to the right, the other to the left, chance to occur
immediately under the ramparts of the fortress, supplying, in
some measure, the purposes of a ditch, and leaving a sort of
table or elevated neck of land between them, the extremity of
which is occupied by the village. On this neck of land the
besieged had constructed one of the redoubts to which I alluded
as having been lately thrown up; whilst on another table, at the
opposite side of the left ravine, which winds round in the
direction of the wall, as nearly as if it were the work of art,
stands the other redoubt. Beyond this, again, there is a
perpendicular precipice, the hills there abruptly ending; so that
on two sides the walls of the fort skirt the extremity of a bare
rock. It was along the outer ridges of these ravines, and
through the churchyard of St. Etienne, that our trenches were
drawn, the village itself being the most advanced British post;
and it was along these ridges, and in the street of this village,
that the action of the 14th of April was fought.

It is not my business, neither indeed is it my intention, to
relate here the particulars of that affair. The French, having
contrived, in a dark night, to elude the vigilance of our
sentinels, came upon the piquets unperceived, and took them
completely by surprise. The battle was maintained on both sides
with great determination, and had it not been for the unfortunate
capture of Sir John Hope and the fall of General Hay, the
assailants would have had little cause to rejoice at the result:
for though the loss of the English was certainly great, that of
the French was at least not inferior. Yet the business was an
unfortunate one to both parties, since, before it took place,
Buonaparte had already abdicated, and the preliminaries of peace
were already signed between the two nations.

I found the village, in which the fighting had been most
obstinately maintained, in the condition of most villages where
such dramas have been acted. The street had been barricaded, but
the barricade was almost entirely torn down; the houses, trees,
and church, like those we had passed upon the march, were covered
with the marks of cannon and musket balls, whilst quantities of
round and grape shot, of musket and pistol bullets, broken
bayonets, swords, &c. &c., lay scattered about in every
direction. Nor were these the only evidences of strife
discernible. In many places--on the pavement of the street, in
the c