FELIX ALVAREZ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 iJHanners in ^pain : 
 
 CONTAITVING 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNTS 
 
 OF SOME OP THE 
 
 PROMINENT EVENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LATE PENINSULAR WAR; 
 
 AND 
 
 AUTHENTIC ANECDOTES 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE SPANISH CHARACTER; 
 
 INTERSPERSED WITH 
 
 POETRY, 
 
 ORIGINAL, AND FROM THE SPANISH. 
 
 ALEXANDER R. C. DALLAS, Esq. 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. in. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 TRINTED FOR BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, 
 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1818.
 
 C. Baldwio, Printer, 
 Hew Bridge-Btreet, London.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Page 
 Gitanos. — The Plot developed. — The Domingo 
 de la Piñata. — Midlent Night, or La Noche 
 de ver partir la Vieja. — A serious Interrup- 
 tion of a merry Hoax. — An Explanation.. 1 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Publication of the Constitution. — Feast given 
 by the Spanish Army at the Isla de T^eon. — 
 Bombardment of Cadiz. — The immense Mor- 
 tars. — Manner of avoiding the Shells 33 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Telegraphic Spies. — El Vengador. — Madrid 
 free. — Farewell of the French to Cadiz. — 
 The raising of the Siege 50 
 
 CHAPTER XXni. 
 
 The French driven from Seville. — Felix taken 
 Prisoner. — His Preservation and Return to 
 Seville. — A Spanish Conversation. — French 
 Tax on Deaths. — Meeting of Felix with 
 Ismena 68 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Reception of El Vengador in the Theatre.— 
 A Marriage by Proxy. — Jealousy in Spain. — 
 An example of a jealous Spaniard. — Singular 
 Discovery of a Providentinl Interference 95 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Alvarez married — German, English, and Spa- 
 nish Soldiers — French Cruelty — Reconnoi- 
 tering — Deserted Towns — Extraordinary In- 
 «tance of Depravity 129
 
 IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Salamanca. — Retreat to Ciudad Rodrigo. — 
 Distressing Scene which occurred on the Re- 
 treat. — Spaniards and Portuguese. — Portu- 
 guese Idea of Distance 157 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Spanish Sacred Dramas. — Portuguese Modin- 
 has. — Portuguese Guides. — Commencement 
 of the Campaign. — A Paradox. — Affair at 
 Osma. — British Stoicism. — Spanish Joke.— 
 French Exactions 173 
 
 CHAPTER xxvni. 
 
 Ominous Thunders. — The Battle of Vitoria. — 
 A Charge of Cavalry. — Robbery of the Dead 
 and Wounded. — Escape of King Joseph.— 
 Spoils of the Battle — A Coincidence 191 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 The French at Salvatierra. — The Pass of San 
 Adi'ian. — Entry into Tolosa. — A French Inn 
 plundered. — A Guerilla Action with a Body 
 of French 213 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 The French driven over the Bidasoa. — Felix's 
 Homage to the Defender of Cadiz. — San Se- 
 bastian. — Passages. — Bascuence. — The Man- 
 ner in which the French first became pos- 
 sessed of San Sebastian and Pamplona. — 
 Common People in Guipúzcoa. — A Storm... 231 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Assault of San Sebastian.— Dangerous Experi- 
 ment of the British Artillery. — Wanton Cru- 
 elty of the Besieged. — Courage of the De- 
 fenders. — The Town Won. — Situation of the 
 Town when taken, — Conclusion 256
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Gitanos. — The Plot developed. — The Domingode 
 la Piñata. — Midlent Night, or La Noche de ver 
 partir la Vieja. — A serious Interruption of a merry 
 Ploax. — An Explanation. 
 
 Hold your tongue, woman, you are 
 wasting your breath ; I have sworn it, and 
 I will do it — por "vida de Satita Bar- 
 bara:''' 
 
 " Look to it then yourself. I have warned 
 you enough, Lord knows. Hav'n't you been 
 out in your reckoning three times already, 
 and been left fresco ?] and hasn't San 
 
 • By the life of St. Barbara, 
 t Qiiedarse fre&co is a familiar expression mean- 
 ing to be disappointed. 
 VOL. III. B
 
 2 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Anton Abad himself, with his little pig 
 behind him,* appeared to me in a dream, 
 and warned me that no good will come of 
 it ? Rather give the money to the gentle- 
 man again, and leave the Señora alone." 
 
 Such was the conversation of agitano, (1) 
 or gypsey, and his wife in a miserable hut 
 at the Poblaciones or new settlement in the 
 Isle de Leon ; a spot which was intended 
 as the site of a large marine town, and 
 where a naval school, a foundery for cannon, 
 and magnificent barracks, have been erected; 
 but the poverty of the people has frustrated 
 this plan of the government ; a number of 
 wretched hovels are the only habitations 
 that have grown around these fine public 
 buildings, and they are the receptacles of 
 all the misery and vice of the town of la 
 Isla de Leon. 
 
 Although the days were long passed , 
 when the death of a rival, or of an enemy, 
 was considered as a laudable means of sa- 
 
 * Saint Antony Abad is represented with a pig 
 following him, and is always talked of as San Anton 
 Abad, con sii cochinillo al Canto.
 
 PELIX ALVARES. S 
 
 tisfying revenge or of ensuring personal 
 safety, yet in that extraordinary race of 
 men, the gitanos, there were not wanting 
 unprincipled and depraved beings, who, 
 without feeling the injuries of another, 
 would undertake to revenge them for a 
 comparatively trifling pecuniary considera- 
 tion. Lorenzo Pinoso, this gitano, had 
 promised to become the instrument of the 
 vengeance of one who imagined that his 
 own safety existed only in the death of his 
 victim. Luis Mosquera was his employer, 
 and the person whose destruction he had in 
 charge was Ismena Valdez. 
 
 The more Mosquera reflected on the 
 conversation he had had with Ismena, the 
 more he was alarmed at the idea that she 
 had receiv^ed intelligence from Alvarez, of 
 whose escape from Puerto de Santa Maria 
 he had been informed by Leblanc. His 
 eyes had now been opened, and Mosquera 
 could not doubt that if he had found means 
 to convey a letter to Ismena, it must have 
 contained an account of his viUany, and of 
 B 2
 
 4 FELIX XÍA'AllEZ. 
 
 his employment at Cadiz. Why she iiad 
 delayed to expose him, he could not imagine ; 
 but his fears informed him that she had it 
 in her power to do so ; and the man who 
 could sell his friends by wholesale to the 
 shambles of the human butchers of the 
 second of May, would not be deterred by 
 any moral principle from the destruction of 
 a single enemy. Lorenzo Pinoso had pro- 
 mised, for a length of time, to put an end 
 to the constant anxiety which the dread of 
 Ismena occasioned him. Several })lans had 
 been laid for this purpose, but they had all 
 been frustrated, apparently by accidental 
 circumstances. A considerable time had 
 elapsed since these fears had first been 
 awakened in Mosquera's mind, but time had 
 rather strengthened tlian destroyed them, 
 and he found that there was no peace for 
 liis mind, while he imagined his secret in 
 the hands of Ismena. The sentence of her 
 death, therefore, which he had signed, re- 
 mained unrevoked ; the execution of it only 
 was deferred.
 
 FELIX ALVAKEZ. 
 
 The gay days of carnival were over, 
 and Time had worn liis gloomy garb of 
 Lent for a whole week; gaiety had been 
 friglitened by it, and had deserted her fa- 
 vourite residences, Cadiz and the Isla, but 
 the sorrowful gaditanos, devoted to her 
 worsliip, made one attempt to recall her : 
 happy in having any pretext for reTle^^'ing 
 the conviviality and merriment of the car- 
 nival, and unaccustomed to the return of 
 a Sunday, without a renewal of its amuse- 
 ments, the inhabitants of Cadiz devote the 
 first Sunday in Lent to the ceremony of 
 breaking the porringer, which is no longer 
 useful for .the preparation of their repasts 
 of animal food. This festival, stolen from 
 the days of fasting, is christened in Cadiz, 
 Domingo de la Piñata. (2) All the ter- 
 tulias assemble in their greatest force, decked 
 in the smiles which have been laid aside dur- 
 ing the preceding week. A large crock, or 
 porringer, is suspended from the ceiling,, 
 and is to be broken in token of its being
 
 b FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 no longer of any use. Every person in the 
 tertulia is blindfolded by turns ; and being 
 armed with a stick, is allowed to walk from 
 one side of the room to the other, endea- 
 vouring in his passage to break the unne- 
 cessary Piñata; but as care is taken to 
 deceive the blinded person as to his situa- 
 tion in the room, by turning him round 
 three or four times before he commences 
 the attack, the weapon is often handed 
 more than once round the whole company, 
 before it is successfully employed. The 
 blow which succeeds in breaking the por- 
 ringer produces a shower of its contents 
 upon the fortunate striker. These generally 
 consist of a quantity of various sweetmeats 
 wraped up in coloured papers, and for which 
 there is a general scramble amongst the 
 by-standers. Sometimes, however, a number 
 of birds are put in among the contents, 
 which add to the confusion and fun, by 
 flying about the room when they obtain 
 their liberty ; and it is not uncommon for
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 7 
 
 a cat to be enclosed in the brittle porringer, 
 whose claws are the first to announce his 
 success to the terrified destroyer. 
 
 Ismena had been invited by her friends 
 the Nuñezs to join their party in Cadiz, to 
 partake of the amusement they expected 
 from passing the evening of the Domingo 
 de la Piñata in the house of a rich 
 merchant of their acquaintance. Having 
 accepted their invitation, and become an 
 inmate of their house, she was induced by 
 the pressing solicitations to remain their 
 guest for a few weeks ; and she the more 
 readily consented to this, from the uneasi- 
 ness which she felt at the renewal of the 
 mysterious warning of danger, which she 
 could neither account for, nor anticipate, 
 unable as she was to discover from what 
 quarter she was to expect it. In the en- 
 deavour to remember any thing to which 
 she could attach suspicion, the idea of 
 Mosquera had sometimes crossed her mind; 
 but the artifice which she had made use of 
 to discover how far he was acquainted with
 
 © FELIX ALVARE2:. 
 
 the plans of Felix, having failed in its 
 object, had not remained in her memory ; 
 and although she believed that Mosquera 
 disliked her, yet she could not imagine 
 that his dislike was of so strong a nature 
 as to induce her to fear any thing from 
 him. To Alvarez her mind often reverted 
 with an increased degree of affection, in 
 proportion as his fate was enveloped in 
 mystery ; and as the only two subjects 
 which constantly employed her thoughts 
 were, her affection for him, and her alanii 
 at the advice given her by the beggar, she 
 was at length naturally led to link them 
 together ; and as the most probable sup- 
 position she could form, she argued herself 
 into a belief that the danger which threat- 
 ened her was from the jealousy of some 
 woman who, herself in love with Alvarez, 
 was aware of the feeling which he had 
 excited in her breast. When this idea 
 had taken possession of her mind, she lost 
 herself in a labyrinth of perhai)ses. Per- 
 haps her rival had J)een more successful
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 9 
 
 than herself in overcoming the affection of 
 Alvarez for Rosa ; perhaps she was ac- 
 quainted with his present situation ; per- 
 liaps her fears had been excited by his 
 kind mention of her. Unable to satisfy 
 herself with probabilities, she indulged her- 
 self in imagining an immense variety of 
 possibilities, which employed her mind 
 without satisfying her reason. What she 
 was most at a loss for was an object, whom 
 she might, with any shadow of reason, 
 regard as this redoubted rival; and after 
 running over the list of all the friends and 
 acquaintances whicli Felix had in Cadiz, 
 she at last fixed upon Dolores Morales, the 
 lady with whom the reader will recollect 
 Alvarez had early commenced an intimacy. 
 Having once imagined a centre to which 
 all her sus})icions pointed, she found no 
 difficulty in confirming herself in this 
 opinion ; she remembered Felix having 
 talked of his meeting with Dolores ; and 
 what she then took for qualified praise, 
 she was now convinced proceeded from 
 li 5
 
 lo FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 an anxious desire to hide the true state of 
 his feehngs towards her. She remembered 
 too her joking him for his inconsistency in 
 constantly visiting at the house of a wo- 
 man of whom he professed to think so 
 lightly, and the insufficiency of the argu- 
 ments which he brought forward in his 
 defence. She recollected, or thought she 
 recollected, a thousand little things which 
 she imagined would have convinced her of 
 the truth of what she now saw, if she had 
 but had her eyes open then. In short she 
 firmly believed that Dolores Morales was 
 her dangerous rival. 
 
 But Ismena had never seen Dolores. 
 She was therefore delighted at the oppor- 
 tunity of returning to Cadiz for a few 
 weeks, during which time she hoped to be 
 able to meet her in society, that she might 
 at least know her rival, if she were unable 
 to obtain any further justification of her 
 fears by conversing with her. 
 
 The Domingo de la Piñata passed ; 
 half the days of Lent had rolled over the
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. ll 
 
 heads of the inhabitants of Cadiz, and 
 Ismena had had no opportunity of seeing 
 her rival, nor had she experienced any 
 renewal of her alarm. The middle day of 
 Lent is a merry one for the wags of Spain. 
 In England there is but one fool's-day in 
 the year; in Spain there are three. In- 
 nocent's-day, and el dia de los reys, or 
 twelfth-day, on which days it is the custom 
 to make fools, as in England on April-day ; 
 and the thii'd is la ?Joche de ver partir la 
 vieja, the night when the old woman is 
 sawed in halves. La Quaresina, or Lent, 
 is intended to be personified as the old 
 woman, and novices are made to believe 
 that an old woman devotes herself to the 
 death of being sawed in two, as an ex- 
 piation for the sins of surviving Chris- 
 tians : the time when they are informed 
 this ceremony is to take place is mid Lent, 
 or twelve o'clock, on the night of Wednes- 
 day in its fourth week ; and the place ap- 
 pointed is generally some frequented part 
 of the city, where hoaxers are found at a
 
 12 FELIX ALVAEEZ. 
 
 late hour of the night waiting for the 
 credulous to inform them that the place is 
 changed, and to dispatch them to some 
 remote part, from whence they are sent 
 again to some other place, if they are yet 
 undeceived ; if they discover the hoax, 
 they must content themselves to bear the 
 brunt of the hue and cry raised by the 
 hoaxers after them as they make their 
 escape. 
 
 M and the English companions, 
 
 Avhom he had introduced to the tertulia at 
 the house of Ismena's aunt, upon her re- 
 moval to the Isla had become frequent 
 visitors at the house of her friends las de 
 Nunez, and now formed the })rincipal 
 part of the tertulia there. These merry 
 girls had formed a plan for practising this 
 popular jest upon their foreign friends; and 
 by conversing about it beforehand, had 
 almost induced them to believe that such a 
 ceremony, at all events one of some kind 
 or other, was really to be performed. The 
 boftx is so popular, and so universally
 
 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 13 
 
 known, that wlierever they asked for in- 
 ibrmation, they received answers which 
 confirmed their l^elief, so that they shrug- 
 ged up their shoulders at the bigotry of the 
 Spanish peo])le, and expected to see some- 
 thing very extraordinary. Their Spanisli 
 friends had the satisfaction of finding the 
 day arrive without their having an idea of 
 the trick of La Vieja. 
 
 Being all assembled on the niglit of this 
 extraordinary ceremony, the Vv liole party, 
 j)rovided viith lanterns, set out for the 
 riaza de San Antonio, that being the spot 
 designated by common report for the 
 scene of this tragical event, being one of 
 the most public ones in the city. The 
 ladies were each vmder the protection of a 
 gentleman, in whose credulity tliey antici- 
 pated a fertile source of amusement. They 
 arrived at the spot appointed ; and found it 
 only occupied by a nimiber oí' stragglers, 
 who were walking about, apparently Avith- 
 out any expectation of an extraordinary 
 sight. An exclamation of incredulity
 
 14« FELIX ALVAREZ^ 
 
 escaped all the English officers at once; 
 but they were so strongly assured by 
 the ladies that there must be some mis- 
 take, and they had heard so much of it 
 from all quarters, that they were unde- 
 cided what to think. Ismena at last per- 
 suaded M to accost a party of four or 
 
 five young men, who were before them, to 
 endeavour to gain some information on the 
 subject. 
 
 " Señor ! perdona mnd — I beg your par- 
 don, Sir ; pray do you know any thing of 
 the exhibition, which they say was to take 
 place here ? " 
 
 " We came here to see it too, Sir ; but I 
 rather think that it is a hoax." 
 
 The discovery that these young men 
 were fellow guUs nearly occasioned a burst 
 of laughter from the ladies. It was with 
 difficulty they could keep their counten- 
 ances. The conversation proceeded ; and a 
 gentleman who was passing having caught 
 some words of it, easily understood the 
 joke, and accosted them. 
 6
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 15 
 
 " If you come here to see the Vieja, 
 ladies and gentlemen," said he, " you had 
 better g-o the Plaza de San Juan de Dios, 
 where the ceremony is to take place. I 
 have just come from thence, and could 
 hardly get through the crowd; but you 
 had better make haste, or you will be too 
 late." 
 
 " Gibadas Señor,'' said the young men, 
 all at once, and set off running towards the 
 Plaza de San Juan de Dios. 
 
 " Gracias Señor" repeated M 
 
 and his companions, and hurried down the 
 Calle Ancha, in their way towards the same 
 place. 
 
 The ladies were delighted to pitch upon 
 some frivolous excuse for laughter, and in- 
 dulged themselves very freely in their mirth. 
 They were going two by two along the 
 street, at a quick pace. Ismena's arm was 
 
 in that of M , and they were the last 
 
 couple of the party ; in running, when they 
 first left the Plaza de San Antonio, her 
 ancle had turned, as she trod upon a stone
 
 16 FEI.IX ALVAREZ. 
 
 which gave way under her foot, and al- 
 though she v/as not seriously hurt, yet she 
 was unable to keep up with the rest of the 
 party, v/lio were at least half the length of 
 the Calle de la Veronica, before her and 
 
 M , who w as supporting her, when a 
 
 man who had been some time at a distance 
 behind them rushed forward, and aiming a 
 blow with a knife at her bosom, exclaimed, 
 " Muera,'" as his hand fell. The noise of 
 Iiis rapid approach had made her turn 
 round ; and as he came up, she raised her 
 arm, in which she received the blade that 
 
 was aimed at her heart. M cauglit 
 
 Ismcna as she fell, and the villain, who fled 
 precipitately, had got too far off to allow 
 those in the pursuit which was raised to 
 trace his path. He escaped. 
 
 Ismena had fainted in the arms of her 
 friend, and was siiiTounded by her compa- 
 nions, wlio had returned at his repeated calls; 
 the officers all ran off in pursuit of the mur- 
 derer, except one, who knocked at the casa- 
 puei'ta of the house immediately before
 
 lELIX ALVAREíT. i 7 
 
 them, and having brought the people to 
 the door, obtained admission for the lifeless 
 body of Ismcna, wlio was left with her 
 
 friends, while M and his companions 
 
 M'ent in searcli of medical assistance. 
 
 It was the house of a lady of fashion, 
 La Condesa de Peñamar, into which the 
 i)arty whose mirth had so suddenly and so 
 \mexpectedly been put an end to, entered ; 
 and late as it was, the tertulia had not } et 
 broken up: they were indulging in the 
 general amusement of the evening ; and 
 haying sent out a party of young people, 
 whom they had imposed upon to believe 
 the story of the old woman, in quest of tlie 
 spot where her execution v/as to take place, 
 they were anticipating the laughable ap- 
 pearance they would make on tlieir return. 
 Every body now crowded round Ismena, 
 and every means was employed to restore 
 her to life. M arrived with a sur- 
 geon, who dressed the wound in her arm, 
 assuring her friends that no danger was to 
 be feared fiom it, During tlie operation
 
 18 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 of dressing it, Ismena recovered her senses ; 
 but from her weak and feverish state, the 
 surgeon strongly advised her not being 
 removed that night. The lady of the 
 house kindly insisted on her remaining, 
 particularly as she was not unacquainted 
 with her, having sometimes met her in 
 society. She was put to bed ; and one of 
 her friends, the Nuñezs, took upon herself 
 the office of nurse ; whilst the other two 
 
 returned with their mother and M 
 
 not without some fears at the idea of hav- 
 ing to pass through the street where this 
 event had happened. 
 
 Among the ladies who composed the 
 tertuUa at the house of la Condesa de 
 Peñamar, was the imagined rival, to whom 
 Ismena was inclined to attribute the per- 
 petration of this act, Dolores IMorales. 
 When the tertulia was breaking up, she 
 paid a visit to the room of Ismena, under 
 the pretext of inquiring after her. Upon 
 entering, she asked whether she was 
 asleep, in an under tone ; hut finding that
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 19 
 
 she was not, she continued her conversa- 
 tion with Concha Nunez, in an un- 
 restrained voice. Ismcna heard her ; and 
 turning round, she exclaimed. 
 
 " Great Heavens ! I know that voice." 
 
 " That may be," said Dolores. 
 
 Ismena looked at her, and endeavoured 
 in vain to call her features to her recol- 
 lection. 
 
 " By your voice, I fhould talce you to be 
 the person who accosted me last carnival, 
 at the masquerade, at the house of La 
 Señora Chacona." 
 
 " Dressed as a beggar, was it not ? '* 
 said Dolores ; " Alas ! Señora, the misfor- 
 tune which I hoped to have averted has 
 fallen upon you, in spite of my endeavours ; 
 and it is a most singular coincidence, that 
 it should have happened, as it were, under 
 my own eyes." 
 
 " Tell me, I beseech you," cried Ismena, 
 " who is my enemy ? how have I offended ? 
 and who are you, who take so kind an
 
 20 FELIX ALVAIíEZ. 
 
 interest in my safety, witliout being knoVri 
 to me." 
 
 " The service «í woiíld have rendered 
 you is only what I would have done for 
 any one in the same situation. But you 
 are not in a state for conversation just 
 now; repose yourself; go to sleep, and 
 to-morrow I will talk to you." 
 
 " I shall have no repose, if you do not 
 explain every thing to me now. I can- 
 not sleep, if you leave me unsatisfied." 
 
 The eagerness and agitation of her man- 
 ner convinced Dolores that she had better 
 not defer her explanation until the next 
 day. 
 
 " Well ; if you will promise me, then, not 
 to attempt to speak, but only to listen to 
 what I have to tell you, I will satisfy your 
 curiosity now." 
 
 Ismena j)romised to be silent, and Dolores 
 continued. 
 
 " It is very likely that you may be ac- 
 quainted with me by name, although you do
 
 I'ELIX ALVAl{E¿r. 21 
 
 not know me personally. We have a mutual 
 IViend, a very deserving and amiable young- 
 man, AvhomI have often heard mention you, 
 and in a manner which gave me a high 
 opinion of you, Señorita. I allude to Don 
 Felix Alvarez, from whom you perhaps 
 may have heard my name. I am Dolores 
 Morales." 
 
 At the mention of her name, Ismena 
 looked at her with surprise, and a sensation 
 something like fear. She had so settled it 
 in her own mind, that her life had been 
 attempted at the instigation of this very 
 person, that she could not recover from 
 iier astonishment, at finding her supposed 
 enemy in the person of one who had 
 warned her of her danger. Dolores con- 
 tinued. 
 
 " It is long since I have heard any thing 
 of Don Felix ; and when he went away, T 
 no longer heard any thing of you. With 
 your person, however, I was acquainted ; 
 and your name was forcibly recalled to my 
 recollection on the evening of the last 
 7
 
 ^2 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 7ioche buena. My maid came to mé when 
 I was preparing to go out, and asked my 
 advice how to act, having by chance made 
 a discovery which involved the Ufe of a 
 lady. She then related to me, that having 
 made an appointment to meet her lover 
 upon a certain bench in the alameda, she 
 had repaired to the place of rendezvous 
 soon after dusk, and seated herself in á 
 corner to await his arrival. The night 
 was very dark ; and she had observed two 
 men, who were walking up and down, 
 close to the benches in the avenue next to 
 that where she had taken up her station * 
 Wishing not to be observed by them, as 
 they approached, supposing they would 
 pass as they had before done, she crouched 
 down, so that the dividing back of the 
 bench prevented her head from being seen. 
 
 * The avenues in the alameda are lined on either 
 side with stone benches, one row of which serves 
 for two avenues, being divided by a flat stone 
 placed in the middle, which forms a back to both 
 sides.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 23 
 
 But the men did not pass, as she expected, 
 but sat down upon the seat immediately 
 behind her : while she was considering 
 whether to remain in her uncomfortable 
 position, or to move her situation, she was 
 attracted by their conversation, in which 
 your name was mentioned. One of the 
 persons was wrapped up in a cloak, and 
 spoke in a low whisper, so that she was 
 unable to hear what he said ; but the 
 other replied in a more audible tone ; and 
 from his answers, she discovered that he 
 was to lay wait, in the calle del vestuario, 
 for a lady who was going to the Misa del 
 Gallo in the church of Los Descalzos, and 
 to stab her ; and that it was to be done after 
 the mass Avas over, that the crowd coming 
 out of the church might favour the flight, 
 and conceal the murderer. The person in 
 the cloak, who was giving the directions, 
 seemed to urge the necessity of not mis- 
 taking the lady, and of making the blow 
 certain, as the girl concluded by the fre- 
 quent assurances of the other man that no
 
 24 I'KLIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 mistake should occur; and from the whole 
 of the conversation, she had no doubt that 
 the lady referred to was yourself, whose 
 name had l)een mentioned when she first 
 heard tliem. 
 
 The men were interrupted by the 
 ronda,* at whose approach they left their 
 seats, and walked away. The servant was 
 alarmed at the secret with Avhich she had 
 so unintentionally become acquainted ; and 
 without waiting for the appearance of her 
 lover, she hastened home in the hopes of 
 finding me, and of inquiring what she was 
 to do. 
 
 Upon making her repeat her story, and 
 questioning her upon the dilierent points of 
 it, I did not think there were grounds 
 enough to infer that you were the person 
 who was to be the victim of this plan, 
 although your name had been mentioned, 
 but it was possible that it might be so ; 
 and I was determined therefore to warn 
 
 * The patrole of the city, which takes its rounds 
 at certain hours of the night, is called the ronda.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 25 
 
 you of your dang-er, at the same time that 
 I would render it impossible, by informing 
 the police of the city of what was intended 
 to take place in the Calk del Vestuario. 
 This I did personally, having excused my- 
 self from joining' a party who were going 
 about the town, and taking the girl with 
 me, who had heard the plot. From the 
 nianner in which she had told me the 
 story, it appeared to me that your name 
 had been so little connected with it, that I 
 -took upon myself to warn you, disclosing 
 only to the Governor's secretary the in- 
 tended murder ; and orders were imme- 
 diately issued for having a ronda in that 
 street all the night upon the watch. 
 
