ever entered a bed occupied by the wife of another with a clearer conscience. I allowed myself to be placed beside my partner, without any further persuasion; and the two soldiers left us to ourselves, and returned to the town. Weakness from loss of blood soon caused me to fall asleep, but it was a sleep of short duration. I awoke, and saw the awkward dilemma in which I was placed. I was unable to move, and was completely at the mercy of Mistress Carsons, or any freak or gambol she might think fit to play. I, in fact, lay like an infant. The fire of small-arms, the screams of the soldiers' wives, and the universal buzz throughout the camp, acted powerfully upon my nervous and worn-out frame; but having a clear conscience, and mine was certainly a clear one as far as regarded my bed-fellow at least,-Somnus conquered Mars, at least he did so in my case, for I soon fell into another doze, in which I might have remained very comfortable had not my companion awoke sooner than I wished; discharging a huge grunt, and putting her hand upon my leg, she exclaimed, "Arrah! Dan, jewel, what makes you so stiff this morning?" It required but few words from me to undeceive her-she saw at a glance how the thing stood, and soon rendered me all the service she was capable of; tea and chocolate were soon in readiness, and having tasted some of the former, I sat up in my bed waiting the arrival of the first surgeon to dress my wound. My bât-man, Dan Carsons, shortly afterwards made his appearance; he led up to the door of my tent three sheep whose soft fleeces would not have disgraced the pen of Monsieur le Baron Torneaux, who sent to the mountains of Caucasus for a supply of rare sheep for the purpose of improving the French shawl manufactory. He had, moreover, a pigskin of enormous size filled with right good wine which the Spaniards call la tinta de la Mancha: " And sure," said he, "I hard of your being kilt, and I brought you this (pointing to the pig-skin of wine), thinking what a nate bolster it i'd be for you while you slept at your aise ;" and, without waiting for my reply, he thrust the pig-skin under my head. "And look," said he, shewing me a spigot at the mouth of my bolster, when you're thirsty at all at all, you see nothing is more pleasant or aisy than to clap this into your mouth, and sure won't it be mate and dhrink for you too?" "Oh! Jasus!" responded Nelly," he's kilt out and out; see, Dan, how the blood is in strames about the blankets."

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"A little learning is a dangerous thing,"

so-under certain circumstances-is a little laughing! Dan Carsons and his wife made me laugh so immoderately, that a violent discharge of blood from my wound nearly put an end to my career in this world; and had it not been for the arrival of Dr. Grant, the staff-surgeon of the division, who just now made his appearance, I doubt much if any of my readers would ever have had the pleasure of reading these my reminiscences. But I must have done with myself, Dan Carsons, and his wife Nelly; and resume my narrative of the sale of the plunder with which our camp was, to use a mercantile phrase, glutted.

Early on the morning of the 9th of April, a great concourse of Spaniards had already thronged our lines; the neighbouring villages poured in their quota of persons seeking to be the purchasers of the

booty captured by our men, and each succeeding hour increased the supply for their wants, numerous and varied as they were, and our camp presented the appearance of a vast market. The scene after the taking of Rodrigo was nothing in comparison to the present, because the resources of Badajoz might be said to be in the ratio of five to one as compared with her sister fortress, and, besides, our fellows were, in an equal proportion, more dexterous than they had been in their maiden effort to relieve Rodrigo of its valuables. It may, therefore, be well supposed, and the reader may safely take my word for it, that the transfer of property was, on the present occasion, considerable. Some men realized upwards of one thousand dollars, (about 2507.) others less, but all, or almost all, gained handsomely by an enterprise in which they had displayed such unheard-of acts of devotion and bravery; and it is only to be lamented that they tarnished laurels so nobly won by traits of barbarity that it would be difficult to find a parallel for in the annals of any army. But such atrocities are ever the attendants upon any thing where those, hitherto dependent upon their superiors-whose station in society enables them to be the most competent judges of what is proper-are allowed to think and act for themselves; and a licentious army, although not by the half so bad as a licentious mob, is nevertheless a terrible scourge. The sale of the different commodities went on rapidly, notwithstanding we had no auctioneers; there was no "king's duty," but, most undeniably, if the Spaniards paid no "king's duty,' they paid the piper! While the divers articles were carried away by the purchasers, the wounded were carrying away to the hospitals and camp, and the lamentations of the women for their dead or wounded husbands was a striking contrast to the scene of gaiety which almost everywhere prevailed.

