The march of a body of prisoners from one place of restraint to another cannot be expected to furnish much matter for description. Our progress, indeed, was marked throughout by a succession of hardships and sufferings, even to look back upon which never fails of exciting in me sensations the reverse of comfortable; for I hold it to be one of those popular errors which men mistake for truths--merely because they are continually repeated--that the memory of sorrows past brings present joy. Yet I must not withhold from my reader a few slight sketches, such as may enable him to form some idea of a condition of life, into which it is my most earnest hope that he may never, from personal experience, become initiated.

I have quite forgotten the name of the place to which our first day's march out of Madrid conducted us; but I well remember that the journey, from its commencement to its termination, was to me prolific of distress. In the first place, the sun shone out with an intensity of heat, such as constitutions worn down with hard fare and long confinement could ill sustain; while the dust, rising in clouds from each footstep as it was planted, got into our throats and lungs, and well-nigh choked us. In the next place, my feet, lacerated by the rope-sandals which the old woman had given me, became one mass of blisters. It was to little purpose that I removed the immediate cause of this evil, after the evil itself had been fairly incurred; I did not enjoy one moment's respite from acute pain throughout the whole of that and the succeeding day. Nor was it from this cause alone that I suffered. Convoys, such as that of which I then found myself a member, were accustomed to halt for an hour or two at noon, in order that the escort might be refreshed and the prisoners rested; the former by eating their dinners, the latter by sleeping on the ground. Like my companions in affliction, I threw myself down so soon as the long-wished for permission was given, but I could not sleep; on the contrary, I lay writhing in agony; and when the order came to fall in again, I was quite incapable of obeying it.

It happened that just as I was making an abortive effort to stand upright, a French officer approached, who, noticing the cause of my weakness, and greatly commiserating it, desired me to get upon a waggon laden with wool which stood near. "It belongs to our convoy," said he, "and will carry you to the end of this day's journey, at all events. Get up, my poor fellow, and take your rest."

I thanked him, and with the help of my comrade, managed to scramble to the top of the bales--but, unfortunately, I went not alone. Two or three of the rest, seeing how comfortable I had made myself, ascended the waggon in like manner, and lay down, like me, at length. But the waggoner had not been consulted as to the propriety of these arrangements; and we were soon made to feel that he regarded the matter in a different point of view from ourselves. We were scarcely settled, when he approached the vehicle, with an expression of fierce anger in his countenance, and forthwith, without having spoken a word, he began to belabour us about the heads and faces with his whip. My comrades, more active than I, soon leaped down. For me, I suffered in silence, for the height of the bales from the ground was considerable, and the bare thought of jumping upon my bruised feet was agony. I therefore took the blows, which continued to fall in showers upon me, with all the patience which I could muster, till in the end they wore me out, and I fainted. I believe that in this plight I fell from the waggon; at all events, when I recovered my senses I found myself lying upon the road, and, on lifting my head, I had the satisfaction to perceive that the convoy was advanced a long way to the front. What was to be done? I was even less capable of exertion then than I had been ere the halt took place. My very comrade, too, had abandoned me, and the rear-guard were preparing to quit their ground. Now the rear-guard had already shown, on more than one occasion, that they were determined not to favour the escape of any prisoner who should, under the pretext of inability to proceed, drop behind the column; they had shot, without mercy, every straggler whom they found it impossible to drive before them. What should I do? - struggle on, or lie still, with the certainty of death as my reward? I declare that the weight of a straw would have turned the scale to either side that day; for if ever man felt existence to be a burden, I did. Yet there is an instinct of self-preservation within, which will not permit us deliberately to resign life, so long as the chances of saving it appear to be within our reach. I made a desperate effort to rise, and succeeded; but as to moving on, that I believe would have been impossible, had not Providence sent a means of transport to my relief.

While I tottered, rather than stood, upon my blistered feet, a Spanish coach happened to pass; fastened beneath the perch of which was a spare pole, projecting a foot or two from the rear. A rope, likewise, hung from the top of the vehicle, as if it had been suspended there for my especial use; this I seized with a desperate clutch, just as the hinder wheel rolled beyond my station. I was swung to the back of the carriage instantly; and scrambling upon the pole, I made the rope fast round my middle, and felt that I was secure. Never has human breast beaten more gratefully than mine did at that instant; for the coming up of the carriage seemed to me to have been directed by Heaven for the preservation of my life. Neither was I indifferent to the fate of others; for observing, not long afterwards that another of our men had fallen, and was, like myself, entirely exhausted, I shouted out to him so soon, as the carriage approached the spot where he lay, and invited him to join me, which, with a desperate effort, he did. I made room for him on the pole. By then untying the rope, and passing it round our middles, both were made fast, and we jogged on, uneasily enough, as the judicious reader will believe, yet very thankful for the blessing, such as it was, which a kind Providence had thrown in our way.