 By the time that all this was arranged, 
 it was so late that I despaired of finding 
 you at home upon such an occasion as the 
 noche buena ; but concluding that, if you 
 really were the person alluded to by the 
 villains on the Alameda, you would be at 
 ¡OS Descalzos, I went thither with my 
 servant, in the hopes of finding you. The 
 
 VOL. in. c
 
 26 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 congregation had assembled, and the ser- 
 vice had already begun, but I waited 
 patiently at the door, attentively examining 
 every one who passed ; you were one of the 
 first who came out when the ceremony was 
 finished, and I immediately recognized you ; 
 but, I had some difficulty in making up 
 my mind to accost you as a perfect 
 stranger, and with so uncertain a tale : I 
 therefore desired my servant, who was 
 dressed in a common cloth mantilla, to go 
 up to you J accosting you as a beggar, and 
 simply to warn 3^ou not to pass through 
 the Calle del Vestuario that night. She 
 executed her commission, and returned to 
 me ; we waited some time, and had the 
 satisfaction of seeing that you took the 
 advice given you ; and on the following 
 morning I had tlie still greater satisfaction 
 of finding, tliat, by the warning to 3'^ou, or 
 the information to the police, I had pre- 
 vented the execution of this crime ; for the 
 peace of the Calk del Vestuario had not 
 been disturbed during the night."
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 9T 
 
 Isrnena was warm in her expression of 
 gratitude to Dolores, and the more so as 
 she felt how much she had injured her by 
 a suspicion which she now disclaimed as 
 impossible. She inquired as to the second 
 warning she had so extraordinarily re- 
 ceived. 
 
 " The circumstances which induced me 
 to do that," said Dolores, " puzzled me 
 not less than my conduct must have done 
 you. It so happened, that during the last 
 carnival I took a freak into my head to 
 reUeve the monotony of my life here, by 
 a trip to the Isla, where I had some friends. 
 A friend of mine was to accompany me ; 
 but on the morning on which we proposed 
 the journey, he came to me, pleading 
 business as his excuse for not going with 
 me ; but it was agreed that my servant 
 and I should go down to the Isla in a 
 caleza, and that he should follow us on 
 horseback in the evening. In consequence 
 of this arrangement, I set off with the very 
 girl who was the discoverer of the plot of 
 c 2
 
 28 FEI.IX ALVAREZ. 
 
 the Calk del Vestuario. That drcumstance 
 formed part of our conversation on the 
 way, and she related it again, commenting 
 on its singularity. She said, wliat I forgot 
 before to mention, that upon the approach 
 of the ronda, the lanterns which they 
 carried threw a sufficient light for her per- 
 fectly to distinguish the person of the one 
 who was to be the agent in the murder, as 
 he had no cloak on ; and, as they left the 
 seat, this very man turned his head round 
 to look at the soldiers as they approached, 
 and the light from a lantern shone full 
 upon his face, which she was certain she 
 should know again, as it was so singularly 
 marked by a deep scar as of a sabre wound, 
 which disfigured one of his cheeks, and his 
 nose. After this the conversation changed ; 
 but was renewed upon arriving at the town 
 of the Isla in an extraordinary way. I 
 was not acquainted exactly with the re- 
 sidence of the lady, to whom I proposed 
 paying a visit, and I desired the calezero 
 to get down and inquire. While he was 
 
 6
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. ^9 
 
 gone upon this errand I observed a 
 strange looking man prying very atten- 
 tively into the vi^indow of a house ; I 
 remarked the circumstance to my servant, 
 and we both looked at him. Before the 
 calezero returned, however, he turned 
 round. " Jesus, Señora," exclaimed the 
 girl ; " it is the very man whom I over- 
 heard upon the Alameda, on the noche 
 buena.''' It was very true that he had 
 exactly such a mark in the face as she had 
 before described. He had observed her 
 exclamation, and that our attention was 
 directed towards him, and he went away, 
 turning down a lane close at hand. 
 
 I did not know what to think of this 
 circumstance ; for I had heard that you 
 were removed to the Isla, and it was 
 possible that you might be more deeply 
 concerned in the plot than I imagined. I 
 was almost sorry that I had treated it so 
 lightly, and was determined I would seek 
 you out that very night, and make myself 
 known to you, purposely to tell you all
 
 30 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 that I know. I began to put my plan into 
 execution immediately, by^ inquiring for 
 your house. My surprise was great when 
 I found that it v/as the very house into 
 which I had seen the man prying. I no 
 longer hesitated hov/ to proceed, but went 
 directly to call upon you. You were out ; 
 and 1 was informed that you v/ere not ex- 
 pected at home till very late, as you were 
 at la Señora Chacona's masqued ball. 
 
 I was very much annoyed at this, be- 
 cause I would have followed you any 
 where but there ; la Señora Chacona and 
 I had once been upon good terms, but we 
 had had a quarrel of a nature which 
 would not admit of my entering her house. 
 But I was so much alarmed at the idea, 
 that it was probable your danger might 
 be pressing that I followed a plan which 
 was proposed to me by my servant. I 
 procured the common garments of a beg- 
 gar, and introduced myself into the crowd- 
 ed masquerade under this disguise. I was 
 pot long in finding you out, nor in seizing 
 5
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 31 
 
 an opportunity of speaking to you on the 
 subject which so much interested you ; but 
 you were so much frightened that the ef- 
 fect of your terror stopped me in my dis- 
 closure. You fainted, and as I was most 
 anxious not to be discovered by the mis- 
 tress of the house, I left the room, and 
 made my escape in the confusion con- 
 sequent upon your sudden illness ; quieting 
 my conscience by the consideration that I 
 had put you upon your guard ; and, that in 
 the morning I would complete the infor- 
 mation which I had been prevented from 
 giving you then. 
 
 The friend who ought to liave gone 
 down with us did not arrive that night, 
 but came early the following morning, and I 
 immediately told him all that I knew upon 
 the subject of your danger. He told me 
 that he was well acquainted with you, and 
 he very kindly relieved me from the un- 
 pleasant necessity of apologizing for my 
 unpardonable neglect in not having more 
 distinctly warned you of your danger in
 
 32 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 the first instance, by charging himself 
 with the task of giving you all the infor- 
 mation necessary. I was in great hopes 
 that his communication would have had 
 the effect of enabling you to counteract the 
 plot of your enemies. 
 
 " Who was the gentleman who pro- 
 mised you to do this ? " eagerly asked 
 ismena. 
 
 " Don Luis de Mosquera," said Dolores, 
 and she looked to the ground ; for she felt 
 that her trip to the Isla with him had not 
 been of a very virtuous nature, and she 
 had modesty enough to blush at the recol- 
 lection. 
 
 " Don Luis de Mosquera !" exclaimed 
 Ismena, with the utmost astonishment. 
 
 She, however, did not explain her asto- 
 nishment to Dolores, who would not allow 
 her to talk against the prohibition of the 
 surgeon ; but having finished her narrative, 
 and it being very late, she returned, pro- 
 mising to visit Ismena in the morning.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ, 33 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 Publication of the Constitution— Feast given by the 
 Spanish Army at the Islade Leon — Bombardment 
 of Cadiz — The immense Mortars — Manner of 
 avoidina: the Shells, 
 
 1 HE subsequent coiiversations of Ismena 
 with Dolores were calculated only to in- 
 crease the doubts respecting the extraordi- 
 nary attempt against her life, and to plunge 
 this mysterious affair in a labyrinth of still 
 deeper mysteries. She was unable in any 
 way to account for the enmity which had 
 followed her so long, and with such unre- 
 mitting malice. But the natural strength 
 of her constitution overcame the ill effects 
 which might have resulted from the agita- 
 tion of her mind ; and the wound in her 
 arm was of so little consequence, that in a 
 c 5
 
 34 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 very few clays she was enabled to return to 
 her aunt's house in the Isla de Leon. 
 
 The interesting political occurrences 
 which were passing in Cadiz, and which 
 occupied the eager attention of every class 
 of the nation, who all joined enthusiastically 
 in the brilliant Iiopes which they excited, 
 contributed in a great measure to divert 
 her mind from the contemplation of her 
 own extraordinary situation, by creating a 
 lively interest in all around her, of which 
 she could not but partake. The Cortes 
 had at length realized the expectation they 
 had so long raised, by the publication of the 
 new Constitution — the corner stone, upon 
 which was to be raised the emancipation of 
 Spain from slavery and oppression — the 
 shout which was to be added to the war- 
 cry of the patriots — the standard of their 
 rights, in the defence of which their blood 
 was to flow. " Ferdinand the Seventh and 
 the Constitution," was henceforth to be 
 their bond of union, and their song of battle ; 
 aiid the enthusiastic heart of a Spaniard
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. S5 
 
 heard the voice of victory in this addition 
 to their estabhshed rallying-word. 
 
 This new bond of union was dispatched 
 to every spot of Spanish soil untrodden by 
 the myriads of the monsters of usurpation. 
 It was every where publicly proclaimed and 
 solemnly sworn to : but nowhere was this 
 inspiring ceremony more impressively per- 
 formed than in the Isla de Leon. In other 
 parts this scene afforded the delightful spec- 
 tacle of a family of brothers uniting to 
 swear fidelity to their general parent, and 
 for their general rights ; but in the Isla de 
 Leon it was a bond of friendsliip as well 
 as of family union ; and the spectator expe- 
 rienced at once the delightful sensations of 
 beholding a family uniting themselves to 
 defend their country, and at the same 
 time taking to their hearts, and as it were 
 naturalizing to their cause, a friendly band 
 of foreign brothers. 
 
 The Constitution was solemnly pro- 
 claimed and read in three of tlie most 
 public parts of the tovni. by the Governor.
 
 36 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 who passed through the principal streets in 
 procession with all the municipal officers, 
 crimson canopies being erected at the 
 different stations appointed for the purpose. 
 A fourth canopy was placed at one end of 
 a vast open plain which lies between the 
 town of the Isla and the head of the Bay, 
 called the Campo de la Torre Alta; and 
 here the Charter was again read aloud to 
 the whole Spanish army, with the Regent, 
 General O'Donnell, at their head. Mass 
 followed ; but the most delightful part of 
 the ceremony was yet to come. The 
 mingled huzzas from twelve thousand 
 voices seemed to shake the very earth, and 
 echoed to the skies. The men piled their 
 arms, and marched regularly to another 
 part of the plain, wliere they were expected 
 by the whole of the British force, formed 
 in lines of regiments, but without arms. 
 
 Upon the rising ground, from the height 
 of which ascends the Torre Alta, which 
 gives its name to the whole Campo, a num- 
 ber of large marquees had been pitched at
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 37 
 
 equal distances, in each of which a repast 
 had been prepared by the officers of one of 
 the Spanish regiments ; and from the door 
 of each tent was placed a narrow table, ex- 
 tending in a curved line about a hundred 
 yards. These tables were plentifully fur- 
 nished with boiled beef, cabbage, potatoes, 
 and bread, and plenty of wine. It was at 
 the extremity of these lines of tables that 
 the Si^anish army was halted, and the sol- 
 diers waited but the word of command from 
 their officers, to invite their guests to the 
 fi'iendly repast. The signal was given by 
 the Spanish General Officer conducting 
 those of the British army, with their Aid- 
 de-Camps, to the marquee prepared for 
 them, an example which was followed by 
 the several departments of the staff, civil 
 as well as military, each of which had a 
 separate table. The front regiments of the 
 two columns then advanced towards each 
 other. The officers were at some distance 
 in front of the irmen, and each individual of 
 the British regiment found a friend, who,
 
 38 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 taking him warmly by the Iiand, led him 
 to the tent allotted to them. The men 
 continued to advance in regular order until 
 within a few yards of each other, when all 
 order was lost in the eager competition 
 between the warm-hearted Spaniards, who 
 should first embrace their foreign brothers, 
 and encourage the shyness with which they 
 at first received their kindness. Every one 
 selected his companion : and some, running 
 to those they had chosen, with open arms 
 clasped them round their necks, while 
 others, taking one by each hand, hastened 
 io the appointed table. Regiment followed 
 regiment, and the same scene took place 
 with eachj until all the tables were occu- 
 pied ; for it was so arranged by the chiefs, 
 that the divisions into regiments should be 
 of equal number in both armies. 
 
 At the table, the Spanish hosts paid the 
 same attention to their guests that a dancer 
 at a ball would do to his partner. They 
 thought not of themselves until they had 
 served their compañeros^ and they all vied
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. SD 
 
 with each other in the service of their 
 friends. Wine flowed in abundance, and 
 the consequence was what might be antici- 
 pated. Those who were not actually in- 
 toxicated, were sufficiently exhilarated by 
 the effects of the wine and the animating 
 bustle of the scene. In the tents of the 
 officers the same warm-heartedness was 
 displayed in a more polished manner ; but 
 at length the repetition of national and 
 complimentary toasts produced the same 
 effect as the coarser solicitations of the 
 men : all were exhilarated, yet did there 
 not occur one single altercation. As the 
 officers left their tents they were cheered 
 by the mingled multitude of happy fiiends ; 
 they were seized b}^ crowds of the soldiers 
 of both nations and carried round this 
 scene of festivity and friendship, accompa- 
 nied by shouts of " Fha nuestros amigos, 
 viva nuestros officiates ! — Long live our 
 friends, long live our officers !" (8) 
 
 The feast ended, the partakers of it 
 .separated themselves into various parties,
 
 40 FELIX ALVAHEZ. 
 
 some of whom strolled about the town 
 singing and dancing, while others remained 
 on the ground similarly occupied. The 
 noisy mirth of these was temporarily sus- 
 pended by the scientific singing of a German 
 regiment in the British service, who, having 
 collected together, joined their voices in 
 beautiful harmony, chaunting their evening 
 hymn. This music gained much by the 
 contrast with the discordant medley of 
 voices which preceded it ; and its eíTect. 
 was indeed striking. 
 
 Ismena was a witness of this extraordi- 
 nary and delightful scene, and it assisted 
 very much in relieving her from the melan- 
 choly state of mind which had become 
 habitual to her since the occurrences that 
 had lately taken place. She thought much 
 upon them, but was unable to draw any 
 conclusion from her thoughts. Without 
 understanding how she had incurred the 
 enmity of Mosquera, she was convinced 
 that he must be concerned in some manner 
 in the plot against her, although she could
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. "41 
 
 find no grounds for this suspicion further 
 than her own imagination, corroborated by 
 the extraordinary circumstance of his 
 having taken no notice of the information 
 lie had received from Dolores Morales, and 
 which he had promised to communicate to 
 lier. Why had he not done so ? She was 
 now unable to answer this question ; for his 
 intrigue with Dolores had ended in an 
 open breach, of a nature which had induced 
 her to refuse to renew their acquaintance, 
 for the purpose of interrogating him on 
 this point. 
 
 Mosquera, on his part, lived in constant 
 uneasiness lest he should be betrayed to the 
 police, and be prevented from profiting by 
 the preparation he had been making for his 
 escape, should he be reduced to the neces- 
 sity of flying. He was, indeed, surprised 
 and appalled by the communication whicli 
 had been made to him by Dolores in the 
 Isla ; but he was so convinced by her man- 
 ner, and by the choice she had made of a 
 confidant, of no suspicion having fallen upon
 
 42 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 the real object to be feared, that his plea- 
 sure at the .ofbod fortune which had enabled 
 him to put a stop to all proceedings that 
 might end in his detection, was greater than 
 his regret at the partial discov^ery of his 
 villany. But by entrusting her lover with 
 this communication, Dolores had created a 
 feeling in his breast very inimical to that 
 which she required in the fortunate candi- 
 date for her favour. He could no longer 
 look at her without a consciousness of guilt, 
 which completely prevented him from feel- 
 ing any sensation of pleasure in her society, 
 and from being able to express the tender- 
 ness which was necessary to afford her any 
 pleasure from his. An opportunity soon 
 offered for a rupture, and they separated 
 with feelings which rendered both equally 
 averse to a reconciliation. 
 
 Mosquera found himself in a situation 
 which required a great deal of circumspec- 
 tion, and which became every day more 
 difficult. He had accordingly endeavoured 
 to extricate himself from it as speedily as
 
 FELIX ALVAREX. 4S 
 
 possible, and had made representations to 
 his employers which he expected would 
 produce a permission to withdraw himself 
 from Cadiz, where more than one person 
 had already suspected the loyalty of his 
 conduct. The failure of his plot against 
 Ismena, unattended as it had been by any 
 measures hostile to him, had almost con- 
 vinced him that he could owe liis safety to 
 nothing but ignorance ; and he concluded 
 that his supposition with respect to the 
 information she had received from Alvarez 
 was erroneous. But whether so or not, he 
 had reason to suspect more danger from 
 other quarters ; and as he could not hope 
 to assassinate all his enemies, he relinqushed 
 his persecution of one whom he now con- 
 sidered was to be feared the least, if at all. 
 But Mosquera had another reason to 
 wish himself out of Cadiz, which had con- 
 siderable weight with him, if it was not the 
 most powerful of his motives. Daring as 
 he was in defying the laws of morality and 
 of his country, planning any crime, how-
 
 44 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 ever heinous, from which he expected to 
 derive individual benefit, he Avas rather 
 cautious in the perpetration of such as re- 
 quired personal courage, or were accompa- 
 nied by personal danger. He would in all 
 cases most gladly avoid the risk of exposing 
 his life ; and the activity of the besiegers of 
 Cadiz had placed the lives of all its inhabi- 
 tants in a certain degree of danger, by the 
 invention of a machine which enabled them 
 to bombard it from a distance of more than 
 six thousand yards. (4) 
 
 The shells that were dispatched from the 
 enormous mortars which had been cast by 
 French ingenuity in the magnificent foun- 
 dery for cannon at Seville, paid their first 
 alarming visits to the miserable inhabitants 
 of the Barrio de Santa Maria.* The range 
 however, was gradually extended over the 
 Barrio de San Carlos ; and the Plaza de 
 
 * Barrio is a civil division of the city, unconnected 
 with the ecclesiastical one mio parroquias, or parishes. 
 The Barrio de San Carlos is the St. James's, and the 
 Barrio de Santa Maria the St. Giles's, of Cadiz.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 45 
 
 San Antonio, and the Campo Santo, were 
 shortly afterwards included, leaving but a 
 comparatively small portion of the city free 
 from danger. The danger in itself was 
 trifling, as the result of four months' bom- 
 bardment proved ; (5) for the shells were 
 small, and were filled with lead instead of 
 combustible matter, to give them sufficient 
 weight to carry them the distance they 
 were to go. Those, therefore, which burst, 
 rather broke in pieces from the concussion 
 of their fall than from the operation of the 
 fuses, which, besides, were generally lost in 
 the way. But they produced at first the 
 effect intended by the besiegers, though 
 not in the degree they hoped for. They 
 created an alarm amongst the inhabitants : 
 such as were rich enough took their fami- 
 lies to the Isla, which speedily overflowed 
 with these frightened emigrants. The 
 meanest rooms in the remote corner of the 
 city, which had been hitherto unattained 
 by these fearful messengers of death, were 
 liired at the most exorbitant prices, and the
 
 4J6 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 vaults under the Muralla, which were 
 bomb-proof, and which served as public 
 magazines, were opened every night for the 
 reception of such as had interest enough to 
 obtain admittance. 
 
 But it was wonderful to see how soon- 
 the generality of the inhabitants became 
 familiarized to the horrid hissing of these 
 winged deaths. The little effect which 
 they produced, and the smallness of the 
 number who suffered from their fall, almost 
 reconciled the Gaditanos to the noise of 
 their approach. The admirable precautions 
 adopted by the authorities contributed in 
 a great measure to this end. It has already 
 been remarked that the houses in Cadiz 
 were very generally surmounted by high 
 towers, to support which, the walls on the 
 side where tlie torres are erected are of 
 excessive thickness. It was soon found 
 that these walls were sufficiently strong tp 
 resist even the accelerated force with which 
 the shells fell; and the Governor lost no 
 time in publishing a list of the streets
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 47 
 
 where these supporting parapets ran in a 
 direction across the course of the shells, 
 affording consequently a defence from them. 
 With these every iühabitant became soon 
 acquainted ; and as the shell with its com- 
 paratively slow motion required upwards of 
 a minute to perform its lengthened journey, 
 men were stationed in two of the principal 
 Steepler of the city,* whose glasses enabled 
 them to obtain the earliest information of 
 the discharge of the well-known mortars, 
 from the smoke which accompanied it : this 
 event was instantly announced to the city 
 by a single stroke on an enormous bell, at 
 which solemn sound every individual sought 
 safety in the defence of the nearest support- 
 ing wall, which occurred to his mind. The 
 silent pause which every where followed 
 the awful bell was only interrupted by the 
 tremendous voice of the engine of destruc- 
 tion, as it approached with increasing rapi- 
 dity ; and the cessation of this stunning 
 
 ^ That of San Francisco, and that of San Augustino.
 
 48 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 sound produced from every pious Spaniard 
 an exclamation of thanksgiving, accompa- 
 nied by a hasty sign of the cross. 
 
 The effect of the warning bell was electric, 
 and produced a sensation in the mind which 
 cannot be described. It might probably be 
 the passing knell of some fellow-citizen, or 
 perhaps one's own. It produced the same 
 awful emotions in the minds of the whole 
 city, and every one shared the same antici- 
 pation, and sought safety fi'om the same 
 danger. At the commencement of this 
 bombardment, before its awfulness had been 
 lessened by repetition, Mosquera found him- 
 self one morning in the Plazuela delCo7'reOf 
 one of the most frequented spots in all Ca- 
 diz, a mercantile rendezvous, from which 
 the votaries of Commerce had not been 
 frightened away : he was in conversation 
 amidst a concómase of people when the 
 loud toll of the bell of San Augustino vi- 
 bi-ated on the air. Mosquera was unpre- 
 pared for the \mwelcome information which 
 was thus conveyed to him; he hesitated
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 49 
 
 an instant, but in that instant he was alone ; 
 he looked in vain for the crowd which had 
 surrounded him — he was a solitary being 
 in the deserted plaza, and he was too much 
 alarmed to attempt to fly from the fate 
 which he fancied certain ; but the revenge 
 of Alvarez was not entrusted to the mes- 
 senger which the bell had announced : the 
 shell passed over him, and after some time 
 he recovered himself. (6) 
 
 VOL. in.
 
 50 FEIJX ALVAKEÍÍ. 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 Telegraphic Spies — El Vengador — Madrid free — 
 Farewell of the French to Cadiz — The raising of 
 the Siege. 
 
 A. HE course of Ismena's life in the Isla 
 de Leon was suddenly interrupted by an 
 event which she could not but deplore, 
 although it left her mistress of a sum of 
 money which ensured her independence ; 
 the death of her great-aunt, Mrs. Mag- 
 lashan, who had long been bending under 
 the weight of years, and who, in dying, 
 made her grand-niece sole heiress of all 
 she possessed : this amounted to a mo- 
 derate income sufficient to satisfy the un- 
 ambitious desires of Ismena ; the event 
 left her entirely alone, and vmbound by 
 any tie which could prevent her from
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 51 
 
 following the bent of her inclinations. 
 Her friends the Niiñezs immediately pro- 
 posed to her to become an inmate of their 
 house, until she should come to some de- 
 termination with respect to her future re- 
 sidence, and she gladly accepted the pro- 
 posal. Her friends had been unable to 
 obtain accommodations out of that part of 
 the city of Cadiz wliich was exposed to 
 the fearful visitations of the French shells, 
 and were therefore obliged to reconcile 
 themselves to the continual state of alarm 
 in which they necessarily lived. But Is- 
 mena was unawed by" their situation ; and 
 considering the few persons who had 
 actually suffered during the bombardment, 
 she dispelled her fears, and took up her 
 abode with her terrified friends. 
 
 Mosquera in the mean time had been 
 unable to endure the constant agitation 
 which he suffered arising from his fears for 
 his personal safety, apprehending equally the 
 dangers within and without the walls of 
 the town. He seized tlie opportunity of 
 D 2
 
 52 FELIX ALVARES. 
 
 the preparation which was making for an ex- 
 pedition from Cadiz, consisting of an almost 
 equal proportion of British and Spanish 
 troops, and having obtained some informa- 
 tion true or false respecting its destination, 
 counselled by his fears, he chose himself to 
 be the bearer of this intelligence to his em- 
 ployers. He left Cadiz by means similar 
 to those by which he had enabled Felix to 
 leave it ; and as the boat which bore him 
 pushed off from the quay, he heartily con- 
 gratulated himself at having escaped from 
 the jeopardy which his pusillanimous dis- 
 position had so considerably magnified. 
 
 And timely was his escape. It pre- 
 ceded by a few days only the discovery of 
 his infamy, and the publication of his name 
 as a traitor. Never was the inactivity of 
 the Spanish authorities more clearly ex- 
 emplified than in the continuance of the 
 gang of spies, of which Mosquera had 
 been the principal, and in its tardiness in 
 making the discovery which immediately 
 followed the flight of that renegade. For
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 53 
 
 the purpose of making signals across the 
 bay to the besiegers, a habitation had been 
 taken at the top of a house in the Barrio de 
 Santa Maria, upon which there was a 
 tower somewhat higher than those which 
 surrounded it, and which, being near the 
 Muralla, was not hid by any intervening 
 houses. Here one of the band of spies 
 was in the habit of making signals, by 
 exposing a certain number of lights, which 
 were rendered more visible by the aid of 
 reflectors. For an immense length of time 
 this kind of communication had been car- 
 ried on with impunity ; many inhabitants 
 of the town had observed these extraor- 
 dinary lights, when either pleasure or 
 business led them to walk that way late at 
 night ; but their observations were con- 
 fined to a simple exclamation of surprise ; 
 and those whom it most interested to know 
 it remained ignorant of it. At length, 
 however, it was pointed out to the Gover- 
 nor, and the spy was seized during the 
 process of transmitting one of these telegra-
 
 5é FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 phic dispatches. His arrest led to the 
 discovery of the name of Mosquera, and 
 of some of his papers, which clearly in- 
 dicated the nature of his mission in Cadiz : 
 his name became publicly known as a 
 traitor. 
 
 When Ismena was acquainted with these 
 circumstances, she became fully convinced 
 of the truth of all her conjectures respect- 
 ing his conduct towards Alvarez, of Avhose 
 fate she had lately received some tidings 
 from the public voice. The fame of the 
 band of Felix Alvarez had preceded its 
 formal organization into a regiment ; and 
 tlie public, with their characteristic fond- 
 ness for agnomina, had already designated 
 Felix by that of El Vengado7% arising 
 from the circumstance, which was ge- 
 nerally talked of, of his having commenced 
 his military career, for the satisfaction of 
 personal as well as public vengeance. 
 The history of his life, which was told in a 
 hundred dififerent ways, was become a very 
 general subject of conversation, and the
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 55 
 
 official annunciation of the rank and ho- 
 nours bestowed on him and his guerillas 
 gave very general satisfaction ; but his 
 fame, as El Vengador, had spread so far 
 that no attempt was made to alter his 
 appellation. (7) It was by that name that 
 the newspapers recorded the progress of his 
 band, his exertions, and his glory : the 
 incidents which occurred during the siege 
 of Tarifa had frequently been noticed, and 
 many of his reports to his general copied 
 into the journals. Thus for some time 
 past Ismena had had Alvarez constantly 
 brought to her notice ; and his glory was a 
 delight to her heart. In all her plans for 
 her future life, she thought but of him ; 
 and she looked with anxious hope to the 
 prospect of again meeting with him. 
 
