ne of the
smaller Bastions; which the vigilant _Miquelets_, ready enough to take
all Advantages, no sooner saw (for they were under the Hill, very near
the Place) but they readily enter'd, while the Enemy were under the
utmost Confusion. If the Earl, no less watchful than they, had not at
the same Moment thrown himself in with some regular Troops, and
appeas'd the general Disorder, in all probability the Garrison had been
put to the Sword. However, the General's Presence not only allay'd the
Fury of the _Miquelets_; but kept his own Troops under strictest
Discipline: So that in a happy Hour for the frighted Garrison, the
General gave Officers and Soldiers Quarters, making them Prisoners of
War.

How critical was that Minute wherein the General met his retreating
Commander? a very few Steps farther had excluded us our own Conquests,
to the utter Loss of all those greater Glories which ensu'd. Nor would
that have been the worst; for besides the Shame attending such an ill
concerted Retreat from our Acquests on _Monjouick_, we must have felt
the accumulative Disgrace of infamously retiring aboard the Ships that
brought us; but Heaven reserv'd for our General amazing Scenes both of
Glory and Mortification.

I cannot here omit one Singularity of Life, which will demonstrate Men's
different Way of Thinking, if not somewhat worse; when many Years after,
to one in Office, who seem'd a little too dead to my Complaints, and by
that Means irritating my human Passions, injustice to my self, as well
as Cause, I urged this Piece of Service, by which I not only preserv'd
the Place, but the Honour of my Country, that _Minister petite_, to
mortify my Expectations and baffle my Plea, with a Grimace as odd as his
Logick, return'd, that, in his Opinion, the Service pretended was a
Disservice to the Nation; since Perseverance had cost the Government
more Money than all our Conquests were worth, could we have kept 'em. So
irregular are the Conceptions of Man, when even great Actions thwart the
Bent of an interested Will!

The Fort of _Monjouick_ being thus surprizingly reduc'd, furnish'd a
strange Vivacity to Mens Expectations, and as extravagantly flatter'd
their Hopes; for as Success never fails to excite weaker Minds to pursue
their good Fortune, though many times to their own Loss; so is it often
too apt to push on more elevated Spirits to renew the Encounter for
atchieving new Conquests, by hazarding too rashly all their former
Glor