Mr. Richard Martin, now a member of parliament, whom I before mentioned as having been a volunteer with the 88th, and as badly wounded while gallantly mounting one of the ladders against the castle wall, had with him his own private servant: it was not possible to persuade this man that his master had not lost his senses, and his lamentations for the fate that had befallen him were of the most extravagant sort. He would sit on a rising ground, that overlooked the town, and wringing his hands in an agony of grief exclaim, "Och! Jasus, so I was once more back in sweet Connamara, sure the divil himself wouldn't tempt me to lave it, but sure it was he-and none other!-that tempted my poor dear masthur to quit his twinty thousand good acres, with no one to lay claim to them at all at all; and now see how he's kilt with the rest, sthriving to get the hoult ov a dirty spot that doesn't cover more ground than he'd give to a dacent boy for a potato-garden. Och! murther, murther!" Martin's servant had decidedly good "ground" for his lamentations, because I believe, since the days of knight-errantry, never was there a parallel to his conduct. He came out as an amateur, but fulfilled the functions of a soldier, taking his tour of duty in the trenches, six hours out of the twenty-four; he was one of the foremost in the assault, and declined receiving a commission, which was offered him by the Duke of Wellington for his gallant conduct;-but he was unnoticed by General Picton, and what I now write of him is, I believe, the first intimation the public, or perhaps many of his acquaintances, have of his conduct at Badajoz. In any other army except the British, a

thing of the sort would be blazoned forth, and the man who had so distinguished himself lauded, and deservedly so, by the general in command of the troops to which such a hero was attached; but it was not so, shamefully not so, with us: it was, however, only in keeping with the treatment-the chilling treatment-the 88th experienced for nearly four years of their services in the peninsula. These observations, which I regret being obliged to make, lead me on to others, touching the gallant behaviour of some who fell unnoticed, and others who survive unrewarded.

Lieutenant Whitelaw, of the 88th, led the advance of the ladders; he lost his life in so doing, but his name nowhere appears, except in the list of killed! Lieutenant William Mackie, the neglected and discountenanced leader of the forlorn-hope at Rodrigo-was most conspicuous during the assault of the castle of Badajoz, and was one of the first-if not the very first, to enter it; yet no mention is made of him. Captain Seton, commanding the regiment, and commanding such a fine fighting regiment as the 88th, on such an occasion too, got no rank-except in his turn. Lieutenant Macpherson, of the 45th, was the first to mount the round tower, upon the top of which floated the tri-coloured flag; he got a company, but the rest I have mentioned-all 88th men, were never even noticed; and although it would not be possible to reward every act of bravery in an army like the British, or in a regiment like the Connaught Rangers, it is, nevertheless, chilling to those who have deserved it, and enough to damp any ardour in those who may follow in their footsteps, to know that such facts as I write have taken place.

In the space of three short months, the following officers of the 88th were passed over, their services unrewarded,-and they were not even noticed by their general. The first of these was Major Thomson, commanding the battalion at the storming of Rodrigo; the second, Lieutenant William Mackie, leading the forlorn hope; the third, Lieutenant Whitelaw, leading the advance of the ladders at Badajoz; the fourth, Captain Oates, in the attack of La Picurina; and the fifth, Captain Seton, commanding the regiment on the night of the storming of Badajoz. Surely a change should be made in the system, or how can a regiment, much less an army, be supposed to work with good-will? When, in after-times, the details of these eventful epochs shall be read, if any person was bold enough to state that such a series of slights had been put upon the brave men who bore so conspicuous a share in their accomplishment, would he not be looked upon as a fool or madman? Undoubtedly he would; but as the writer of these "Reminiscences" conceives himself to be neither the one nor the other, he gives them to the army and the world, and he challenges any person to disprove one scintilla of what he says. There are many still alive who have taken a part in those memorable combats; and the writer feels confident that they will bear him out in what he asserts.

Towards the evening of the 9th, our camp was nearly emptied of all its saleable commodities, and the following morning was occupied in getting rid of the many Spaniards who still hovered about us, endea vouring to get a bargain of some of the unsold articles. By noon, all traffic had ceased, and the men began to arrange themselves for a fresh combat with Marshal Soult, who was advancing towards Badajoz. The appearance and demeanour of the soldiery in no way warranted the idea

that they had been occupied as they were for the last three weeks, but more especially for the last three days. They were the same orderly set of men they had been before the attack on the town, and were just as eager to fight Soult as they were to storm Badajoz : the only change visible was their thinned ranks! In my regiment alone, out of 750 privates, 434 had fallen; and of the officers, who, at the commencement of the sieges counted 24, but five remained unhurt!