 The greater number of the heroes of 
 Tarifa had returned to Cadiz, and been 
 received there with the applause and 
 enthusiasm which their gallant conduct 
 merited ; and the British commander who 
 had so nobly defended the walls of that
 
 56 FELIX ALVARES. 
 
 place, was the same that was now ap- 
 pointed to command the British part of 
 the expedition which was preparing, and 
 intended to act offensively against the 
 enemy. It was not long before its des- 
 tination was discovered to be the opposite 
 coast : and its disembarkation took place at 
 Huelba ; but the public attention at Cadiz 
 was drawn from this object, comparatively 
 small, by the news of the freedom of 
 Madrid, and the entry of the allies into 
 that capital. This consequence of the 
 ever-memorable battle of Salamanca had 
 been anxiously anticipated by all the good 
 citizens of Spain. The moment arrived 
 at last ; and it was announced to the in- 
 habitants of Cadiz to prepare them for 
 another, and to them a happier event, the 
 freedom of their own city. The accounts 
 of the delivery of the capital were read 
 with the utmost joy by the too happy 
 gaditanos. The shells, which flew over 
 their heads in greater profusion than ever, 
 excited but a momentary exclamation.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 57 
 
 The solemn sound of the warning bell 
 failed to produce the sudden and con- 
 fused flight amongst the crowd gathered 
 at corners where the accounts of this great 
 event were stuck up : every thought 
 seemed swallowed up in the anxious de- 
 sire to hear the details of it. Almost every 
 one had a newspaper in his hand, and was 
 devouring its contents with his eyes, or 
 reading aloud for the information of his 
 friends around him. 
 
 " Madrid free ! (8) 
 
 « August 15, . On the 10th and 
 
 11th inst. Pepe left this capital with about 
 one thousand five hundred men, including 
 three regiments of juramentados : about 
 ten thousand fugitive renegades of all 
 kinds followed their sovereign. Our re- 
 deemers entered on the 12th. The joy of 
 these moments may be felt, but cannot be 
 described. The Retiro was assailed on 
 the 13th and 14th : at 12 o'clock on the 
 14th, the one thousand seven hundred 
 D 5
 
 58 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Frenchmen, and three hundred jurados of 
 the garrison, capitulated. Large magazines 
 of stores, clothing, and provisions, and 
 one hundred and eighty pieces of cannon, 
 have been found. There have been three 
 nights of illumination, and this is the 
 fourth of universal dehght. The satis- 
 faction and jubilee of the people has been 
 increased by the solemn and majestic fes- 
 tival of the publication on the 13th, and 
 the swearing, to-day, of the constitution 
 which has been formed in Cadiz, amongst 
 shells and grenades, by the worthy repre- 
 sentatives of the Spanish nation. The 
 town of Madrid will always Jbe an example 
 of fidelity, submission, obedience, and con- 
 stancy, in favour of the country. Three 
 divisions will march to-day towards la 
 Mancha. Deserters and fugitives arrive by 
 crowds. We have good hopes in the ju- 
 ramentados, who go with Pepe by force. 
 
 " Madrid, Aug. 16th. At one in the 
 moriaing of the 12th, the last of the French 
 left Pviadvid without doing mischief. A
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 59' 
 
 short time after, the allies entered with the 
 seventh division, and two brigades of ca- 
 valry ; as likewise the men of the Empe- 
 cinado. The joy, and shouts of applause, 
 the kisses and embraces which were mu- 
 tually w^ell received, are beyond all com- 
 parison, and cannot be expressed by the pen. 
 El Lor d^ is placed in the Palace: the apart- 
 mcnty of the Infante Don Antonio have been 
 given to him, having been chosen as not hav- 
 ing been infected by the vapours of the van- 
 dals. Don Carlos de España is in the house 
 of theMarques de Santiago: theEmpecinado 
 in the house of the Duke del Infantado ; and 
 the inhabitants contend who shall carry 
 the rest to their homes. The mob went 
 with their panderos f to tear down the 
 branches of the yovmg trees upon the 
 alameda made by Pepe, at the Puerta de> 
 San Vicente, and formed them into may- 
 poles, with which they went to receive el 
 
 * The Lord. Lord Wellington was very ge- 
 nerally called so by the Spaniards, 
 f A rustic kind of tambourine.
 
 6o FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Lord. Their mad joy is not easy to be 
 described in its just colours : three days 
 of illumination : the streets all hung with 
 tapestry from the windows : all the world 
 mad without knowing when they shall re- 
 turn to their senses. The allies are asto- 
 nished to see these extreme effects of jey 
 and gratitude. 
 
 " Pepina marched with all his strollers 
 by the road of Aranjuez and Toledo, near 
 which places the allies are pursuing them. 
 It is stated that Toledo has already capitu- 
 lated. The garrison of the Retiro, of one 
 thousand eight hundred men, has capitu- 
 lated : a thousand of them are sent off 
 towards Arabaca. Eight hundred jura- 
 mentados remain at the disposal of Govern- 
 ment, and it is hoped that prompt mea- 
 sures will be taken concerning them. In 
 the Retiro were found two eagles,* one 
 hundred and eighty pieces of cannon, 
 twenty thousand stand of arms, one thou- 
 
 * Aquilucho, the word in the original means a 
 bastard eagle.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 61 
 
 sand five hundred suits of clothing, a quan- 
 tity of ammunition, hundreds of thousands 
 of rations, mules, oxen ; three millions of 
 rials, and fifty ex-maidens, with one hun- 
 dred renegades. 
 
 " El Lord has appointed Don Carlos de 
 España Governor of Madrid, who imme- 
 diately issued a proclamation, that all per- 
 sons who knew where any property be- 
 longing to the French, or to vile Spaniards, 
 was deposited, should declare the same 
 within the term of eight days. It is sup- 
 posed el Lord will soon leave us, as it his 
 intention to attack the French* in de- 
 tail." 
 
 Such was the account of this happy 
 event, published in Cadiz, which was shift- 
 ed from hand to hand, and echoed from 
 mouth to mouth, throughout all the city. 
 Such was the scene which was shortly to 
 be reacted by those very persons who were 
 
 * Gabacho is a cant term for a low Frenchman.
 
 62 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 filled with joy at the contemplation of it in 
 Madrid. Few were the moments that the 
 liberation of the capital preceded their 
 own, and it was a step by which their 
 hearts mounted to the happiness that was 
 preparing for them. 
 
 The rage and the impotence of the dis- 
 appointed besiegers were exhibited in their 
 farewell to Cadiz. Early on the day 
 which preceded their departure, an attack 
 was commenced along the whole line of 
 batteries, which was contiimed with un- 
 minished violence the whole day. Every 
 piece of ordnance of whatever description 
 was employed upon all points of the 
 defences ; and the terror-striking mortars 
 were incessantly vomiting forth the curses 
 of France : they came — they fell, but their 
 fall was unheeded; for, Madrid was 
 FREE ! At length, however, like the self- 
 destroying scorpion^ that, after having in 
 vain darted its sting around, inflicts it on 
 itself, the destructive reptiles of France 
 having impotently exhausted their rage.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 63 
 
 turned the instruments of it one upon 
 another : they rendered all their ordnance 
 useless, by firing one cannon into the 
 muzzle of another. (9) It was midnight 
 when these destroying engines were thus 
 made to destroy themselves, and, an hour 
 after, all the magazines and forts along 
 the line were blown up, one after the 
 other. The fort of Santa Catalina, near 
 Port Saint Mary's, was the last in situation, 
 and survived its fellow forts for more than 
 an hour. The extraordinary violence of 
 the reports awakened and alarmed Ismena 
 and her friends. The house in -v^hich 
 they lived was in the Calk de San Ser- 
 vanelo, looking over the muralla, where it 
 joins to the alameda, and immediately 
 opposite Port Saint Mary's. It was just 
 day-light, and they had all hastily dressed 
 themselves, and assembled in the balcony 
 in front of the house, at the moment that 
 the mine was sprung which demolished in 
 an instant the castle of Santa Catalina be-
 
 64 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 fore them. This was the farewell salute of 
 the besiegers, and after it all was silent. 
 
 The eíTect upon the minds of the asto- 
 nished group of girls in the balcony can- 
 not be described. Just aroused from sleep, 
 unable to account for all they saw, it rather 
 seemed like magic than reality. But their 
 astonishment was indeed increased when 
 they found the windows and balconies of 
 the houses on either side of them crowded 
 with their inhabitants, when they saw the 
 whole length of the muralla and alameda, 
 as far as the eye could reach, covered with 
 more people than had ever crowded upon 
 them on the greatest fete in the year. 
 The joy which was occasioned amongst 
 this crowd by the certainty of their de- 
 liverance was expressed in a thousand dif- 
 ferent ways. The man who found him- 
 self near a friend or a common acquaint- 
 ance, threw his arms round his neck, and 
 embraced him in the fulness of his heart ; 
 and he who was unacquainted with those 
 2
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. ()5 
 
 who surrounded him, promiscuously seized 
 the hands of all, and endeavoured by the 
 heartiness of the shake to express his feel- 
 ings. Visits were made all round the 
 town by every one to all their acquaint- 
 ances ; and from the bustle of the scene a 
 stranger to the cause, if there could have 
 been one in Cadiz, would have imagined it 
 to be mid-day, rather than four hours after 
 mid-night. 
 
 In a very few hours the boat-men upon 
 the quay were bawling out the almost 
 forgotten cry of " El Puerto ? Quien se 
 embarca para el Puerto ? " Port St. 
 Mary's? Who goes to Port St. Mary's?" 
 The people, however, were not allowed to 
 pass over the bay, until measures had been 
 taken to clear the opposite coast of the 
 rear guard, or the stragglers which might 
 have been left by the besiegers in their 
 retreat, or rather flight. 
 
 The Cortes only assembled for the pur- 
 pose of ordering that a solemn te deum 
 should be sung, in thanksgiving for the
 
 66 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 liberation of the city, throughout which 
 nothing was thought of, or talked of, but 
 joy, joy, joy ! Many were the jeu.v d*es- 
 prit with which that day abounded; 
 amongst others, the following appeared in 
 the form of a common invitation to a 
 funeral, given by the relations of a dead 
 man to all his acquaintances. (10) 
 
 " Resquiescant in Pace. 
 
 " Buonaparte, son of Leticia; Pepe, son of 
 the same mother ; Soult, Satrap of Anda- 
 lucía ; Semellé, General of the coast ; and 
 the other relations, executors, and friends 
 of the defunct Siege of Cadiz, who died 
 this day, request the favour of your pre- 
 sence to see the burning of the batteries, 
 redoubts, magazines, &c. set fire to from 
 the plains of Salamanca, by the celebrated 
 English Chief Wellington, and the flames 
 blown by the >üaliant fugitives of the in- 
 mncihle legions which are now retiiúng in 
 advance. For wliich they will be grateful. 
 
 Cadiz, August 25, 1&12,
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. Ú7 
 
 " The deceased resided in Chiclana, Tro- 
 cadero, Puerto-real, and Puerto de Santa 
 Maria, 
 
 " To the public."
 
 68 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The French driven from Seville — Felix taken Pri- 
 soner — His Preservation and Return to Seville — 
 A Spanish Conversation — French Tax on Deaths 
 — Meeting of Felix with Ismena. 
 
 Alvarez, el vengador, was not the 
 last who was acquainted with the retreat 
 of the French from before Cadiz. He 
 watched their movements, and his heart 
 beat high at the prospect of seeing the fer- 
 tile plains of Andalusia delivered from the 
 scourge with which they had been so long 
 afflicted ; which had converted the cheer- 
 ful labour of the peasant into a task of 
 misery, and embittered the fruitful pro- 
 duce of the soil. He anticipated the hap- 
 piness he should derive whilst hovering
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 09 
 
 round the monsters in their flight, from 
 cutting down the stragglers, and annihilat- 
 ing the ravaging parties that dared to 
 separate themselves from the main body. 
 Yet, did he not waste time in waiting for 
 their approach ; but having prepared his 
 men, and given his orders to Sanchez, he 
 went to Seville in his usual disguise, to ex- 
 amine himself the state of the enemy. 
 
 He found the French and the Frenchified 
 inhabitants of Seville in great alarm and 
 confusion. Soult had dispatched his orders 
 to the General commanding the troops 
 upon the coast, beginning with these 
 words : " By order of the King, and for 
 the purpose of assisting his Majesty, who is 
 in the greatest danger, you will prepare 
 every thing for the immediate march of 
 the army:" and he had himself left Se- 
 ville by the road of Cordova, with the 
 greater part of the troops : there yet re- 
 mained, however, a considerable body of 
 French, who, in great consternation, were 
 daily expecting the order to march. Felix
 
 70 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 having ascertained thus much, hastened 
 to join the expedition which had sailed 
 from Cadiz, and disembarked at Huelba, 
 and which had made some advance to- 
 wards Seville, upon which place the be- 
 siegers of Cadiz were retiring, followed by 
 a small force of Spaniards to watch their 
 movements. 
 
 He was warmly received by the chiefs 
 of that expedition, by whom his name and 
 his services were known and estimated; 
 and in consequence of the information he 
 gave them, they pushed on quickly towards 
 Seville. The attention of the French had 
 been so taken up by the rapid succession of 
 more important events, and by their own 
 movements, that the little force that had 
 disembarked at Huelba was scarcely 
 thou2:ht of, and it was on the banks of 
 the Guadalquivir before they were aware 
 of its approach. The bridge across that 
 river of Seville is of wood, and was hastily 
 cut, and attempted to be fired by the be- 
 wildered French ; but this operation was 
 
 1
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ, 71 
 
 performed with such fear and trembUng, 
 in the expectation of the instant approach 
 of the enemy, that they succeeded only in 
 making a broad breach before the advance 
 guard of the British division, accompanied 
 by a few Spaniards, appeared to interrupt 
 them. 
 
 It was early in the morning, and but few 
 of the inhabitants of Seville had risen from 
 their beds ; but the alarm was given, and 
 all the world were soon roused. The 
 Frencli in great confusion began their re- 
 treat with all possible speed; (11) and two 
 pieces of artillery, with a considerable force, 
 were posted at the bridge, to keep the aUies 
 in check until they had time to effect their 
 flight : but during the time it took to bring 
 these cannon to the broken bridge, several 
 of the inhabitants, heedless of the danger 
 to which they exposed themselves, came 
 running down with planks upon their 
 shoulders to render it passable for their li- 
 berators. Scarcely had a single plank been 
 placed across the chasm, which was too
 
 72 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 broad to leap, when Felix flew along the 
 narrow and unsteady path which it present- 
 ed. He was followed by a few, a very few ; 
 for by this time the two pieces of artillery 
 were planted on the opposite side, and the 
 destructive grape shot swept along the 
 bridge, and seemed for a moment to render 
 the patriotic exertions of the inhabitants 
 useless, and the rash bravery of Alvarez, the 
 sacrifice of his life. Alvarez was struck in 
 the thigh by one of the shot, and fell but a 
 few yards from the chasm which he had 
 just passed. The wound was trifling ; and 
 a party of French rushed upon the bridge 
 to complete what the shot had but begun ; 
 and then did Felix's arm do justice to the 
 cause by which it was nerved : many came 
 upon him, and many were the blows which 
 he dealt around him. He sustained this 
 unequal combat for some time, until a blow 
 which was aimed at his head laid open his 
 right cheek, and, exhausted, he felt that he 
 could do no more. Yet even at this perilous 
 moment the chivalrous feeUng was alive in
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 73 
 
 his breast, and anxious to save the blade 
 that had so well defended so just a cause, 
 from being polluted by the hands of the 
 monsters, in whose blood it had so often 
 been dipped, he mustered his remaining 
 force, and throwing his sword over the 
 chasm which separated him from his friends, 
 he gave himself up to the death which he 
 believed awaited him. (12) 
 
 Yet did they spare his life. His dress, 
 whicli was the uniform of hjs rank, and his 
 brave conduct, induced them to believe him 
 an officer of distinction, and they dragged 
 hmi away in the dying state in which their 
 blows had left him. During the scuffle 
 more planks had been placed upon the 
 bridge, and the British and S}mnish soldiers 
 now came over in sufficient numbers to 
 drive the French from their post. They 
 fled confusedly. Felix was laid across the 
 carriage of one of the guns, and they carried 
 him as fast as the horses could draw it, on 
 the road which had been taken by their 
 fugitive comrades. The victorious little 
 
 VOL. III. E
 
 74 FELIX ai.yaiíe;?. 
 
 army rushed on to the gates of SevilU^, 
 which they found closed, but soon forced, 
 following' at the point of their bayonets the 
 rear of the French, whom they had driven 
 from the bridge. 
 
 It is impossible to express the joy of the 
 inhabitants at the sight of their deliverers. 
 With the rear of the French army yet filing 
 out of the town at one end of the street, the 
 windows at the other end of the same street 
 were crowded with people waving their 
 handkerchiefs, and calling out with joy 
 upon their liberators. Every house was 
 open to receive the new and the long- 
 absent friends, who found it difficult to 
 disengage themselves from the repeated 
 embraces of all who met them. All were 
 anxious to be their hosts, and very many of 
 the English and Spanish officers partook of 
 the breakfasts which had been prepared for 
 those of the French army. 
 
 But while all was victory and rejoicing 
 in Seville, with Alvarez it was far other- 
 wise. The French had fled under the
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 75 
 
 impression that it was by the army which 
 had been set free by the raising of the siege 
 of Cadiz that they were attacked ; and so 
 great was their panic, that they marched 
 unceasingly for sixteen leagues, anticipating 
 at every halt for rest the appearance of 
 the enemy in their rear. During this 
 dreadful march Felix remained on the car- 
 riage of the gun. A surgeon had bound 
 up his wounds, but he had fainted from 
 loss of blood, pain, and fatigue ; and unable 
 to support himself upon the inconvenient 
 vehicle by which he was transported, they 
 had tied him to it to keep him from falling 
 off. In this deplorable situation he remained 
 for a considerable length of time, until, from 
 his continued fainting, the soldiers around 
 him supposed him to be dead, and some of 
 them proposed to render it certain, and leave 
 his body by the road-side : however, the 
 state in which he was being reported to the 
 nearest general officer, he ordered that he 
 should be left in the first house which they 
 came to, and if he were alive, that his 
 e2
 
 76 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 parole should be taken not to serve again. 
 Accordingly he was taken to a venta a few 
 yards off the road, which had been deserted 
 by its inhabitants upon the approach of the 
 army, and stripped by the soldiers of all 
 that it had contained. Though it was 
 doubtful whether Felix were dead or alive, 
 it was certain that he was not in a situation 
 to speak, and he was therefore left, as it 
 was thought to die, without any parole 
 being required. 
 
 After many hours had elapsed, and all 
 the frightened stragglers of the flying army 
 had passed, the master of the venta and a 
 number of peasants ventured to return to 
 the deserted house. The first sight which 
 they beheld was the body of the unhappy 
 Felix ; his face completely clotted with 
 blood, and his clothes all covered with it. 
 They nevertheless distinguished the Spanish 
 uniform. Upon examining him they found 
 that he was not dead, and they hastened 
 to cleanse his face from the quantity of 
 blood wliich had congealed upon it, and
 
 FELIX ALVAUEZ. 77 
 
 prevented him from seeing, and almost 
 from breathing. They then undressed him, 
 and rebandaged his wounds; and having 
 made a I)ed of straw in one corner, they 
 wrapped him in their cloaks, and laid him 
 on it. It was not long before he was suffi- 
 ciently recovered to be able to take some 
 sustenance which they offered him. To 
 their repeated inquiries of " Who are you?" 
 which then' curiosity induced them to make 
 without attention to his weakness, Alva- 
 rez at length was able to answer, " El 
 Vengador'" — an answer which most pro- 
 bably saved his life ; for had he remained 
 unknown, the poor, simple, and unthinking 
 peasants would most likely have left him 
 without other attendance than what the 
 barber of the neighbouring village could 
 afford, or other medicine than wine : but 
 the moment they were informed that it 
 was their good fortune to have rendered 
 assistance to the famous Vengador, whose 
 name alone had been enough to strike with 
 terror the wandering foraging parties of the
 
 78 FELIX alvatii:z. 
 
 French, and save the farms from being 
 plundered, they hastened to commmiicate 
 the intelligence to all such as tliey found in 
 the village ; and one of the peasants im- 
 mediately set off with the news to Seville, 
 telling all the world, as he went along, EI 
 Vengador is alive ! El Vengador is safe ! 
 
 But Felix was far from being safe. He 
 was, as might be expected, in a violent fever 
 and strong delirium, and perfectly imcon- 
 scious of what was passing around him ; 
 and he must have died, had not the good 
 peasant informed his friends of his situation : 
 he met one of the guerillas, to whom he 
 imparted the glad ¡tidings that Felix lived, 
 and described the spot where he was. The 
 guerilla immediately informed Sanchez, 
 who lost no time in rescuing liis dear master. 
 He had him immediately conveyed to Se- 
 ville ; and in so doing, only anticipated the 
 result of the peasant's journey to that 
 place : he was met on the road by a car- 
 riage sent by the Spanish General for the 
 same purpose, as soon as he was made
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 79 
 
 acquainted with Felix's situation. In Se- 
 ville he was billeted on one of the best 
 houses in the town, the master of which 
 was but too happy to receive him. Here 
 the care and attention which was bestowed 
 upon him was rewarded with complete 
 success : his wounds were both flesh 
 wounds ; one by the grape-shot in the 
 thigh, and the other was from a sabre 
 which was intended to split open his skull, 
 but falling a little on one side, it had taken 
 off part of his ear, and laid open the whole 
 of one cheek. There was little danger in 
 either of these ; but his life had run more 
 risk from the loss of blood, fatigue, and 
 horror of his situation after he had received 
 tliem, than from the wounds themselves. 
 
 Felix, upon awakening from a sound 
 sleep, into which he had been thrown by 
 the effect of medicine, heard one morning 
 the following conversation between two 
 persons who attended him, an old woman 
 who acted in the capacity of nurse, and a
 
 80 TELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 young man, the servant of the master of 
 the house. 
 
 " Vive Dios," said the young man, " it 
 is a happy thing for all Spain, that the 
 Señor Vengador is out of danger ; many 
 a French rascal that would have lived had 
 he died, will die as he lives." 
 
 '* Ah ! hijo mio," * replied the old woman, 
 ** it was the Holy Virgin that was present 
 there with him and blunted the sword of 
 his enemies. Had he been as holy a man 
 as blessed St. Dominick, she would no 
 doubt have condescended to have appeared 
 visibly to him in the battle, even as she did 
 to that holy Saint, to console him under the 
 pain of his self-castigations when she gave 
 him the Kosario;" (13) and the old woman 
 dropped a bead of that which she held in 
 her hand, inwardly muttering her Jve 
 Maria purissi?na, Madre de Dios. 
 
 * My son — a social manner of addressing every- 
 one familiarly.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 81 
 
 The young man crossed himself in ac- 
 companiment of her devotion, and conti- 
 nued the conversation. 
 
 ** Well, since it pleased the Virgin to 
 save his life in the battle, blessed be she or 
 any other Saint that has preserved him 
 since he has been with us. If he was to 
 die I should have been much more sorry 
 had he died in his bed than whilst he was 
 reddening the river with the blood of his 
 enemies, whom the Devil bless. Though 
 it would not have cost him so much to die 
 now since the French are gone, as it Avould 
 have done when they were here, after that 
 bando* that they stuck up in aU the corners 
 about three weeks ago : Caracoles ! | it v^'as 
 cheaper living than dying then." (14) 
 
 " Ah " said the old woman, " many were 
 
 * Bando — a proclamation or edict. 
 
 f Caracoles literally means snails; but is often 
 used as an expletive oath in the place of another 
 very indelicate one which very nearly resensbles it 
 in sound. 
 
 r. .5
 
 82 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 the ways that the Devil put into the heads 
 of our destroyers, to oppress us and destroy 
 their own souls, and that amongst the rest," 
 • " It appears to me," rejoined her com- 
 panion, " that Satan having done his best 
 to serve his own turn by us poor Christians 
 during our lives, being a very miserly devil, 
 was willing to turn even our deaths to ac- 
 count, by making them the instruments of 
 sin in others ; for certainly to rob and plun- 
 der as the French did us by their imposi- 
 tions and contributions, even to laying a tax 
 upon dying, must be a sin that will keep 
 their souls long enough in purgatory." 
 
 " Without doubt," returned the woman ; 
 *' yet 'tis very strange that monsters as they 
 were, so many of our Seville girls were 
 always running after them. I warrant you 
 they did not keep company with our 
 muchachas for nothing ; we shall have the 
 little boys and girls talking nothing but 
 French in another year or two." 
 
 " Ah, mother," said the young man, " if 
 3
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 83 
 
 every one talked the language of his father, 
 who knows whether you would have the 
 ceceo on your tongue." (15) 
 
 " Why, as for that," replied the old wo- 
 man, angrily, " if such were the case, all 
 the world knows that you would talk no- 
 thing but Portuguese, Señor tuno ; * for 
 when I lived in the family of the Conde de 
 Ritamosa, and your mother used to come 
 to the quinta to wash, Joachim the ser- 
 vant that the Conde brought from Lisbon 
 with him used not to make her presents of 
 new mantillas without getting the worth of 
 his money ; I can tell you that. Chico." 
 
 The young man found he had touched 
 upon a wrong string ; and seeing that the 
 old woman was likely to make him acquaint- 
 ed with many incidents of his mother's 
 history, he interrupted her as she was ra- 
 pidly proceeding. 
 
 " Silence, silence, mother — good fruit 
 never grew on a bad tree ; but laying that 
 
 * Tuno signifies a cunning scoundrel.
 
 84 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 aside, have you seen the Señora or Señorita, 
 for I don't know whether she is married or 
 unmarried, that arrived here yesterday. 
 
 " No, I have not : they say she is beau- 
 tiful as an angel." 
 
 " Only one step short of it," replied the 
 young man ; " for I hear she is a Gaditana; 
 and you know that for beauty you must go 
 from Seville to Cadiz, and from Cadiz to 
 Heaven.* I saw her come in, and I talked 
 to the calesero that drove her: Chico, 
 says I, wiU you have a segar ? Dicho 
 y hecho — said and done ; and we smoked 
 one out together. For mda de Santo 
 Domingo, f said he — " 
 
 " What, was the calesero's name Do- 
 mingo ?" said the old woman, interrupting 
 him ; " he was my namesake." 
 
 * De Sevilla á Cadiz y de Cadiz al Cielo, is a 
 common phrase amongst the Andalusians to express 
 the superiority of Cadiz over every other place. 
 
 f By the life of Saint Dominick. It has already 
 been observed that the Spaniards frequently swear 
 by the lives of their patron Saints.
 
 FELIX alvare;^. 85 
 
 *" Domingo, or Devil," continued tlie 
 man, " I forget which — either will make 
 him yom' namesake." 
 
 The old woman's rage, which was about 
 to burst forth, was curbed by her curiosity 
 to hear of the newly arrived lady ; and she 
 allowed him to go on, contenting herself 
 with bestowing a couple of energetic epi- 
 thets upon him, without interrupting the 
 course of his history. 
 
