16 Don Alonso. [Juxy, 
sin. —* Q. Murat ??—* A. From Napoleon.’—‘ Q. Godoy ?’—‘ A. From both 
together.’.—‘ Q. What characterises Napoleon?’—‘ A. Pride and despotism.” 
— Q. Murat?’—‘ A. Robbery and bloodshed.—* Q. Godoy ?’—* A. Covet- 
22 
ousness, treason, and ignorance. 
The curate turned again to little Zachary, and put another string of 
questions ; but we can only afford room for the last :— 
«<« Q, Is it a sin to kill a Frenchman?’—‘ A. No; it is meritorious to 
deliver our country from her hateful oppressors.’” 
Stern as is the last maxim, it was continually put in practice during 
the war of independence. - If a French soldier strayed from his com- 
panions to implore the hospitality of the cottage, he seldom found mercy: 
from some unperceived quarter, a musket-ball reached his heart :-— 
“I was about to turn into the highway leading to Bribiezca, when a 
French lancer appeared, and took his stand on an eminence near me: he 
looked to ‘see if any enemies were in the valley: a gun sounded, and he lay 
without life. I sought for the hand which had killed him ; but there was not 
a.rush which could conceal the assassin, and the plain. was uninhabited ; 
nothing was to be seen but a labourer who was peacefully ploughing with his 
oxen at some distance from this sad scene. I walked on; another lancer 
appeared on the height, who was surprised at the sight of his dead comrade. 
The labourer, towards whom I was advancing, took up a musket from the 
ground, pointed it from behind his oxen, brought down the horsemen, threw 
the weapon into a furrow, and went on with his plough as if nothing were the 
matter. I spoke to him with indignation of his cold-blooded cruelty. ‘Ido 
not understand you,’ replied he ; ‘I am doing a soldier’s duty, and attending 
to my labour at the same time.’” 
We fear that not only the French invaders, but the English allies, occa- 
sionally, fell victims to the political hatred or religious bigotry of the 
Spanish peasantry. Whatever was the reason, we have but too much 
cause. to know that our gallant countrymen were often found dead in 
places far remote from the common enemy :— 
“ One day, as a military friend was halting in the environs of a town which 
had not witnessed an engagement during the whole continuance of the war, 
he perceived some mounds of earth; ‘ What are these ?’ inquired he of a pea 
sant.—‘* The graves of Frenchmen whom we surprised: and slew,’ was the 
reply. ‘ And those farther on?’—‘ Oh, they contain a few of our allies.’ 
‘Whom you served in the same manner?’ An intelligent look was the only 
answer. ‘onae t oe rail ’ ‘ 
The work before us contains many other good descriptions of Spanish 
manners and opinions ; but they are so mixed up with the political events 
of the period, that we should not translate them if even our limits would 
permit their insertion. In attentively perusing four rather thick volumes, 
we have been often pained to perceive that a writer of some powers 
should bear so strong an antipathy to our countrymen. He cannot for- 
give us for the humiliating reverses which attended the French arms 
before the genius of Wellington. But, in denying bravery to our troops, 
and attributing the splendid successes of the war to Spanish valour 
alone, he seems to forget that he is passing a severe censure on those of 
his own country—that vast, well-disciplined armies were dispossessed 
of the strongest forts in the kingdom, and pursued into France, by a 
few thousand ill-clothed, ill-fed, and undisciplined peasants... Perhaps 
some French author will be sagacious enough to discover that the 
triumph at Waterloo was achieved by Dutchmen alone ! 
