One of the suttlers who had taken post with our division, to amass a fortune, was a German of ordinary appearance with a pretty wife. Here it so happened that our serjeant-major, a man of portly figure, was possessed of more small talk than usually falls to the lot of men in his station of life; and, being remarkably fond of good living, and other amusements, proved a very losing customer at the above worthy suttler's shop, who could not help seeing the decline of that stock which he had brought from Lisbon at so much expense; besides other annoyances which he _could not see_. He, therefore, in a fit of extreme irritation, without his hat, made for the commanding officer's quarters, where he entered unceremoniously, and then laid bare all his wrongs. "_Sare_," said he, "_your serjeant major is a very bad man. He drinky my wine. He eaty my sugar. He drinky my tea and my coffee. He kissy my vife, and he kick * * *. Sare, your serjeant-major is a very bad man._" Every morning the officers were engaged rehearsing their different parts, or superintending the making of theatrical dresses, (as the tragedy of Henry IV was to be performed by various officers,) and scene painting. The latter was principally executed by Bell, (the assistant quarter master general of the division,) in an old chapel, within one hundred yards of the village, which had been gutted of its ornaments by the French or the priests. The compact and small village of Fuente de Guinaldo stands on an eminence in an open plain, encircled at a certain distance by a number of stone crosses, said to have been placed there by the peasantry to frighten away evil spirits. There are no enclosures, no out-barns, or farm houses, in this part of Spain, which gives the plain during winter a very lonely aspect, skirted as it is by a distant wood, and a ridge of wild mountains on the summit of which is a monastery, which is only to be seen on a clear day; for if the weather is at all hazy, it is enveloped by clouds. The communication from one village to another, is a sort of track beaten into the shape of a road by the footsteps and small traffic of many generations. The natives of this part of the country form a little colony, unmixed by a second order of society, as there is no resident beyond the rank of a peasant, the principal holding the authority of _Alcalde_, and completely governing the village in all judicial affairs. He exercises his power with mildness, which is perceptible in the independent manners of the people.