Wellesley with full powers to carry them on, and settle, on the spot, every requisite arrangement either for peace or war, as circumstances should determine. This important commission was accordingly bestowed on General Wellesley, whose subsequent conduct, during a diplomatic contest conducted on the part of the Marhatta princes with all the wiles and subtilty of the east, fully justified the confidence reposed in his characteristic sagacity, judgment, spirit, and decision.

It would far exceed our proposed limits to detail the various evasive, futile, and insincere measures which marked the conduct of the confederated Marhatta chieftains, and which at length, compelled the British government to resort to the sword; and it is equally impossible for us to enter into the masterly manner in which the Governor-general planned a campaign, in which he brought into the field 54,918 men, so distribute as to carry on at one and the same moment the most vigorous operations against the enemy in almost every quarter of the peninsula of India, and by which he terminated a war of a few months' duration with the attainment of every proposed object, without sustaining in that period the slightest check or reverse of fortune! Suffice it to mention, that while the army of Bengal was destined to act under the personal command of General Lake in the north-western provinces of Hindostan, that of Madras was placed under the orders of Major-general Wellesley, for the purpose of opposing the combined army of the enemy, under the personal command of Scindeah, to the southward.

On the 8th of August, General Wellesley took the field, and marched with about 9,000 troops, in the proportion of 7,000 Sepoys to 2,000 Europeans, against Amednagur; and on the same day that city was taken, surrounded as it was by a high and strong wail, by a spirited effort, it being carried by escalade and storm,

with but small loss. On the 10th, the batteries were opened before the fortress of the same name, and, on the 12th, it surrendered at discretion: a conquest, the first fruits of General Wellesley's activity, which immediately gave the possession of districts to the annual amount of 72,000l. sterling. On the 24th of August, the British force crossed the Godavery river, and, on the 29th reached Aurungabad. From this point, by a masterly and rapid movement along the left bank of the Godavery to the eastward, General Wellesley completely prevented Scindeah from crossing that river, and attacking, as he had intended, our ally, the Nizam, in his very capital; and, at the same time, covered two valuable convoys of treasure and grain, which were on the way for the supply of his forces.

Scindeah, thus baffled, assembled the whole of the army under his immediate command at a strong position on the north bank of the river Kaitreach, near the Adjuntee Pass, to the amount of 38,500 cavalry, 10,500 regular infantry, 500 matchlocks, 500 rocket men, and 190 pieces of ordnance, determined, it should seem, to try the fate of a battle with the British army, which the vast superiority of his force, and the strength of his position, gave him the strongest and fairest probability of hazarding with advantage. In addition to the troops we have particularized, Scindeah stationed a few thousand well trained Marhatta cavalry in the Adjuntee hills.

On the 21st of September, Colonel Stevenson, who commanded the subsidiary force, and who acted in concert with, and under the orders of General Wellesley, formed a junction with that officer. It was then determined that they should again separate, and advance towards the enemy in distinct divisions, and by different routes, as the best means of compelling him to a general action, were he found disposed to continue the de-. fensive system he had hitherto adop

ted. General Wellesley and Colonel Stevenson accordingly marched towards the enemy's encampment, the former taking the eastern, the latter a western direction; their point of junction, and the time, having been previously arranged.

On the ever memorable 23d of September, General Wellesley arrived at Naulnair, where he received information that the combined Marhatta army was within six miles of the ground he intended to occupy; but that some symptoms appeared of his intention to break up his encampment, and retreat on the approach of the British troops. In the apprehension of losing an opportunity which might not again occur of striking a decisive blow, General Wellesley instantly determined, although his army had marched fourteen miles that morning, to attack him, without waiting for Colonel Stevenson's division. This bold resolve was at once the result of the greatest intrepidity and the profoundest judgment. Had the British general awaited the junction, the enemy, informed of their approach, would have had ample time to have withdrawn his guns and infantry during the night, and thus have easily avoided a general engagement; a circumstance which must not only have protracted the campaign, but have probably been greatly detrimental to the future progress of the British arms in that quarter: whereas, by the bold measure which General Wellesley adopted, of attacking him without delay, the smallness of the British force would probably tempt Scindeah to engage, where he had the greatest prospect of defeating.

In pursuance of this resolution, which could alone have been undertaken by the most resolute and dauntless mind, General Wellesley, having refreshed his men, moved forward, and came in sight of the enemy, (after a march in the whole of twenty miles, the last six of which under the heats of a vertical sun), posted as we

have already described, their right being upon the village of Bokerdun, and their left on that of Assye: which latter place, in giving its name to the battle, has been immortalized.

