Sce?ie$ in Spain. 389 



below, and enjoying the dilemmas of some of our less fortunate ac- 

 quaintances, as we occasionally caught sight of them, 



" Rari nantes in gurgite vasto." 



It was late on the following day when we entered Vittoria by the 

 Castille gate. The entrance by that side of the town is highly im- 

 posing ; two magnificent ranges of newly-built massive stone houses 

 form the wide and noble street of Santa Clara, leading directly to 

 the Plaza Nueva. On the present occasion the balconies of these 

 houses were crowded with ladies, and the streets were lined by 

 regiments of Spanish troops drawn up to receive us. The splendid 

 music of the Spanish regimental bands and the rapturous vivas of 

 the inhabitants greeted our arrival in their city. 



Vittoria stands on a slight elevation in a plain of great extent. Its 

 immense height above the level of the sea completely neutralizes the 

 effect of its southern latitude, and in winter it is intensely cold. With 

 the exception of the Plaza and the Calle Santa Clara before men- 

 tioned, the streets are generally narrow, dirty, and confined. The 

 Plaza of Vittoria is the most beautiful and regular square I have ever 

 seen. It is surrounded in the interior with a colonnade, under which 

 on high days and holidays the ladies of Vittoria take their paseo or 

 promenade. On these occasions benches and chairs are placed for 

 their accommodation. In the centre of the square a kind of market 

 is held for the sale of milk, bread, and fruits, &c. 



All operations in the field were at this time, from the severity of 

 the weather, necessarily suspended, and consequently an immense 

 body of troops were congregated in Vittoria. Our bright anticipations 

 were soon doomed to disappointment. Our men were quartered in 

 damp, unwholesome convents, without beds or fires ; the rations were 

 insufficient in quantity and bad in quality ; the wine especially, that 

 was issued as rations, was so hurtful that it sent numbers into the 

 hospitals with diarrhoeas and dysenteries. 



Nor were the officers better off, at least the junior ones : some were 

 ordered to remain in the convents with their men, and no billets 

 issued out to them. In such cases misery could extend no further. 

 Without pay, without clothing (for all the baggage was at this time at 

 Santander), almost without food, and perishing from cold, from which 

 they had no remedy, without a stick of furniture to cover the bare 

 walls of their cells, and without the commonest utensils to cook their 

 wretched food, their situation was truly deplorable. In other cases 

 billets were allowed, then they had the accommodation of a bed, but 

 of little else ; the inhabitants were inhospitable and churlish, and 

 generally found means to render them as uncomfortable as possible. 

 In my own billet, for example, I was allotted a room with stone 

 floor, and without glass to the windows, the only furniture consisting 

 of a bed, a chair, and a small table ; in this miserable place it was 

 my lot to pass one of the severest of winters. It was my practice 

 immediately after coming from drill, which, notwithstanding the 

 severity of the weather, was rigorously enforced, to undress and go 

 to bed, being the only way to preserve animal heat. My dinner was 

 brought me in this state, and at night I would dress and repair to 