 " Por vida del Diablo, but this Señora 
 has taken it out of my poor beast ; says he, 
 all the way from Xeres this blessed morn- 
 ing, without stopping an hour together on 
 the road ; and to-day too, of all days in the 
 year, when by permission from heaven not 
 even the flies need move a wing ; yet we 
 poor caleseros must work on all days : (16) 
 yesterday you know, madre, was the Corpus 
 Christi." " But where was the hurry. 
 Chico ?" says I ; " go and ask the Señora, 
 says he, who to be sure has paid me well, 
 and so I ought to say nothing about it." 
 " Who is she ? says I."
 
 86 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 " Ah ! who is she ?" echoed the old 
 woman. 
 
 " All he knew," replied the young man, 
 " was, that she had come from Puerto de 
 Santa Maria, in a caleza, to Xeres, where 
 he took her up; and the calesero that 
 brought her to Xeres told hini that she 
 had come from Cadiz, and that her name 
 was Doña Ismena Valdez." 
 
 ** Doña Ismena Valdez ! " exclaimed 
 Felix, starting up in his bed ; " where is 
 she?" 
 
 " Holy Virgin of light and of grace ! — 
 holy Saint Dominick ! San Jacinto ! San 
 Francisco !" and a dozen more names of 
 Saints rapidly ejaculated the nervous nurse 
 as she mechanically dropped some beads of 
 her rosario. " Oh ! Señor, how you have 
 frightened me ; I thought you were fast 
 asleep." 
 
 " Where is the lady of whom you were 
 talking?" repeated Alvarez. 
 
 " Indeed, Señor, we would not have 
 talked so loud, if we thought it would
 
 FELIX ALA^AREZ. 87 
 
 have woke you. I have been saynig a 
 rosario for your restoration to health all the 
 while you were asleep, and I see the blessed 
 Virgin has heard my prayers, for I havn't 
 seen your eyes look so bright since the day 
 you fii'st came here — nor that one cheek 
 which is left us to look at, Lord grant the 
 other may soon be uncovered, ever look- 
 ing-" 
 
 " I thank you, my good woman," hastily 
 interrupted Alvarez ; " but pray tell me 
 where is the lady of wliom you were just 
 speaking ?" 
 
 *' The lady. Señor? — She came from 
 Xeres in a calesa, in great haste, without 
 stopping at all on the road, as the calesero 
 himself told Juan here. His name was 
 Domingo, Señor — a namesake of mine. 
 
 " Diablo /" drily muttered Juan. 
 
 Felix, now impatient, broke out into 
 violence, and demanded to know where 
 Ismena was. *' I want not to know how 
 she came here, but where she is at this 
 moment."
 
 88 FELIX ALVAilEZ. 
 
 " In tilis house, Señor," said Juan ; " and 
 I will go and inform her and my master 
 that you are awake." 
 
 Juan gone out of the room, FeUx im- 
 posed silence upon the old nurse, and gave 
 himself up to his own thoughts. Ismena 
 was at Seville — was in that very house : 
 perhaps she came in search of him ; perhaps 
 she had heard of his exploits in the cause 
 of his country, and of his wound and 
 miraculous escape ; perhaps she preserved 
 the same affectionate regard for him which 
 she had ever demonstrated. 
 
 These reflexions, which were rapidly 
 passing in his mind, were interrupted by 
 the entrance of the master of the house. 
 Don Diego del Espinar was a true patriot 
 in his heart, and had considered himself 
 fortunate that his house had been chosen 
 as the quarters of Felix, whose public cha- 
 racter he highly reverenced. He had con- 
 sequently paid every attention to his com- 
 fort, and felt an anxious interest in his 
 restoration to health.
 
 Í'ELIX ALVAREíí. 8^ 
 
 " I rejoice to hear, Don Felix," said he, 
 as he now entered, " that you find yourself 
 better ; I have news to give you of one of 
 your friends." 
 
 '' Is it not Doña Ismena Valdez whom 
 you mean ? " said Felix. 
 
 " The same," rejoined his friend. 
 
 " Then, I beseech you to beg her to 
 see me immediately ; I feel myself consi- 
 derably better, and if she pleases I will get 
 up to receive her." 
 
 " No, no," said Don Diego ; " you must 
 not yet hazard your recovery by trusting 
 too much to your improvement; I will 
 bring her to pay you a visit here." 
 
 It was not long before Don Diego brought 
 Ismena to Alvarez, according to his pro- 
 mise. On seeing her, Felix felt how deep 
 an impression she had made upon his heart. 
 He was much agitated, and could not find 
 words to express his feelings. He was 
 silent ; but his manner conveyed all the 
 meaning that his words would have fallen 
 short of.
 
 90 FEI.IX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Ismena was more agitated than Felix : 
 her aflfection for him had been for a long 
 time the favourite feeling of her mind; 
 she had nourished it above all others; it 
 had been the subject of her secret contem- 
 plation — the goal of her earthly hope : it 
 was the flower that flourished in her heart? 
 that had found warmth in the smiles of her 
 happy hours, and been watered by her tears 
 in moments of her melancholy reveries. The 
 moment had arrived which she had long 
 looked forward to for the decision of her 
 fate, when, after a long and eventful absence, 
 she might at once discover whether she 
 held the place she coveted in liis heart, or 
 only a secondary one, or had been by time 
 entirely excluded from it. At last she met 
 him, and with a glance she gathered enough 
 from his agitated and affectionate manner, 
 to establish her hopes upon a surer founda- 
 tion even than that upon which her imagi- 
 nation had fondly placed it. 
 
 In the emotion and agitation created in 
 both their breasts by this meeting, their
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 91 
 
 hearts unconsciously overflowed : all the 
 barriers wliich might have withheld them 
 from a mutual discovery of their sentiments 
 were overleaped ; and with the unrestrained 
 course of feeling, they gave full vent to the 
 expression of their mutual affection. Hav- 
 ing indulged in the language of love, Felix 
 told Ismena all that he had felt since they 
 parted — all that he had suffered; related 
 to her the progress of his brave band, and 
 many of the principal incidents which had 
 been the steps by Avhich he had mounted 
 to the height of fame where he now stood. 
 Ismena, in her turn, told him all that had 
 happened to her since he left Cadiz, with- 
 out disguising ' the feelings towards him 
 which had been the treasure of her heart 
 and the spring of her conduct. 
 
 Whilst joining in all the rejoicings and 
 festivities with which the raising of the siege 
 of Cadiz was celebrated in that city, she 
 had accidentally been present at a tertulia, 
 where Captain Blackwell was relating his 
 extraordinary deliverance from the hands
 
 92 FELIX ALVAHEZ. 
 
 of his enemies, by the humamty and un- 
 daunted courage of El Vengador, the famous 
 Felix Alvarez. Her cheek glowed at the 
 name, and her heart beat high with delight 
 at the praise which was unsparingly bestow- 
 ed upon him for this action. Not many 
 days after this the news of the triumphant 
 entry into Seville reached Cadiz : the con- 
 duct of El Vengador was a prominent fea- 
 ture in the account of that event ; and his 
 failing into the hands of the enemy, which 
 was considered as certain, was spoken of in 
 terms of the deepest sorrow.^ But the sor- 
 row of the Avorld upon receiving this intel- 
 ligence, when compared to the feelings with 
 which it afflicted the heart of Ismena, was as 
 the passing thunder-cloud of summer to tlie 
 effects of the hurricane of the torrid zone 
 on the ocean. The following day, however» 
 brought a dispatch from Seville, which re- 
 lated the preservation of Felix, and drew 
 her from the depth of misery to a state of 
 comparative happiness. 
 
 Upon the arrival of this cheering news.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 93 
 
 she in a moment decided what course to 
 pursue : she was responsible to no one on 
 eartli for her actions ; and impelled only by 
 the unresisted feeling of strong love, she 
 determined to repair to Seville, and at 
 least to see Felix. Upon this meeting she 
 placed the die of her futurc destiny : if it 
 turned in her favour — if he loved her, she 
 was but too happy in devoting her life to 
 him. Heedless of the advice and entreaties 
 of her kind friends, the Nunezes, she replied 
 to their importunities with a decisive me da 
 la gana ; * and stepping into a Port St. 
 Mary's passage boat, she bid adieu to Ca- 
 diz. From Port St. Mary's she travelled 
 with the utmost speed to Seville, and found 
 no difficulty in ascertaining the house where 
 Alvarez was quartered. Upon entering 
 the house of Don Diego del Espinar, she 
 found to her great joy that she had an in- 
 timate friend in his daughter, who was 
 
 * An untranslatable phrase; being a very strong 
 manner of saying " / tu¿7Z."
 
 94 I-ELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 manied to a naval officer, and had resided 
 in the Isla de Leon during- the siege of 
 Cadiz, since the raising of which she had 
 become an inmate of her father's house. 
 At the Isla de Leon, Ismena had been con- 
 stantly in her society, and now threw her- 
 self upon her hospitahty. Doña Micaela 
 del Espinar y Cortes (17) received her with 
 the warmth of friendship, and Ismena 
 joyfully took up her abode in the same 
 house with Felix Alvarez.
 
 II.LIX Al.\ AKEZ. 95 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 Reception of El Vengador in the Theatre — A Mar- 
 riage by Proxy — Jealousy in Spain — An Example 
 of a jealous Spaniard — Singular Discovery of a 
 Providential Interference. 
 
 JL HE strong constitution which Alvarez 
 was endowed with by nature, was con- 
 siderably assisted by the happy frame of 
 mind which his meeting" with Ismena, and 
 the consequent avowal of his sentiments 
 towai'ds her, had given him. She nursed 
 him with the fondest attention ; and there 
 was more healing power in the hand which 
 administered his medicines, than in the 
 medicines themselves. He daily saw Is- 
 mena, conversed with her hourly, and he 
 felt how rapidly he improved in bodily
 
 96 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 healtli from the mental balm which these 
 conversations afforded him. 
 
 " Yet my dearest Ismena," said Felix 
 to her one day during a, conversation, of 
 T, hich their union was the subject. " Yet 
 Í cannot make up my mind to allow 
 your tender fi'ame to be a sharer in 
 the dangers, the difficulties, the incon- 
 veniences, that must attend my life. Re- 
 member I am not free to leave the course 
 I have begun ; I am first bound by a 
 solemn oath never to give up the search 
 for my unfortunate sister, or the pro- 
 scx:ution of her revenge while a single 
 Frenchman remains in Spain. This vo- 
 luntary devotion of my life is become an 
 indispensable duty from the calls upon me, 
 which the fortunate commencement of my 
 career has drawn from our groaning coun- 
 try. Would you have it said, that Al- 
 varez el Vengador had forsaken his coun- 
 try, and his just revenge, for the gratifica- 
 tion of his individual happiness ?— No,
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ: 97 
 
 Ismena. Think then what you will have 
 to go through." 
 
 " I shall have to go through no more, 
 my dear Felix," said Ismena^ " than what 
 hundreds of women suffer, in many in- 
 stances, for unsanctioned attachment. How 
 many women are there in the field of 
 glory at this moment, sharing the courage 
 as well as the dangers of their lovers, with- 
 out calculating the better, if not the gTeater 
 number, who cast off the feebleness of their 
 sex, when armed with the double shield of 
 duty and affection ; I may not prove either 
 a Saguntina of ancient, or an Agustina* 
 of modern times, but I can be the support, 
 the comfort, the consolation of my hus- 
 band." 
 
 Felix attempted not to combat a resolu- 
 tion which afforded him ,such delightful 
 sensations. To neither of them was it 
 necessary to wait for the consent of a 
 parent, or to ask the advice of a friend. 
 
 * The heroine of Zaragosa is named Agustín». 
 VOL. III. F
 
 98 FELIX ALVAUEZ. 
 
 Ismena waited but for Felix's restoration 
 to health, to bestow her hand on him, who 
 had long- been in possession of her heart ; 
 and the prospect of possessing it operated 
 nice a talisman in invigorating the en- 
 feebled powers of Alvarez, while it seemed 
 to lengthen the hours of his confinement. 
 It was not many days before he was able 
 to walk tolerably well, the wound in his 
 thigh being almost healed, while that in 
 his cheek was more tedious in its pro- 
 gress. 
 
 But as Alvarez could now walk, and as 
 the pain of his clieek was considerably 
 diminished, he occasionally joined the 
 society of the master of the house, and 
 his friends. The tertulia at the house of 
 Don Diego del Espinar was one of the 
 most frequenti?d of the city ; and indeed all 
 Seville was at this moment in a state of as 
 much gaiety as the circumstances of the 
 time would permit, considering that the 
 wealth of the citizens had been for nearly 
 three years a prey to the rapacious armies
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 99 
 
 of France, and that the flower of their 
 families, the beauty of Seville, had become 
 voluntary exiles with the tyrants who 
 destroyed them. (18) The magistrates, 
 the principal inhabitants of the town, the 
 principal officers of the army, all came to 
 testify their respect and gratitude to el 
 Vengador, as soon as it was known that 
 he had risen from his bed, and the daily 
 inquiries made of his progress to health 
 exceeded all number. Being considerably 
 re-established, he at last consented to ac- 
 company the kind family of the Espinars 
 to the theatre. 
 
 It was very late when the party which 
 he accompanied entered the box of Don 
 Diego, and the comedy m as considerably 
 advanced. Felix's face was obliged to be 
 bandaged so as quite to hide one half of it, 
 a distinguishing mark which was sufficient 
 with his uniform to announce him at once 
 to the audience as el Vengador. El Ven- 
 gador, el Vengador, was at first audibly 
 whispered about, until in a very short time 
 f2
 
 100 FEiJX alvare;?. 
 
 it grew into a general tumult of applause 
 and cries of Viva el Vengadoi^! Viva el 
 Vengador! Felix demonstrated by his man- 
 ner, how much he was delighed by the en- 
 thusiastic feeling which he had excited ; he 
 waved his hand, and bowed continually to 
 the people who still continued their vivas, 
 and applauses, until the tumult was quieted 
 by a general call to the orchestra, for 
 España de la Guerra, the patriotic song so 
 exciting to the bosom of every Spaniard. 
 The call was immediately complied with, 
 and sung by some of the performers, who 
 appeared for that purpose on the stage, 
 and the chorus was heartily joined in 
 by every voice in the theatre, and was ren- 
 dered still more impressive by a universal 
 and single shout of viva, which was given 
 by the whole audience in a particular pause 
 of the music, as if by preconcerted design ; 
 and it was done without at all destroy- 
 ing the harmony of the music, for the 
 shout only took up the time of the pause 
 without interfering in the progress of
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. lOí 
 
 tlie air. The thrilling effect of this can 
 only be imagined ' by one who has been 
 fortunate enough to hear it. It went to 
 Felix's very heart, and completely over- 
 powered him. After some time, silence 
 was restored, and the play proceeded. 
 
 But Alvarez coidd not attend to the 
 performance on the stage ; he could not 
 prevent his mind from comparing the si- 
 tuation in which he stood now, with that 
 in which, for the only time in his life be- 
 fore, he had entered the theatre of Seville. 
 The two situations were most deeply con- 
 trasted. He had entered it then in the 
 garb of a peasant, trembling at every look 
 which was cast upon him, and while he 
 was considered as a traitor by all those 
 who knew any thing of him ; he was there 
 now decorated with a distinguished uni- 
 form, attracting all eyes, and proud of the 
 attraction, and called by tlie whole world 
 the avenger of the injuries of his country. 
 He was about to place the contrast in a 
 still stronger light, when the sound of the
 
 102 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 castagnets anticipated the workings of his 
 brain, and presented to his memory the 
 degraded form of the once-loved Rosa, and 
 his emancipation from her chains, while 
 turning round to Ismena, who was beside 
 him,, he felt the blessing of that eman- 
 cipation in its fullest force. Yet could he 
 not prevent himself from shuddering as the 
 curtain drew up for the perfornjance of the 
 national dance ; and as the bolerista made 
 her appearance, he almost expected to see 
 the form that had once struck him with 
 such horror in the same situation. But 
 Rosa's day was over, she had chosen to 
 share the hardships as well as the luxuries 
 of her paramours, rather than run the risk 
 of being neglected by the patriots, who re- 
 placed them at Seville. 
 
 After the bolero, was acted a little 
 patriotic piece, which had been written 
 upon the circumstances of the moment, 
 and hastily got up, and whicli was con- 
 sequently very popular. JMany were the 
 allusions which were made to apply to
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. lOii 
 
 .^varez, and taken notice of accordingir 
 by the enthusiastic audience. A sayntte, 
 or afterpiece followed, which not being 
 patriotic was allowed to be performed 
 without any interruption. Felix had time 
 during this piece to look round the house 
 to see if any of his acquaintance were 
 among the audience. His eyes rested on 
 the features of a remarkably handsome 
 woman, who seemed to look at him with 
 particular attention. He was not long in 
 recognizing her to be Doña Maria Valbena, 
 who used to be one of his intimate ac- 
 quaintances at Cadiz, that is to say, he was 
 admitted upon the list of her lovers, and 
 took his turn of favour with some dozens of 
 others. 
 
 " Do you know that lady ?" said he, to 
 Don Diego. 
 
 " She has only arrived at Seville since 
 its emancipation," replied he, " and has 
 already a whole string of cortejos : her 
 situation and story is singular : she is 
 known by the name of La Viuda Don-
 
 lOé FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 celia i* because she has never seen her 
 husband, at least since he became such. 
 She was betrothed to hmi when young, 
 and he went away to tlie New World, 
 where, having amassed a fortune, he sent 
 over a power to his brother to marry lier 
 in his name, saying that he was about to 
 return. The marriage was accordingly 
 performed, and she became his wife. The 
 poor fellow, however, died on the voyage 
 home, and she comes in for the whole of 
 his fortune-, together with his name, to 
 which the world have added the appella- 
 tion of La Viuda Doncella, and by no other 
 is she commonly known." 
 
 " This is, indeed," said Felix, " a 
 strong instance of the danger of marriages 
 by proxy, which are so common. At 
 Cadiz I was very well accjuainted with 
 her; but I have so very often found that 
 the memory of a great many of my coun- 
 try women is a sheet of white paper, on 
 
 * The maiden widow.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 105 
 
 which they write down with pencil only 
 the names of every fop tliat will flat- 
 ter them, while pleasure supplies Indian 
 rubber, with which she almost hourly ef- 
 faces one to make room for another, that 
 I think it more than probable that my 
 name has been erased from her tablet long 
 since." 
 
 " You need not fear that," replied Don 
 Diego ; " her vanity will make her retain 
 it there, for it is not every body who be- 
 comes a Vengador. Such an appellation is 
 worth preserving." 
 
 The truth of Don Diego's speech was 
 confirmed as he spoke it, by the significant 
 fan of the beautiful widow, which said in 
 its intelhgent language — " Come round to 
 jwel" Felix perfectly imderstood this lan- 
 guage, and perhaps might have obeyed the 
 summons, but he was restrained by his 
 knowledge of the Spanish female cha- 
 racter. In a Spanish woman, jealousy is 
 one of the principal indications of love. 
 No confidence will prevent it ; no pride 
 F 5
 
 106 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 will hide it. When she feels a deep in- 
 terest, every word, every look of the object 
 of her affection in the presence of another 
 woman is weighed and examined. It is 
 long since jealousy has ceased to be con- 
 sidered as characteristic of Spanish men, 
 but the passion exists in its full force, mono- 
 polised by the women. There are indeed 
 some violent lovers who are violently jea- 
 lous, and some new married husbands who 
 are bearishly so; but the feeling is ge- 
 nerally worn away, and even those hus- 
 bands who, during the honey-moon, would 
 knock a man down for looking at their 
 wives, will most probably at the end of 
 no very considerable time connive at her 
 intrigues, and sometimes even assist them. 
 
 Alvarez fearing to awaken this sen- 
 timent in the breast of Ismena, appeared 
 not to notice the invitation he had re- 
 ceived, but turning to another box, he 
 again applied for information to Don 
 Diego. 
 
 " Who is that very pretty girl with
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 107 
 
 large black eyes, in, tlie box with tliose 
 English officers ? " 
 
 « That," said Don Diego, " is the Se- 
 ñorita Ana Lopez. The whole of our 
 party are to sup at the house of her mother 
 after the play, and I have ventured to pro- 
 mise that you should go with us ; the old 
 lady is anxious to have the honour of 
 seeing you at her table. I hope I have 
 not promised too much." 
 
 Had Alvarez gone round the whole of 
 the female part of the audience, he could 
 not have pitched upon any individual 
 whose situation was more calculated to 
 prove the reverse of what has just beeni 
 stated, that Spanish men are not jealous, if 
 a single instance might be considered as 
 proving a national character: but the 
 more rational inference seems to be, that 
 when jealousy does enter the mind of a 
 Spaniard, it occupies the whole of it, 
 it admits of no sharer in the soul. Ana 
 Lopez was the victim of jealousy. Of a 
 noble family, her father, who had attained
 
 108 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 the rank of captain of a line of battle 
 ship, died when she was an infant, and 
 left his widow, and only orphan, in mo- 
 derate, but not affluent circumstances. 
 At that early age, her mother, anxious for 
 the well-being of her daughter in the 
 world, followed a custom too general in 
 Spain, and contracted the little Ana in 
 marriage with her first cousin, then a 
 young man, a gay and profligate one, 
 already advanced in the navy with good 
 interest, and consequent prospect of pro- 
 motion, and with a handsome independent 
 fortune. The mother was happy, for she 
 had provided for lier child ; the affianced 
 husband was happy, for he had the pro- 
 spect of a number of years to run his 
 course of pleasures, and the certainty of a 
 young wife at the end, when he should 
 feel inclined to leave it ; and the child was 
 happy, for she was ignorant of the decision 
 of her fate. As slie grew up, the idea 
 was the first that was implanted in her 
 mind, and she talked of her cousin as her
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 109 
 
 husband, without knowing or thinking of 
 what she said ; she hardly ever saw him, 
 as he was continually absent in the ex- 
 ercise of his profession. An amiable dis- 
 position, extraordinary natural talents, 
 great liveliness and vivacity of manner, 
 and a more than common share of beauty, 
 began to develope themselves in the mind 
 and person of the lovely Ana, as she increased 
 in years, and by the time that twelve had 
 passed over her head, an age at which girls 
 are more advanced towards womanhood, in 
 the fostering climate of Andalusia, than 
 they are at seventeen in the colder one of 
 England, the budding promise of her ear- 
 lier years had almost matured into the 
 lovely flower which her fond mother had 
 anticipated. 
 
 It was at this period that the locusts of 
 France came in clouds to blight the 
 beauty of Spain, and their extended 
 myriads approached the borders of An- 
 dalusia. The anxious mother, leaving 
 her house in Seville to the care of a friend,
 
 lio FELIX ALVARES. 
 
 hastened to remove her greater treasure 
 from the danger which threatened ; and as 
 her nephew commanded the gun-boats 
 upon the station of Tarifa, she took re- 
 fuge there, where at least for some time 
 she was likely to enjoy his protection and 
 society. Fernando Campalta, the be- 
 trothed husband of Ana, was now past 
 thirty years old, and the preceding 
 ten years of his life had effected the 
 change, which is generally effected sooner 
 or later in the character and appear- 
 ance of a rake, and in a warm climate 
 sooner than in a cold one. His liveliness 
 had given way to moroseness and ill-tem- 
 per, his health to debility, and the fresh- 
 ness and proportion of his person to ftir- 
 rowed saUowness and an uncomely in- 
 crease of bulk. What a husband for Ana 
 Lopez ! for her whose heart had been pre- 
 pared by nature to be the very throne of 
 love, whose mind was formed to mingle 
 enthusiasm and romance with the affection 
 of her heart, and who, had she been for-
 
 FELIX ALVAUEZ. Ill 
 
 túnate enough to live in a country where 
 tlie blessings of education are bestowed 
 with a more liberal hand to mature the 
 gifts of nature in the female mind, might 
 have conferred honour upon her country, 
 might have become the glory of one sex, 
 and the idol of the other. 
 
 Before her arrival at Tarifa, Ana had 
 not seen her cousin for some years : those 
 years had made the difference in her of 
 childhood and youth; in him, that of 
 strength and debility, gaiety and fret- 
 fulness, foppishness and worse than slo- 
 venliness and neglect. She was indeed 
 shocked when she saw him ; by the ori- 
 ginal contract she was to be married ta 
 him on the day on which she completed 
 her sixteenth year. She had never before 
 looked forward to that time at all, she 
 now anticipated it with dismay. There 
 were yet more than three years of liberty 
 for her, and she made her determination 
 that nothing should induce her to shortea 
 that period, which determination she re- 
 10
 
 112 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 solutely avowed to her mother, who had 
 conceived a desire, from the troubles and 
 dangers of the times, of placing her sooner 
 under the protection of her husband. 
 During the residence of the Señora de 
 Lopez at Tarifa, Fernando resided con- 
 stantly in her house, and rendered every 
 moment of the life of Ana more and more 
 miserable. He had conceived for her as 
 strong a passion as he was capable of feel- 
 ing ; but it had its spring entirely in sel- 
 fishness and vanity. He loved her for 
 himself alone, and was vain of possessing 
 BO beautiful a woman, and one so universally 
 admired. He left her not for one mo- 
 ment, constantly sat close to her, and never 
 allowed her to address her conversation to 
 another man without fretful and rude 
 interruptions ; and being sure of his prey, 
 he did not even pay her the common re- 
 spect of making himself decently clean 
 when he came into her presence. Such 
 conduct converted the disgust which she 
 had first felt, and which had much afflict- 
 3
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 113 
 
 t'd her. into a fixed hatred which she could 
 not conceal : it was her nature to feel strong- 
 ly, and she did not attempt to disguise her 
 sentiments towards her cousin. Her mo- 
 ther reproached lier with this, and pe- 
 remptorily enjoined her to behave to him 
 with affection ; but every effort on her 
 part was unavailing, and all her time was 
 passed between the horror of suffering his 
 presence and his importunities, and the 
 reproof of her mother, which was the 
 sharper, as it was impelled by her own 
 strong feehng of disappointment. This 
 state of things was only changed for an- 
 other, which was if possible worse. Fer- 
 nando changed his tone from a haughty 
 kind of supplicating affection to the lan- 
 guage of authorized tyranny, which the 
 unhappy Ana was forced to suffer, for it 
 was countenanced by her mother. He 
 prevented her from going into any society, 
 and she was kept in a worse seclusion than 
 she would have been in the most rigid 
 convent.
 
 lié FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 This dreadful situation was now sus- 
 pended by the threatened siege of Tarifa ; 
 the Señora de Lopez with her daughter 
 took refuge within the walls of Cadiz ; and 
 as Fernando was actively employed with 
 the gun-boats which he commanded, he 
 could no longer be with her. Established 
 in Cadiz, her natural good temper began 
 to rise above the gloomy disposition which 
 had kept it down, and she no longer pre- 
 vented Ana from going, in some degree 
 into the world, from seeing and being 
 seen. Ana, whose mind was too full of 
 youth, and health, and vigour, to be easily 
 depressed, with the usual buoyancy of 
 Spanish spirits, seemed to forget her mis- 
 fortunes, and became the dehght, the at- 
 traction, the centre of every circle into 
 which she was admitted. 
 