We had journeyed thus about three English miles, when the same officer who had advised me to ascend the waggon rode up. He instantly recognised me, but not only did not require either of us to descend, but expressed himself well pleased that I had found a substitute for the resting-place from which the waggoner had driven me. Neither did his kindness end there. The carriage was his own; it contained his wife and two children, whom he was escorting back into France, and who carried with them their own provisions, which they were accustomed to cook over night, and to eat upon the march. He ordered the driver to stop, rode up to the coach-window, made his lady pour out two cups of wine, and brought them, with some slices of bread and sausages, to us. We ate and drank with grateful hearts, and received from the repast so much refreshment, that we found ourselves, when occasion required, fully capable of walking; and the occasion did present itself somewhat sooner than we could have wished, for the coachman, to make up for lost time, drove his horses into a trot, and the end of the pole - an uneasy seat at the best - was no longer endurable. We were forced to abandon our position. Nevertheless we held on by the rope, which dragged us into a run, during which blisters and bruises were alike disregarded; and we arrived in good time at the yard within which the rest of the prisoners had been thrust, not, to all appearance, greatly more distressed than the strongest of them.

I asked for no portion of my comrades' rations that night. I was too much exhausted even to eat; but throwing myself down upon the ground, with a stone for my pillow, I soon fell asleep. At daybreak next morning we were roused as usual, and the march began; the guards pushing us forward with very little regard either to our comfort or their own reputation for humanity. In my own case, however, it seemed as if the endurance of the preceding day had hardened me for all that was to follow; for I felt, to my great surprise, comparatively well, and trudged on - not indeed at ease, but suffering far less, even from blistered feet than many of those around me. Moreover, I observed that the Spaniards, however accustomed they might be to the burning suns of their own country, were far less capable of sustaining fatigue than the English. For one of our people that dropped behind, a score of these unfortunate wretches were knocked up; and he in the Spanish garb who once gave in never found an opportunity to recover. I believe that this shocking practice of shooting their exhausted prisoners was resorted to by the French in reprisal of similar atrocities perpetrated upon their countrymen by the Spaniards. The French themselves, at least, so accounted for the barbarism; but, however this may be, I am sure that no good results arose out of it inasmuch as the mutual antipathies of the two people became only, from day to day, more confirmed. I regret to be obliged to add, that this day an English prisoner suffered the same fate - and yet I had the best reason for believing that his executioner slew him in ignorance. The facts were these:

A soldier of my own regiment, whose clothes had melted from his back, contrived, somehow or another, to get possession of a Spanish dress, which he wore upon the march; and on account of which, as it happened to be in excellent repair, he became an object of something like envy to his more destitute companions. Poor fellow! his constitution was not by nature so robust as mine; and he repeatedly declared that, let come what might, it was impossible for him to proceed further. We encouraged him as well as we could; we took it by turns to lend him our arms: but all would not do. At the foot of an enormous mountain, which it was necessary to cross, in order to reach the place of our destination for the night, the pleasant town of Segovia, he sat down by the way-side, and resigned himself to his fate. There was not strength enough in us to carry him. There were neither horses, nor mules, nor cars for the conveyance of the feeble; we had, therefore, nothing for it but to commit him to God's keeping, and to march on. But God saw that this day he had run out the measure of time that was allotted to him; and his labours, and his anxieties, and his hopes, and his fears, were all brought to an end.

It happened that my comrade and I, feeling unusually fresh, took it into our heads to diverge from the proper line of march; and making for an elbow of the mountain, began to climb, under the expectation that we should thus head the column, and find time to rest at the summit. We were not deceived in this expectation; and yet we were both tempted, by-and-by, to regret that we yielded to the impulse: for, though we reached the mountain's brow, and found a luxurious bank of soft herbage to recline upon, the spectacle which met our gaze, as we looked down upon the plain beneath, was harrowing in the extreme. The rear-guard of a convoy, of which prisoners of war form a part, marches, be it observed, a long way behind the closing files of the column. I believe that this wide interval is interposed between them and the captives for the humane purpose of giving to the feeble among the latter as good a chance for recovery as may be; but it does not always succeed. To-day, for example, we were horrified by observing--fax, far away, in the distance--one little column of smoke rise after another, even when by us no report of musketry could be heard. But our feelings were not yet entirely harrowed up, for we had fixed our eyes in a great measure upon the spot where our poor comrade was sitting, and we were resolved to judge, from the fate which should attend him, of that which we apprehended might have been awarded to others.

I have no power of language in which to describe the breathless anxiety with which we watched the gradual approach of the armed party towards the base of the mountain. On and on it came,--another and another little blue column ascending--and, by-and-by, faint and feeble, the sharp ringing in the ear which told of a musket or a carbine discharged. Still we doubted the reality; for, as chance would have it, none of these things took place anywhere within half-a-mile of the spot where our comrade was sitting. But our doubts were not destined to operate for ever.

