When the men of Mealhada began to prepare for their expedition, there were some whose hearts failed them, and the contagion spread. José Bernardo, however, by reproaching and threatening some, encouraging and praising others, with the seasonable administration of fruit and wine, and the zealous help of a serjeant of the _Ordenança_, mustered some thirty peasants, with about twenty muskets, the rest were armed with pikes and sickles and other such instruments; and when they set off many of the others followed, ashamed to be left behind. The party from Ois not having arrived when they reached Carquejo, José Bernardo ordered his people to halt for them there, and suffer no person to pass toward Coimbra, while he and two others went on to reconnoitre and form the plan of attack. He found no difficulty in entering the city and obtaining all the information he desired. The French soldiers in Coimbra did not amount to an hundred men, and of these not more than forty were capable of service. There was a rumour that 1200 Spaniards were on the way against them. This the inhabitants were more likely to believe than the French, who, relying upon their Emperor’s fortune, the terror of the French name, and the submission of the Portugueze, were living to all appearance in full confidence of security. Satisfied with this intelligence, and without venturing to concert any co-operation in the city, José Bernardo returned as far as the Bridge of Agua de Maias, and sent to hasten the march of his motley volunteers. ♦THE FRENCH IN THAT CITY ARE MADE PRISONERS.♦