wounded; that of the enemy was enormous,—three hundred dead bodies were heaped together on the hill, the greater part round the captured howitzer; and more than twelve hundred were wounded,—so unwisely had Reynier managed his masses, and so true and constant was the English fire. Lord Wellington afterwards observed that this was one of the most glorious actions that British troops ever sustained. If by this term we are to understand that a numerous and well-disciplined force was signally repulsed by one of numerical inferiority, and that on the British side our national honour was upheld, he was right. In any other sense, the glories of war are, I am afraid, of a cast rather ambiguous. I scarcely ever before saw such determined firmness in our troops. It amounted almost to invincibility. During the action there was through our ranks to be observed a fierce and terrible anger, before the breakings forth of which the enemy quailed and fled. Our fire was given with singular exactness and rapidity. This fine conduct arose partly from a sense of extreme personal danger, for of that not a man was insensible; and partly from the desire, which I believe pervaded every breast, of properly supporting the officers engaged. Among others, I had been unusually excited, and had dealt out wounds and destruction with an unsparing hand. 137In endeavouring to reach the enemy, all concern for my own preservation was forgotten. Just as the action commenced, a round shot struck a horseman close to my side, and brought him down. Daniel Lowry, an intimate friend, who was also within a few paces, was slain. My old captain was hit, and badly wounded; his place was, however, well supplied by Lieutenant Brown, who succeeded in the command of the company. After the action had ceased, the latter officer was pleased to take special notice of my conduct, and by his recommendation I was made corporal in one of the companies of the regiment. We halted on the field of battle during the succeeding day. Some of our men were quartered in a chapel which had been recently occupied by French troops. Nearly the whole of the interior fittings were destroyed. As the place had been used for Roman Catholic worship, saints and images, attired in fanciful vestments, ‘black, white, and grey, with all their trumpery,’ had been abundant. These petty divinities, despite of their alleged virtues, were upset and destroyed; some were prostrate on the floor, others were broken and disfigured, not a few had been consumed, and all that remained of many were a few glowing embers.