SWABEY DIARY. 103 
ing (the 28th) attacked and surprised Dombrouski’s brigade 
and Briche’s cavalry in the place. ‘T'he French force was dis- 
persed, 1,300 prisoners, including General Bron and the 
Prince d’Aremberg, all the artillery, baggage, commissariat, 
and a contribution just raised were taken. Only Generals 
Girard, Dombrouski and Briche with 600 men escaped and 
rejoined Drouet. The loss of the allies was 70 men and one 
officer taken prisoner.” ‘Napier,’ Vol. 4, p. 321, et seq. 
This evening, the men with Captain M’s. baggage, received from 
Colonel Wallace of the S8th Regiment, who was travelling with only 
his servant, a French soldier with his arms, who gave himself up as a 
deserter. We have him in custody, and are not satisfied as to his in- 
tentions ; had his business been only to desert, he probably might have 
given himself up further in advance. He is an Italian and speaks 
Spanish, Portuguese, and French, his knapsack contained various 
articles evidently plundered, being no part of a soldier’s necessaries. 
4th November.—Excessive rain, and an approaching’ scarcity of 
forage. The object of our intended march the other day was to have 
inter reepted the supplies for Poe but dd were too alert, and threw 
them into the place. : 
5th November.—Little cone of remark this are 
6th November.—Rode with Harding round the country and discovered 
that my mare possessed the amiable “quality of jumping. . 
7th November.—Doctor M. and the Captain went to a fair at Funda 
where there was much jewellery, articles of wearing Tae corn, 
cattle, and a few horses. Digi, ae ae ay ees 
Sth November.—Sent Sutton forward to Sabugal with my mare and 
bed, intending to start next day to Castel Bom, where I understood 
the paymaster to be, to endeavour to get some money for the troop. 
Ith November.—Got to Sabugal by 12 o’clock, 45 leagues, got on my 
mare, and passing through Rendou, etc. made for Freneda, head- 
quarters, as fast as possible to save the daylight; on the road is Villa 
Mayor, a town standing on a sort of rock, from a cleft of which runs a 
romantic stream under a bridge that you pass over. It has had walls 
and gateways, and the ruins of an ancient castle give it an idea of 
romance; the houses are dreadfully destroyed by the merciless invader. 
I had not much time to spare in admiring its romantic appearance, and 
passed on through Malharda de Surda, but in vain was my haste, the 
darkness overtook me and no guide was to be procured. I was thus 
blindly following the road only hoping that it might be right, when an 
officer overtook me, and seeing I was an artillery officer, asked if I did 
not want Colonel Framingham,! saying that I had passed his house at 
Malharda de Surda. I was agreeably surprised with this intelligence, 
1 Colonel H. Framingham (Kane’s List, No. 624) served in the Peninsula at the battles of 
Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes de Honor, the sieges of Badajos, and the battle of Salamanca. He 
commanded the R.A. on the two latter occasions, he received the K.C.B. and died a Major- 
General on the 10th May, 1820, 
14 