The wounded by this time were all brought to the different hospitals; and those of the dead, which had not been drowned in the ditch near the breaches, or at the Ravelin of San Roque, were buried; and but few paces were to be found that did not show traces of the grave-digger's hand. The men of the Connaught Rangers, or, as they called themselves, "the Boys," had, nevertheless, their joke, and the merits and demerits of the enterprise were regularly canvassed by them. The following conversation, which I am about to relate, will give the reader a slight insight into the view they took of the matter. Ten or a dozen of "the boys" had got together near my tent, where I still lay wounded, and after they had made themselves tolerably comfortable over a large camp-kettle of spiced wine, one of them-a man of my own companynamed Paddy Aisy, having fairly discussed the merits of the contents of the camp-kettle, began to give his opinion of our late operations. "Well!" said he, 66 now ids all past and gone, and wasn't it the divil's own dthroll business, the taking that same place; and wasn't Long-nose (meaning the Duke of Wellington) a quare lad to sthrive to get into it, seeing how it was definded! But what else could he do, afther all? didn't he recave ordhers to do it; and didn't he say to us all, Boys,' says he, ids myself that's sorry to throuble yees upon this dirty arrand; but we must do it, for all that; and iv yees can get into it, by hook or by crook, be the powers, id 'ill be the making ov yees all -and ov me too!' and didn't he spake the thruth? Sure,' says he, ‘did I ever tell yees a lie, or spake a word to yees that wasn't as thrue as the Gospil? and, iv yees folly my directions, there's nothin can bate yees!? And sure, afther we got in, was he like the rest, sthriving to put us out before we divarted ourselves? Not he, faith. It was he that spoke to the boys' dacently. Well, boys,' says he, when he met myself and a few more aising a house ov a thrifle, well, boys,' says he, (for he knew the button!) God bless your work! ids myself that's proud to think how complately yees tuck the concate out ov the Frinch 88th, in the castel last night. Why, Sir,' says I, (forgettin to call him my Lord,)' 'the divil a Frinch Connaught Ranger ever was born that the Irish Connaught Rangers isn't able to take the concate out ov;' and ids what he said upon the same, splittin his sides with laffin, that it was thrue for me there wasn't; and blur-an-ouns, boys, aint he the man to stand by? Don't he take the rough and the smooth with us, and wouldn't it be a pitty not to give him his dew? don't he expose himself to the wet and the cowld with us, and lie out on the grass at night, like any other baste? and ain't he afthur kicking the Frinch before him, just as we'd kick an ould foot-ball? Be the powers, whin I see him cummin next or nigh me, my heart gets so big that my body isn't big enough to hould it, and it jumps up clane into my throat-to get room! And don't think that I'm romancin, when I tell yees how he said we tuck the concate out ov the Frinch 88th; he said every word ov it, and

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more too-iv I could repate it in his own words!" "Why," replied Corney Fagan, "what you say is parfectly thrue; we ought to stand by him, and didn't we? Sure yees remember how Misther Mackie ran up the laddher as nimble as a cat, and poor Misther Martin thought to do the same, till he was kilt! and didn't Captain Seton owe his life to his being so thin that the French couldn't see him undher the gun? and whin we have such a man to direct us, and such officers to lade us on, why, what else can we do but folly them through thick and thin?”

The sound of the drum for roll-call put a stop to any further colloquy; but rude as was the dialect, and homely the language, much might be gathered from it. It gave to the hearer the unsophisticated opinion of those men, whose deeds, in a great measure, tended to settle the European contest. What was uttered by those few obscure individuals, in their own rude phraseology, was the opinion of the entire army; and they who would strive to efface those impressions, which were imprinted upon the hearts of the Peninsular soldiers, might as well strive to efface the sun from the heavens.

While we were occupied as I have described at Badajoz, Soult was busied in collecting a force sufficient to ensure the safety of that city. On the 1st of April, placing himself at the head of 25,000 men, he broke up from Seville; on the 8th he arrived at Villa-Franca, only two marches distant from Badajoz, but yet two days after its capture. Mortified beyond measure at this unlooked-for misfortune, he wished to press onward, and, by a brilliant success, wipe away the disgrace; but he was in no condition to act as his zeal prompted him, because his own force was inadequate to the task; and Marmont, instead of co-operating with him, frittered away his time before Rodrigo and Almeida, or in the dispersion of a few thousand wretched Portuguese militia. The bulk of our covering army being thus under no apprehension of being molested, passed the Guadiana, and established itself on the right bank of that river. Soult retired back upon Seville, and Marmont, closely pressed by our horse, retired upon Salamanca. Thus terminated our operations before Badajoz, which, as may be seen, were of no common description. Four thousand prisoners, a considerable quantity of ammunition, with one hundred and seventy-two pieces of cannon, and one hundred thousand shot, were found in the place. Our loss exceeded five thou. sand men; and although no officer of a higher rank than colonel was killed, it is a singular circumstance that every general was wounded on the night of the assault. Picton, Colville, Kempt, Walker, and Bowes, all heading either brigades or divisions, were wounded; yet the men, notwithstanding, went through their work well; which proves what I have always said, and said from long experience, and an intimate knowledge of the materials which compose our army, that troops storming a breach are as well, if not better, when left to their own officers. soldier of the old Peninsular army (but where can we expect to see, during our sojourn in this world, such a specimen of what a true British soldier should be?) was ever ready to lay down his life at the bidding of his officer-and what more can any man do? But the countless gallant exploits that have been achieved by our army in Portugal and Spain, without the aid of generals, are sufficient to illustrate the truth of what I have so frequently repeated.

A

All writers that have written upon the taking of Badajoz, whether