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bestowed the highest praises on their conduct in the battle, and declared in his public despatch, that "they were worthy of contending in the same ranks with the British soldiers in this interesting cause.' It may safely be affirmed that on the day after the battle, the strength of the Portuguese troops was doubled.

"The sight of this auspicious change dispelled every desponding feeling from the British army. No presentiments of ultimate discomfiture were any longer entertained.

"The plan of defence which the far-seeing sagacity of their chief had formed, revealed itself to the meanest sentinel in the ranks, and the troops of every nation, prepared to follow the standard of their leader wherever he should lead them, with that ready alacrity and undoubting confidence which is at once the forerunner and the cause of ultimate triumph."

On the 28th September both armies retained their respective positions, and a partial engagement took place between the light infantry on the left of the line. But Massena, as already noticed, had heard from the peasantry that a road existed by which he might turn the position of the British. His movement did not escape the vigilant eye of the English commander, but it was then impossible to take measures to counteract it. The result of Colonel Trant's mistake was, that the enemy were suffered to pass through a series of defiles without opposition, in which they must otherwise have sustained great loss. As soon as he had ascertained the movements of the French, Lord Wellington ordered the position of Busaco to be quitted, and the retreat to go on. He moved on Coimbra with * Alison's History of Europe, Vol. VII.

the main body, while General Hill retired on Santarem; Colonel Trant was posted on the northern bank of the Vonga, and Vizen was occupied by a corps of militia, for the purpose of cutting off the enemy's communication with Spain. It was not the policy of Wellington at this time to oppose the French, he declined the offer of a second battle on the Mondego, and, crossing that river, continued his retreat to Leira, which he reached on the 2nd October. On the 5th, hearing that the enemy were coming on in force, the retreat was resumed. Massena, who had expected to come up with the British, was compelled by the exhaustion of his soldiers, and want of provisions, to make a brief halt. Wellington and Hill continued their retreat by easy marches, one to Torres Vedras, the other to Alhandra on the Tagus. Proclamations had been issued requiring the inhabitants to fall back on the approach of the enemy; and the remembrance of the fearful atrocities almost uniformly practised by Napoleon's army on their way-which made them resemble the " scourges in the hand of God" that advanced upon the falling Roman empire-induced the whole population of the country the British left behind them, to fly from their dwellings, bearing with them all the property they could convey. As the English army retreated, it was accompanied by these miserable crowds of outcasts-many of whom escaped only with life, but without the means of sustaining it. They left their homes and the consecrated scenes of their youth with the full conviction that on their return they would find only blackened and ruinous walls. "Mothers with infants at their breasts; children happy in their ignorance, and smiling amid the scene of desolation which sur

rounded them; palsied grandsires, smiling too in the second infancy of dotage; men robust and vigorous, with features wrenched by strong agony of the spirit;-the blind, the maimed, the crippled, the diseased, all animated by the common and overpowering motive of escaping from the savage cruelties of the invaders, were seen crowding the roads, and flying for protection to the capital." As the army approached Lisbon the bulk of the fugitive multitude became greatly increased. The way-side was strewed with articles of furniture which the people could no longer carry with them. Those who had thrown themselves on the ground in exhaustion, no sooner heard that the enemy's columns were coming up, than they started up, and attempted to renew their journey with convulsive energy. But, as a writer on the subject says, no description can convey an adequate idea of the sad reality; those who witnessed it declared that its impression can never be effaced but by death.

On the 10th October the British troops took up their position on the lines constructed for them; and next day were joined by Romana, with 6,000 Spaniards from the Alentejo. . It was not till these celebrated fortifications of Torres Vedras were beheld, that the army could form a right estimate of the military genius of their commander, who had so placed them that they might bid defiance to the utmost efforts of the enemy. Till Massena advanced to Sobral, he had no conception of the formidable position in which Lord Wellington's army awaited his approach. He immediately halted, at night made a retrograde movement, and three days elapsed before he again ventured to advance. For some time he reconnoitred the ground; and though the full strength of these

celebrated lines were not revealed to him, he saw enough to convince him of the very formidable obstacles in his way. Attack he saw was hopeless, and he arranged his corps in bivouac, on a range of heights extending from Villa Franca on the Tagus, in front of the British; part also were disposed along the banks of the river. He made an attack upon a redoubt at the foot of a mountain, which formed part of the position, but his troops, after a severe contest, were repulsed. No other incident of importance occurred for several weeks.

Lisbon is situated at the extremity of a peninsula, the neck of which is crossed by several rugged and mountainous chains, stretching from the Tagus-a distance of thirty miles-in a semicircular form towards the sea. Along these, below the point where the Tagus is no longer fordable, two very strong natural lines-one considerably in advance of the other had been fixed upon. On these, so strong naturally, all the resources of military science had been lavished. The whole resembled one mighty and impregnable fortress. Mountains had been scarped perpendicularly; streams and rivers dammed to make inundations : all roads by which an enemy could advance broken up-obstructions heaped upon, and cannon placed to sweep them: new ones formed for communication between the various parts of the defensive force; the weaker points of the position strengthened; a triple chain of redoubts drawn, from which, and other batteries, 600 pieces of cannon commanded every approach and open point. The right of the first line was flanked by a flotilla of gun-boats which bore upon the enemy. The second line of defence presented nearly similar features; and thus, though Massena had even gained the

first, he would still, before reaching Lisbon, have had to force a barrier of immense strength.

On the southern side of the Tagus, the heights commanding the city and anchorage of Lisbon were likewise strongly fortified, and marines from the ships landed to defend them. At the entrance of the Tagus entrenchments were also thrown up round fort St. Julian, to secure the embarkation of the British, should Massena, by any marvel succeed in forcing the lines of Torres Vedras. The great ridge of the Monte Junto rises, and extends unbroken for fifteen miles, this ridge could not be crossed by roads; so that in case of attack the forces on the different sides could give assistance to each other, as it could only be rounded by a march of two days. Unbroken communication, on the contrary, was kept up through the British lines; and in a very few hours the whole force could be collected to defend any part that might be endangered.

Meanwhile Massena laboured under great difficulties. His communications with Spain were cut off, and from the deserted country he could not draw provisions for his troops; his convoys from France had to traverse Spain, a distance of 600 miles, before they could reach the frontiers of Portugal, and exposed all the way to be cut off by guerilla parties. Indeed, famine must have driven him out of the country, if the people had strictly obeyed the orders of Lord Wellington and the Government, to remove all provisions; but this was so slowly carried into effect that a great quantity of private stores were found by the enemy; while the harbour of Lisbon could be entered by supplies from England and all parts of the world.

The French hoping for reinforcements, had taken up a position at Santarem. Lord Wellington did