s for
ladies' shoes.

Our bivouac, this evening, was on the banks of El Rio Frio, near to a
new hunting-palace of the King of Spain. It was a large quadrangular
building, each side full of empty rooms, with nothing but their youth
to recommend them.

On the 9th, we crossed the Guadarama mountains, and halted, for the
night, in the park of the Escurial.

I had, from childhood upwards, considered this palace as the eighth
wonder of the world, and was, therefore, proportionately disappointed
at finding it a huge, gloomy, unmeaning pile of building, looking
somewhat less interesting than the wild craggy mountain opposite, and
without containing a single room large enough to flog a cat in. The
only apartment that I saw worth looking at was the one in which their
_dead kings live_!

ENTERED MADRID,

August 13th, 1812.

As we approached the capital, imagination was busy in speculating on
the probable nature of our reception. The peasantry, with whom we had
hitherto been chiefly associated, had imbibed a rooted hatred to the
French, caused by the wanton cruelties experienced at their hands,
both in their persons and their property; otherwise they were a
cheerful, hospitable, and orderly people, and, had they been permitted
to live in peace and quietness, it was a matter of the most perfect
indifference to them whether Joseph, Ferdinand, or the ghost of Don
Quixotte was their king. But the citizens of Madrid had been living
four years in comparative peace, under the dominion of a French
government, and in the enjoyment of all the gaieties of that
luxurious court; to which, if I add that we entertained, at that time,
some slight jealousy regarding the pretensions of the French officers
to the favours of the fair, I believe the prevailing opinion was that
_we_ should be considered as the intruders. It was, therefore, a
matter of the most unexpected exultation, when we entered it, on the
afternoon of the 13th of August, to find ourselves hailed as
liberators, with the most joyous acclamations, by surrounding
multitudes, who continued their rejoicings for three successive days.
By day, the riches of each house were employed in decorations to its
exterior; and, by night, they were brilliantly illuminated, during
which time all business was suspended, and the whole population of the
city crowded the streets, emulating each other in heaping honours and
caresses upon us.

King Joseph had retired on our approach, leaving a g