tired with
precipitation to Lerida. General Starem-berg pursued them to Saragossa,
where he found them drawn up in order of battle; and an engagement
ensuing on the ninth day of August, the enemy were totally defeated:
five thousand of their men were killed, seven thousand taken, together
with all their artillery, and a great number of colours and standards.
King Charles entered Saragossa in triumph, while Philip with the wreck
of his army retreated to Madrid. Having sent his queen and son to
Vittoria, he retired to Valladolid, in order to collect his scattered
forces so as to form another army. The good fortune of Charles was of
short duration. Stanhope proposed that he should immediately secure
Pampeluna, the only pass by which the French king could send troops to
Spain; but this salutary scheme was rejected. King Charles proceeded
to Madrid, which was deserted by all the grandees; and he had the
mortification to see that the Castilians were universally attached to
his competitor.

BATTLE OF VILLAVICIOSA.

While his forces continued cantoned in the neighbourhood of Toleda, the
king of France, at the request of Philip, sent the duke de Vendome
to take the command of the Spanish army, which was at the same time
reinforced by detachments of French troops. Vendome's reputation was so
high, and his person so beloved by the soldiery, that his presence was
almost equivalent to an army. A great number of volunteers immediately
assembled to signalize themselves under the eye of this renowned
general. The Castilians were inspired with fresh courage, and made
surprising efforts in favour of their sovereign; so that in less than
three months after his defeat at Saragossa, he was in a condition to go
in quest of his rival. Charles, on the other hand, was totally neglected
by the courts of Vienna and Great Britain, which took no steps to supply
his wants, or enable him to prosecute the advantages he had gained. In
the beginning of November his army marched back to Saragossa, and
was cantoned in the neighbourhood of Cifuentes, where Staremberg
established his head-quarters. General Stanhope, with the British
forces, was quartered in the little town of Brihuega, where, on the
twenty-seventh day of the month, he found himself suddenly surrounded
by the whole Spanish army. As the place was not tenable, and he had
very little ammunition, he was obliged, after a short but vigorous
resistance, to capitulate and surrender himself a