 In the society of the families who, hav- 
 ing fled from Seville were residing in 
 Cadiz, they immediately mixed, being 
 those whom they had known from in- 
 fancy ; and at their different tertulias,
 
 I'ELIX ALVAREZ. 115 
 
 Ana met with several Englisli officers, 
 almost all of whom paid her particular 
 attention ; but there was one whose at- 
 tentions she received with more pleasure 
 than those of the others. In her situation, 
 common attention would have been enough 
 to have excited uncommon regard, to have 
 burst open tlie flood-gates of her overflow- 
 ing heart, and have turned the current of 
 her feelings into a new channel. Her 
 heart was formed for affection, and could 
 not endure the load of hate which op- 
 pressed it. It longed to love; and a 
 marked look, or an affectionate word, 
 would have been sufficient to excite tliat 
 sentiment in her breast. Mr. Darlington, 
 by paying her that homage which her 
 superior beauty, vivacity, and wit, entitled 
 her to, unconsciously created a deep interest 
 in her mind. Unfortunately for her, he 
 possessed a fluency in the Spanish lan- 
 guage, and an acquaintance and con- 
 formity with Spanish manners, which ren- 
 dered the expression of his feelings and
 
 116 FEI.IX ALVAKEZ. 
 
 ideas easy and natural, and made every 
 thing he said find its way to iier heart, 
 without foi'cing her to the exertion of 
 assisting the translation of a foreign lan- 
 guage, and reconciling the prejudices of 
 foreign manners, which else might have 
 been a material barrier to the birth of such 
 a feeling in her mind. Mr. Darlington 
 soon discovered that he had found a lover, 
 where he had only intended to make a friend; 
 and, unacquainted with her history or en- 
 gagements, he was imj3elled by that por- 
 tion of the feeling of endearment which 
 insensibly communicates itself from a heart 
 that loves to a heart that is loved, to con- 
 tinue those attentions througli pleasure, 
 which he had originally rendered through 
 politeness. He was frequently with Ana; 
 and as peculiar homage in Spanish society 
 is neither uncommon nor condemned, she 
 was always his partner in the dance, and 
 his seat in the tertulia was always next to 
 hers. 
 
 The Señora de Lopez did not remark this
 
 FELIX ALV^UIEZ. 117 
 
 without apprehension, and cautioned her 
 daughter upon the subject ; but Ana, who 
 could not respect her mother's orders in 
 regard to Fernando, had not acquired the 
 habit of considering them as law, and she 
 scrupled not to neglect them in this in- 
 stance : the good-natured mother was of 
 an easy character; and when she was not 
 governed by her nephew, she was led by 
 her daughter. But as the evil increased, 
 she conceived it right to let Fernando 
 know what was going on, and she wrote 
 to him accordingly. 
 
 One evening the tertulia was par- 
 ticularly well attended. Ana was as usual 
 lively and happy, and Darlington doubly 
 agreeable. They had been dancing, an 
 amusement which Fernando had perempt- 
 orily forbidden Ana, except with himself, 
 which in fact amounted to a prohibition, 
 for he had given up dancing, and if he had 
 not, she would not have danced with him. 
 A game of forfeits had taken place of the 
 dancing ; the whole party were sitting in 
 a circle, and Darlington by the side of Ana.
 
 118 FELIX ALYAREÍJ. 
 
 In the midst of their amusement, the door 
 opened, and Fernando made his appear- 
 ance. Without saying more than the 
 common civilities to the mistress of the 
 house, he placed a chair immediately be- 
 hind Ana, excusing himself from joining 
 the cii'cle, while the unfortunate girl, with 
 a look of mute astonishment and con- 
 sternation, uttered not one single word, 
 expressive of either the one or the other. 
 The game went on, in which Ana no 
 longer joined ; her tormentor was behind 
 her, pouring the spirit of his tyrannical and 
 jealous rage into her ear, in a low whisper 
 unheard by any but herself: she hardly 
 seemed to hear him ; but, with a fixed and 
 vacant look, kept a perfect silence. He re- 
 peatedly asked her for answers to what he 
 said; she gave none, but remained apparently 
 in the state of torpor, into which his sudden 
 appearance had thrown her. This conduct 
 in her increased the brutal violence of his 
 passion ; he could hardly prevent himself 
 from bursting forth before the whole com- 
 pany. Stul muttering in her ear, he
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 11^ 
 
 mixed threats with curses, until at last he 
 pronounced one short sentence, which like 
 the last trumpet awoke her from her 
 death-like trance. " Do you know," said 
 he, " that your silence has sealed the 
 death-warrant of your English lover ? He 
 dies to-night!" Nature could bear no 
 more, she gave a violent scream, and fell 
 down in strong convulsions. 
 
 In the commotion which ensued, Fer- 
 nando, brutally indiiferent to her situation, 
 left tlie room, while the rest of the com- 
 pany crowded round the unhappy victim of 
 his jealousy. Her mother, to prevent the 
 curiosity to whicli the circumstance gave 
 rise, declared that she was subject to such 
 fits. She remained in that state for several 
 hours, during which it requhed the strength 
 of five or six persons to hold her on the 
 sofa where she had been laid ; and when she 
 recovered her senses, she was so weak as to 
 be unable either to speak or to move a single 
 limb. Darlington had suffered much from 
 this dreadful fit, which he, like the rest of
 
 120 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 the company, supposed to be an habitual 
 malady. He remained with her until she 
 was perfectly recovered from it, and then 
 assisted in taking her home. It was day- 
 light before he returned to his own quar- 
 ters. 
 
 Time passed, Ana recovered her strength, 
 but recovered it only to find herself in a 
 more dreadful state of subjection to the 
 tyranny of her cousin, with the additional 
 misery of knowing that there existed a 
 being whom she could love. Darlington 
 shortly after returned to England upon 
 leave of absence, and the wretched Ana 
 became again confined to the society of 
 her mother, and her evil spirit, as her 
 cousin might be called. But Fernando 
 could not be without intermission in the 
 society of his victim : he had his duty to 
 attend to, to which, however, he gave as 
 little of his attention as he possibly could. 
 These intervals may be said to be the 
 only part of her existence in which Ana 
 really lived ; the moments of his presence
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 121 
 
 were a constant death without the happi- 
 ness of its change — a continual and Unger- 
 ing martyrdom. The siege of Cadiz was 
 raised, and the French driven from Seville. 
 La Señora de Lopez lost no time in return- 
 ing to her own house. It was impossible •' 
 for Fernando Co accompany her; but he 
 promised to follow her as soon as possible. 
 The exhilarating circumstances of general 
 interest which had so lately taken place 
 had opened the old lady's heart, and she 
 was determined to make the period until 
 his arrival a season of merriment. Besides, 
 Ana was now near sixteen years old, at 
 which age she was to be married ; and as 
 she could not deceive herself into an idea 
 that her daughter could be happy after 
 that period, she was willing to give her a 
 little enjoyment while she could ; or, as she 
 reasoned with herself, " Pobre muchacha! 
 — Poor girl, when she is married she will 
 be out of my authority, and I shall have 
 no power to make her happy ; therefore I 
 will do it while I can." But she never 
 
 VOL. III. G
 
 122 FELIX ALVAEEZ. 
 
 thought of preventing the marriage which 
 was to take away that power from 
 
 her! (19) 
 
 The time for the assembling of the most 
 fashionable tertulias is generally after the 
 play is finished. When, therefore, they left 
 the theatre, Don Diego, his daughter, Isme- 
 na, and Alvarez, repaired to the house of 
 Doña Mercedes de Lopez. Felix, who had 
 heard the history of her unfortunate daugli- 
 ter from Don Diego, could not forbear re- 
 joicing that Fernando Campalto was not 
 present, as he felt that it would have been 
 difficult for him to restrain himself from an 
 impertinent expression of the horror he felt 
 at his conduct. There was an air of melan- 
 choly thrown over the features of the amia- 
 ble girl, of whose happiness he was doomed 
 to be the bane, which heightened the effect 
 of her beauty, and attracted the hearts of 
 all at first sight. 
 
 As the state of Felix's wound improved, 
 he ceased to confine himself to the house, 
 and during his walks he was not unfre-.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 12S 
 
 quently stopped by admiring persons who 
 were anxious to boast of having seen or 
 spoken to el Vengador. It was with real 
 satisfaction that he one morning met Captain 
 Blackwell upon the Alameda, the officer 
 whom he had rescued from prison at Vejer 
 de la Frontera : the delight with which 
 they accosted each other was mutual, and 
 Blackwell was but too happy to have an 
 opportunity of again expressing his grati- 
 tude to his preserver. While they were in 
 conversation, Don Diego, upon whose arm 
 Felix was leaning, attracted his attention 
 by saying — 
 
 *' Do you remember, Don FeHx, the 
 beautiful Ana Lopez and her jealous lover? 
 This man who is approaching us is Fer- 
 nando Campalto ; I will stop and speak to 
 him, that you may observe him." 
 
 Don Diego spoke a few words to him, 
 and they passed on. 
 
 Before Alvarez had time to give his opi- 
 nion upon the lover of Ana Lopez, Captam 
 Blackwell exclaimed with a look of sur- 
 G 2
 
 124 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 prise, '• Tell me, I beseech you, who is thai 
 man ? " 
 
 " A captain in the navy," replied Don 
 Diego, " named Don Fernando Campalto, 
 a gentleman of an old Seville family. By 
 your manner you seem to know something 
 extraordinary about him." 
 
 " Something extraordinary, indeed," re- 
 plied Captain Blackwell ; " I will tell you, 
 and you shall judge for yourselves. It is 
 not three months since it happened that I 
 was captain of an English guard on the 
 Muralla, at Cadiz ; and during the idle 
 hours of a day upon guard, I was saunter- 
 ing alone up and down the Alameda : I 
 observed that very man sitting upon one of 
 the benches smoaking a segar, and looking 
 at me with very particular attention. At 
 first I thought that he was attracted by my 
 foreign uniform ; but after some time I was 
 persuaded, by his manner, that it must be 
 something more than my dress that he was 
 considering. Having nothing better to do, 
 I amused myself by walking up and down
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 125 
 
 before him, that he might satisfy his curio- 
 sity to his heart's content. Presently, how- 
 ever, he got up very abruptly, and entered 
 the Carmen church, which was directly op- 
 posite. I considered him, from the singu- 
 larity of his manner, as a man of deranged 
 intellects, and thought no more of him. 
 However, after continuing my promenade 
 for at least an hour, he came again out of 
 the church, and without any indications of 
 derangement or singularity, he sat down in 
 his former situation on the bench. ' 
 
 " As he continued to look occasionally at 
 me rather in a pointed manner, I became 
 curious to know the reason of his conduct ; 
 and sitting down on the bench very near 
 him, I politely asked him if he thought he 
 had ever seen me before, that I might have 
 the pleasure of recollecting him. * It is 
 impossible that you should recollect me, sir, 
 though I remember you perfectly.' I 
 begged to know where he had seen me : 
 * It matters Httle where I have seen you,' 
 he replied ; * I have this moment been
 
 126 FELIX ALVAREZ, 
 
 paying, in that church, for the saying of ten 
 masses for the salvation of your soul/ 
 You may guess my astonishment, and 1 
 thought at first that I had not perfectly 
 understood him ; but having recalled the 
 words to my mind, and being convinced 
 that I had taken their right meaning, I 
 told him that I was infinitely obliged to 
 him for the interest he took in my eternal 
 welfare ; and I begged to know to whom I 
 was so indebted. This he refused to tell 
 me ; and he endeavoured to evade my cu- 
 riosity by futile answers to my questions : 
 at length he was urged by my repeated 
 interrogations. ' Señor,' said he, ' it 
 pleased heaven not long ago to interpose 
 between the point of my sword and your 
 heart, which but for such interference 
 would most certainly have met : the sight 
 of you this morning has recalled the remem- 
 brance of the action which I was so near 
 committing, and I have been to wipe away 
 the sin by confession and the penance which 
 I have just told you : now ask no more.'
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 127 
 
 He was about to go, but I detained hinis 
 and endeavoured to explain to him that, 
 after what he had told me, I had a right 
 to know why he had attempted my life, 
 and how it had been saved. It was with 
 difficulty that I obtained from him any 
 further information : at length, however, I 
 discovered, from what he said, that he had 
 an enemy, who was an officer in the British 
 army, for whom he had accidentally in the 
 street at night-time mistaken me, from the 
 similarity of uniform, and that his arm was 
 actually raised to strike the blow which was 
 to deprive me of life, when a providential 
 light from some lamp was cast upon my face, 
 and discovered to him his mistake. He was 
 enabled to effect his retreat without ^Y 
 having been sensible of my danger. Hav- 
 ing acquainted me with thus much, he 
 broke from me, and I have never since seen 
 him until to-day, but his features are so 
 strongly impressed upon my mind that I 
 cannot be mistaken in them." 
 
 In some manner to account for this
 
 Ií28 FELIX ALVAREíJ. 
 
 anecdote, Felix and Don Diego informed 
 Captain Blackwell of his engagement with 
 Ana Lopez, and of the tyrannical jealousy 
 with which he watched her ; and as she 
 was acquainted with many English officers^ 
 they had no doubt that the person he meant 
 to destroy was some rival whom he fancied 
 she favom-ed. 
 
 Tlie fact was, that Fernando narrowly 
 missed becoming the murderer of Captain 
 Blackwell, on the night of his arrival at Cadiz 
 from Tarifa, when his violence had had 
 such an effect on the unfortunate Ana. He 
 mistook him for Darlington, for whom he 
 had been lying in wait; but the interference 
 of Providence to prevent his embruing his 
 hands in the blood of an innocent person 
 had caused him to reflect on the deed which 
 he had intended to commit. In reflecting 
 he became more calm; and the heat of his 
 passion a little appeased, he determined to 
 lay aside his intention altogether. * 
 
 * See Note li>.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 129 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 Alvarez married — German, English, and Spanish 
 Soldiers — French Cruelty — Reconnoitering — De- 
 serted Towns — Extraordinary Instance of De- 
 pravity. 
 
 JL HE anticipation of the happiness which 
 awaited him upon his restoration to health, 
 and the anxiety which he felt to be ^gain 
 actively employed, were feelings which so 
 strongly assisted the efforts of nature in the 
 recovery of Alvarez, that in a very short 
 time the bandages were no longer necessary 
 to his cheek; they were discarded for a 
 black patch, which, in its turn was given 
 up, and he now appeared every where 
 without any other indication of his wounds 
 than a large scar which remained upon his 
 face, an eternal memorial of the emancipar 
 tion of Seville. 
 
 &5
 
 130 FELIX ALVAREZi 
 
 The moment at length arrived when hé 
 was to receive the hand of Ismena. The 
 marriage was performed as privately as 
 possible, and none were witnesses of their 
 happiness but the kind friends who had 
 treated them with such hospitality. Ismena 
 became the wife of Alvarez, and in so doing 
 she resolved to allow no danger, no difficulty, 
 to deter her from partaking of the fate of 
 her husband, whatever it might be. Felix 
 had not deceived her ; he had painted the 
 hardships which she would have to encoun- 
 ter in the strongest colours, but she was pre- 
 pared for all. She had provided herself with 
 a kind of riding dresSj which, without being 
 distinctly either male or female, partook of 
 the character of both, while its appearance 
 was not extraordinary in Spain, where all 
 ladies ride in the same manner as the men 
 do, with large loose trowsers, and where it 
 had become so much the fashion for women 
 to adopt the military appearance, in honour 
 of the dress of their husbands. Thus ac- 
 coutred, and with her wardrobe compressed
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 131 
 
 into the smallest possible compass, she waited 
 only the word of command to place herself 
 with her husband at the head of Los Pa- 
 triotas de la Sierra Morena. 
 
 Alvarez was no longer his own com- 
 mander in chief. His band had been in- 
 creased by a number of recruits and volun- 
 teers, and had been regularly officered, so 
 that it had lost both its irregular character, 
 and its general name of a Partido de Gue- 
 rillas, and was now really what it had long 
 been nominally, the regiment of Los Pa- 
 triotas de la Sierra Morena, commanded by 
 Don Felix Alvarez, who nevertheless con- 
 tinued to be talked of universally by no other 
 name than El Vengador. The regiment 
 left Seville at the same time with the British 
 -division under the command of Colonel 
 Skerrett, and their intention was to join 
 the corps of General Hill, which was in 
 the neighbourhood of Madrid. 
 
 It was a lovely morning in October 
 v/hen Alvarez and Ismena left Seville, 
 wliere they had been detained by their re-
 
 132 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 gretting friends some time after the march 
 of the troops. They cantered forward, 
 however, and overtook them at their first 
 halt for rest, as the word to march was 
 given, and they continued theb route by 
 the side of a detachment of German ca- 
 valry in the English service, which was in 
 the advance. The German soldiers have a 
 delightful manner of shortening the tedium 
 of their march ; they are all musicians by 
 nature and by habit, and they frequently 
 sing their national and legendary songs in 
 the most perfect harmony as they go alang. 
 The effect is delightful. This detachment 
 commenced one of their harmonized airs, 
 which seemed like romance to the enchanted 
 ear of the inexperienced Ismena, who never 
 expected to find a body of scientific singers 
 in a band of fierce mustachioed dra- 
 goons. (20) 
 
 " Linska's war-horse wildly starting, 
 Flying fast as meteors darting, 
 Lightning from his bright hoof parting, 
 
 Bears the chief away.
 
 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 133 
 
 " Danube's stream his course suspending, 
 Dark as thunder-cloud impending, 
 Roaring loud as when 'tis rending — 
 
 Now his speed must stay. 
 
 '* Battle's voice of Death is over, 
 Linska's bride attends her lover, 
 From the shore no power can move her 
 
 Of Danube deep and low. 
 ** Roar of murder gradual ceases, 
 Deadlier silence now she traces, 
 Many a tear the flood increases — 
 
 Linska where art thou ? 
 
 ** Bridge nor ford assistance lending. 
 O'er the stream the chieftain bending 
 Cries — * My Nora is attending — 
 
 Charger bear me well.' 
 " 'Midst the torrent see bim rushing, 
 Danube darkly round him gushing, 
 'Gainst the waves the war-horse pushing, 
 
 Breaking Danube's swell. 
 
 " Prayers of love is Nora saying. 
 Hark ! that sound o'er Danube straying, 
 'Tis the gallant charger neighing — 
 
 Linska's battle pride. 
 " * He, my love, has ceased to stride thee — 
 Since our nuptial bed's denied thee. 
 Take me in the wave beside thee, 
 
 Wedded in the tide.' "
 
 134 FELIX ALVARES. 
 
 While they were enjoying the effect of 
 the beautiful manner of singing this wild 
 and melancholy air, they were joined by 
 Captain Blackwell, who entered into all 
 their feelings upon the subject. Finding it 
 excessively warm, they all three retired to 
 a shady spot to refresh themselves while 
 the troops marched by, and the conversa- 
 tion still ran upon the singing of the Ger- 
 man soldiers. They enlarged upon the 
 great advantage it must be to the soldier 
 to have the spirit and the habit of softening 
 their hardships and lessening their fatigues 
 by the delightful resource of music, parti- 
 cularly when it really was music, as the 
 Germans' was. Alvarez observed that he 
 had never heard the English soldiers sing- 
 on their march. 
 
 " No," replied Blackwell; "but they con- 
 verse with each other, and their conversa- 
 tion has a great deal of dry humour and 
 even wit in it, which tends considerably to 
 occupy the mind pleasingly, and conse- 
 quently to enliven if not to relieve their
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 135 
 
 fatigue. An instance of this kind of wit 
 occurred in my hearing tliis morning, which 
 I must endeavour to explain to you as an 
 example. As we marched out of Seville, 
 I was riding with several officers together, 
 and immediately before us we observed a 
 stout woman, the wife of one of the men, 
 who had a double knapsack on her back, sur- 
 mounted by a number of necessary utensils 
 and ai t'.cies of luxury to a soldier ; and to 
 counterbalance the weight of her burthen 
 she was oblieed to bend her bodv almost 
 double. One of the officers, pointing to 
 her,remarked, in alaughing manner, 'that's 
 p: iw?e," making use of a cant term to signify 
 that she was a curious sight. The woman, 
 without turning round, or altering her set- 
 tled pace, replied to the officer, " Upon my 
 word but your honour's mistaken ; it's not 
 primes but it's load, as your honour would 
 find out if you would carry it for a mile or 
 two." 
 
 While Blackwell was endeavouring to 
 8
 
 136 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 make Ismena and Alvarez understand the 
 full force of his countrywoman's jest, the 
 rear of the English division passed, and 
 Felix's regiment appeared in view. 
 
 " Here," said Felix, " comes another 
 musical nation ; and, if I mistake not, we 
 shall have a specimen of my countrymen's 
 manner of amusing their march." 
 
 Alvarez was not mistaken : one of the 
 foremost of the Spanish soldiers had re- 
 signed his musket into the care of one of 
 his comrades, and was most unmercifully 
 twanging the strings of a guitar, (21) while 
 himself and some of those around him were 
 singing, at the loudest pitch of tlieir voices^ 
 extemporaneous verses to one of those com- 
 mon gypsey airs which in the hands of more 
 scientific and tasteful performers, are so 
 wild and so sweet. They sang only a 
 couplet at intervals ; but the musician 
 always continued the twanging or rather 
 rattling of his guitar-strings ; and when he 
 began to sing a verse, the word ran from
 
 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 13? 
 
 mouth to mouth, and he was joined in it 
 by a crowd of his comrades. 
 
 " Do you call that music ? " said Black- 
 well. 
 
 " So performed, certainly not," answered 
 Felix ; " but I call it real gaiety of heart and 
 unextinguishable spirits; and I further call 
 it a proof both of the musical turn and of 
 the real wit of the nation : listen to what 
 they sing ; the words are their own mak- 
 ing; or if not composed at this moment by 
 them, they were composed at another, by 
 those who were as poor and as ignorant as 
 they are : attend and see if you can catch 
 their meaning. (22) 
 
 " Ah ! think not 'tis love in my glances I mix, 
 When my looks on thy beauty I gazingly fix, 
 For remember there are many who go to a fair 
 Not to buy, but to look at the pretty things there. 
 
 " When two hearts begin with affection to glow, 
 They are often disturb'd by some imp from below ; 
 But once kindled, the imps may be laid on the shelf, 
 For they'll love in despite of the Devil himself.
 
 138 FELIX ALVARES. 
 
 '* Is your love feign'd or true would my jealousy try, 
 For 'tis satisfied still with a look or a sigh ; 
 If 'tis feign'd, then it can of no consequence prove, 
 And if true, I no consequence fear of our love. 
 
 " Oh ! think not 'tis life that I breathe when away 
 From the maiden whose glance is the light of my day ; 
 Other beauties are stars, and 'tis night when they 
 
 beam, 
 My soul sleeps out their light, or at best does but 
 
 dream." 
 
 It was now Felix's turn to have to ex- 
 plain his countrymen's wit, which became 
 necessary more from the difficulty of catch- 
 ing than of understanding the couplets. 
 
 " But after all," said BlackweU, « this is 
 not to be compared to the music we have 
 just heard from the hussars." 
 
 " I grant you," said Felix, " that if the 
 hussars whom we have just heard are of 
 the same class of people in Germany that 
 these poor fellows are here, that we are in- 
 finitely behind them as a musical nation ; 
 but to show you that we have yet airs in a 
 style truly national, which are not inferior
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. IS^ 
 
 to any in Germany in pathos as well av; 
 science, before we mount our horses and 
 overtake the troops, Ismena shall sing you 
 a bolera." 
 
 Ismena willingly consented, and pitched 
 upon that beautifid one, Wo tocai^aii 
 campanas, to which Alvarez sung a se- 
 cond. (23) 
 
 " Toll not the bell of death for me, 
 
 When I am dead ; 
 Strew not the flow'ry wreath o'er me, 
 
 On my cold bed : 
 Let friendship's sacred tear 
 On my fresh grave appear, 
 Gemming with pearls my bier — 
 
 When I am dead : 
 No dazzHng proud array 
 Of pageantry display, 
 
 My fate to spread. 
 
 *' Let not the busy crowd be near. 
 
 When I am dead ; 
 Fanning with unfelt sighs my bier — 
 
 Sighs quickly sped. 
 Deep let th' impression rest 
 On some fond female breast.
 
 140 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Then were my memory blest — 
 
 When I am dead. 
 Let not the day be writ, 
 Love will remember it, 
 
 Untold — unsaid." 
 
 Captain Blackwell was loud in his praises 
 of this song; and having mounted their 
 horses, they contiiiued to converse on the 
 subject of national music until they joined 
 the troops, v^hen he separated from Alvarez 
 and Ismena. 
 
 The patriotas continued in company 
 with the division of British troops, until, 
 after many days' march, they arrived at 
 Toledo, where they first heard the news of 
 the retreat of the British army from before 
 Burgos, and their own immediate neigh- 
 bourhood, to a body of the French army, to 
 which General Hill, at Aranjuez, was op- 
 posed. This information aroused all the 
 spirit of the guerilla in Alvarez. He felt 
 that he breathed the same air with his ene- 
 mies, and he was restless to be employed 
 in destroying the beings who rendered
 
 FELIX ALVAHEZ. 141 
 
 the air obnoxious to him. The British 
 division was to halt for orders at Toledo ; 
 but Alvarez, impatient of delay, selected 
 from his regiment a chosen number of his 
 original guerillas, and leaving Sanchez in 
 command of the rest, he pushed on, 
 Ismena would fain have accompanied him, 
 but he would not allow her ; he found it 
 difficult to reconcile her in this point to his 
 wishes until he placed before her the Uke- 
 lihood of his conduct in the field being 
 swayed by her presence there, and asked 
 her whether she could bear the idea of being 
 instrumental to the loss of his fame. This 
 argument was too strong to be resisted, 
 and she was reluctantly obliged to obey 
 him, and remain under the care of Sanchez. 
 It was after mid-day when Alvarez set 
 out fi'om Toledo, and at sun-set he halted 
 at a considerable viUage called Añover del 
 Tajo, where he proceeded immediately to 
 the alcalde's house, and required quarters 
 for his detachment. The alcalde readily
 
 142 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 complied with the requisition, and received 
 Felix into his own house, where he was 
 treated with every attention that respect 
 and hospitality could dictate. The conver- 
 sation of the alcalde, who was a man of a 
 most communicative disposition, ran upon 
 all that they had suffered while under the 
 French yoke, and all that they feared to 
 suffer, should the chances of war place them 
 again in the hands of their enemies. 
 
 "Ah! Señor," said the alcalde, "if the 
 other towns of our beloved country have 
 seen as many hoiTors committed by these 
 soldiers, as our poor little village has, it is 
 to be wondered that all the world does not 
 rise, and fall upon the demons that invented 
 and executed them. We have a poor 
 townsman who will be as long as he lives, 
 which will not be long it is to be hoped for 
 his sake, a monument of the wickedness of 
 those bloody minded wretches." 
 
 " What did they do to him ?" said Felix. 
 
