towards the coast, and escaped the toils of his adversary. The SIXTH were nearly eight hundred strong; they were commanded by Major Gordon, and were brigaded with the ninth, twenty-third, and forty-third regiments, under Major-General Beresford: they suffered most severely in the long and harassing retreat over mountains and rivers, through narrow defiles, and along roads covered with snow; but on arriving at _Corunna_, the men obtained shelter in the neighbouring villages and recruited their wasted strength. While the troops were waiting the arrival of transports, the French army approached, and, on the 16th of January, 1809, was fought the hard-contested battle of _Corunna_, in which British valour and endurance were conspicuously displayed, and this disastrous expedition was terminated by a glorious victory, which reflected lustre on the British arms; but the officers and soldiers had to lament the loss of their gallant leader, Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, who was mortally wounded during the heat of the action. After this victory the troops embarked for England: the SIXTH were one of the last corps which went on board the transports, having lined the walls of Corunna during the embarkation; and, on arriving in England, it was ascertained that they had lost about four hundred men in this arduous enterprise, in which they earned the honorary distinction of bearing the word "CORUNNA" inscribed on their colours. The regiment remained in England until the middle of July, when the first battalion, having been completed to its establishment by drafts from the second, embarked with the expedition against Holland commanded by Lieut.-General the Earl of Chatham. In the siege and capture of Flushing and the reduction of the island of Walcheren, the regiment had only Ensign Addison and a few men wounded; but when the Walcheren fever broke out among the troops, its ranks were thinned by the ravages of that pestilential disease. The object of the expedition having been frustrated by delays, the island was evacuated; and in December the SIXTH returned to England so reduced in numbers, and the sick men so numerous, as to be unable to furnish the usual reliefs of the ordinary regimental guard. [Sidenote: 1810] [Sidenote: 1811] [Sidenote: 1812] In August, 1810, the first battalion embarked at Dover, for Ireland, and was stationed at Cork and Kinsale until October, 1812, when it embarked for the Peninsula. Previous to going on board the transports it was inspected by Lieut.-General Sir John Hope, the Commander of the Forces in Ireland, who was pleased to express himself much gratified at witnessing the high state of discipline, and the general appearance and efficiency of the corps.