guard the river, were instructed to retreat to Ocaña; but their orders were to defend the passage to the utmost, and maintain every position inch by inch. Lacy could not commence his retreat soon enough to avoid an attack; a strong body of cavalry from the Cuesta de la Reyna fell upon his rear, but they resisted the enemy, and, retiring in good order over the Queen’s Bridge, broke it down, and took post upon some heights which protected it: the bridge itself was defended by Don Luis Riquelme with three battalions and four pieces of cannon; another battalion was stationed in the Plaza de S. Antonio. D. Miguel Antonio Panes, a captain of artillery, only son of the Marquis of Villa Panes, defended the broken Puente de Barcas with two eight-pounders and two companies. Other troops were stationed at the ford of the Infante Don Antonio’s garden, at the Puente Verde, at the Vado Largo, or broad ford, and in the Calle de la Reyna. A reserve was placed on each side the road to Ocaña, and in the walks immediately adjoining the palace, on the left of which the whole of the cavalry stood ready to charge the enemy in case they should win the passage of the river, or attack the Spaniards in the rear by a party which might have crossed at some remoter point. ♦ARANJUEZ AND ITS GARDENS.♦ The ground whereon a battle has been fought is never passed over by an intelligent traveller without producing a meditative train of thought, however transient, even if the scene has no other interest; but when the local circumstances are remarkable, the impressions become deeper and more durable, especially if the war were one in which, after any lapse of time, the heart still feels a lively concern. Aranjuez had been for nearly two centuries the spring residence of the Spanish court. It stands in a rich and lovely country, where the Xarama falls into the Tagus, in what was once a peninsula. Charles V. had built a hunting-seat there, which Philip III. enlarged into a palace, yet such a palace as was designed for comfort and comparative retirement, rather than for splendour. In his time a canal was made between the two rivers, partly with the intent of giving the place a character of safety, that the King might be secure there with no larger body of guards than his dignity required. Succeeding monarchs each added something to the embellishment of the grounds, and Charles IV., when Prince of Asturias, made a garden which was called by his name. Aranjuez itself was a poor village till the time of Grimaldi’s administration, when a town was built there under his directions, and partly on the Dutch plan; the streets being long, spacious, straight, and uniform, with rows of trees, for beauty and for shade, ... only the canals were wanting. The population had increased to some 10,000 persons, who depended in great measure for their prosperity upon the annual residence of the court.