"See, Tom! they are approaching," exclaimed I, grasping my comrade's arm with a convulsive motion. "Look, look! there is one of them stepping out from the column; and now he approaches him. See, see! he stoops over him--he is going to assist him. Oh! yes--they will rise him up. But why does he step back?"

Let me draw a veil over what followed. We saw the musket levelled-we beheld the flash,--and, long ere the report reached us, our poor countryman rolled backwards to the earth.

The convoy reached Segovia, in a chapel at the outskirts of which we were halted; and right glad were we to find, when thrust into the interior, that the floor was covered with nice clean straw. We lay down, thanking Heaven for a luxury to which we had long been strangers; but the time alotted for the enjoyment of it proved very brief. One of us going to the door, overheard the sentry talking, to his great surprise, to another French soldier in English. Our guard, it appeared, had been changed; and we were now under the charge of a detachment from the Irish brigade, of which a scoundrel named Smith was at the head. He was an officer in the service of Napoleon,--a traitor to his country and his legitimate sovereign; and, like all such renegades, remarkable for his hatred of the people whose cause he had abandoned. From what passed between the sentry and his Irish comrade in French uniform, we learned that Captain Smith was determined to take time by the forelock, and, regardless of our sufferings, to compass not less than seven leagues more ere he permitted us to rest for the night.

Now we had already traversed six leagues, of which a considerable portion lay over mountains, and the seven with which we were threatened scarcely dipped at all into the plain: our horror may therefore be imagined. Nevertheless, no good result attended our effort at remonstrance. To the deputation which we sent to implore his clemency he replied in language which I do not care to repeat, summing up all with this announcement: "I know that there is a long journey before you; but I advise you not to think of cutting it short; for I am a man of my word. No straggling, you scoundrels! remember, I have plenty of ball-cartridges."

It was useless to remonstrate with one whose nature seemed to be cast in so savage. a mould; so we packed up our miserable wallets, took our places in the column, and at the word of command moved on. With one exception, this proved to be by far the most distressing day's march which we accomplished. The road--a mere track, which led from one hill-top to another--soon cut our wounded feet to pieces. The rain began to fall; and we, having but our tattered uniforms to oppose to it, were wet to the skin, in half-an-hour. Moreover, we could not venture, let our necessities be what they might, to diverge, even for an instant, from the direct line; for Mr. Smith took more than one opportunity of repeating his threats; and we learned from the unfortunate wretches whom he commanded that it would give him positive pleasure to carry them into effect.

I speak of these men as unfortunate wretches, because I found, upon inquiry, that they were not all naturalized Frenchmen, the remains of Emmetts and O'Connor's bands,--out of which, as is well known, the Irish Brigade had been formed. One, on the contrary, I recognised as an old

acquaintance, who, after having lived as hostler at the Greyhound in Blandford, had enlisted in an English regiment, been taken prisoner, and prevailed upon to take service with the enemy. This man assured me that there were several in the corps similarly circumstanced with himself, not one of whom had put on the French uniform except with a view to escape so soon as a convenient opportunity might occur. But such opportunities the French took care not to afford. "We dare not go beyond our cantonments," he added, "without running the risk of death upon the spot. For the gendarmes have orders to shoot us without trial; and we know, from experience, that they are ready to obey them. If there be any in your batch that are tempted to adopt this method of delivering themselves from immediate suffering, warn them from me that no good will come of it. I cannot now return to the condition of a prisoner; but, if I could, it would not be blistered feet, nor yet hardships tenfold more severe than those which you suffer, that would tempt me again to profess myself a traitor. Escape if you can, and die in prison if you cannot; but never take service in the French army."

I trudged on, pondering with painful interest the words which my old acquaintance had spoken; till, just as twilight began to deepen into night, I found, to my inexpressible relief, that the journey of seven leagues had been accomplished. Not even then, however, did the ferocity of Mr. Smith cease to display itself. Instead of affording us the shelter of some public building, (for we halted in a town of which I have forgotten the name,) he thrust us into a stable-yard, the soil of which was become, in consequence of the rain, a heap of mud; and, without straw or litter of any kind to lie down upon, without so much as serving out a morsel of bread or a draught of water, he told us to make the best of a lodging which was a great deal too good for such as we.

Upon the sufferings of that night I shall never cease to look back except with unmitigated horror. My bed was the soft earth,--my canopy the stormy sky; yet I slept,--though, when I woke, it was in a state so benumbed and cold, that all power to move hand or foot was for a while denied me.

