LVII. And IIE, yon Chieftain-strike the proudest tone A various host they came-whose ranks Of thy bold harp, green Isle !-the Hero is thine display own. LXI. Now on the scene Vimeira should be shown, But shall fond fable mix with heroes' And dare her wild-flowers mingle with the bays, That claim a long eternity to bloom Around the warrior's crest, and o'er the warrior's tomb! LXII. Or may I give adventurous Fancy scope, And stretch a bold hand to the awful veil That hides futurity from anxious hope, Bidding beyond it scenes of glory hail, And painting Europe rousing at the tale Of Spain's invaders from her confines hurl'd, While kindling nations buckle on their mail, And Fame, with clarion-blast and wings unfurl'd, To Freedom and Revenge awakes an injured World! LXIII. O vain, though anxious, is the glance I cast, Since Fate has mark'd futurity her own: Yet fate resigns to worth the glorious past, The deeds recorded, and the laurels won. Then, though the Vault of Destiny be gone, King, Prelate, all the phantasms of my brain, Melted away like mist-wreaths in the sun, Yet grant for faith, for valour, and for Spain, One note of pride and fire, a Patriot's parting strain! 1 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 Virgin del Sagrario The scene opens with the noise of the chase, and Reersundo, 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 formis 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. Recisund, 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 apprized by the prodigies which he discovered of the approaching ruin of his kingdom. 2. A day of darknesse and of gloominesse, a day of clouds and of thick darknesse, as the morning sprend 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. fire devoureth before thein, and behind them a flane burneth the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behinde them a desolate wilderness, yea, 3. A 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 noise of chariots on the tops of mountains, shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of tire 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 noon shall be dark, 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 "maguifled 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 cruelty and presumption. 1 Even the unexampled gallantry of the British army in the campaign of 1810-11, although they never fought best 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 crueltics of the French. Soup-kitchens were established by subscription aruong the officers, wherever the troops were quartered for The comunissaries contributed the any length of time. 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 famshed households. The emaciated wretches, who could not crawl from weakness, were speedily employed in pruning their vines. While pursuing Masseua, the soldiers evinced the same spirit of humanity, and in many instances, when reduced themselves to short allowance, from having out arched their supplies, they shared their pittance with the starying 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 toeets immediate punish Independently of all moral obligation, the army which is most orderly in a friendly country, has always proved must formidable to an armed enemy. inent. The French conducted this memorable retreat with much of the fanfarronade 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, 1211, their rear-guard was overtaken near Pega by the British cavalry. Being well posted, and conceiving themseives 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 The surprise was sudden, and the rout comCalculated. plote; 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. 2 The Literal translation of Fuentes d'Honora From thy dishonour'd name and arms to clear Fallen Child of Fortune, turn, redeem her favour here! 1 In the severe action of Fuentes d' Honoro, upon 5th May, 1811, the grand mass of the French cavalry attacke! the right of the British position, covered by two guns o the horse-artillery, and two squadrons of cavalry. After suffering considerably from the fire of the guns, which annoyed them in every attempt 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 su tained in this daring attempt, but closed, and fairly mingled with the British cavalry, to whom they bore the proportion of ten to one. Captain Rainsay, (let me be perinitted to name a gallant countryman,) who com inanded 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 intu 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 snall reinforcements, notwithstanding the immense dis proportion 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 not exclusively, trained, will know how to estimate the presence of mind which commanded so bold a manoeuvre, and the steadiness and confidence with which it was executed. 2 The gallant Colonel Cameron was wounded mortally He fell at the head of his called Fuentes d' Honoro. during the desperate contest in the streets of the village native Highlanders, the 71st and 79th, who raised a dread. ful shriek of grief and rage. They charged, with irresist ible 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 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 countrymen 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. |