Upon the fall of Almeida Lord Wellington’s head-quarters were removed to Gouvea, and the whole of his infantry retired to the rear of Celorico, the outposts continuing in advance of that town. Massena waited till he had been joined by Regnier’s corps, consisting of 17,000 men, which, having acted with little success against Romana in Extremadura, had crossed the Tagus at Barca de Alconete, early in July. According to the plan which Buonaparte had laid down for the conquest of Portugal, this corps was to have moved by the right bank of the Tagus upon Abrantes; but this design having been altered when the allied army was found more numerous and efficient than the French cabinet had supposed, Regnier had moved upon Zarzamayor, Penamacor, and Monsanto, in the hope of striking a blow against Lieutenant-General Hill, who had advanced with 13,000 men from Abrantes to Portalegre, for the purpose of supporting Romana. The French hoped either that he would expose himself to an attack, or that Lord Wellington might be tempted to make a movement against Regnier, of which Massena was prepared to take advantage; but the British generals were not thus to be circumvented: and Massena as well as Lord Wellington, directing his attention to a single object, Regnier joined the invading force, while Hill was stationed at Sarzedas, to cover the road upon Abrantes to Lisbon, or move to Ponte de Murcella, and unite with the main body on the line of its retreat: in either case Major-General Leith’s division, which was kept at Thomar in reserve to support him, was to take the same direction. ♦MASSENA ADVANCES INTO PORTUGAL.♦