fortress, accompanied by an old artillery or engineer officer,--I believe Sir R. Fletcher,[6]--and dressed in a plain grey frock, white cravat, and cocked hat--evidently intent on the matters of the siege; this was upwards of thirty miles a day for a _ride_, between breakfast and dinner; but he has often rode double that distance, over the worst of roads and in the worst of weather. The siege of San Sebastian was the next important operation of the Allied Army. This was entrusted to Sir Thomas Graham, under the eye of the Duke of Wellington. From being quartered at Renteria, for three weeks previous to the capture of that fortress, I had an opportunity of witnessing the whole affair; and scarcely a day passed without my visiting the works before it: but from the commencement of the siege up to the battering down of the walls, nothing took place to require a particular notice, beyond the description I have given of the siege of Flushing, in another part of this work: generally speaking, the operations were similarly conducted. The storming of the town, however, was a scene in the campaign of which I write, which ought not to be passed over unnoticed. As I beheld, so will I describe it; and so mighty an achievement as the capture of this town was, I would be happy to hear described by every individual who was engaged in it; for each would tell what he had seen; which, although all generally the same, would be different in particulars, and therefore, like Mosaic work, form a picture of the highest value. We have had several descriptions of the storming of San Sebastian, amongst which that given by the author of “_The Subaltern_,” (a deservedly popular work) is by far the best, and, with but few exceptions, correctly true--at least those exceptions are at variance with what I recollect of the affair. The author of “_The Subaltern_” describes what he saw, as a _stormer_ of the town; I can only speak as a spectator: both our remarks, therefore, may be taken as separate parts of the same picture. San Sebastian is situated at the foot of a high rock, upon the top of which is a fortified castle; the town surrounds this rock, and is backed by the open sea. A river runs in front of the town, into which the sea flows; but at low water it is fordable; and its banks of yellow sand appear to our right--imagining us fronting the town. On first beholding San Sebastian, one supposes it is situated on a little island; but on closer approach, it is seen connected by a neck of land, which at high water is very narrow; and on this neck, which is an island at high water, is a fort mounting three or four guns:--but the best way to proceed in the description, I think, is to place my reader in the position which I took up myself at the battering and storming of the town.