ly withdrawn.

This affair terminated the campaign of 1810. Our division took
possession of the village of Valle and its adjacents, and the rest of
the army was placed in cantonments, under whatever cover the
neighbouring country afforded.

Our battalion was stationed in some empty farm-houses, near the end of
the bridge of Santarem, which was nearly half a mile long; and our
sentries and those of the enemy were within pistol-shot of each other
on the bridge.

I do not mean to insinuate that a country is never so much at peace as
when at open war; but I do say that a soldier can no where sleep so
soundly, nor is he any where so secure from surprise, as when within
musket-shot of his enemy.

We lay four months in this situation, divided only by a rivulet,
without once exchanging shots. Every evening, at the hour

"When bucks to dinner go,
And cits to sup,"

it was our practice to dress for sleep: we saddled our horses, buckled
on our armour, and lay down, with the bare floor for a bed and a stone
for a pillow, ready for any thing, and reckless of every thing but the
honour of our corps and country; for I will say (to save the expense
of a trumpeter) that a more devoted set of fellows were never
associated.

We stood to our arms every morning at an hour before daybreak, and
remained there until a _grey horse_ could be seen a mile off, (which
is the military criterion by which daylight is acknowledged, and the
hour of surprise past,) when we proceeded to unharness, and to indulge
in such _luxuries_ as our toilet and our table afforded.

The Maior, as far as the bridge of Valle, was navigable for the small
craft from Lisbon, so that our table, while we remained there, cut as
respectable a figure, as regular supplies of rice, salt fish, and
potatoes could make it; not to mention that our pig-skin was, at all
times, at least three parts full of a common red wine, which used to
be dignified by the name of _black-strap_. We had the utmost
difficulty, however, in keeping up appearances in the way of dress.
The jacket, in spite of shreds and patches, always maintained
something of the original about it; but woe befel the regimental
small-clothes, and they could only be replaced by very extraordinary
apologies, of which I remember that I had two pair at this period,
_one_ of a common brown Portuguese cloth, and the _other_, or
Sunday's pair, of black velvet. We had no women with the regiment; and
the ceremony of w