General Wellesley's approach was in front of the enemy's right; but finding that the infantry and guns were posted on the left, he resolved there to make his attack. Accordingly, he made the necessary movement for that purpose, covering his infantry, as they moved round, with the British cavalry in the rear, and by that of the Peishwah and Nizam on the right flank. Having forded the river Kaitna at a point beyond the enemy's left, General Wellesley now formed his army in order of battle; drawing up his infantry in two lines; the British cavalry in a third, as a reserve; and the auxiliary native horse were posted on the left flank of the British army, in order to check the approach of a large body of that of the enemy, which had slowly followed its movement, from the right of their own position.

The force of the confederated chieftains we have already detailed; that of the British army did not exceed on this trying day 4,500 men, of whom 2,000 alone were Europeans! Superior skill, judgment, discipline, and intrepidity were, however, on the side of the latter, and more than counterbalanced the superiority of the enemy's numbers.

When General Wellesley evinced his intention of attacking their left, the enemy began a distant cannonade, but changed his position with great steadiness and excellent judgment, when he clearly saw the mode in which he was to be attacked. Extending the infantry and guns from the Kaitna to the village of Assye on the Juah river, at right angles there to, he formed a second line, with its left upon Assye, and its rear to the Juah, along the bank of which it was lengthened in a westerly direction. In this masterly position, the British attacked, and advanced under a tre

mendous fire of nearly 150 pieces of the enemy's ordnance, served with a precision and effect equal to that of any European. The English artillery had also opened in their turn upon the enemy, at an interval of about 100 yards; but it produced little effect on his vast line of infantry, and was rendered incapable of advancing, from the number of men and bullocks disabled by the galling discharges of that of the enemy. Thus circumstanced, the English general resolved to abandon his guns, and try the event of a closer combat. Accordingly, leaving them in the rear, and putting himself at the head of his whole line, he advanced with an intrepidity and boldness which dismayed the enemy; the right of his line being covered in this spirited movement by the British cavalry, under the brave Colonel Maxwell. Notwithstanding the effect of their powerful artillery, the enemy was unequal to such a charge, and was quickly compelled to fall back upon his second line, posted, as we have already said, in front of the Juah. Here the 7 4th regiment, which covered the right of the British line, suffered so severely by the enemy's cannon, that a body of his cavalry was encouraged to charge. But the British horse, on the right, repulsing it, charged the enemy in turn with such resistless vigour, that several of their battalions were driven into the Juah with prodigious slaughter. The enemy's line thus broken, and awed by the steady movement of the British infantry, which still advanced with the most collected and unshaken courage, at length gave way in every direction, and the cavalry, led by Colonel Maxwell, crossing the Juah in pursuit, destroyed numbers of the enemy's now broken and dispersed infantry.

The smallness of the British force rendered it impossible for the general to secure all the advantages of his success in the heat of the action: so that some of the enemy's guns, which had been unavoidably left in the rear,

were at this moment turned upon the British troops in advance, by several of the Marhatta artillery-men who had thrown themselves on the ground during the action, and were passed over unmolested by the English soldiers; a stratagem not unfrequently practised by the native troops of India. Encouraged by this circumstance, some of the enemy's regular battalions, who had retreated in rather better order, faced about, and thus a second action, of a very furious nature while it lasted, commenced, which left the day for some little time doubtful. The personal gallantry and courage, however, of General Wel lesley soon determined it; putting himself at the head of the 78th regiment and the 7th battalion of Sepoys, he attacked those parties of the ene my who had seized the guns, so briskly, as to compel them to surrender; though not without some further loss, and considerable personal danger to himself, having his horse shot under him; while the gallant Colonel Maxwell con pleted the route of the enemy, by charging with the 19th dragoons those battalions which had rallied, which he entirely broke and dispersed, although he unfortunately fell in the onset. These last attacks were decisive; the enemy fied in every direction, their dead amounting to 1,200, and the surrounding country strewed with their wounded. The fruits of this victory were 98 pieces of cannon, the whole camp equipage of the enemy, all their bullocks and camels, and a vast quantity of ammunition.

We have been thus particular in our detail of this memorable achievement, in which a British army of 4,500 men, not 2,000 of whom were Europeans, gained a complete and decisive victory over an enemy whose force was at least 10,000 regular infantry, formed, disciplined, and in part officered by Frenchmen, supported by the tremendous discharge of nearly 100 pieces of cannon, served with all the precision and much

of the science of the French artillery; while bodies of the Marhatta cavalry, to the number of 40,000 inen, hovered around, ready to cut in upon and annihilate this "handful of heroes," did the smallest mistake or the slightest appearance of unsteadiness or disorder occur during the engagement. In effect, whether the military skill and judgment of the leader, the bravery of the troops, the dispro

portion of numbers, or the brilliant result be considered, the victory of Assye may rank with any one of those by which British valour in India has been every where distinguished, and has placed the name of Wellesley on the same roll of fame with those of the illustrious Clive and Coote in the annals of the British empire in India. (To be continued.)

