aised
the siege of Badajos; and we were, therefore, encamped on the river
Caya, near Roquingo. This was a sandy unsheltered district; and the
weather was so excessively hot, that we had no enjoyment, but that of
living three parts of the day up to the neck in a pool of water.

Up to this period it had been a matter of no small difficulty to
ascertain, at any time, the day of the week; that of the month was
altogether out of the question, and could only be reckoned by counting
back to the date of the last battle; but our division was here joined
by a chaplain, whose duty it was to remind us of these things. He
might have been a very good man, but he was not prepossessing, either
in his appearance or manners. I remember, the first Sunday after his
arrival, the troops were paraded for divine service, and had been some
time waiting in square, when he at length rode into the centre of it,
with his tall, lank, ungainly figure, mounted on a starved, untrimmed,
unfurnished horse, and followed by a Portuguese boy, with his
canonicals and prayer-books on the back of a mule, with a hay-bridle,
and having, by way of clothing, about half a pair of straw breeches.
This spiritual comforter was the least calculated of any one that I
ever saw to excite devotion in the minds of men, who had seen nothing
in the shape of a divine for a year or two.

In the beginning of August we began to retrace our steps towards the
north. We halted a few days in Portalegre, and a few more at Castello
de Vide.

The latter place is surrounded by extensive gardens, belonging to the
richer citizens; in each of which there is a small summer-house,
containing one or two apartments, in which the proprietor, as I can
testify, may have the enjoyment of being fed upon by a more healthy
and better appetized flea, than is to be met with in town houses in
general.

These _quintas_ fell to the lot of our battalion; and though their
beds, on that account, had not much sleep in them, yet, as those who
preferred the voice of the nightingale in a bed of cabbages, to the
pinch of a flea in a bed of feathers, had the alternative at their
option; I enjoyed my sojourn there very much. Each garden had a
bathing tank, with a plentiful supply of water, which at that season
was really a luxury; and they abounded in choice fruits. I there
formed an attachment to a mulberry-tree, which is still fondly
cherished in my remembrance.

We reached the scene of our former operation