ceived in the face of the country, and the manners of the inhabitants. The narrow winding streets of their towns-their grated windows-their doors perpetually shut-the stern and reserved air of all classes of inhabitants-their suspicion of us so very generally manifested; all tended to increase that unnatural sadness which possessed every one of us on our entrance into Spain.

We saw the Emperor Napoleon pass on horseback, before he arrived at Vittoria. He was remarkable, from the simplicity of his green uniform, among the splendid dresses of his generals around him. He waved his hand particularly to each officer as he passed, as if he would have said "I depend on you. French and Spaniards flocked around him on his way. The former beheld in him alone the fortune of the entire army. The Spaniards were intent to gather, from his aspect and carriage, what fate was awaiting their unhappy country.

About the end of October 1808, the Grand army of Germany formed a junction with the French army under the command of King Joseph in Spain. There, with surprise, we first learned from our brethren in arms, part of the events of the Peninsular war, and the details * of those un

* King Joseph was at Vittoria with the general staff of his army and his guards. Marshal Moncey, with his corps of observation, was at Tafalla, watching the Spanish army of General Palafox, stationed at Sanguessa, on the frontiers of Navarre and Arragon. The troops under the command of Marshal Ney kept possession of Logrono and Guardia. The Spanish armies, commanded by Generals Castanos and Palafox, about 40,000 strong, when united, lay before them in the environs of Tudela on the Ebro. Marshal Bessieres was at Miranda on the Ebro, in a po

happy actions which had compelled Generals Dupont and Junot to capitulate in Andalusia and Portugal, Marshal Moncey to raise the siege of Valencia, and the whole army, in a word, to retire and concentrate itself on the left bank of the Ebro.

sition covered by the numerous and well-mounted cavalry of General Lassalle. In falling back, he had left a garrison in the citadel of Pancorvo. Marshal Lefevre occupied Durango. The troops under Marshal Bessieres and Lefevre faced the centre and the left of the Spanish forces under Generals Belvidere and Blake. The central Spanish army, stationed at Burgos, might not amount to more than 12,000, or 14,000 men. It was to be reinforced by 26,000 Eng. lish, which were on their march from Portugal and Corunna, under Generals Moore and Sir D. Baird. This army was designed to sustain that of the left, which General Blake commanded in Biscay, and to keep the communication open with the Spanish armies in Arragon and Navarre.

The army of General Blake, although 37,000 strong, had few cavalry, and therefore dared not descend into the flat country around Miranda and Vittoria, It had abandoned its position between Ona Frias and Erron, to occupy Bilbao; and had penetrated through the mountains which separate Biscay from the province of Alva, towards Durango, as far as Zamora and Archandiano, in order to raise the country, cut off the communications, and attack the right of the army of King Joseph. The Spanish armies of Navarre and Arragon were to perform the same movement against the centre and left wing of the French, for the purpose of compelling them to fall back by way of Tolosa, or of forcing them into the defiles of Navarre towards Pampeluna. Such were the designs of the Spaniards, and the situation of affairs, when Napoleon took the command of the armies in that country.

The army of General Blake was attacked on the 31st of October, near Durango, by the corps of Marshal Lefevre. He repulsed it, and entered Bilbao the day following. Marshal Victor's corps, which was to form, along with that of Lefevre, the right of our army, moved on the 6th of November from Vittoria towards Ordunna.

CHAPTER II.

DURING the night of November 8th, the Imperial quarters were removed from Vittoria to Miranda. Next day the whole army of the centre, of which our hussars formed a part, commenced its march under the command of Napoleon himself. We were to make a determined attempt upon Burgos, where the centre of the Spaniards was stationed; then, by a rapid advance, to menace the flanks of their right and left in Biscay, and the frontiers of Navarre and Arragon. We wished to prevent these troops, if they retired, from concentrating themselves at Madrid; and to destroy their communications, by throwing ourselves on their rear, if they offered any resistance.

To effect this, our army of the right, composed of the troops under Marshals Victor and Lefevre, were to prosecute their march against the army of Blake, who, having been repulsed from Durango and Valmeceda, was now retiring upon Espinosa. Our army of the left, commanded by Marshals Lannes and Moncey, remained in the neighbourhood of Logrono and Tafalla, waiting only for the result of the action, which we confidently expected at Burgos, to ascend the Ebro, and march towards Saragossa.

On the evening of the 9th, the Imperial quarters were taken up at Breviesca. The army, commanded by the Emperor, was cantoned in the neighbourhood of the town. The inhabitants of the country had all fled to the mountains when we approached. At daybreak of the 10th, Marshal Soult, with a division of infantry, went to reconnoitre the positions of the enemy in the direction of Burgos. On arriving at the village of Gamonal, he was received with a discharge of thirty pieces of cannon. The French regarded this as the signal for attack. Marshal Soult, without waiting for the rest of our army which followed, instantly engaged, and broke the Walloons and Spanish guards, who formed the enemy's principal strength. Marshal Bessieres then arriving with the cavalry, successfully attacked the wings, completed their discomfiture, and entered Burgos with the fugitives.

Of the whole army, our brigade of hussars alone was not engaged. Our cantonment was a secluded place, about two leagues from Breviesca. The adjutant, whose duty it was to bring us our orders to march, went astray, for want of a guide; and we only set out at nine in the morning to follow the army. The whole day we pursued the same track, without suspecting what had passed in the forenoon. When night approached, we discerned at a great distance the fires of the advanced guard. Notwithstanding the darkness, we perceived, by the motion of our horses, that we were in the act of passing a field of battle. Every now and then they slackened their pace,

* A French league is about 24 English miles.

and lifted their feet cautiously, as if afraid of doing injury to the inanimate dead who lay below. Sometimes they would stop for a moment, and, bending their heads, would smell with evident terror the carcasses of the horses that had been killed.

Burgos was completely deserted by its inhabi

tants.

That large city was one vast solitude when our troops arrived there after the battle, and it was at once given up to be pillaged. In the quarter where we entered, the confused hum of voices, and the noise of the soldiers going hither and thither, seeking provisions and cooking utensils in the forsaken houses, were heard every where around us. For light, they carried in their hands immense waxen tapers, which they found in the neighbouring convents. In a distant part of the city, less resorted to by our soldiers, the hollow mournful moanings of the sick and aged were heard, who, too feeble for flight, had taken refuge in a church, where they were crowded together in heaps. There, repeating their prayers with their clergy, they awaited the death which they believed approaching. The glass-windows of the church were dimly lighted with sacred lamps. The Spaniards, in the full confidence that they would obtain a great victory over us, had collected immense quantities of wool to take to the south of France. We passed through the enormous packs, built up like two lofty walls on either side, which they confidently expected to take with them along with the baggage of their troops. It was but one hour to midnight when we arrived at the place where we were ap pointed to bivouack, on the banks of the Arlanzon. At daybreak we saw, in the shallow river which