THE theatre at Cadiz is large and handsome; but, excepting on gala evenings, it is not brilliantly lighted.

The admission money is trifling; but you have to pay twice, once for entrance, and again for a seat, each seat being numbered, so that it can never be occupied but by the person who has a ticket which entitles him to it. A friar sits by the receiver of the money with a poor-box, and begs the change" por las almas," for charity. The pit, called the patio, solely appropriated for the men, has a certain number of seats, lunettas, which are sometimes let by the year. There are three rows of boxes called balco and aposentas; these are all private; one of them is the state box of the Governor and Captain-general. Before the first tier of boxes there is a single row of seats, la galleria, to which any one may be admitted. Over the boxes is a gallery called the casuela, entirely appropriated to the women, who are placed under the protection of a guard, to prevent improper inter

courses; I need not add that this is the noisiest part of the house. Although the boxes are private, I had always access to one through a friend at Cadiz. There are seven different kinds of pieces performed at the Spanish theatre,-the heroic drama, the drama of character, the sacred drama, or autos sacramentales, the comedies of the figurones, the tonadillas, the saynettes, and the zarguelas. The first piece I saw was a comedy entitled "Los Amantes Disfrazados," which appeared to be, as I was assured it was, a very stupid composition; then followed 66 una buena tonadilla," a sort of musical interlude in one act, by La Signora Manucła Palacios, which was simple and agreeable enough. This was succeeded by another small piece entitled La Senorita Displicente, and the whole of this "funcion," as it is called, concluded with a saynette, a little grotesque farce in one act. The Spaniards are very partial to the saynettes, in which the manners of the people are represented with great fidelity

WOL. VI.

and animation. The scenery is not well painted. A performer of the name of Prieto excelled in grave characters, and the comic actors and actresses were considered tolerably good.

On another night, a play, the subject of which was the escape of Romana and his army from Denmark, called la Fineze d'Inghilterra was performed, after which, I saw, for the first time, a bolero, which is substituted for the fandango. The dancer was a fine woman, en bon point, but how shall I describe her performance? it seems that she did not agitate a certain portion of the back part of her frame to the taste of the spectators. In matters of this sort, it would appear that the Spaniards are the best judges. I saw no defect; she played the castanets admirably, and moved to their sound accurately and gracefully; but for the reason before stated she was unpopular, and a gentle mark of disapprobation from the pit rendered it necessary for her to retire, and make room for another, who had a more voluptuous form, and who by her extraordinary movements, when she turned her back towards the audience, showed that she thoroughly understood in what her predecessor had failed; she excited in consequence a profusion of applause. Had Martial witnessed this scene, although he has so often eulogized the Spanish dance of his own time, methinks he would have regarded this refinement in voluptuousness as a becoming subject for satiric animadversion. The account given of the bolero by Fischer, is like almost every other subject he has touched, coloured to an excess, which becomes ridiculous, not to say indecent. He has doubtless mistaken the fandango for the bolero. It appears from the preface to a small collection of Sequidillas, to which the name of Precisco is affixed in the title page, though it bears neither the date, nor place of its impression, that the bolero took its rise about the year 1780, in the

province of La Mancha, and is indebted to the following circumstance for its name: About that time, Don Sebastian Zerego, a Manchegan by birth, and one of the best dancers of his day, paid a visit to his native town, the youth of which, beholding him springing so much higher, and remaining so much longer than usual from the ground, whilst on the instruments the accompanying modulation was redoubled, in the warmth of their surprise and admiration declared that he flew, (que bolaba), whence the invitations to see this man dance, were to see the dancer who flew, " para ir à ver baylar al que bolaba," or, as they termed it, the bolero. One of the original and most admired rules of this dance is, that at the conclusion of the strain, the dancers are suddenly to remain fixed in the posture in which the last musical note and stroke of the castanet shall leave them: this position is called el bien parado. The dancers of course study to conclude in attitudes the most ele

gant and graceful. The effect of both the fandango and bolero is said to be perfectly irresistible with the Spaniards, so much so indeed, that a traveller has, whimsically enough, observed, that, were any one suddenly to play the one or the other in a church or court of justice, the priest and his congregation, or the judge, the criminal, and advocates, would immediately set themselves in motion. After the play, it is usual with the people of Cadiz to promenade in the square of St. Antonio.

I was at several tertulias or evening parties, which were agreeable enough. Cards and conversation formed the sources of amusement. In Spain, the ladies of Andalusia are celebrated for their beauty; but I must confess I am disposed to confine their attraction more to their person and uncommon grace, than to their beauty of feature. They are very lively and agreeable, and are said to possess uncommon powers of elegant and even witty badinage and raillery, to which I