On the same day that Ciudad Rodrigo surrendered, the enemy’s cavalry appeared on the ♦THE FRENCH INVEST ALMEIDA.♦ plains of Almeida. Lord Wellington’s head-quarters at this time were at Alverca: his position was a defensive line, about thirty miles in extent, along the frontier mountains of Beira; but as the line formed a segment of a circle, the points were not distant from each other in proportion to its length. The infantry extended from Celorico to Guarda on the one side, and to Fort Conception, one of the outworks of Almeida, on the other. The cavalry were in advance near Fort Conception, and at Sabugal, and on the Coa. The enemy’s superiority in horse was very great, but the nature of the ground deprived them of the advantage which this must otherwise have given them. They now proceeded to invest Almeida. The operations of the siege were conducted by the second corps, under Marshal Ney. Junot, with the 8th, had his head-quarters at S. Felices, and his cavalry at Villar de Porco, Fuente Guinaldo, and Fuentes d’Onoro, ground which had not then been rendered memorable in military history. While this portion of the army covered the siege, Serras with a division of 7000 men at Benevente threatened Tras os Montes, and Bonnet with 8000 at Astorga was ready to enter Galicia and the province of Entre Douro e Minho. ♦ALMEIDA.♦ Dumouriez, forgetting Elvas at the time, has called Almeida the strongest place in Portugal. It is perhaps more important from its situation, but very far inferior to it in strength. This town was founded by the Moors, and is said to have been one of those which Ferrando the Great won from them while the Cid served under him, in his first wars. When the tide of success was for a while turned by the entrance of the Almoravides into Spain, Talmayda, as it was then called, fell again into the hands of the misbelievers, from whom it was finally reconquered, in 1190, by King Sancho I. of Portugal. Payo Guterres distinguishing himself in the conquest, obtained from it the appellative of _O Almeydam_, the Almeydan, and transmitted to his descendants the surname of Almeyda, conspicuous in Portugueze and Indian history, but disgraced at this time by the representative of the family, who was then engaged in Massena’s army as a traitor. King Diniz, the ruins of whose magnificent works are to be seen in every part of Portugal, rebuilt the city, and is supposed to have removed it from a valley, a little way north of its present site. The castle was built by him, and repaired by King Emanuel. In the later wars between Spain and Portugal, Almeida has always been considered a place of great importance, being the bulwark of the latter country on its most accessible side; but, like other things of more essential consequence to the strength of a kingdom, it had long been neglected. In 1809 there were not a dozen gun-carriages fit for service, nor any wood in store for the construction of others; the embrazures were falling to decay,