CORUNNA. 181 



my friend the Commissary, and others 

 who had been present in some of the 

 engagements, and had witnessed the 

 privations that generally attended the 

 alternate advance and retreat of our 

 forces. 



My friend, it seems, was the younger 

 son of a respectable Irish family; had en- 

 tered the army young, and had volun- 

 teered into the Portuguese service on the 

 first occasion, immediately after the Con- 

 vention of Cintra, and before the formation 

 of the Lusitanian Legion by Sir Robert T. 

 Wilson, under whose command it did such 

 essential service ; to this force he was 

 afterwards attached. His regiment of 

 Ca9adores formed part of the army that 

 advanced into Spain under Sir John 

 Moore, and in the disastrous retreat to 

 Corunna, formed part of the rear-guard, 

 which was continually engaged with the 

 advanced troops of the enemy, who, 



