555 Journal of an Officer, 
arches and two towers. The Tagus here 
divides the provinces of Estramadura 
and Toledo ; it is about sixty yards wide, 
and runs with great velocity over a rough 
and rocky bed. We hutted for the night 
on the banks of it, in a forest of oaks, 
where a considerable quantity of corn 
was growing, though the soil is stony 
and bad; here we were met by a num- 
ber of men from the hospitals at Tala- 
vera, all such as were enabled to walk, 
or be~ otherwise moved (amounting, I 
believe, to nearly 2,000), having been 
brought away to prevent their falling into 
the enemy’s hands; these poor feliows 
will, I fear, suffer severely for want of 
proper conveyances and comforts, there 
being no spring-waggons with the army, 
and the commissariat being worse sup- 
piled with necessaries than ever ! 
5ih.—Our march, this day, was unat- 
tended by any thing remarkable, except 
its excessive length, and the consequent 
fatigue to the troops, many of whom are 
falhng sick from fatigue, and want of 
food. We marched six long leagues, 
and rested for the night in the neighbour- 
hood of a village, whose name [ know 
not, but at no great distance from the 
river Gualiga.—On the 6th, we proceed. 
ed about four leagues ; the roads dread- 
fully bad, and the difficulty and fatigue 
in forwarding the artillery excessive. I 
write this from the banks of a rivulet 
called the lboa, where we have halted for 
the night, and from whence there is the 
most cheerless prospect of rocky hills and 
barren plains I ever beheld: 
¢¢ Whilst wilds immeasurably spread 
Seem lengthening as we go.” 
7th. —Ot this day’s march, though but 
four miles, I can only say, that the fa- 
tigues surpassed those of yesterday : 
‘* As up the steep of many a mountain’s side, 
We wound, with toilsome march, our long 
array.” 
“Men and horses were exhausted: 
many of the former are consequently 
very ill, and twenty of the latter lie dead 
upon the road: not a drop of wine or 
spirits to be had to recruit our strength ; 
nor have we tasted bread or vegetables 
for many days! 
« ¥ou gentlemen of England, who live 
at home at ease,” little do you reflect 
upon the sufferings we experience, and 
the privations we endure. But I am get- 
ting into the Penseroso strain, and that 
. being quite out of my way, I must close 
the book, and “ look forward with bope 
for to-morrow.” To-morrow, and_ to- 
morrow, and to-morrow! ‘ Hope de- 
ferred maketh the heart sick.” This 
is worse and worse: hill on Mill inces- 
[jan. f, 
sant rising; more men exhausted; more ~ 
horses killed; and but two Jeagues gained ! 
9¢h.—Our roads were this day much 
better, and we had an easy marchoof 
one league; passed the remnant of a 
village, called Deleytosa, and hutted in 
a wood about one mile beyond it. 
10th.—We haited this day, and in the 
course of it, learned that a beady of the 
French army, consisting of about six 
thousand men, had forded the Tagus- 
below the Arcabisco bridges ; surprised 
the Spaniards; killed twenty-seven of 
their officers; a proportionate number 
of men; and taken some of their ar- 
tillery.—So much for patriotic vigilance. 
11th, —We this day proceeded, or ra- 
ther receded, about three leagues, and 
hutted in a dismal valley on the banks 
of the Elmonte River, distant about a 
mile and a half from the village of Jara- 
cigo. This village, like most others that 
I have seen in Spain, consists of an over- 
grown church, and a cluster of pig-styes, 
denominated dwellings: the church here 
has been gutted, and degraded into a- 
stable ; but its roof is af very handsome 
Gothic construction. 
19¢h.—Having sojourned in this dreary 
vale ever since the 8th, we were this 
day delighted by an order to march to- 
morrow; but whether our inuvement is to — 
be forward or retrogade, we have yet 
to learn, therefore, we must be prepared 
for either. : 
belonging to the 
Truxillo, Aug. 20th. 
¢¢ Pizarro here was born, a greater name - 
The list of glory boasts not. Toil and 
want, 
And danger, never from his course deterr’d 
This daring soldier. Many a fight he won ; 
He slaughtered thousands; he subdued 2 
rich 
And ample realm. Such were Pizarro’s 
deeds ; 
And honour, fame, and wealth, were his 
rewards 
Among mankind. There is another 
And a better world. O reader, if you 
Earn your daily bread by daily labour, 
If your lot be low, and hard, and wretched, 
Thank the gracious God who made you, 
that you 
Are not such as he.” 
This place could not but remind me of 
the foregoing lines, though I know not 
from whom I have borrowed them, I 
fear I have not quoted them correctly. 
I am also uncertain, whether they 
have ever appeared in print, and shail 
therefore let them stand, as in case 
they have not been published, o# 
are not generally known, they may be 
acceptable to some of your readers, if 
any of them have had resolution enough 
to accompany me thus far. Truxiilo isa 
con- 
