for the dead. The whole greatness of our nature was called forth,... a power which had lain dormant, and of which the possessors themselves had not suspected the existence, till it manifested itself in the hour of trial.' p. 423.

If that faith,' of which our Lady of the Pillar, Santiago, and St. Engracia,' are the symbols, be not superstition, we would fain know in what the latter can be said to consist. If this false confidence be religion in its inward life and spirit,' what name is to be reserved for faith in our Lord Jesus Christ? We dare say that this tinsel passage appeared to Dr. Southey fraught with wisdom and eloquence: in our view, its philosophy is as spurious, as its religion' is opposite to the true nature of Christianity. The spirit which animated the Zaragozans, as far as religion is concerned, was neither better nor worse than that which, in a bad cause, actuated the followers of Mohammed or Moseilama. The latter, as well as the former, had the hope that, by the blessing of God, they might succeed; the certain faith that, if they fell, it was with the feeling, the motive, and the merit of martyrdom.' We sympathize, as intensely as Mr. Southey, with the sufferings. and the triumphs of the patriotic defenders of the capital of Aragon; but we enter our protest against the obliquity of understanding which would claim for the excitement of fanaticism the eternal crown of the Christian martyr's devotion.

In June, the insurrection began in Portugal, and speedily became so general as, in addition to the daily expectation of an English force, to compel Junot to concentrate his troops in the neighbourhood of Lisbon. The description given, in the present volume, of the various proceedings of the insurgents, as the spirit of loyalty and patriotism flamed forth in the towns and provinces of Lusitania, is exceedingly well executed; it is, however, too complicated, and contains too much of detail and of individual adventure, to admit of satisfactory compression. The most skilfully conducted part of the rising, and that which bore most of a decidedly military character, was the manoeuvring, in the northern provinces, between Loison and Silveira, afterwards created Conde d'Amarante for his able generalship in the actions near that place. We must not, however, omit to notice the horrible butchery of the inhabitants of Leiria, by the orders of General Margaron, and the infernal atrocities committed by the march from Almeida to Abrantes. rized similar excesses at Evora, and they, a name in Portugal which latest generations."

army of Loison, on its The same officer authohas left,' says Dr. Souwill be execrated to the

All these horrors were arrested by the appearance of an English army on the field of battle. In the beginning of August, Sir Arthur Wellesley landed in Mondego Bay, and on the 9th and 10th, advanced by Leiria towards Lisbon. Earlier in the year, the Sebastianists, a sect of which Dr. Southey gives a curious account, had been very busy with their prophetic anticipations.

< There exists in Portugal, a strange superstition concerning King Sebastian, whose re-appearance is as confidently expected by many of the Portugueze, as the coming of the Messiah by the Jews. The rise and progress of this belief forms a curious part of their history: it began in hope, when the return of that unhappy prince was not only possible, but might have been considered likely; it was fostered by the policy of the Braganzan party after all reasonable hope had ceased; and length of time served only to ripen it into a confirmed and rooted superstition, which even the intolerance of the Inquisition spared, for the sake of the loyal and patriotic feelings in which it had its birth. The Holy Office never interfered further with the sect than to prohibit the publication of its numerous prophecies, which were suffered to circulate in private. For many years, the' persons who held this strange opinion had been content to enjoy their dream in private, shrinking from observation and from ridicule; but, as the belief had begun in a time of deep calamity, so now, when a heavier evil had overwhelmed the kingdom, it spread beyond all former example. Their prophecies were triumphantly brought to light; for only in the promises which were then held out, could the Portugueze find consolation; and proselytes increased so rapidly that half Lisbon became Sebastianists. The delusion was not confined to the lower orders, it reached the educated classes; and men who had graduated in theology, became professors of a faith which announced that Portugal was soon to be the head of the fifth and universal monarchy. Sebastian was speedily to come from the Secret Island; the Queen would resign the sceptre into his hands; he would give Bonaparte battle near Evora on the field of Sertorius, slay the tyrant, and become monarch of the world. These events had long been predicted; and it had long since been shewn, that the very year in which they must occur was mystically prefigured in the arms of Portugal. Those arms had been miraculously given to the founder of the Portugueze monarchy, and the five wounds were represented in the shield by as many round marks or ciphers, two on each side and one in the middle. Bandarra the shoemaker, who was one of the greatest of their old prophets, had taught them the mystery therein. Place two O's one upon the other, said he, place another on the right hand, then make a second figure like the first, and you have the date given. The year being thus designated, the time of his appearance was fixed for the holy week: on Holy Thursday, they affirmed the storm would gather, and from that time till the Sunday, there would be the most tremendous din of battle that had ever been. heard in the world; for this April was the month of lightning which

Bandarra had foretold. In pledge of all this, some of the bolder 19 believers declared that there would be a full moon on the 19th of March, when she was in the wane! It was a prevalent opinion that the Encoberto, or the hidden one, as they called Sebastian, was actually on board the Russian squadron.' pp. 134-7.