 " Why it is almost too horrid to allow
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 143 
 
 oneself to remember;" replied the alcalde. 
 " I would give the world to forget that I 
 had seen it. We used frequently to be 
 cursed by the arrival of foraging parties, 
 who came as far as this from their 
 head quarters at Toledo : these parties 
 were sometimes smaller, and sometimes 
 larger ; sometimes only twenty or thirty, 
 and sometimes a hundred dragoons : — and 
 when they came, they took every thing 
 they could lay their hands upon without 
 mercy; hay, corn, cattle, and money, if 
 they could find it, and insult us and our 
 wives and daughters, and sometimes delibe- 
 tately murder those who at all opposed 
 them. But it so happened. Señor, that two 
 of our townsmen had gone to Madrid, with 
 a crop of potatoes, (24) and had found em- 
 ployment there to gain their livelihood, and 
 so they stayed there. When the French 
 King Pepe, wanted to raise his Spanish 
 guards or juramentados, as they call them, 
 these two poor fellows were pressed and 
 forced into the service. But they were
 
 144 FTTtlX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Spaniards in their hearts, and they scorned 
 to betray their country ; and so they took 
 the first opportunity to desert, and they 
 came to hide themselves in their native 
 place ; and a long time passed away, and 
 nothing ever happened in consequence, and 
 they heard no more about it, and so they 
 thought they were safe. But one day, 
 Señor, there came a large party of dragoons 
 in the usual way, with a captain at their 
 head, who urged them on to take all they 
 could ; and the devil, who always helps 
 on his own, somehow or other betrayed 
 these poor fellows' secret to them. I don't 
 accuse any body in particular, but they had 
 enemies among their neighbours, and it was 
 a good opportunity to gratify hate, you 
 know. Señor. However, God knows whe- 
 ther the dragoons were told by any mortal 
 devil, or whether the devil of hell put it 
 into their heads, but so it was. The cap- 
 tain had these two poor fellows seized and 
 brought into the plaza, just before our 
 door ; and he asked them why they had 
 1
 
 FELIX ALVARE2r. 145 
 
 áeserted, and whether they would return to 
 their duty ; but the unfortunate Chicos had 
 their Iieads more full of rage than of reason ; 
 for the soldiers that had brought them had 
 been beating them with their swords, and 
 reviling them, and their hands were tied 
 behind them ; and so instead of trying to 
 come over the Frenchmen cunningly, and 
 get off as easy as they could, they said they 
 never would fight against their country, and 
 that king Joseph was a usurper, and that all 
 his followers were monsteis, and in short 
 they told them more tiiiths than St. ¡Michael 
 told the Devil. You may depend upon it 
 they were punished for this ; but you will 
 never g-uess how. Señor ; nobody but a 
 I'renchman could liave imagined it, and 
 nobody but a devil could have executed it. 
 It so happened that at the door of the bakers 
 house there was a large bracero, which a 
 woman was filling with charcoal, to bake 
 a quantity of bread that these a\ retches 
 had required ; the Captain had that and 
 another filled with burning charcoal, and 
 
 VOL. III. H
 
 146 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 made them sit down in the braseros until 
 the fire covered their thighs ! " 
 
 Alvarez made an exclamation of great 
 horror. 
 
 " 'Tis but too true, Señor," resumed the 
 alcalde ; " I saw it with my own eyes. The 
 unhappy wretches were kept there until 
 the flesh of their legs was fried to the bone, 
 and then the demons left them there. One 
 was happy in not surviving the horrid tor- 
 ture which he had suffered ; but the other, 
 who was put into the fire the last, and who 
 was less materially injured than the first, 
 had both his legs cut off about half %vay 
 above his knee by a surgeon from Aranjuez, 
 and is still living, Señor, but an object of 
 pity and compassion to all who behold him. 
 His name is Juan Carmena." {25) 
 
 The narration of this most horrid story 
 had a dreadful effect upon the mind of 
 Felix. It reopened all those wounds which 
 time and affection had began to heal, by 
 strongly bringing to his memory his own 
 mi&fortUiies. Upon retiring to his bed, the
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 147 
 
 unhappy victim of the creatures of France 
 took firm possession of his brain, and opened 
 the door to a train of horrid scenes, and fear- 
 ful phantoms, which effectually prevented 
 the approach of sleep. Before day-light he 
 was on horseback, and he set forth with 
 his detachment on the road to Aranjuez. 
 
 Upon his arrival there, he found it the 
 head quarters of the British troops, which 
 were all upon the alert, expecting orders to 
 march every moment. Having discovered 
 the situation of things, he took the road 
 upon which the French were expected, and 
 advanced upon it with the intention of dis- 
 covering if they were really so near as they 
 were thought to be. Proceeding with cau- 
 tion, he went slowly on, and the night 
 closed upon him before he had seen any 
 thing like the advance of the enemy. He 
 established himself in a wood by the side of 
 the road for the night, having posted a 
 piquet, and on the following morning he 
 continued his course. 
 
 It was considerably in advance of Ocaña. 
 II 2
 
 l^S FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 when, upon gaining the height of a hill over 
 whicli the road passed, he perceived a vi- 
 dette posted on the crest of another. He 
 desired his guerillas to remain hid from 
 sight by the fall of the ground they had as- 
 cended, and upon no account to show them- 
 selves by rising to the height ; then taking 
 only two of his detachment with him, he 
 struck off into the thick wood by which 
 both sides of the road were lined, and ad- 
 vanced in silence, without being perceived 
 by the dragoon. When Felix approached 
 him, he discovered that he was about two 
 hundred yards in advance of a strong 
 cavalry piquet, and as he could have no 
 hopes of making any impression on it, he 
 contented himself with the information he 
 had gained, and the alarm he was about to 
 give them, and he desired one of his com- 
 panions to level his carbine at the fated 
 vidette. The guerilla proved that he was 
 a good marksman ; tlie vidette fell, and the 
 piquet in an instant was horsed and in 
 motion. Tliey were soon at the spot which
 
 FELIX ALVARES. 149 
 
 Felix liad just quitted; but he had joined 
 his detachment, and was ra})idly retiring 
 with them towards Aranjuez. (26) 
 
 At Aranjuez, the British army had 
 already retired across the Tagus, and was 
 encamped in the beautiful park on the other 
 side. The engineers were destroying the 
 bridge, and Alvarez was the last man who 
 crossed it. The army remained in this 
 situation for some days, and was joined by 
 the division from Toledo, while the French 
 advanced and occupied the bank of the 
 river immediately opposite to them. Things, 
 however, did not remain in this state long. 
 The enemy crossed the river higher up ; 
 and it became necessary to retreat across 
 the Jarama, a river running nearly parallel 
 with the Tagus, and falling into it below 
 Aranjuez. This movement was effected 
 over a beautiful and very long bridge, 
 called the Puente Larga, which it was at- 
 temped to blow up ; but as the attempt did 
 not perfectly succeed, a division was left to 
 defend it, and the body of the army marched
 
 150 FELIX ALVAUEZ. 
 
 on. When the retreat commenced, Alvarez 
 begged Ismena to hasten on to Madrid, 
 where he would join her as soon as possible, 
 and before it was necessary that she should 
 leave that place. He remained himself 
 with the division which was to defend the 
 Puente Larga; and his anxiety induced 
 him to recross the river Jarama, and ride a 
 considerable way to the left to endeavour 
 to gain a height, from which he hoped to 
 see something of the movementr. of the 
 enemy. The • distance had deceived him ; 
 it was much further than it appeared to be; 
 and finding he had gone so far from the 
 bridge, he gave up his plan, and thought of 
 returning. On approaching the avenue 
 which led to it, he was not a little surprised 
 to find it filled with soldiers, whom he in- 
 stantly recognized to be French. He turned 
 his horse round, setting off at all speed, and 
 took a little road which followed the course 
 of the river, determining, if he should be 
 closely pursued, to endeavour to swim it. 
 But apparently he had not been observed.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 151 
 
 for he arrived at a considerable village 
 called Bayona w^ithout any one having 
 followed him ; here he found every house 
 entirely deserted, and not a living soul in 
 the village, except a very old man, who ap- 
 peared unable to move, and who was sitting 
 at the door of a barn. 
 
 " Where is the nearest bridge over this 
 river, my friend?" cried Alvarez. 
 
 " There is not one. Señor, on this side of 
 Madrid ; the first is at Torrejon de Ardoz," 
 muttered the old man; " but there is a ford 
 here if you could but find it." 
 
 " Is it difficult or dangerous?" asked 
 Felix. 
 
 " It is very dangerous if you go wrong," 
 replied the old man, " but the rule to find it 
 is easy ; enter the river at that stone cross, 
 Señor, that marks the ford, and go strait on, 
 always keeping the Convent of San Fran- 
 cisco in a line with the steeple of Cienpo- 
 zuelos." 
 
 Felix made the old man repeat his di- 
 rections, for he could scarcely understand
 
 Í52 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 his mumbling voice, and then, in conformity 
 to them, be boldly dashed into the river. 
 He was frequently afraid that he had gone 
 wrong from the depth of the water and the 
 unevenness of the bottom, but at length he 
 arrived safe, and thanked Heaven for his 
 delivery. Upon entering the small town 
 of Cienpozuelos, he found it perfectly de- 
 serted ; the most uninterrupted silence 
 reigned, and the effect was so extraordi- 
 nary upon the nerves of Felix when he 
 found himself in the middle of a handsome 
 town in broad day-light without a single 
 living object, and in tlie most deathlike 
 silence, that he was almost startled at the 
 noise of his horse's feet upon the pavement. 
 As he turned, however, into the plaza, be 
 caught a glimpse of the flowing drapery of 
 a woman habited like a nun, as she flitted 
 across a street at the opposite corner : he 
 increased his pace to overtake her, which 
 he soon did by following the street be had 
 observed her take. The moment he came 
 iiear her, she commenced one loud and con-
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 153 
 
 tinued shriek, which was only interrupted 
 by the pauses necessary to renew her 
 breath. 
 
 " Good sister, be not frightened," said 
 Felix ; '"^ I am no Frenchman." — But his 
 endeavours were useless ; she still continued 
 her scream, which, after some time, was 
 changed into exclamations of " Holy Virgin, 
 preserve me ! " — " Lord have mercy upon 
 me!" — '^ Maria purísima y santisimar 
 After running some time, she at length fell 
 down upon her knees at the threshold of a 
 door which slie had been endeavouring to 
 attain. 
 
 Felix did every thing he possibly could 
 to assure her that she need be in no fear: 
 it was a considerable time before he could 
 persuade her to look at him, or convince 
 her that he was not a Frenchman. At 
 lengtii, however, he succeeded in making 
 her believe that he was a Spaniard and a 
 friend, and her joy was as great as before 
 -had been her terror. She rang violently 
 at the. beJl, and was answered by another 
 H 5
 
 154 FELIX ALVAHEZ. 
 
 woman in the same dress, who, having heard 
 the conversation in the street, was also in a 
 state of terrible alarm ; but as Felix assured 
 them that he merely wanted them to point 
 out to him the road to Madrid, they became 
 pacified, and told him that they would not 
 only show him the way, but accompany him, 
 for that they were only a little behind all 
 the inhabitants of the town, and that they 
 had stopped to collect some things of value, 
 for which the one whom Felix had met 
 had gone to the convent, while the other 
 remained at that house to arrange others. 
 Alvarez had no inclination to be forced to 
 go the pace of these old women, for they 
 were both upwards of sixty ; but he could 
 not find in his heart to leave them abruptly 
 in so distressing a situation, and therefore 
 he made up his mind to see them safely on 
 their road before he quitted them. 
 
 ** Ah ! Señor." said -sister Juana, ** you 
 would not be astonished at sister Dolores 
 here being frightened if you knew the his- 
 tory of our convent. We are the only two
 
 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 155 
 
 remaining, out of three and twenty of the 
 sisterhood who belonged to the Franciscan 
 convent when the French entered Cienpo- 
 zuelos last, A whole regiment was sent 
 into the convent to be quartered ; and the 
 soldiers, after behaving to the sisterhood in 
 too brutal a manner for me to utter, Señor, 
 deliberately put an end to theii- existence. 
 Sister Dolores and I made our escape, and 
 have lived ever since in that house where 
 you found us. (27) 
 
 Felix's blood ran cold. The old lady 
 would have gone on, giving him a more par- 
 ticular description of the misfortunes of her 
 convent, but he prevented her. He was 
 not able to hear them calmly — it was too 
 tender a string. After accompanying them 
 some way on the road, he left them, and 
 galloped on. He soon overtook a crowd of 
 people hastening onwards towards the ca- 
 pital, and he found them to be the collected 
 inhabitants of Cienpozuelos and Bayona. 
 He informed them that the two nuns were 
 coming on, and requested some of them to
 
 156 FELIX ALVAEEZ. 
 
 wait, which two or three men immediately 
 offered to do ; and without stopping, lest he 
 should be forced to hear more horrors, he 
 continued his course towards Madrid.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ, 157 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 Salamanca. — Retreat to Ciudad Rodrigo. — Dis- 
 tressing Scene which occurred on the Retreat. — 
 Spaniards and Portuguese. — Portuguese Idea 
 of Distance. 
 
 Jl he night had began to close in before 
 Alvarez left Cienpozuelos, and it was long 
 after midnight when he arrived at Madrid. 
 He found Ismena at the posada which he 
 had pointed out to her in great alarm for 
 his safety, and he flung himself in his 
 clothes upon a couch to take a few hours' 
 rest, of which he stood much in need : he 
 was awakened soon after day-light by the 
 intelligence that the whole of General 
 Hill's corps was marching by the Puerta de 
 San Vicente, and he hastened with Ismena 
 to join them and his regiment. 
 
 They crossed the Manzanares at the first 
 bridge above Madrid, and took the road by
 
 158 FÍ:LIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Aravaca and Majalahonda towards the 
 Escorial ; but they turned off short of that 
 palace, and passed over the Sierra de Gua- 
 darrama, by the celebrated pass of that 
 name, at the highest point of which stands 
 the immense figure of the lion, holding 
 the two globes which marks the confines 
 of the two Castilles. (28) In a few days 
 they arrived at Alva de Tormes, from 
 whence they continued their march over the 
 plains of los Arapiles, (29) which had so 
 lately been the scene of battle, and the seat 
 of victory, and which yet bore the impression 
 of the footmarks of death, and arrived at 
 Salamanca, the theatre where Felix had 
 made his entrance into the world, and where 
 he now beheld a sight which at once de- 
 lighted and depressed his heart. Behind 
 the beautiful city, which, from being built 
 upon a steep hill, is as prominent as beau- 
 tiful an object, the plain was covered with 
 a vast number of tents, whose perfect order 
 and glittering whiteness could not fail of 
 exciting sensations of pleasure. It was the
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 150 
 
 army of Lord Wellington, the Duke of 
 Ciudad Rodrigo, the conqueror of the Ara- 
 piles, the preserver of his country. His 
 heart bounded at the sight. But that army 
 was in retreat before the destroyers of Spain, 
 the outragers of nature. The thought 
 came to cast a gloom, over his joy : it was 
 but a transient one ; his speculative fancy 
 was busy in imagining future advances and 
 future victories ; and before he entered the 
 city, his spirits had recovered their high 
 tone of exultation. 
 
 The armies remained some days at Sala- 
 manca, during which the French, as well 
 as the English bodies, formed their junction. 
 It was about the middle of November, and 
 the weather began to put on the appearance 
 of winter. The rain descended in torrents 
 when the British army began its retreat, 
 and the wet season once set in, it continued 
 night and day without intermission. Felix, 
 although not employed in this service by 
 command, remained always in the rear of 
 the retreating army with a mounted de-
 
 160 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 tachment of his guerillas ; and many were 
 the opportunities which he had of annoying 
 and harassing the advanced outposts of the 
 enemy. 
 
 His compassion, however, was but too 
 frequently excited for some of his exhausted 
 allies and countrymen, whom, as he was 
 generally the last of the army who passed, he 
 saw lying by the road side exhausted by 
 fatigue, and overpowered by the difficulties 
 of the march, without being able to assist 
 them, or prevent them from falling into the 
 hands of the enemy ; but most particularly 
 were his feelings affected by the situation 
 of many unhappy women, who, too feeble to 
 encounter the hardsliips they were exposed 
 to, gave themselves up at once to their fate. 
 One instance struck him with peculiar 
 horror. The soil was rather of a clayey 
 nature in some parts of their march, and the 
 immense quantity of rain that had fallen, 
 and the number of feet of men and liorses 
 that had passed, .had rendered the road 
 most difficult to walk on. The soil was
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. l6l 
 
 not sufficiently loose to constitute mud, 
 and the impression of the footsteps had 
 divided it into a number of deep holes : the 
 horses frequently sunk nearly to their knees, 
 while the consistency of the earth rendered 
 it a labour for them to draw out their legs. 
 In a spot of this kind Alvarez was making 
 the best of his way to gain the rear of the 
 column, from which he had allowed himself 
 to be a little too far removed, when he was 
 arrested in his progress by the sight of an 
 unhappy woman, who had sunk up to her 
 knees in the mud in the very middle of the 
 road, without having strength enough to 
 extricate herself; in this situation she had 
 resigned herself to her fate. Alvarez 
 stopped, but was totally unable to afford 
 her any assistance. He was even fearful of 
 approaching the spot where she was, lest 
 his horse, which was much fatigued, should 
 become entangled in the same quagmire. 
 He had nothing but compassion to offer 
 her, which he did with all his heart ; but 
 the woman, who was one of the crowd of
 
 162 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Portuguese girls who had attached them- 
 selves to English soldiers when the army 
 was in Portugal, and had afterwards 
 followed them through all their cam- 
 paigns, told him that she was aware that 
 he could afford her no assistance, and 
 advised him to go on, which advice, how- 
 ever, he did not act upon until he saw the 
 advance of the enemy approaching at a 
 distance ; he then was forced to leave her, 
 and he did so with feelings of very great 
 distress. (30) 
 
 During this dreadful retreat from Sa- 
 lamanca to Ciudad Rodrigo, which lasted, 
 however, but four days, Felix, together 
 with very many others of the retiring 
 army, derived their principal sustenance 
 from acorns and chesnuts^ of which, par- 
 ticularly the former, they found great 
 plenty in the oak woods through which 
 the road lay. The weather rendered it a 
 greater difficulty to light a fire to roast 
 these than it was to procure them : at 
 length, however, they arrived at the end of
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. l6$ 
 
 their difficulties and hardships, at Ciudad 
 Rodrigo, and the whole army immediately 
 took up its winter quarters in Portugal. 
 
 There is no single national prejudice 
 in any part of the world more strongly 
 marked, or more universally transmitted 
 from father to son, than that which in- 
 duces a Spaniard to despise a Portuguese ; 
 and the epithet of finchado, meaning 
 literally arrogantly puffed up, which is 
 almost exclusively applied by the Spa- 
 niards to the Portuguese, is one of the 
 most intolerable insults which one of the 
 former nation can receive. To call a Spa- 
 niard *' Portuguese finchado^ is sufficient 
 to raise the anger which a long list of less 
 injurious epithets had failed to excite. A 
 similar feeling against the inhabitants of 
 Spain exists in the minds of the Por- 
 tuguese, but by no means in the same 
 degree. The marked difference in the 
 characteristic distinction of the two na- 
 tions may in some measure account for the 
 existence of this prejudice: the Spanish
 
 164 lELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 peasant being disting-uished by a haughtj 
 and independent spirit to an exeess, whilst, 
 on tlie contrary, in the general character 
 of the Portuguese peasantry, an abject 
 humility, and mean servility to their su- 
 periors, or tliose from wliom they expect 
 to derive advantage, will l^e found to pre- 
 dominate. Of the two characters, the 
 consequences of the Spaniard have been, 
 and must always be, the reverse of what 
 may be expected to the Portuguese. It 
 is that haughty spirit, together with an 
 enthusiastic and ill-dii'eeted love of their 
 country, paramount to every other feeling, 
 which has shut the doors of S])ain to the 
 improvements and advancements of the 
 rest of the world, and hast left it, in the 
 nineteenth century, a hundred years be- 
 hind the other nations of Europe. It was 
 that spirit that refused to admit the ad- 
 vantages of superior discipline amongst 
 their soldiers, because it w as to be received 
 from a foreign nation, and delayed to place 
 the most consummate General in the world
 
 FELIX alvare;^. 165 
 
 at the head of then' armies, because he was 
 not a Spaniard ; but it was that spirit also 
 that under the direction of that General 
 drove the French from their country. 
 
 Alvarez was a Spaniard, and he felt 
 like a Spaniard. His country, his dear 
 country, was every tiling- : and the Por- 
 tuguese were finchados ! Yet he was less 
 violent than a great many, and more liberal 
 than most. All that he was able to ob- 
 serve, however, of the character of the 
 peasants, now that he was in Portugal, 
 was calculated to heighten his prejudices 
 against them ; and he heartily Avished for 
 the opening of the campaign, that he 
 might leave the country of a people whom 
 he so heartily despised. Day after day 
 something or other occurred to show their 
 character in a stronger light, and to in- 
 crease his dislike to them. 
 
 Alvarez and Ismena, accompanied by 
 Captain Blackwell, Avho had come from 
 the quarters of his regiment to pay them 
 a visit, were one day taking a long ride, 
 
 9
 
 166 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 and in endeavouring to return to the town 
 from which they set out, they lost them- 
 selves; a circumstance which the intrica* 
 cies of the roads> or rather tracts, for roads 
 there are none in Portugal, renders it 
 difficult to avoid, and to be wondered at 
 when it is avoided. They came to a 
 cluster of miserable huts in the fields, 
 around which some men were working. 
 Blackwell called to a party of them. 
 
 " O Senhor ! how far is it to Santa 
 Comba Dao?" 
 
 There was a pause. The men opened 
 their mouths, and stared without speaking. 
 The question was repeated. 
 
 " Tres leguas — three leagues," replied 
 at length one of them ; holding up three 
 of his fingers as a further explanation. 
 
 ** Three leagues !" exclaimed at once 
 Alvarez and Ismena, with astonishment 
 and alarm. 
 
 " It is necessary,'* said Blackwell, " to 
 inquire whether they are long or short 
 leagues, for none of these people have any
 
 FELIX ALVAUEZ. 167 
 
 idea of a standard league, nor indeed have 
 they any idea of distance at all." 
 
 To the question whether they were long 
 or short, two of the men answered at once, 
 one saying " boas,'' or good ones, and the 
 other " peque?ias" or little ones. A fur- 
 ther explanation being required, the ma- 
 jority of the peasants seemed to say that 
 they were boas; and having ascertained 
 the direction they were to take, they went 
 on with the further information that they 
 were to keep tudo adeante — straight for- 
 ward. 
 
 Having advanced about a quarter of a 
 mile, they saw a peasant with a long stick 
 walking along at some distance from the 
 road. At first he either would not, or 
 could not hear them ; but at last, by re- 
 peated hisses, and shouts of " O Senhor" 
 they got hhn to come to them. (31) 
 
 " How far is it to Santa Comba Dao ?" 
 
 After a little hesitation, the man replied, 
 " a short league." 
 
 " And are we in the right road ?" 
 
 O
 
 168 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 " Straight on. 
 
 This was more consoling intelligence, 
 and they continued their route a little 
 more cheerfully ; but Felix could not help 
 remarking on the difference between the 
 distance that had been named by their 
 first informants, and that which this 
 man had told them only a few hundred 
 yards further on. " I can in no way ac- 
 count," said he, " for the little conception 
 these people have of a measurement of 
 distance ; they are so stupidly ignorant 
 upon the subject, that ©ne would suppose 
 that the peasant never stirred out of his 
 native village, and that one town has no 
 communication with another." 
 
 " That is really almost the case," re- 
 plied Blackwell ; " and their stupidity in 
 this respect is consistent with their bar- 
 barous ignorance in many others. They 
 have hardly an idea tliat any thing but 
 articles of urgent necessity can be got out 
 of Lisbon ; and it is a remark that I have . 
 made in all the towns and villages, large
 
 FEIJX ALVAREZ. 1(|9 
 
 and small, where I have ever been in 
 Portugal, that if you go into a shop and 
 ask for the commonest thing, if it be not 
 one of real necessity, or what tliey happen 
 to have, you are certain to get the same 
 answer to your inquiries : " Ha muito em 
 Lisboa^'' — there's plenty at Lisbon : a 
 piece of information highly useful to you, 
 who are a hundred leagues removed from 
 it. You may express your surprise, and 
 renew your inquiries, you will only get a 
 repetition of the same words, " Ha miiito 
 em Lisboa" 
 
 When they had gone at least four miles 
 upon the road, they had been desired to 
 follow straight on, they began to find that 
 the man who had given them such com- 
 fortable information about the little league, 
 certainly was a great blockliead, for they 
 had travelled what might well be called a 
 long one, and there were yet no signs of 
 Santa Comba Dao. They had not since 
 met a human creature, but they now dis- 
 covered a hamlet at a distance, and they 
 
 VOL. IIL I
 
 J TO FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 directed their steps to it. They found 
 several peasants together near it, men and 
 women, and they renewed their questions. 
 *' How far is it to Santa Comba Dao ?" 
 *' Santa Comba Dao, Senhor?" 
 " Yes ; what distance is it from hence." 
 " Two leagues," said a peasant, holding 
 up two fingers, as the other men had 
 done. 
 
 " This is our last friend's little league," 
 said Ismena. 
 
 " And which is the road?" asked Black- 
 well. 
 
 To the great surprise of the whole party, 
 the man pointed in the very direction they 
 had come from. 
 
 " Oh, this is too bad," said Blackwell, 
 beginning to get angry; " will any of you 
 come to guide us ? " 
 
 Had a live shell been suddenly thrown into 
 the middle of the group assembled to gaze 
 at these foreigners, it could not have had 
 a more instantaneous effect, in dispersing 
 them, than this request of Blackwell's.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 171 
 
 They all separated in a moment, verging- 
 off in different directions, each taking his 
 own way. Blackwell now became really 
 angry, and, drawing his sword, he galloped * 
 after a stout big fellow, who, when he 
 overtook him, fell down upon his knees, 
 and began crying most bitterly, frequently 
 ejaculating the name of the Saviour. 
 Blackwell desired him instantly to set out 
 and guide them all the way to Santa 
 Comba Dao, or he would punish him most 
 severely. After many suppHcations, he 
 found there was no alternative, and sob- 
 bing like an infant, he led the way con- 
 trary to the one which had been pointed 
 out. After taking them about two miles, 
 they began to recollect the features of the 
 country, and in a very short time they 
 came within sight of the town. 
 
 " Is this the two leagues you talked 
 about, you rascal ? " said Blackwell. 
 
 " Si, Senhor," returned the man, still 
 sobbing, for he had kept up his crying all 
 the way, 
 
 I2
 
 1 72 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Blackwell, disgusted, threw a piece of 
 money down to him, and desired him to 
 go about his business. The abject animal 
 took up the money, and running up to his 
 horse he kissed the hem of his loose pan- 
 taloons, and making many bows, he turned 
 back the way they had come. (32) 
 
 " O Espaíía, España!" said Felix, 
 " O Tala que estuviera otra vez en medio 
 de tus hijos ! — Oh Spain, Spain ! would to 
 Heaven I were once more amongst thy 
 sons!"
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 173 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 Spanish Sacred Dramas — Portuguese Modlnhas — 
 Portuguese Guides — Commencement of the 
 Campaign — A Paradox — Affair at Osma — Bri- 
 tish Stoicism — Spanish Joke— French Exactions. 
 
