Long and sorely had our soldiers struggled to overcome the gigantic tyranny of France, but like the many-headed monster of heathen fiction, no sooner was one head wounded, than a new one appeared to challenge the attack. So, scarcely had we succeeded in one quarter ere the foe arose in terrible strength in another. Thus we find our armies, sometimes in Flanders, sometimes in the Peninsula, sometimes in Egypt, sometimes in India, and sometimes in America, waging a desperate and incessant war with this Gorgon-headed enemy. In 1810 we once more return to Spain, where happily more permanent results were to be achieved. Thither the Seventy-ninth had gone to join the army of Lord Wellington. At the battle of Fuentes d’Onor (Fountain of Honour) the conduct of the regiment was beyond all praise. Occupying that village with the Seventy-first Highlanders and Twenty-fourth Foot, the Seventy-ninth was exposed to the most furious assaults of strong columns of French. Occasionally driven out of the village, yet always returning to recover it—which an indomitable perseverance ever accomplished—triumphing over all opposition, this key of the position was ultimately retained. These regiments thus deservedly acquired the largest share of the glory flowing from such a victory. From the battle of Salamanca it advanced with the army which occupied Madrid. In the subsequent siege of the strong castle of Burgos, the valour of the regiment was most conspicuous, and in the several assaults its losses were very considerable. Unfortunately, the approach of a powerful relieving force snatched the anticipated prize from our grasp, arresting the further progress of the siege, and necessitating the retreat of the British towards Portugal. Although for the present retiring, the effects of these campaigns were very different upon the combatants. The British, elated with hope, incited to perseverance, brought a new and living energy into the field when the rest of the winter had passed away and the operations of the war been resumed in the spring. On the other hand, the French—depressed by the evil tidings of the Grand Army in Russia; tired, moreover, with incessant yet fruitless fightings; disunited by discontent, privation, and jealousy—when the season once more invited action, found their armies dispirited and disorganised. No wonder, then, that the forward march of the British led to a series of victories ever gracing our arms, until, surmounting the natural barriers of the Pyrenees, our troops descended into the plains of France in the day of that country’s humiliation. In the various actions of the “Pyrenees,” the Seventy-ninth was not seriously engaged. It was present at the passage of the “Nivelle” and the “Nive.” On the latter occasion it was specially distinguished for its well-directed fire, which caused great havoc in the dense masses of the enemy which strove to defend the passage.