It is somewhat difficult to understand why the defence of Gibraltar in the year 1727 has not been considered worthy of being inscribed on the colours of the regiments which fought so well under the veteran Lord Portmore. From February 22 to June 23 the garrison, barely 6,000 strong, withstood a close siege, repelling many assaults and suffering many casualties. Famine as well as disease stared them in the face. I have been unable to ascertain the complete details of the losses of individual regiments engaged, but from the accounts of contemporary writers who went through the siege it would appear that the Grenadier Guards alone lost upwards of 100, of whom nineteen were killed in one day. Surely "Gibraltar, 1727," might be added to the colours of the twelve regiments which held the fortress for England under Lord Portmore. The story of the siege is not pleasant reading. It is an early exemplification of the manner in which the warnings of the "man on the spot" are almost invariably disregarded by the authorities at home, and how our soldiers are expected to make bricks without straw, and to undergo perils which with a little exercise of forethought might be avoided. In the month of August, 1726, the Acting Governor, Colonel Kane, reported the threatening attitude of the Spaniards, and that Malaga was being converted into a military base, where large quantities of war material were being collected. He further asked for the paltry sum of £3,000, in order to place the fortress in a better state of defence. One of the most pressing questions was the levelling of the earthworks constructed by the Spaniards during the last siege, which were still left standing, and which would afford shelter to the enemy in the event of the outbreak of hostilities. The troops were lodged in houses in the town; there were no barracks, and no casemates to the various outworks. His garrison consisted of but four weak battalions. On these representations one battalion was sent from Minorca. In December Kane reported the mobilization at Malaga of 5,000 Walloon Guards, of fourteen Spanish battalions, and eight regiments of cavalry. No doubt as to the intention of the Spaniards now remained. Orders had been published for the Governors of the four Andalusian provinces to raise 8,000 men, and in reporting this circumstance Kane drew attention to the fact that the artillery under his command consisted of _three non-commissioned officers and fifteen gunners_, whilst the infantry amounted to but 1,400 men. His lines of defences were three miles in extent, and the two works mounted no less than 150 guns, the large majority of which had long since been condemned. In the month of January the Spaniards openly commenced their siege-works, throwing up batteries within gunshot of the fortress; but it was not until the month of April that General Clayton arrived with the first reinforcements, but with no siege material. By the end of April the garrison had been