 JljUT Alvarez and Ismena used to relieve 
 the monotony of their life in Portugal, by 
 taking occasional journeys to Ciudad 
 Rodrigo, and the villages in the neigh- 
 bourhood of it, where the Spanish troops 
 were quartered. They had many friends 
 in the Spanish army, and among these 
 tliey spent the carnival in as much mirtli 
 and gaiety as the inconveniences resulting 
 from the crowded quarters of an army 
 would admit of 
 
 It was Lent time when they were at
 
 174 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 Ciudad Rodrigo, on their return to their 
 own quarters; and the evening before their 
 departure, they amused themselves by 
 going to see a miserable set of strolling 
 players, who had established a sort of 
 theatre there during the carnival, and now 
 continued their performances in Lent, by 
 representing autos sacramentales, or dra- 
 matic pieces taken from Scripture, which 
 are generally acted in holy seasons. 
 The play-bills announced the performance 
 of one of these, called La Paciencia de 
 Job, the Patience of Job, on the evening 
 on which Alvarez and Ismena v/ere of the 
 audience; and they persuaded an English 
 officer, with whom they were acquainted, 
 and whom they met by chance, to accom- 
 pany thenj. To Alvarez and Ismena, 
 this kind of plays was not uncomjnon, 
 and they consequently were not at all 
 struck by the singularity of the manner 
 in which the subject was treated, although 
 they laughed heartily at the awkwardness 
 of the actors ; but their English friend
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 175 
 
 was not a little astonished to see the tempter 
 of Job personified on tlie stage as a black 
 devil with great horns and a long tail. 
 This figure of Satan accompanied Job 
 through the whole play, holding continual 
 conversations with the unhappy model of 
 patience, and at last the English officer 
 began to be accustomed to the sight of 
 him ; but he was indeed shocked by the 
 manner in which the play concluded, and 
 much more at hearing the people ap- 
 plaud what he considered as irreverence 
 amounting to blasphemy. The Deity was 
 made to descend from the clouds ; and 
 after conversing for some time with the 
 devil, they each took an arm of Job, and 
 iictually had a battle for him on the stage, 
 which, after some time, ending in the dis- 
 comfiture of the devil; his opponent literally 
 kicks him off" the stage. (33) 
 
 On their return from this trip to Ciudad 
 Rodrigo, Alvarez and Ismena arrived at a 
 village within three leagues of their quar- 
 ters, just as the evening closed. Their
 
 176 FEIJX ALVAREZ. 
 
 road beyond this place lay through pine 
 woods, which it would be impossible to 
 penetrate without the assistance of a guide; 
 and it was consequently discussed between 
 them whetlicr they would remain there the 
 whole night, and proceed in the morning, 
 or finish their journey at once that night. 
 After much considei'ation, it was deter- 
 mined that they should proceed at once, 
 as they would be lighted by a clear and 
 beautiful moon, and they therefore in- 
 quired for the juez da fora's house, that 
 tliey might procure a peasant to guide 
 them, as, without the authority of a ma- 
 gistrate, they knew they had no hopes of 
 obtaining one. The juez da fora's house 
 was pointed out to them, and as they 
 approached it they found a party of girls 
 sitting upon the steps of the door singing 
 one of their national modinhas, and Ismena 
 could not but observe that, harsh and nasal 
 as the language seemed in common con- 
 versation, in singing the beautiful airs of 
 the country it acquired a softness which
 
 ' FELIX ALVAREZ. 177 
 
 it was difficult to reconcile \^'ith the ge- 
 neral pronoimciation. They stopped to 
 listen to the gay air that this group was 
 singing-. 
 
 Love by Venus' kisses made ill, 
 On Ina's bosom found a cradle ; 
 There, rocked 'till he doses, 
 He softly reposes, 
 But, Ina, bc'ware thorns are hid beneath roses. 
 His slumbers forsaking, 
 lie soon will be waking, 
 And put thy gay heart in a terrible taking. 
 
 Though your heart seem as 'twTre guestless, 
 E'en in slumber love is restless ; 
 For there's no denying, 
 You're forced to be sighing 
 To rock the poor baby, and keep him from crying ; 
 But wake when he will, 
 He will wake but to kill, 
 His progress is marked by ingratitude still. 
 
 In safety falsely certain. 
 Remove not Cupid's curtain; 
 The little god showing, 
 In happiness glowing. 
 Nor laugh at the darts e'en in dreams he is throwing; 
 I 5
 
 178 FELIX ALVAREZ, 
 
 But while sleeping you find him, 
 Ah ! take him and bind him, 
 And then when he wakes, you may laugh and not 
 mind him. 
 
 The song being finished, they interrupted 
 the party to make their requisition upon 
 the juez for a guide, whom they promised 
 to reward, for his trouble. The juez, who 
 appeared upon their inquiring for him, as- 
 sured them that the road was perfectly 
 straight, and impossible to be mistaken ; 
 but as Alvarez declined to trust to his 
 information, and continued to insist upon 
 being furnished with a guide, the village 
 magistrate was reluctantly obliged to com- 
 ply. In consequence of his orders, a stout 
 ill-looking fellow made his appearance^ 
 who positively declared that he would not 
 go unless he were allowed to have a com- 
 panion to return with him, as he repre- 
 sented the wood to be dangerous from the 
 number of wolves in it, and also from the 
 apprehension of robbers. Another man 
 was named to accompany him, and the
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 179 
 
 whole party set out fi-om the village, the 
 first man who had come forward as a guide 
 having armed himself with an immense 
 horse-})istol. 
 
 The moon was excessively brilliant ; and 
 while it showed the travellers clearly the 
 road they were persuing, it threw a deep 
 gloom under the masses of pine-trees on 
 both sides of them. The whole party 
 was silent ; and Felix could not prevent 
 his mind from entertaining the idea of the 
 facility with which the two men could dis- 
 patch himself and Ismena for the purposes 
 of plunder, and how little chance there Vv'as 
 of their detection, should they take it into 
 their heads to commit such an act. Pre- 
 judiced as he Avas against the Portuguese, 
 and knowing them to be prejudiced against 
 the Spaniards, he saw no great improba- 
 bihty of their attempting this, and he kept 
 his eye narrowly upon the too fellows, who 
 were walking a little before the heads of 
 their horses, that he might be ready for 
 defence upon the first indication of a hos-
 
 180 FELIX ALVAUEZ. 
 
 tile disposition in them. While he was al- 
 lowing his mind to follow this train of re- 
 flections, one of the guides suddenly com- 
 menced a conversation. 
 
 " Do you know, Senhor," said he, " that 
 this is not the first time that I have been 
 employed by the juez da fora to guide 
 strangers along this road ; I remember I 
 came once with Joachim da Silva to show 
 a French officer the way. This pistol be- 
 longed to him, Senhor, and a capital one it 
 is." 
 
 " If it belonged to him, how did it come 
 into your possession, my friend ? " asked 
 Alvarez. 
 
 " Why, you know, Senhor, he was a 
 Frenchman and an enemy, and it was only 
 our duty to get rid of him ; so when we 
 come to the river Dao there is a little 
 precipice from the road into the current of 
 the river, and when we arrived at it I 
 stood on one side of his horsey and Joachim 
 on the other, and kept talking to him as 
 we went along, as we may do to you now,
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 181 
 
 Senhor, and close by the edge of the river 
 I gave his right leg a lift out of the stirrup 
 all of a sudden, and Joachim finished the 
 business for him by tilting him over the 
 side of the road. It was just such a 
 moon-light night as this is ; and having 
 secured his horse, we looked over to see 
 whether he had fallen hard enough, and 
 the fellow had the devil's own luck, for 
 there he was amongst the stones in the 
 river, alive and kicking. We could see 
 him plain enough, and we could hear him 
 too, for he swore at us with all his might ; 
 but says I to Joachim, ' We'll soon put an 
 end to his swearing,' and we took his pistols 
 out of hii holstersj and taking an aim at 
 him, we both fired at once ; I don't know 
 whose ball it was, but one of us stopped 
 his mouth for him. We each of us took 
 one of his pistols, and we sold his horse 
 and divided the money." 
 
 This cool confession of deliberate mur- 
 der converted all Felix's suspicion into 
 certainty, that they were destined to fol-
 
 182 FELIX ALVAEEZ. 
 
 low the Frenchman ov^er the precipice. He 
 deliberated a long while how to act ; but at 
 length he considered the facility with which 
 a Portuguese may generally be daunted, 
 and he thought he might as well endeavour 
 to frighten these fellows out of their inten- 
 tion, if they should have formed one to mur- 
 der them. Accordingly he began to relate 
 the most extravagant stories of his own 
 prowess in battle, and of the many French- 
 men whom he had fought and killed, half a 
 dozen at a time. The guides seemed to 
 listen with attention to these stories, and 
 remained in perfect silence. They passed 
 the spot which they had stated to have been 
 the scene of their murder, without even mak- 
 ing a remark upon it, and continuing their 
 route, they conducted the travellers safely to 
 their destined point. At the entrance of the 
 town, Alvarez readily gave them some 
 money, and dismissed tliem, not at all sorry 
 to get quit of them. (34) 
 
 By repeatedly changing his quarters, 
 Alvarez had an opportunity of seeing a
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 183 
 
 great portion of the north of Portugal 
 before the commencement of the campaign 
 for which he so much longed ; and when 
 the army was put in motion, the left column 
 began its march from cantonments which 
 extended as far north as the Douro. It 
 was in the end of May that Alvarez forded 
 the little river Manzanas, and found him- 
 self once more on the soil of his amada pa- 
 tria ; and it was with anxious hopes that he 
 might never again quit it. He galloj)ed on 
 to Alcafiizas, the nearest town, and felt 
 a sensation of delight as he viewed the 
 whitewashed walls and brick floors of its 
 houses. After having remained some time 
 at Alcafiizas, he set out to return to Tra- 
 vazos, the little village where his regiment 
 was quartered, and through which he had 
 already passed. 
 
 " How far is it from here to Travazos ? " 
 said he to a peasant as he left the town of 
 Alcañizas. 
 
 " Only one league. Señor," replied the 
 peasant, " and a short one ;" yet, if you 
 6
 
 ISJí FELIX ALVAUEZ. 
 
 had asked at Travazos the distance to Al- 
 cañizas, they would have told you three 
 good leagues, and they would have told 
 you true too !" 
 
 " How happens that, my friend ? " 
 " Do you see that high steeple of our 
 toAvn there, Señor ? " continued the peasant; 
 '* the moment you get out of the village of 
 Travazos and mount the hill, it is the first 
 thing that strikes your view, and it looks as 
 if it were nothing of a distance ; and on you 
 go, always keeping the steeple in sight — 
 no hill, no tree, no turning of the road, inter- 
 venes to make you forget it for an instant ; 
 still the same maldita steeple ; and though 
 it always seems very near, you never seem 
 to get nearer, so that you are often inclined 
 to wish the steeple fifty leagues off. Ask 
 any man when he has come to Alcañizas 
 from Travazos, how far it is from the vil- 
 lage to the town church, and I warrant 
 you he will be more inclined to say that it 
 is three leagues than one. But when you 
 go the road you ai'e going, Señor, from
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 185 
 
 hence to Travazos, you turn your back on 
 the eternal steeple, and keep on through 
 the barley and wheat, until, before you 
 tliink of it, you come pounce upon the 
 village. I'll lay you a wager you'll say 
 that it's not a league when you get 
 there." (35) 
 
 Felix laughed heartily at the man's ex- 
 planation of his apparent paradox, but he 
 found what he said to be literally true ; for 
 on his arrival at Travazos he could scarcely 
 think it was a league, and he remembered 
 that in going to Alcañizas he had thought 
 it a much greater distance. 
 
 The army once in motion, it continued 
 to march with rapidity. By the admirable 
 manner in which the march was conducted, 
 all the strong positions of the enemy were 
 flanked by the allies, and it might rather 
 be said that the retreating and advancing 
 armies marched parallel with, than follow- 
 ing each other. The allies crossed the 
 Esla, and proceeded to Zamora ; from thence 
 to Medina del Rio Seco, Falencia, and
 
 186 FELIX ALVARES. 
 
 across the Ebro, without having once given 
 the enemy an opportunity of making any 
 reconnoissance. A few days, however, after 
 having crossed the Ebro, the French showed 
 a considerable body of men in the valley of 
 Osma, and a sharp affair took place be- 
 tween them and the allies, in which the 
 French were driven back with considerable 
 loss. Alvarez lost not this opportunity of 
 distinguishing himself, and he led on the 
 skirmishes in the commencement of the 
 action with the most undaunted gallantry. 
 When the French were in full retreat from 
 the field they had attempted to retain, he 
 was still with the most advanced light troops, 
 who were harassing their rear. A British 
 soldier who was standing close to him in 
 the execution of this duty, was in the act 
 of reloading his musket which he had just 
 discharged, when a ball struck liim in the 
 leg, and passed through the t'.vo leones of 
 it without breaking either. Tlie man fell, 
 and Felix continued to advance ; but before 
 he had gone many yards, he looked back,
 
 I'ELIX ALVAHEZ, 18? 
 
 una saw this undaunted, fellow hobbling- 
 along after him, and supporting' himself on 
 his musket for a crutch. Alvarez told him 
 that he should go to the rear, rather than 
 the front where he might chance to catch 
 another ball more fatal than the first. The 
 man replied to him in tolerable Spanish, 
 " Never mind that, Sir," said he; "my 
 wound is no great matter — no bone broken, 
 thank God, and I want to get another lick 
 at the rascals, that I mayn't have loaded 
 my piece for nothing." (36) 
 
 In continuing their march, after this 
 completely successful affair, Felix and 
 Ismena were quartered one nigljt in the 
 village of Zuaro, a miserable collection of 
 mud houses, where there was one which 
 was a considerable venta : it was in this 
 house that Alvarez put up for the night. 
 The landlady was a very talkative woman, 
 and was delighted to let her tongue loose 
 upon any subject, but particularly so in- 
 teresting a one as the grievances they had 
 suffered from the French,
 
 188 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 " You shall have some beautiful tomates 
 for your supper," said she ; *' and I must 
 tell you. Señor, a joke about those tomates 
 that will be as good as sauce to them. 
 You must know that there was a regiment 
 of French soldiers, dressed in green uniform, 
 came by here not long ago, all flying away 
 from you, Señor, and our allies ; and the 
 officers of this regiment stopped here, and 
 wanted something to eat, and I had nothing 
 in the world but tomates, and those were 
 all green ; there was not a ripe one to be 
 had ; but, however, such as they were, they 
 had them: but they got into a dreadful 
 passion, and asked me how I could think 
 of sending them such things to eat. " Ah, 
 gentlemen," says I, " unfortunately we have 
 nothing but green ones just now ; but in a 
 very short time, heaven be praised, we 
 shall have los Colorados* — the red ones, 
 here, and plenty of them." 
 
 * The English were familiarly termed los Colo' 
 rados — the red ones, by the common people, frora 
 their uniform.
 
 FELIX ALVAEEZ. 189 
 
 Tile good lady laughed so licartily at 
 her own joke, that it was quite unnecessary 
 for any one to join her. 
 
 " Did the French do much mischief 
 liere as they passed?" asked Ismena. 
 
 " They did as much as they could," re- 
 plied the landlady ; " they levied a contri- 
 bution of two thousand rials upon the vil- 
 lag'e, to be raised in a day ; and. Lord bless 
 you, there is not so much to be found in 
 all the village together. We tried all we 
 could do; we could not offer them any 
 thing in exchange, for they had taken all 
 our corn ; so every body gave as much as 
 they could, and some gave the last peseta 
 they had in the world ; and so we managed 
 to raise one thousand amongst all the in- 
 habitants of the village, and they took 
 that ; but they were shockingly dissatisfied, 
 and threatened dreadful things : they 
 marched away, however, without putting 
 their threats into execution." (37) 
 
 The landlady proceeded to relate many 
 things which she had heard the French
 
 190 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 had done ; but as Alvarez and Ismena were 
 much fatigued, and had heard quite enough 
 of the character of the French army, thej 
 dismissed her as soon as they could, and re- 
 tired to rest.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 191 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 Ominous Thunders — The Battle of Vitoria — A 
 Charge of Cavalry — Robbery of the Dead and 
 Wounded — Escape of King Joseph — Spoils of the 
 Battle — A Coincidence. 
 
 X HE battle of Osma, or rather the recon- 
 noissance made at that place, was the only 
 instance in which either of the armies had 
 shown themselves in any force since the 
 opening- of the campaign, and it was the 
 immediate forerunner of the first, the great, 
 the only blow which may be said at once to 
 have begun and decided it — the battle of 
 Vitoria. 
 
 On the evening of the day following this 
 affair, Alvarez, who, with his regiment, was 
 with the Spanish division attached to the 
 left of the army, under General Graham, 
 liad the satisfaction of seeing the immense
 
 192 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 squares of French infantry that were bi- 
 vouacked on the plains around tlie city of 
 Vitoria, from an elevated village called 
 Zaitegui. Had he been able to look forward 
 only a few hours, he would have seen those 
 regular phalanxes mingled and flying in 
 disordered confusion ; but not being gifted 
 with the inspiration of prophecy, his brightest 
 hopes were bounded to probability, and he 
 said to himself, as, with the assistance of his 
 spy-glass he contemplated the beautiful 
 city, " to-morrow we shall be in Vitoria." 
 
 Oh ! that to-morrow i what a day of 
 conquest and of glory to one of those vast 
 bodies that might then be viewed from the 
 steeples of Vitoria ! what a day of shame 
 and of defeat to the other ! The night that 
 preceded it set in with clouds ; and before it 
 was over, they met, and burst with peals of 
 tremendous thunder. 
 
 " We shall have a battle and a victory 
 to-morrow," said a British centinel to his 
 comrade as they paced round their camp. 
 
 '' Those are two wopds with the same
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 193 
 
 nieaiiiiig witli us now-a-days," replied his 
 companion. 
 
 *' That's true enough," said the first, 
 *' and we sliall prove it to-morrow ; that 
 thunder is a sign that never deceived us 
 yet ; for my part I think that there is some- 
 thing more than mere chance in that thun- 
 der ; for whenever WeUington takes it into 
 his head to give the mounseers a licking, 
 its always sure to tickle our ears the night 
 before : (38) the French have found that 
 out before now, or else the devil makes 
 them deaf; and if they hear that clap now, 
 my life on't their hearts are in their shoes. 
 For my part, I'd sooner l3e drenched to the 
 skin in a thunder storm the night before a 
 battle, than sleep in the sweetest moonshine. 
 Do you remember the thunder the night 
 before the battle of Salamanca ? " 
 
 *' I never sliall forget it," replied his 
 comrade, " till I can find something more 
 glorious to remember : I think that's as 
 good as saying I shall remember it all my 
 Ufe." 
 
 VOL. III. K
 
 194 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 " If that's the case, take care it does not 
 slip your memory to-morrow," said his 
 friend. 
 
 And if only the success of the two battles 
 were placed in the scale, that of Vitoria 
 would certainly supersede that of Sala- 
 manca in the memory of this soldier. The 
 dawn chased away all the heavy clouds 
 which had done their duty by their predic- 
 tion, and the morning rays shone with all 
 their gladness and their glory. The action 
 was commenced on the right, at a great 
 distance from where Alvarez was posted ; 
 but the noise of the cannon and musketry 
 was distinctly heard, and the direction of 
 the clouds of smoke was the only indication 
 to the anxious spectators who were with 
 Sir Thomas Graham on the left of the 
 army, of the progress of their friends. 
 Every heart beat high — every eye was 
 strained to endeavour to distinguish some- 
 thing of what was going on. It was long, 
 very long, before these spectators were called 
 upon to act ; but at length their attention
 
 FELIX ALVAKEZ. 195 
 
 was turned from watching the more dis- 
 tant movements and successes of their com- 
 rades, to the part they had to play them- 
 selves in the action. 
 
 The French having lost the advantage- 
 ous ground on their left, were retiring fast 
 towards the city of Vitoria, when Sir Thomas 
 Graham's corps moved onward to cross the 
 river Zadorra, and prevent their retreat by 
 the great road to Bayonne. His advance 
 had proceeded so far as to take possession 
 of the small village of Avechucho, when 
 they drew upon them a most tremendous 
 cannonade from an immense number of 
 pieces of artillery, posted on the opposite 
 side of the river. The fire was at first 
 terrible, but it lasted not long ; nothing 
 could impede the progress of the brave men 
 who were pushing forward. The passage 
 of the river was soon forced. Part of the 
 column crossed it at the bridge of Avechucho, 
 and part at that of Aranguiz. Alvarez, 
 who found himself not so much advanced 
 as lie wished, and in a situation where he 
 K 2
 
 196 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 could neither do nor see all that he desired, 
 galloped on, and overtook a brigade of 
 British cavalry as they were crossing the 
 river. It was to this brigade that his friend 
 Blackwell belonged, and he was not long 
 in finding him out. Some time after passing 
 the river, they turned into a broad way that 
 took them round the town at some distance 
 from it, running parallel with the road 
 upon which the confused crowd of flying 
 Frenchmen were retreating. They soon 
 came up with them ; and filing over a little 
 brook which intervened between them and 
 the road, they formed upon an open space 
 through which the road passed. The 
 affrighted fugitives finding themselves taken 
 on both flanks, for other cavalry was 
 coming up upon the other side, hastily 
 formed into a body with as much regard to 
 order as was possible, and two regiments of 
 French cavalry placed themselves in front 
 of them to receive the charge of the British 
 brigade. The order to charge was given. 
 I'he shout which was set up by the delighted
 
 ÍELIX ALVAREZ. 197 
 
 Englishmen thrilled through every fibre of 
 Felix's body ; it was a new sensation, the 
 real shout of battle of a whole body of men 
 — the shock of cavalry. This feeling, this 
 sight, w^as to all that he had ever witnessed 
 as was his former experience of war to the 
 firing at a mark. The consciousness of his 
 sensations passed like a flash of lightning 
 through his brain, for there was no time to 
 think ; the body that was opposed to them 
 moved steadily forward to meet them^ and 
 they met.— The shout of the charge in ex- 
 alting the imagination of Alvarez had 
 given the nerve of a giant to his arm, and 
 those on whom it fell lived not to deny its 
 strength. It was his fate that day to add a 
 new claim to his title o£ El Vengador ^ by 
 making his sword the instrument of per- 
 sonal vengeance as well as of general justice. 
 He was close to Captain Blackwell when 
 the two regiments met ; a French officer of 
 gigantic size, advancing, struck a well- 
 aimed blow at his friend's head, which laid 
 open his temple, and then with equal
 
 198 FELIX ALVARES. 
 
 strength and dexterity ran his sword 
 through his body ; he enjoyed not the tri» 
 umph, however, but paid for it with his life 
 to the blade of Alvarez. 
 
 The first French regiment being cut up 
 and dispersed, exposed the front of the 
 seccr.d, ^rvhich in perfect order concealed 
 the square of infantry, and waited for the 
 arrival of the British cavalrv, whose sue- 
 cess had necessarily thrown them into some 
 confusion. They continued galloping on 
 until they had almost reached the yet im- 
 moveable body of cavalry before them. 
 When, however, they came within a few 
 yards of it, the French divided in the centre, 
 and, hastily filing off on both sides, left the 
 advancing squadrons exposed to the fire of 
 the infantry which was behind them. Had 
 they been steady, not an Englishman could 
 have escaped, for they were advancing with 
 full speed upon their bayonets, and were so 
 near that every man might have delibe- 
 rately killed an enemy at every shot. But 
 they were frightened, intermixed, confused \
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 199 
 
 they had been beaten into expectation of 
 defeat, and could no longer act with cool 
 intrepidity. They aimed their muskets too 
 high ; almost all the balls passed over the 
 heads of the victorious chargers ; and having 
 once discharged their pieces, they turned 
 and sought refuge in the flight from which 
 they had been with much difficulty restrain- 
 ed for a moment. The cavalry pursued 
 them close, sacrificing numbers, and taking 
 many prisoners. (39) 
 
 Having continued in the pursuit a consi- 
 derable way, Felix at length turned back 
 with the faint hope of finding that his friend 
 Blackwell had not received a mortal wound. 
 He returned with all speed ; and it was with 
 equal horror and astonishment he found 
 that almost all the poor soldiers who had 
 fallen in the fight a few minutes before, 
 were already stripped of every thing they 
 had on, and left upon the ground in a state 
 of perfect nakedness, by some mercenary 
 wretches, who, undaunted by the dangers 
 that they may meet with, follow an army
 
 200 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 close upon the scent of a battle, to plunder 
 the unhappy victims of the sword and the 
 musket, sometimes in their savage lust for 
 gain finishing the work that those instru- 
 ments had but imperfectly commenced, 
 preparing as it were the bloody feast for the 
 wolves to which their spirits are akin, and 
 of which they are the precursors. 
 
 " Good God ! " exclaimed Felix, " can 
 human nature be so depraved, so hardened, 
 so insensible." 
 
 Upon continuing to ride over the field of 
 battle, he saw with indignation one of those 
 human beasts of prey in the act of stripping 
 a body. He rode up to him, and his in- 
 dignation was much increased on finding 
 him to be a Spaniard; but it knew no 
 bounds when, casting his eyes upon the 
 soldier he had been robbing, he saw him 
 move, and found that he was still alive. 
 Drawing a pistol from his holster, he 
 swore to put an end to the wretch if he 
 did not instantly fly from before him. The 
 man, without speaking, deliberately obeyed.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 201 
 
 and removed himself to a distance ; and 
 Felix, who found it difficult to restrain his 
 hand from pulling the trigger of the pre- 
 sented pistol, continued his search for his 
 friend. It was but a respite which his sen- 
 sibility had procured for the miserable 
 object of his compassion — the wolf returned 
 to his prey, and most probably put an end 
 to the life the demonstration of which had 
 excited the horror of Alvarez. (40) 
 
 Felix found his friend, but it was to have 
 all his hopes destroyed. A surgeon had 
 passed by the spot, and pronounced his spirit 
 to have fled ; and two soldiers who had been 
 left to guard the body were scantily covering 
 it with earth. Felix felt his eyes fill with 
 tears which he could not repress, as he saw 
 the clod thrown over his disfigured face ; he 
 turned from the sight, and took the direction 
 to seek his own regiment : he found them 
 in a field near the road, where they had 
 been desired to bivouac for the night. 
 
 In the morning very early he took the 
 road to return to the city of Vitoria, which 
 K 5
 
 202 PELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 they had left far in their rear without pass- 
 ing through it, and he overtook a Spanish 
 officer, who was eagerly listening to the 
 account which a British officer of hussars 
 was giving him of the events of the pre- 
 ceding day. In a moment of such exulta- 
 tion and rejoicing, there was no room for 
 feelings of ceremony, and Felix rode up and 
 joined them, that he might partake of the 
 information which he was giving. 
 
