lier, for the purpose of commanding the circumjacent country there is a good ditch and covered way. Nearly in the centre of the town, on a lofty mound, stands a castle, famous for its strength and magazines, bomb-proof; within its walls are wells, and at a small distance a fine spring of water. The number of souls in the town two thousand five hundred."

I have given you this description just as it stands in Dumouriez's work, although you may, perhaps, know as little of ravelines and bomb-proofs as the Widow Wadman did at the time of her first interview with my uncle Toby. Fortified places are now, indeed, a far less interesting study than they were in those days. The whole art of war has undergone such a rapid change, that it is no longer what it was in the days of Louis the Fourteenth, when the seige of a town like Almeida, furnished a large army with full employment for sixteen or eighteen months.

I was extremely gratified to meet here with an old ac quaintance, Colonel D***, who is just arrived from Corunna. But the pleasure I felt in meeting him was a good deal damped by the intelligence I received respecting our prospects in Spain; which he represents as, sadly altered for the worse, within these few weeks. In short, I believe we shall find that the French have

D D

been, as usual, too rapid for their opponents, and that the numerous armies of Spain are already little more than a

name.

He represents the common people as brave and well disposed; but as to the Juntas, he says, nothing can be more indolent, apathetic, and indifferent. This, indeed, is the language of every officer here whom I have conversed with on the subject. If so, I fear that Sir John Moore has a most arduous task to perform.

The Colonel came to Corunna on the 13th October, along with Lieutenant-General Sir David Baird's army from England. When they arrived there, the Junta would not permit them to disembark till they received an answer from the Central Junta at Madrid. Hence arose a considerable delay, and it was not before the end of the month that permission was given them to land in divisions, not exceeding two and three thousand men. This is a bad

omen of what we have to expect from the Spaniards.

Colonel D✶✶✶ represents the country of Spain as much better cultivated than what he had conceived from the accounts of Spanish tourists.

There is a British regiment now in garrison here,

and Brigadier-General Anstruther and his suite have been in Almeida ever since the 17th September, during which time this regiment has been performing the garrison duty.

It is strange that, generally speaking, the people of this town are as ignorant of what is passing in Spain, as if they were on the other side of the Atlantic: you must, therefore, restrain your curiosity till I get to Cuidad Rodrigo, the first stage in Spain, when I shall probably be enabled to inform you of the real state of affairs.

I have inclosed in this letter a sketch of the bridge over the Coa River, of which I gave you a description in my last.

I shall send this by the post to a friend at Oporto, who will forward it to England. Adieu.

SPANISH FRONTIER.—FORT DE LA CONCEPTION. -COA RIVER, THE NATURAL BOUNDARY-RIBA DE COA, ANNEXED BY KING DENNIS.CHANGE OF ASPECT IN THE HOUSES AND PEASANTS.-DISTANT VIEW OF CUIDAD RODRIGO-BRIDGE SQUARE TOWER-BATTLEMENTSCHANGE OF MANNERS-SUPERIOR CLEANLINESS-COSTUME OF THE INHABITANTS.-TARTAN PLAIDING.—BUTCHERS' SHOPS.-SPANISH

PAINTERS—SPAGNOLETTI-MURILLIO—AND VÉLASQUEZ.

Cuidad Rodrigo, 20th November, 1808.

THIS morning we arrived within the territories of Spain. At an early hour 1)*** and I left Almeida. After passing for nearly three miles over a bleak flat, the road began to lead into some woods of evergreen oak, and soon after we passed a small rivulet, near which is a fortress, called Fort de Conception, in a dilapidated state, standing on the boundary of the two countries.

The Coa River appears to be the more natural boundary between the two countries; and, indeed, I find that it was so formerly. On consulting the history of Portugal,

it appears, that King Dennis annexed to Portugal a tract of country beyond the Coa, which was then called the Riba. de Coa.

On entering the first village in Spain a stranger is forcibly struck with the appearance of the houses, all the windows being fortified with strong bars of iron; the interior of them also evinces a much greater degree of cleanliness than those in Portugal.

At

In our progress as we passed through a country abounding with game, we met several Spanish peasants, all armed with muskets. We were struck with the superiority of the athletic and muscular form of these men, compared with the Portuguese, many of whom seem dwarfish and cramped in their growth. After passing several small villages, we reached the brow of a gently-rising hill, whence we had a view of a fine fertile plain, bounded by a lofty range of mountains, in part covered with snow. the further extremity of the plain rose the white towers of Cuidad Rodrigo, to which we approached by a very handsome bridge, of ten arches, thrown over the river Agwada, on whose banks the town is proudly situated on a sand-stone rock. Overlooking the bridge is a large square tower, with battlements and loop-holes, connected with a lofty stone wall, round which the road winds for a short distance, and then enters the town by a strong turreted