Albuquerque is a walled town of Spain, about three leagues from Campo Mayor. It has a fort situated upon a hill close to the town. This place gives the title to a Duke, who possesses many privileges and an extensive range of forests, in which are plenty of wild boars and wolves, hunted frequently by those who are fond of such amusement. Letter No. III Campo Mayor, Portugal, _September 1809_. Dear Parents—My last letter was written at Castello Branco, which I hope you received. I must now enter into a long detail of proceedings, the result of which has not proved of any service to England or Spain as yet, and I am afraid there is no likelihood our services in this quarter ever will, unless we have a sufficient disposable force to cope with the French, who are much more numerous than we expected. I will now bid adieu to the land of plenty, a land well according with the Scripture phrase—flowing with milk and honey. We very soon passed the frontiers of Portugal and entered Spain by forced marches, generally of twenty English miles by day and sometimes much more, the weather extremely hot and sultry and the roads very bad. Sometimes we met with stupendous mountains, whose summits were enveloped in the clouds; the villages in general were deserted by the unfortunate inhabitants, and houses, churches, and everything they possessed were one entire scene of ruin; some towns were completely burnt to the ground, even the corn-fields (of this year's produce) were generally laid waste by fire wherever the French had been. We daily experienced great hardships from want of a proper supply of bread and food of every kind. Sometimes with difficulty we got a little, when every man endeavoured to get as much as possible for himself, and I generally was not backward in contriving to satisfy the cravings of a hungry stomach, as well as the oldest soldier among them. From such fatiguing marches, and often bad food and water, by day exposed to burning sun, and by night to the heavy dews, sleeping generally upon the ground, you will not wonder at the men becoming unhealthy, which daily obliged men to fall out on the march. Even the strongest in outward appearance would lie down, or rather fall down, and say positively they could not go any farther. The officers of our regiment—most of them rode on horses or mules—did not experience the fatigues so materially. As I had no money to spare, I was obliged to walk, and, God knows, if illness had intervened or I had not been able to march, my case would have been dismal; but, thank the Almighty, He has blessed me with an excellent constitution, and all the hardships I have met with have not made the least impression upon me. A little John Bull-like, when hunger stared me in the face I put on a sorrowful countenance, but by some means or other a sheep or pig came in my way and I soon turned butcher. No sooner dead than roasted or grilled. I