On the strength of this delusion, prophecies and prodigies had been rife; but Junot had treated them with contempt, until the agitation of the public mind was carried to its height by the arrival of the English armament. He now exerted himself with the utmost energy to meet the approaching danger. Loison was recalled from Alem-Tejo, and Laborde, with a strong division, advanced on Leiria for the purpose of effecting a junction with him there, and giving battle to the English. This design was, however, frustrated by the march of Sir Arthur Wellesley, who occupied Leiria, and thus interposed his army between the divisions of Loison and Laborde. The latter took up a strong position at Roliça, whence he was driven, with the loss of his cannon, on the 17th of August. Sir Arthur was preparing to follow up his victory, when an incubus, in the shape of Sir Harry Burrard, made its appearance to paralize his operations. It was thought expedient that the army should wait for the arrival of Sir John Moore's division, though nothing whatever was known respecting its actual situation; and the troops were, consequently, halted in the neighbourhood of Vimeiro. Happily, Junot did not find it convenient to wait for the completion of Sir Harry's cautious arrangements, and determined to attack the English in their present position. Happily, too, as Sir. H. had not yet landed, the army was still under the efficient command of Sir Arthur Wellesley. The result is so well known to our readers as to render detail inexpedient. The bayonet decided the battle, and Sir Harry, with his prudent counsellors, General Clinton and Colonel Murray, again adopted the sagacious system of making victory as ineffective as possible. When Sir Hew Dalrymple landed, though he so far agreed with his second in command as to deem the plan of Sir Arthur extremely hazardous, he felt the necessity for advancing without waiting for Sir John Moore. Into the subsequent transactions we must decline entering. The negotiations relating to the Convention of Cintra, and the proceedings connected with the departure of the French, are fully and distinctly narrated by Dr. Southey; and his views of the policy and the consequences of that famous capitulation, are, on the whole, fair and judicious.

On the 26th of September, the Central Junta was installed
C 2

at Aranjuez; but the intrigues which attended the formation, and impeded the proceedings of that body, rendered its appointment, to a considerable extent, inefficacious. The war, in the mean time, was actively carried on in Catalonia. The efforts of Duhesme to obtain possession of Gerona, were defeated with great loss, and the Catelans even threatened Barcelona itself. But the most remarkable event of this period was, the admirably conducted enterprise which terminated in the liberation of the fine Spanish division under Romana. On its embarkation, the following singular circumstance is said to have occurred.

Two of the regiments which had been quartered in Funen, were cavalry, mounted on the fine, black, long-tailed Andalusian horses. It was impracticable to bring off these horses, about 1100 in number; and Romana was not a man who could order them to be destroyed lest they should fall into the hands of the French: he was fond of horses himself, and knew that every man was attached to the beast which had carried him so far and so faithfully. Their bridles, therefore, were taken off, and they were turned loose upon the beach. As they moved off, they passed some of the country horses and mares which were feeding at a little distance. A scene ensued, such as, probably, never before was witnessed. The Spanish horses are not mutilated, and these were sensible they were no longer under any restraint of human power. A general conflict ensued, in which retaining the discipline that they had learnt, they charged each other in squadrons of ten or twenty together; then closely engaged, striking with their fore-feet, and biting and tearing each other with the most ferocious rage, and trampling over those which were beaten down, till the shore, in the course of a quarter of an hour, was strewn with the dead and disabled. Part of them had been set free on a rising ground at some distance; they no sooner heard the roar of the battle, than they came thundering down over the intermediate hedges, and catching the contagious madness, plunged into the fight with equal fury. Sublime as the scene was, it was too horrible to be long contemplated; and Romana in mercy gave orders for destroying them; but it was found too dangerous to attempt this; and after the last boats quitted the beach, the few horses that remained, were seen still engaged in the dreadful work of mutual destruction.'

pp. 663, 4.

In the midst of all these reverses, Napoleon was not idle. He felt that, however impolitic, as well as nefarious, his conduct towards Spain had been, to retract would be absolute ruin; and he displayed his usual energy, and his habitual disregard of public right and private comfort, in the adoption of vigorous measures to counteract the evils which he had wantonly provoked. He not only called out the standing conscription, but recurred to former lists which had been considered as can

no

celled; and by the close of October, 100,000 of old troops and new levies had passed the Pyrenees to reinforce their countrymen. The Spanish armies were inferior alike in numbers, in discipline, and in equipment. They were posted along a line of injudicious extent, and instead of being placed under the direction of one able commander, they were under the separate commands of Castaños, Blake, and Palafox. The first army attacked was that of Blake, who seems to have displayed many qualities of an able general, but sustained a fatal defeat at Espinosa. Castaños, compelled by the commissioners of the Junta, against his own better judgement, to fight, lost the destructive battle of Tudela; and the Conde de Belveder, with the Estremaduran army, was irrecoverably routed at Burgos. Notwithstanding these disasters, the soldiers and the people were eager to defend Madrid; but their governor, the torious Morla, counteracted their ardour, and on the 5th of December, General Belliard, with his division, entered the city. The army of Castaños, in its retreat from Catalayud, preserved its artillery; and its rear-guard, under Venegas, at the pass of Buvierca, gallantly repulsed the advancing French. At Siguenza, Castaños resigned the command to Lapeña, and, in obedience to a summons from the Central Junta, repaired to the place where its members were assembled. A scene of incurable confusion now ensued. The Spanish armies were completely broken up, and, though many instances of skill and courage in the different officers might be cited, yet, the flight of the principal divisions was accelerated by fear and insubordination. The South of Spain was, however, saved for the present, by the diversion which was made by the English army, under Sir John Moore. That accomplished but unfortunate officer had succeeded to the command, after the recal of Sir Hew Dalrymple and the generals who had united with him in signing the Convention of Cintra. Into the history of the disastrous and well-known campaign which followed, we have no room or inclination to enter. Dr. Southey, as might have been expected, takes the side of Mr. Frere, who was clamorous for the advance, at all hazards, of the English army upon Madrid. We differ altogether from Dr. S. in his view of these transactions; and we can perceive in his statements much of that kind of misrepresentation which arises from a strong though unconscious bias in the mind. When he says of the lamented Moore, that he wanted faith in British courage,' he states that which is palpably incorrect; and when he gravely tells his readers, that it is faith by which miracles are wrought in war as well as in religion,' he lays down a principle on which it is to be hoped that no British general will ever act.