Sir John Carr’s 
streets writhing in the agonies of death, 
yet scarcely a sigh or moan was heard, 
whilst those whose wounds permitted 
them to move, crawled behind the walls 
of roofless houses and sunk down on their 
Tuins. At the same time priests were 
seen, as they were rushing to meet the 
advaticing fue, to kneel by the side of the 
dying, and, dropping their sabres, or their 
muskets, to take with holy zeal the cross 
from their bosoms, and administer the 
consolations of their religion, during 
which they exhibited the same calinness 
usually displayed in the chambers of 
sickness. 
On the 30th, after having undermined 
upwards of sixty houses, the enemy ob- 
tained possession of the monasteries of 
the Augustines and Las Monichas, which 
adjoined each other. In this assault, 
the carnage amongst the hostile troops 
was dreadful; but they continued still 
advancing, and at length the combatants 
entered the church, from which a party 
of the French was at first repulsed by the 
monks, who fought with all the fervour 
of zeal, and the fury of despair. The 
enemy, however, returned to the charge; 
and a scene, such as had been seldom, 
if “ever, beheld .before, was exhibited. 
In this sacred sanctuary, every inch. of 
ground was disputed by its holy func- 
tionaries ; the columns, the lateral chap- 
els, and the altar, became so many ram- 
parts, and were frequently stormed, 
taken, and retaken; and the pavement 
was covered with the bleeding bodies of 
monks and soldiers; the battle raged in 
every part, till the roof, shattered by 
numerous bombs, at length gave way, 
and fell with a terrific crash upon the 
combitants, when those who survived its 
fall, as soon as they had recovered the 
shock of so unexpected a disaster, rose 
upon the ruins, and, joined by ethers, 
continued the fight with unabated fe- 
rocity. y é 
‘The enemy, by undermining, still 
gained upon the inhabitants, who fought 
_ as formerly from house to house, and 
room to room, but at length, after a pro- 
digious effusion of blood, the great street 
‘called Cozo, in the heart of the town, 
became for a short period, the boundary: 
between the besieged and the besiegers, 
when the latter blew up the public semi- 
naries. The city now presénted little 
more than a vast pile of smoking ruins, 
encumberipg the streets.. There was 
not a house that had not in some degree 
_ suffered, During these scenes, the ce- 
lebrated Avgustina again displayed her 
, 
> 
Travels in Spain, : 
undaunted courage in the cause of her 
country. Numerous were the instances 
of female heroism. Women, many of 
them of the highest orders of life, and of 
elegant habits, without respect to rank, 
formed themselves into corps, to carry 
provisions, to bear away the wounded to 
the hospitals, and to fight in the streets, 
in which they were frequently accome- 
panied by children, who, with the pleas 
sure displayed in their amusements, 
rashly and exultingly rushed into danger, 
and could not be prevailed on to stay in 
those places which the firing of the enemy 
had then spared. Amongst other fes 
males who distinguished themselves in 
this illustrious siege, was’ one named 
Benita, who headed one of these corps. 
This lady, after rendering many impor 
tant services “and encountering many 
perils, rapidly died of a broken heart, 
upon hearing that her ddughter had been 
shot. In this siege, no less than six 
hundred women and children perished 
by the bayonet or the bullet. At Jength, 
the city nearly demolished by the con- 
stant firing of an immense artillery, and 
of about forty thousand shells, aud the 
surviving troops and inhabitants quite 
wort out hy disease, fighting, and famine, 
their idolized: general no longer able to 
attend to the duties of his eventful com- 
mand, all these afflicting circumstances 
conspiring, the besieged were obliged 
with broken hearts to surrender, and 
they accordingly laid down their arms at 
the gate of the portillo, on the 2ist of 
February, 1809, afier having covered 
themselves with glory during one of the 
most memorable sieges in the annals of 
war, which lasted sixty-three days. 
THE SUPREME JUNTA. 
The patriots of Spain, high and low, 
seemed to have but one opinion of the 
‘Supreme Junta. In this opinion its 
members were divided into four classes ; 
the first comprehended one’ or two able 
and upright men; the second those who, 
without actually corresponding with the 
enemy, did not hesitate, every oppor- 
tunity within their powers, and to its full 
extent, to sacrifice the interests of their 
country to their own personal aggran- 
dizement ; the third those who were weak 
and easily intimidated; and the fourth 
those who looked on with perfect apathy, 
and sanctioned every measure without 
investigation; such were the function- 
aries who camposed “this new majesty of 
Spain, in which neither the king, the 
aristocracy, nor the people were repre- 
sented, 
635 
DEFENCE 
