ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



955 



fowling-pieces, some with bayonets 

 screwed on poles, some with small 

 swords, with daggers, with pistols, 

 or with a single pistol. Here 

 and there in the ranks were 

 seen halberts and pikes of curious 

 and ancient workmanship, which 

 had probably been wielded in the 

 wars of the fifteenth century, and, 

 after long lying in dust and dark- 

 ness, were now dragged forth to 

 light. The assortment of the men 

 was as various as their arms. The 

 tall and the short, the lean and 

 the corpulent, the old man and the 

 strippling, stood side by side. At 

 the word of command, some turned 

 to the right and others to the left, 

 some parts of the line advanced 

 while others remained stationary. 

 In short, every thing was ridicu- 

 lous except their cause, and that 

 was most sacred. 



•' It is only necessary once to 

 see these or similar levies, to be 

 impressed with the folly of at- 

 tempting to defend a country with 

 them against a regular force. In 

 a town or a pass they may be of 

 great service ; but in the present 

 state of military science, a state 

 which trusts to them in any great 

 degree for her safety, when the 

 hour of danger approaches, will 

 inevitably be lost. The sure and 

 hard test of good troops is the 

 bayonet : how then can it be ex- 

 pected thai new levies of citizens 

 should stand this test, at the very 

 fir? t time of their seeing an enemy ? 

 and stand it tliey must, seeing that 

 they have no other arms but those 

 et'hand to hand, a pike, or a hal- 

 berd, or a sword. 



" But the mob of Lisbon was 

 armed, and determined to show 

 that it was so. Every night at 



least one Frenchman, or one sus- 

 pected to be so, was discovered 

 and dragged to prison, where ge- 

 nerally his dead body alone ar- 

 rived. I myself was witness to an 

 Englishman being murdered in this 

 manner, and strove in vain to save 

 his life. An Englishman ! you ex- 

 claim. Yes, reader, an English- 

 man. It was on a Sunday even- 

 ing, and I was proceeding up the 

 principal street, when having ad- 

 vanced a little beyond the head- 

 quarters of the English general, I 

 heard the shoutings of a great mob. 

 They drew nearer, and I presently 

 found myself enveloped in a fu- 

 rious crowd, dragging along a poor 

 wretch in the English dress ; his 

 countenance disfigured with blood, 

 and hardly able to stagger along 

 from the blows which he had re- 

 ceived. I demanded his cnme. 

 They told me he was a French- 

 man; but an English officer, who 

 was in the crowd, exclaimed, that 

 it was his servant, and endeavoured 

 to reason with some who appeared 

 as leaders of the mob. At this 

 intelligence I made my utmost ef- 

 forts to get near the unfortunate 

 man, and just arrived in time to 

 seize with both my hands a pike, 

 which some brave Portuguese from 

 behind was endeavouring to thrust 

 into his back. I called out to the 

 officer to assist me. He replied, it 

 was the positive order of the gene- 

 ral, that in all such cases no En- 

 glishman should interfere, and ad- 

 vised me to take care of my own 

 life. I was in the midst ot pikes, 

 swords, and daggers, which seemed 

 to ^0 thrust about in all direction?, 

 as if through madness or intoxica- 

 tion. In spite of all my struggles, 

 I was thrown down, and nearly 



trampled 



