We reached Liverpool without any adventure, and next day sailed for Dublin. In those days which I write of we did not use steam, and a three-day passage from Liverpool to Dublin was quite a common thing, and it was the practice then to lay in a sea stock for a voyage of four or five days. This was a matter of easy accomplishment, and, having laid in a fair supply of edibles, etc., we set sail, and on the third day arrived in Dublin. After remaining in the capital one day, I parted from my old companion, D‘Arcy, and took the first coach for the Kildare road, while D‘Arcy brought himself to an anchor in the Ennis mail. Our leave of absence was for three months, and, before the expiration of that time, the second battalion of the regiment was expected in Ireland, so we did not calculate on a long separation, nor were we mistaken. It would be tedious and uninteresting to give any minute detail of my reception amongst my family and friends. Those sort of adventures read well in novels, but I do not think my readers will be displeased with me for leaving them out. As a matter of course all my acquaintances got round me, and I had to recount all my four years' adventures in the Peninsula; and, while I was so employed in the drawing-room, my man Dan fulfilled his part in the kitchen, and, I have little doubt, did much more justice to the matter than I did. When my leave expired, I took leave of my friends and joined the second battalion, which was stationed at Fermoy. The army of the Peninsula had by this time, the spring of 1814, established itself within the French frontier, and reinforcements were in readiness to be sent from Cork to join their companions in the south of France, but, as will be seen in the next chapter, there was no need of this augmentation of force. CHAPTER XXVII Breaking up of the British Peninsular army at the abdication of Napoleon—Separation of the soldiers' wives—The elopement—Sad story of Thorp, the Drum-Major—Conclusion. After six years of terrible war, the army of the Peninsula at length found a stop put to its victorious career, and the inhabitants of the city of Toulouse were the last who heard a hostile shot fired against their countrymen. From the commencement of this wonderful struggle, in August 1808, to April 1814, more battles had been fought (all of them won) than England could boast of for nearly a century; and the triumphant march of the army of Wellington was uninterrupted by one defeat, until the subjection of their brave opponents was complete, which forbade further hostile advance upon the French territory.