tier,--the infantry occupying the
villages, and the cavalry being stationed wherever forage could be
obtained.

The Fourteenth were posted at Avintas, but I saw little of them. I was
continually employed upon the staff; and as General Crawfurd's activity
suffered no diminution from the interruption of the campaign, rarely passed
a day without eight or nine hours on horseback.

The preparations for the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo occupied our undivided
attention. To the reduction of this fortress and of Badajos, Lord
Wellington looked as the most important objects, and prosecuted his plans
with unremitting zeal. To my staff appointment I owed the opportunity of
witnessing that stupendous feature of war, a siege; and as many of my
friends formed part of the blockading force, I spent more than one night in
the trenches. Indeed, except for this, the tiresome monotony of life was
most irksome at this period. Day after day the incessant rain poured down.
The supplies were bad, scanty, and irregular; the hospitals crowded with
sick; field-sports impracticable; books there were none; and a dulness and
spiritless depression prevailed on every side. Those who were actively
engaged around Ciudad Rodrigo had, of course, the excitement and interest
which the enterprise involved: but even there the works made slow progress.
The breaching artillery was defective in every way: the rain undermined the
faces of the bastions; the clayey soil sank beneath the weight of the heavy
guns; and the storms of one night frequently destroyed more than a whole
week's labor had effected.

Thus passed the dreary months along; the cheeriest and gayest among us
broken in spirit, and subdued in heart by the tedium of our life. The very
news which reached us partook of the gloomy features of our prospects. We
heard only of strong reinforcements marching to the support of the French
in Estramadura. We were told that the Emperor, whose successes in Germany
enabled him to turn his entire attention to the Spanish campaign, would
himself be present in the coming spring, with overwhelming odds and a firm
determination to drive us from the Peninsula.

In that frame of mind which such gloomy and depressing prospects are well
calculated to suggest, I was returning one night to my quarters at Mucia,
when suddenly I beheld Mike galloping towards me with a large packet in his
hand, which he held aloft to catch my attention. "Letters from England,
sir," said he, "just