JET. 31.] AND THE PENINSULAR WAR. 455 



dozen of the descendants of Eve (formed by his influ- 

 ence into a Cabinet) to engage his advance into the 

 heart of the country his vision of a victory with 

 which he deceived Sir Arthur at Talavera his re- 

 treat without provisions through Portugal and, above 

 all, his grand expedition to Walcheren, under his own 

 general, my Lord Chatham, have, without a single 

 exception, fulfilled his views, and carried his glory to 

 the highest pitch. As to poor old Oromades, ' II dort 

 comme un ivrogne ; ' and I don't see any reason to 

 hope that he will ever again cut the least figure in 

 life. 



" I have returned from Spain, not confirmed in my 

 original opinion about it, for it needed no confirma- 

 tion it could not be stronger ; but astonished beyond 

 measure that a contrary notion could ever have been 

 entertained by a reasonable man. Were any well- 

 educated person to assure me that, upon mature con- 

 sideration, he believed in the story of the seven 

 sleepers, I should not be more puzzled. And, doubt- 

 less, of all people the 'l^po^tXot are the least able to 

 assign a reason for the faith that is in them. Of late, 

 indeed, they have a little lowered their tone ; and I 

 understand from the Spartan general that it is now 

 the fashion to say that though they cannot indeed 

 contend in the field with the French, and though 

 Bonaparte will in all probability get military posses- 

 sion of the country, yet it will take him six hundred 

 thousand men (I use words purposely, because if I 

 employed numerals you might suppose I had in a 