I do not know how I should have recovered strength enough to stir from my lair, had not a comrade, whose constitution seemed more hardy than my own, befriended me. This man, perceiving that I was quite chilled, ran to a sort of sutlery, which was not far distant, and purchasing a glass of brandy, returned with it to me. I drank it as a man may be supposed to drink water, who comes suddenly, in the middle of an Arabian desert, upon a secret spring. I blessed the hand likewise, that supplied the medicine, and rose in five minutes greatly invigorated by it. Yet I made but a bad march that day. My feet gave way again: I was entirely spent: and the first halt which we made, on a wild and desolate moor, I threw myself down upon the ground, and wellnigh prayed that death would come to my release.

I was in this mood, suffering extreme agony from my feet, when, on lifting up my head, I beheld, not far from me, a spectacle which--be it spoken in all remorse and compunction of heart--served but to aggravate my distresses fourfold. Somehow or another I had detached myself a good way from my comrades, and, lying near a waggon, I saw a man descend from it, spread a tablecloth upon the grass, and convey to it a most inviting assortment both of eatables and drinkables. To these he forthwith addressed himself: and, oh! gentle reader, if ever you have known what it was to gaze, yourself fasting, upon a feast that had been spread for others, then you will have some fellow-feeling for the agonies which, throughout the interminable space of perhaps two or three minutes, I endured. Both my appetite and my suffering were, moreover, enhanced by the sort of half conviction which took possession of me, that the happy man on whom mine eyes rested was not French, but English; for all his proceedings were redolent of the practices of that favoured land where the commonest peasant eats wheaten bread to his bacon, and never thinks of resting his jaws till his crop be thoroughly filled.

Heaven forgive me! but, over and over again, I invited myself to breakfast with the fortunate individual--not once presuming to imagine that, be his nativity what it might, he would take the whim into his head of inviting me; yet he did. I daresay my gaze was abundantly expressive; but, however this may be, my surprise and delight defy the power of language to describe them, when all at once I heard him, after stopping the movement of his jaws for an instant, exclaim, "I say, comrade, are you peckish? If so, come and mess with me; there's lots for both of us!"

I need not say that I waited for no second invitation. The influence of fatigue seemed to pass away under the excitement of the prospect thus opened out to me; and I sprang from the earth with the agility of one who had spent the night between a pair of clean Holland sheets. I don't think many such breakfasts have been eaten, either in Spain or elsewhere, from that day to this. I declare that I felt quite ashamed of myself, so tremendous was the onslaught which I made upon the meatpasty and the flask of wine wherewith I was invited to wash it down.

Having appeased the cravings of a well-tried appetite, I entered into conversation with my hospitable entertainer, who informed me that he was a soldier of the 10th Hussars; that he had been taken prisoner, and released by a French general, who offered him a situation in his family as groom. This he did not feel authorized to refuse; and he had lived for some time with his master in a state of comfort and respectability, which made him wellnigh forget that he was an exile from the land of his birth.

Having told me all this, he went on to say, that he and his master were travelling under the escort of our convoy, into France; and that, if I liked it, he would reserve a place for me on his waggon, and use his best endeavours to treat me well throughout the remainder of the journey. It is scarcely necessary to add, that I closed thankfully with his offer.

Hiding myself under the straw, I escaped the observation of the guard, and was thus pleasantly conveyed as far as Miranda, where the cavalcade halted for the night, and where I found an opportunity of being useful to my fellow-prisoners, the bare remembrance of which makes my heart swell, at this day, with triumph. The circumstances were these:

Under the protection of my friend Joseph, I not only travelled secure, but was, at the termination of the stage, treated with marked generosity by one or two French officers who seemed somehow or another to be attached to his master's family. One of them gave me a five-franc piece; another presented me with a foraging-cap; a third supplied the place of my dilapidated uniform with a good jacket and a pair of trousers; while Joseph himself, carrying me to the stables, showed me an excellent bed laid down, of which fresh straw and two or three horse-cloths constituted the materials. He then conducted me to one or two wine-houses, where we drank, in moderation, with the French soldiers, and found them not only agreeable, but exceedingly generous, companions. For example, rations were issued out to them that night--an allowance of bread and meat to each man; which they did not seem to value in the least degree, because, as they said, the Spaniards were bound at every stage to provide them with better. I asked Joseph whether it might not be possible to hinder the waste of throwing these viands away by begging them as a gift to the starving English prisoners. Joseph instantly stated the case to the French soldiers, and, without a single exception, they acceded to his wishes. The bread and meat were given to me. I carried them away to the bottom of a garden, lighted a fire, and, with the addition of some pot herbs, made a capital mess. With this Joseph and I made our way to the prison, and the joy and gratitude of its poor inmates filled my heart with strange feelings and my eyes with tears. I could not, however, venture to linger long among them, for I knew that, if discovered, I should be at once brought back to the condition of a prisoner. I therefore left Joseph to minister to their wants more in detail; and, after cordially embracing my comrades, retreated to the stable.