace as the eighth wonder of the world, and was therefore proportionately disappointed at finding it a huge, gloomy, unmeaning pile of building, looking somewhat less interesting than the wild craggy mountain opposite, and without containing a single room large enough to flog a cat in. The only apartment that I saw worth looking at was the one in which their dead kings live!

As we approached the capital, imagination was busy in speculating on the probable nature of our reception. The peasantry, with whom we had hitherto been chiefly associated, had imbibed a rooted hatred to the French, caused by the wanton cruelties experienced at their hands, both in their persons and their property; otherwise they were a cheerful, hospitable, and orderly people, and, had they been permitted to live in peace and quietness, it was a matter of the most perfect indifference to them whether Joseph, Ferdinand or the ghost of Don Quixote was their king. But the citizens of Madrid had been living four years in comparative peace, under the dominion of a French government, and in the enjoyment of all the gaieties of that luxurious court; to which, if I add that we entertained, at that time, some slight jealousy regarding the pretensions of the French officers to the favours of the fair, I believe the prevailing opinion was that we should be considered as the intruders. It was, therefore, a matter of the most unexpected exultation when we entered it on the afternoon of the 13th of August to find ourselves hailed as liberators, with the most joyous acclamations, by surrounding multitudes, who continued their rejoicings for three successive days. By day the riches of each house were employed in decorations to its exterior; and by night they were brilliantly illuminated, during which time all business was suspended and the whole population of the city crowded the streets, emulating each other in heaping honours and caresses upon us.
    King Joseph had retired on our approach, leaving a garrison in the fortified palace of EI Retiro; but they surrendered some days afterwards, and we remained there for three months, basking in the sunshine of beauty, harmony and peace. I shall ever look back to that period as the most pleasing event of my military life.
    The only bar to our perfect felicity was the want of money, as, independent of long arrears already due, the military chest continued so very poor that it could not afford to give us more than a fortnight's pay during these three months; and, as nobody could, would or should give cash for bills, we were obliged to sell silver spoons, watches, and everything of value that we stood possessed of, to purchase the common necessaries of life.
    My Irish criado*, who used to take uncommon liberties with my property, having been two or three days in the rear with the baggage at the time of the battle of Salamanca, took upon himself to exchange my baggage-horse for another and his apology for so doing was that the one he had got was twice as big as the one he gave! The additional size, however, so far from being an advantage, proved quite the reverse; for I found that he could eat as much as he could carry, and, as he was obliged to carry all that he had to eat, I was forced to put him on half allowance to make room for my baggage in consequence of which every bone in his body soon became so pointed that I could easily have hung my hat on any part of his hind quarters. I therefore took advantage of our present repose to let him have the benefit of a full allowance, that enabled me to effect an exchange between him and a mule, getting five dollars to the bargain, which made me one of the happiest and, I believe also, one of the richest men in the army. I expended the first dollar next day in getting admission to a bull-fight in their national amphitheatre, where the first thing that met my astonished eyes was a mad bull giving the finishing prode to my unfortunate big horse.
    Lord Wellington, with some divisions of the army, proceeded, about the beginning of September, to undertake the siege of Burgos, leaving those at Madrid under the orders of Sir Rowland Hill, so that towards the end of October our delightful sojourn there drew perceptibly to a close, for it was known that King Joseph, with the forces under Soult and Jourdan now united, were moving upon Aranjuez, and that all excepting our own division were already in motion to dispute the passage of the Tagus and to cover the capital. About four o'clock on the morning of the 23d of October we received orders to be on our alarm-posts at six, and as soon as we had formed we were marched to the city of Alcala.
    October 27th. — We were all this day marching to Arganda, and all night marching back again. If any one thing is more particularly damned than another it is a march of this kind.
    October 30th. — An order arrived from Lord Wellington for our corps of the army to fall back upon Salamanca; we therefore returned to Madrid, and, after halting outside the gates until we were joined by Skerret's division from Cadiz, we bade a last sorrowful adieu to our friends in the city and commenced our retreat.
    October 31st. — Halted for the night in the park of the Escurial. It is amusing, on a division's first taking up its ground, to see the numbers of hares that are every instant starting up among the men, and the scrambling and shouting of the soldier for the prize. This day, when the usual shout was given, every man ran, with his cap in his hand, to endeavour to capture poor puss, as he imagined, but which turned out to be two wild boars, who contrived to make room for themselves so long as there was nothing but men's caps to contend with; but they very soon had as many bayonets as bristles in their backs. We re-crossed the Guadarama mountains next morning.
    November 2d. — Halted this night in front of a small town, the name of which I do not recollect. It was beginning to get dark by the time I had posted our guards and piquets, when I rode into it to endeavour to find my messmates, who I knew had got a dinner waiting for me somewhere.
    I entered a large square, or market-place, and found it crowded with soldiers of all nations, most of them three-parts drunk, and in the midst whom a mad bull was performing the most extraordinary feats, quite unnoticed, excepting by those who had the misfortune to attract his attention. The first intimation that I had of him was his charging past me and making a thrust at our quartermaster, carrying off a portion of his regimental trousers. He next got a fair toss at a Portuguese soldier and sent him spinning three or four turns up in the air. I was highly amused in observing the fellow's astonishment when he alighted to see that he had not the remotest idea to what accident he was indebted for such an evolution, although he seemed fully prepared to quarrel with anyone who chose to acknowledge any participation in the deed; but the cause of it was, all the time, finding fresh customers, and making the grand tour of the square with such velocity I began to fear that I should soon be on his list also, if I did not take shelter in the nearest house, a measure no sooner thought of than executed. I therefore opened a door and drove my horse in before me; but there instantly arose such an uproar within that I began to wish myself once more on the outside on any terms, for it happened to be occupied by English, Portuguese and German bullock-drivers, who had been seated round a table scrambling for a dinner when my horse upset the table, lights and everything on it. The only thing that I could make out amid their confused curses was that they had come to the determination of putting the cause of the row to death; but, as I begged to differ with them on that point, I took the liberty of knocking one or two of them down, and finally succeeded in extricating my horse, with whom I retraced my way to the camp, weary, angry and hungry. On my arrival there, I found an orderly waiting to show me the way to dinner, which once more restored me to good humour with myself and all the world, while the adventure afforded my companions a hearty laugh at my expense.
    November 6th. — In the course of this day's march, while our battalion formed the rearguard at a considerable distance in the rear of the column, we found a Portuguese soldier who had been left by his regiment lying in the middle of the road, apparently dead; but, on examining him more closely, we had reason to think that he was merely in a state of stupor, arising from fatigue and the heat of the weather — an opinion which caused us no little uneasiness. Although we did not think it quite fair to bury a living man, yet we had no means whatever of carrying him off, and to leave him where he was would, in all probability, have cost us a number of better lives than his had ever been, for the French, who were then in sight, had hitherto been following us at a very respectable distance; and, had they found that we were retiring in such a hurry as to leave our half-dead people on the road, they would not have been Frenchmen if they did not give us an extra push to help us along. Under all the circumstances of the case, therefore, although our doctor was of opinion that, with time and attention, he might recover, and not having either the one or the other to spare, the remainder of us, who had voted ourselves into a sort of board of survey, thought it most prudent to find him dead; and, carrying him a little off the road to the edge of a ravine, we scraped a hole in the sand with our swords and placed him in it. We covered him but very lightly and left his head and arms at perfect liberty so that, although he might be said to have had both feet in the grave, yet he might still have scrambled out of it if he could.

---