 The British officer continued his narra- 
 tive : " We came most unexpectedly round 
 the town upon them, and having chased 
 the squadrons of French dragoons before 
 us as far as the road, they were brought up 
 by it as well as ourselves. It was com- 
 pletely choked up with military carriages 
 of different kinds, and there were several 
 travelling carriages endeavouring to get 
 along through all the obstacles which sur- 
 rounded them. Two of these carriages 
 were gayer than the rest, and we supposed 
 them to be the King's, I mean Joseph's. We 
 were not mistaken. A seijeant of our re-
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 203 
 
 giment, a very gallant fellow, rode forward 
 a little and fired a pistol into the royal car- 
 riage, which did not kill poor Pepe, but 
 frightened him so that it made him get out 
 and take to a horse : with a few attendants, 
 he took refuge in the rear of the cavalry 
 that were before us, and off he set across 
 the country to avoid the incumbrances of 
 the road. We renewed our charge, and 
 the fellows who had felt us before never 
 waited for us this time ; but " threes about" 
 was the word, and away they went after 
 the King. I rather suspect that that new 
 king of yours, gentlemen, is no very good 
 horseman, for the dragoons came up with 
 him amazingly fast, and we after them, 
 until they came to a little ditch, over which 
 Pepe endeavoured to leap, but down he 
 came, horse and all into it. The dragoons 
 who were close behind him could not pull 
 up in time, and over they all went, over 
 the ditch and Ring and all. But they did 
 not let us come up with him, for they rallied 
 and re-formed on the other side, and made a
 
 204 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 very good front to us, which gave him time 
 to get away, while we, who were, as might 
 be expected, a little extended, halted and 
 formed our squadron also. We had very 
 far outrun our support, which the French 
 perceiving, they came upon us manfully. 
 The Colonel thought it prudent to faU 
 back upon the support, and consequently 
 we lost sight of Master Pepe. (41) 
 
 " Oh, if you had but taken him !" said 
 the Spanish officei'. 
 
 " We have taken his carriage," said the 
 Englishman, " and a great many more 
 which you wiU see on the road as we go 
 along." 
 
 As they approached the town, the road 
 presented a most extraordinary sight — an 
 apparently incalculable number of waggons, 
 carriages, ammunition carts, and vehicles of 
 ^11 descriptions, most of which had been 
 broken open, and their less valuable con* 
 tents were strewed in every direction : 
 papers, maps, clothes, &c. completely co- 
 vered the road. To give an idea of the
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 205 
 
 immense quantity of wealth, and of the 
 value and extent of the baggage, of this 
 annihilated army, it must be remembered, 
 that it consisted of the farewell plunder of 
 the whole of Spain. From the King and 
 his court to the lowest soldier in the army, 
 all generally, and each individually, had 
 omitted no possible opportunity of extorting, 
 robbing, and plundering in every city, town, 
 village, and solitary house in their routes ; 
 and not a general in the army, not a colonel 
 of a regiment, and scarcely a captain of a 
 company, was unprovided with a baggage- 
 waggon, cart, or other vehicle, heavily 
 laden with the golden produce of their 
 Satanic campaign. AH this pillage, of all 
 the armies of France, of the army of the 
 South, of the Centre, of the North, and of 
 Portugal — for they still shamelessly retained 
 their names — was combined at Vitoria ; and 
 all this, with the exception of a single con- 
 voy which had set off for France with an 
 escort of some thousands of men, only a 
 a few days before, became the spoils of the
 
 206 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 vanquishers. The men into whose hands 
 the victory first fell, forced open the greater 
 part of these reservoirs of riches, and many 
 were equally astonished and delighted to 
 find whole waggons laden with bags of 
 doubloons — others with dollars, and others 
 with the sacrilegious booty of ransacked 
 churches and defiled altars. Other soldiers, 
 who happened to seize the luggage of the 
 court, drew forth the richly embroidered 
 dresses, and divided amongst them the 
 magnificent wardrobe of the officers of the 
 court and the King himself: and some, 
 dressing themselves in the gay trappings 
 which had fallen to their share, danced 
 about in the enthusiastic joy inspired by 
 their conquest and its consequences. 
 
 As Felix and the companions which he had 
 joined proceeded with difficulty on the road, 
 they found many of these baggage waggons, 
 which, from the vast number that had 
 offered themselves for plunder, had escaped 
 the general ransack in the first confusion of 
 victory, afld remained yet unspoiled, and
 
 FELIX ALVARKZ. 207 
 
 bursting with their golden burthens. Over 
 some of these sentries had been placed by- 
 careful officers, to guard, if possible, a rem- 
 nant of the prize for proper distribution : 
 but Felix's attention was attracted by a long 
 baggage- waggon, standing a little on one 
 side of the road, on which was written in 
 large cliaracters, " Le General de Division 
 Villater 
 
 " Ah ha !" said Alvarez ; " there's my 
 old acquaintance General Villate again. 
 He commanded the troops before Cadiz 
 for a long time, and I had very frequent 
 opportunities of making my name known 
 to him then. Afterwards, poor fellow, I 
 was one of those who roused him out of his 
 bed one fine morning a little earlier than 
 usual, at Seville, and obliged him to scam- 
 per off in dishabille, leaving his coat behind 
 him,* and now here I find his name again." 
 
 As he spoke a crowd of English and Spa- 
 nish soldiers, who had that moment disco- 
 
 * JSee Note 11.
 
 208 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 vered that the waggon was both iinplundered 
 and unguarded, mounted upon its wheels and 
 shafts, and falling to with all their might, 
 with the help of iron crows and butts of 
 muskets, soon forced the staples out of four 
 large padlocks by which it was secured. It 
 opened like a box, and the cover was im- 
 mediately lifted with a shout of success 
 from the enraptured soldiers, to whom it 
 displayed an immense quantity of church 
 plate, a box about two feet square strongly 
 bound with iron, two large books, and 
 some rolls of paper. 
 
 The greater part of the soldiers seized 
 indiscriminately pieces of the church plate» 
 while about half a dozen laying hold of the 
 strong box, carried it from the road through 
 a field of high standing corn to a little hovel 
 at some distance, which, however, cost them 
 a considerable deal of labour and trouble^ 
 from its weight. One man hastily seized 
 the two large books and the rolls of paper, 
 and followed those who had secured the 
 box. Alvarez took the same road, and 
 
 3
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 209 
 
 arrived at the hovel with the fortunate 
 phmderers. 
 
 The men were put to their wit's ends to 
 discover a means of breaking open the box, 
 the cramps of iron round it were so many 
 and so strong : at length, however, they devis- 
 ed a plan which was rewarded with success. 
 Three men lifted up an immense stone as 
 high as they could support it, and then let 
 it fall upon the lid of the chest, and by re- 
 peating this operation they at last discovered 
 the contents. A small part was partitioned 
 off and contained papers and letters : the 
 rest was completely filled with different 
 pieces of gold money, not in sacks, but in 
 bulk. 
 
 Avarice had never formed any part of 
 the character of Alvarez, and it was not 
 awakened in his breast by the sight of this 
 huge heap of gold. He felt a little ashamed 
 of the idea that he might be called a plun- 
 derer, and particularly as it was in such 
 society that he might be found plundering ; 
 besides, he knew thatit was not the intention
 
 210 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 of the chiefs of the armies that the fruits of 
 the victory should be indiscriminately pil- 
 laged. He turned, therefore, to the Spanish 
 soldier who had taken and still retained the 
 books and papers, and said to him, 
 
 " My friend — I am entitled to a share 
 of that money, as being present here now, 
 and as having fought for it as well as the 
 others, but I will give up my portion to yon 
 if you will give me these books and pa- 
 pers." 
 
 The man could hardly believe his senses ; 
 but he nevertheless hastened to accept the 
 proposal, lest it should be retracted, and he 
 willingly surrendered the booty which he 
 considered as of no value, and which he had 
 taken only because he would take some- 
 thing, and the crowd prevented him from 
 seizing on any of the more desirable articles 
 of plate which were not within his reach. 
 Felix was very well contented with his 
 prize, for he saw that the papers were ma- 
 nuscript majis, and he conceived that the 
 books, from their size, might be the same ;
 
 TELlX ALVAREZ. 211 
 
 he therefore placed them before him on his 
 horse, although he found them a little in- 
 convenient, and, so loaded, he proceeded to 
 Vitoria. 
 
 In the streets of Vitoria he was fortunate 
 enough to meet an officer of his regiment 
 with two soldiers, to whom he gave charge 
 of his newly-acquired trophies, not however 
 vmtil he had gone into a posada to examine 
 of what they consisted. The roll of paper 
 was a very extensive and well-executed 
 plan of Cadiz, minutely showing all the 
 works of the siege, and all the defences 
 of the besiegers ; and the books contained 
 a very comprehensive journal of the march 
 of General Villate's division through the 
 whole of Spain, as well as of the daily 
 operations of the siege of Cadiz, in which 
 it was employed, illustrated by numerous 
 plans and sketches done in a very masterly 
 style. Felix was much more pleased at the 
 possession of these documents than he could 
 have been by the money which he gave up 
 for them, tainted as his good fortune must
 
 2121 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 have been by the fear of having acted im- 
 properly ; and he could not but be delighted 
 at the coincidence of his being the person 
 into whose hands these records had fallen.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 213 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 The French at Salvatierra — The Pass of San Adrian 
 ^Entry into Tolosa — A French Inn pUindered— 
 A Guerilla Action with a Body of French. 
 
 Having conversed with the Spanish 
 General at Vitoria, and received from him 
 his orders to remain with the left cohimn of 
 the allied army, Alvarez set forth to over- 
 take his regiment. The army had marched 
 onward in pursuit, and it was late in the 
 evening when he overtook it at Alaiza, a 
 little ruined village where they were halted 
 for the night. In passing through the 
 large town of Salvatierra, at the distance 
 of three leagues from Vitoria, he stopped 
 to refresh himself, and entered into conver- 
 sation with a man from whom he had re- 
 ceived a diaught of water.
 
 SI 4 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 " The Virgin be with you. Señor," said 
 he ; " may you overtake those mischievous 
 devils upon earth, and send them all to their 
 orig-inal flames.'* 
 
 " They are mischievous enough, God 
 knows," repUed Felix ; " but I should think, 
 from the panic they were in, that they had 
 not time to do you much mischief last 
 night." 
 
 " Not time, Señor ! Lord bless you, why 
 a French soldier would find time to do 
 mischief when he was receiving extreme 
 unction." Here he related fresh horrors. 
 
 Felix could hardly believe that in the 
 disorder, fright, and confusion, in which 
 they were, and with the arm of retribution 
 actually suspended over them, there should 
 be found human beings who could give an 
 unbridled course to their brutal passions ; 
 but he staid not to ascertain the fact ; he 
 had seen enough to know that if such a 
 thing were possible at all, it was possible to 
 the soldiers of France. 
 
 The column commanded by Sir Thomas 
 10
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 215 
 
 Graham now struck ofT to the left, to en- 
 deavour, by passing over the immense 
 chain of mountains which commence on 
 the borders of the province of Guipúzcoa, 
 to overtake and cut off the convoy of Ge- 
 neral Foix, which has been already men- 
 tioned as having left Vitoria two days 
 before the battle. When they commenced 
 their march for this purpose, and began to 
 ascend the range of hills, the clouds had 
 completely covered the vault of heaven, 
 and the rain descended in one settled and 
 general torrent. In spite, however, of the 
 dreariness of the scene, there was something 
 pleasingly imposing in the frowning but- 
 tresses of earth that, rising one above the 
 other, formed gigantic steps which ascended 
 to the general mist above. As they passed 
 midway around the vast Montaña de Araz, 
 which, when seen at a distance gives to the 
 mountains that surround it the appearance 
 of simple undulations of earth, they were 
 insensible of the grandeur of this monarch 
 of the Sierra, whose head was enveloped
 
 216 lELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 in the thick clouds which rested upon it 
 and surrounded it ; and as their difficult 
 and uneven road continued its inclination 
 upwards, they themselves began to enter 
 into that thicker atmosphere whose per- 
 ceptible density prevented each from dis- 
 cerning any object at the distance of a few. 
 yards from him. 
 
 Still they continued to ascend until they 
 seemed to have passed through the first 
 lair of clouds, for the prospect became a 
 little more extended, the vapour a little 
 less thick than that from which tliey were 
 emerging, although that which was still 
 above them, and in some measure sur- 
 rounded them, effectually excluded them 
 from the glories of the sun, and continued 
 to shower down upon them the fulness of , 
 its waters. When they had arrived at this 
 comparatively thinner atmosphere, the road, 
 a tract-way hardly deserving the dignity of 
 tliat name, and which had meandered up 
 along the junction of two enormous hills, 
 whose almost perpendicular steepness gave
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 217 
 
 tliem the appearance of vast confining walls, 
 suddenly appeared to end in a little circular 
 spot, where the two perpendicular walls 
 curved round and met, forming a perfect 
 cul de sac i which seemed to admit of no 
 escape but by retreat. 
 
 A halt was ordered on this spot; and 
 during its continuance every one indulged 
 his fancy in speculations on the route 
 which was next to be pursued, and on the 
 punishment which ought to be inflicted on 
 the guide who had brought them into this 
 dilemma. But when the head of the co- 
 lumn moved o'^ it appeared, to the astonish- 
 ment of tliose Ijehind, to march directly 
 against the mountain, in which there was 
 no opening to admit it. Felix then recol- 
 lected to have heard of the extraordinary 
 pass of San Adrian, and doubted not thiat 
 they were arrived at it. It is a small pas- 
 sage worked by the hand of nature through 
 the solid rock, extending for about a hun- 
 dred yards, through which the fliountain 
 road is directed: and it was by this passr 
 
 VOL. III. L
 
 218 FELIX ALXAllEZ. 
 
 that the cokimn now began to file. (é'I) 
 Although sufficiently high to admit a man 
 easily, it is not lofty enough for horsemen 
 to pass ; the cavalry consequently dis- 
 mounted, and led their horses throiigh the 
 dark defile. The effect produced by the 
 surrounding scenery of this little spot, and 
 the gloomy state of the atmosphere, was 
 most impressive ; and this was heightened 
 by the romantic scene which the passage of 
 the troops afforded as they wound along 
 the road which led to the opening, and 
 were suddenly lost at the little chasm in 
 the huge rock which seemed to swallow 
 them. 
 
 Having passed through this natural tun- 
 nel, the traveller is no longer in Alava, 
 but enters the province of Guipúzcoa ; and 
 the road winds along the side of a steep 
 mountain, having on one side its perpendi- 
 riilar ascent, and on the other an almost 
 equally steep precipice, the dizzy depth of 
 which is, however, rendered less dangerous 
 by the large trees and underwood which
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 219 
 
 clothe it. At the mouth of the pass or 
 rather cavern on the Guipúzcoa side, there 
 is a httle edifice on either side of the road ; 
 one being a small chapel resorted to by the 
 faithful as a graver penance, and the other 
 a venta, M^here they or the few travellers 
 who pass that road find refreshment. 
 Both are picturesque objects, but the chapel 
 in particular attracts the attention, being 
 built a considerable height above the road, 
 and appearing to be almost hewn out of the 
 rock, hanging over the entrance into the 
 passage. The road now began gradually 
 to descend ; and winding along the course 
 of the river Oria, which rises within a 
 short distance from the pass of San Adrian, 
 it brought the column again from among 
 the burthened clouds, and, with the setting 
 of the sun, they closed their long and fa- 
 tiguing march, at the considerable town of 
 Cegama. 
 
 Early in the morning they resumed their 
 march, with high hopes that the advance of 
 l2
 
 22® FELIX ALVAllEZ. 
 
 the preceding^ day might enable them to 
 reach the great road before the French 
 convoy should have passed it. The road 
 was now not only more practicable, but 
 tolerably good, and the weather had as- 
 sumed a more pleasing aspect; it rained 
 but seldom, and in small showers, while 
 the broken clouds occasionally admitted the 
 Tays of the cheering sun. They passed 
 rapidly through the large town of Segura, 
 and were not long in reaching the village 
 of Lascano, between which and Villafranca 
 the road they were pursuing joined that on 
 which tlie object of their pursuit was 
 marching. But, alas ! they were only in 
 time to behold the rear-guard of the con-. 
 toy cross the junction of the two roads as 
 they advanced. It was, indeed, too late, 
 for the high road was one of perfect secu- 
 rity, continuing exactly along the course 
 of the river Oria, and flanked on both sides 
 by the high hills of which the whole face of 
 the mountainous province of Guipúzcoa is
 
 FELIX ALVARES. SSI 
 
 composed ; so that it was quite intpossible 
 to annoy an enemy who had already passed 
 the defile which it formed. 
 
 The advance of the cokimn commenced 
 a sharp skirmish with the rear of the flying 
 convoy, and drove them through the town 
 of Villafranca,and along the road in triumph, 
 and they continued their incessant firing the 
 whole day, pressing their forced march. At 
 length they arrived at the lovely valley of 
 Tolosa, one of the most picturesque spots 
 in Biscay, which, from the judicious mix- 
 ture of the sublime and beautiful, the soft 
 and the imposing, would seem on canvass 
 rather the combination of a skilful artist's 
 fancy, than the faithful representation of a 
 spot in nature. The view, which had been 
 for some time confined to the narrow 
 breadth of the river and the I'oad, now- 
 opened suddenly upon a beautiful and 
 highly cultivated valley, to which the light 
 green of the tall Indian corn gave a singu-r 
 larlj smiling appearance, and the sides of 
 the valley met again some distance further
 
 S22 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 on, at the very point where stood the hand- 
 some and large town of Tolosa, which was 
 but half seen, while the rest of its houses 
 were hid by the turning of the road beyond, 
 and the apparent closing of the valley ; 
 while on the right the immense hills divided 
 and admitted a great extent of country and 
 range of mountains, along which ran the 
 high road to Pamplona, and which afforded 
 a most extraordinary and smiling appear- 
 ance to the traveller, being cultivated to 
 their very summits, producing Indian com 
 in every part where the original rock was 
 covered with a spot of soil, and cut for this 
 purpose into shelves wherever the steepness 
 of the ascent rendered it impossible for the 
 labourer to attain. 
 
 But Alvarez had no time to give way to 
 his feehngs at the contemplation of this 
 beautiful scene ; the enemy was before him, 
 and his mind anxious in the pursuit : the 
 sun was fast declining, and had already 
 sunk behind the hills, and thrown the vaUey 
 into shade, if not into darkness, when they
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 223 
 
 arrived at the wooden gates of the town. 
 'J'liese offered no opposition to a single 
 cannon ball which was sent to open them, 
 from a piece of field artillery brought for 
 that purpose, and the victorious pursuers 
 rushed into tlie principal street, while the 
 pursued, panic-struck, were but half through 
 it. The presence of their enemies, how- 
 ever, did not prevent the inhabitants from 
 giving way to their joy at the sight of their 
 friends. People were at all the doors 
 offering wine to the soldiers as they passed, 
 and putting up prayers for their success ; 
 and as the rear of the French column filed 
 through the street, every window became 
 illuminated with a profusion of lights, for 
 it was now quite dark, so that the victorious 
 soldiers were cheered by a blaze of joy 
 which lighted them on their road of con- 
 quest and of glory. (43) 
 
 Having driven the enemy quite through 
 the town, the soldiers were recalled; and 
 Felix, who had been amongst the foremost 
 of the pursuers, turned his horse to repass
 
 224 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 it. The inhabitants were still profuse in 
 their expressions of joy, and in their distri- 
 bution of refreshments to the returning 
 soldiers. Alvarez, who was both thirsty 
 and fatigued, went up to a man who was 
 dealing out wine to all who came to seek 
 it, and asked him for a draught. " Oh, 
 Señor," said the man, " this is not wine 
 such as you ought to have ; go into that 
 house opposite, which is open there, and 
 you will find refreshments of a superior 
 kind. It was the French inn. Señor, kept 
 by a Frenchman who ran away not a quar- 
 ter of an hour ago with all his family." 
 
 Felix took the man's advice; and giving 
 his horse to s^ome soldiers of his regiment 
 who were witsi him, he went into the 
 French inn : he found it crowded with 
 people, who were all ransacking every pait 
 of the house : some had got into the cellar, 
 and were loading themselves with comforts 
 for the camp, and others were looking 
 through every room in search of articles 
 which niigJit be, portable. Alvarez joined
 
 FELIX ALVARES. 225 
 
 a couple of English officers who had got 
 into the lardei', where they were drinking 
 some very fine claret and frontignac ; and, 
 after having satisfied his thirst, he and they 
 loaded themselves with some luxuries for 
 the table, which they had long been disused 
 to, and proceeded with their booty to the 
 camp, which w^as a little in the rear of 
 Tolosa. 
 
 But Alvarez did not remain in the camp ; 
 for he heard with delight, upon his arrival, 
 that there was a body of a thousand French 
 upon its march from Pamplona to join the 
 convoy at Tolosa, and which, if tliey had 
 not received the intelligence of its being 
 overtaken, and turned back in consequence, 
 might yet perhaps be cut off. It was with 
 the greatest joy that Felix olitained per- 
 mission to take his regiment in search of 
 this body ; and having procured the proper 
 guides, he set out about midnight upon his 
 expedition. 
 
 He marched all night, and at day -light 
 ©ne of his guides whom he had dispatched 
 I. 5
 
 226 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 considerably in advance, returned to inform 
 him that the band he was in search of 
 were encamped in the valley of Lecumberri, 
 a fertile spot about a league before him. 
 Alvarez now began to prepare to receive 
 them: and as the day-light increased, he 
 devised a plan which, by the assistance of 
 the guides, he was enabled to put into ex- 
 ecution. 
 
 The road from Tolosa to Pamplona, as 
 far as Lecumberri, is a most extraordinary 
 example of human art and labour. It is a 
 fine, hard, military road, carried for a con- 
 siderable distance along the course of the 
 little river Lizarza, which takes its rise 
 near Lecumberri, and runs with no per- 
 ceptible descent until it falls into the Oria 
 at Tolosa ; its way is through gigantic 
 mountains, which in many parts seem to 
 have been split asunder only to admit its 
 course : so perpendicular are their sides, so 
 close are their summits to each other ; and in 
 those parts where this is not so strikingly tlie 
 case, the ascent of the mountains on either
 
 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 22? 
 
 side is so rapid as to be almost inaccessible. 
 Felix divided his regiment into two parties, 
 and both, by the assistance of the guides, 
 were enabled to ascend the craggy hills on 
 the sides of the road to a consideraljle 
 height above it, by mountain paths, and by 
 scrambling over points where human foot 
 had never ventured before. By this means 
 the whole of the men became ambushed per- 
 fectly out of sight, at a vast height above 
 the road, and so immediately over it, that 
 they completely commanded it. Having 
 thus disposed of his little force, Alvarez 
 waited patiently for the arrival of the vic- 
 tims whom'he hoped to immolate. All were 
 desired to remain perfectly quiet until Felix 
 should give the signal for destruction, and 
 they waited not long for the welcome sound. 
 The sun ascended, and the French column 
 was put in motion. They commenced theii' 
 march anticipating a speedy arrival at To- 
 losa and union with their comrades : it was 
 doomed that none should arrive at Tolosa, 
 but that many should join their comrades 
 5
 
 228 FEl.IX ALVARES:. 
 
 who had there paid the íbríeit oí' tlieif 
 crimes. They left tlie rich vale of Lecum-' 
 berri, and boldly entered upon the road or 
 rather long defile, whose overlianging walls 
 supported the instruments of the vengeance 
 of Heaven. JMarching on, they arrived at 
 the part where Felix was posted with his 
 irregularly extended line of patriots on 
 either side of the road. He waited until 
 they had quite entered the toils, and then 
 he gave the anxiously -expected word. 
 *1. Venganza ! " he exclaimed. " Ven- 
 ganza" ran from mouth to mouth — it was 
 echoed by the hills : it was executed by the 
 patriots, who, at the word, commenced a 
 veoifeu de jo'ie down upon the heads of the 
 French ; whilst others, who had been la- 
 bouring to loosen large masses of the rock, 
 gave them the last push, and sent them upon 
 the heads of their victims, at once to over- 
 whelm them and impede their progress. (44) 
 Had it rained fire from the heavens upon 
 these bewildered and panic-struck French- 
 men, the effect could not have been more
 
 FELIX ALVAllÉ^: 22^ 
 
 terror-striking. They were so astonished 
 at this sudden and commanding attack, 
 that scarce a Frenchman attempted to raise 
 his musket in reply to the volleys that 
 poured down from above ; and the bullets of 
 the few that did, were impotently lost in 
 the brushwood which screened and pro- 
 tected their hidden enemies. The only 
 thouglit was of flight, and many a foot was 
 arrested as it was raised to fly, never to 
 move again : many a life was })oured out 
 into the silver stream of the Lizarza, giving 
 it the tint of the ruby to the delighted eyes 
 of Los VoigadoreSy as they caught the 
 bright beams of the sun which played upoii 
 it. So secure were the destroyers, that as 
 their aim was marred by no nervous feel of 
 danger, almost every shot did its appointed 
 duty. After the remnant of this almost 
 annihilated body of men had run the 
 gauntlet of Spanish vengeance, they were 
 met by a peasant who informed them of the 
 French having been driven from Tolosa; 
 and in despair they struck off the great
 
 23o PELlX ALVAREZ. 
 
 road by a mountain-path to the right, in 
 the hopes of its enabling them to overtake 
 their friends, and escape the twofold danger 
 which threatened them from before and 
 from behind. 
 
 Alvarez, after leading his men along the 
 ridges of the mountains for a considerable 
 way, until, from the difficulty of their pro- 
 gress, and the um-estrained rapidity of their 
 enemies, they could no longer keep up with 
 the few stragglers who had escaped the 
 massacre, as it may almost be called, col- 
 lected them upon the road, and commenced 
 his march upon Tolosa. The soldiers set 
 forward on their return with shouts of 
 Viva la Patria! Viva El Vemador I 
 
 o 
 
 Mearan los Franceses ! and only gave up 
 the tumultuous expression of their joy to 
 join with heart and voice in singing their 
 favorite and inspiring song, España de la 
 Guerra.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 231 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 The French driven over the Bidasoa — Felix's Ho- 
 mage to the Defender of Cadiz — San Sebastian—- 
 Passages — Bascuence — The Manner in which the 
 French first became possessed of San Sebastian 
 and Pamplona — Common People in Guipúzcoa — 
 A Storm. 
 
 W HEN Alvarez reached Tolosa he found 
 that the column had adv^anced, still in pur- 
 suit of the harassed French. He remained 
 there, however, for the night ; but it was 
 not long before he overtook the pursuing 
 army. He was in time to assist in the 
 work of driving the rear of the convoy 
 over the Bidasoa, in doing which the Bri- 
 tish guns kept up a destructive fire, as the 
 enemy's men filed over the wooden bridge 
 which separates France from Spain, and
 
 232 lELiX ALVARES. 
 
 which the French succeeded in Iiurning to 
 the water's edge, thus preventing all further 
 progi*ess of the victorious column. 
 
 This was a memorable era in the cam* 
 paign ; the ravagers of Spain no longer pol^ 
 luted its soil. They had been driven from 
 the Mediterranean to the Bay of Biscay, 
 from the Atlantic to the Pyrenees. Spain 
 might now rear her head ; her chains were 
 broken ; she was free Í Felix's heart 
 swelled with delight as these thoughts 
 passed in his mind, while he looked upon 
 the mountains on the opposite side of the 
 river and said to himself, " It is France!" 
 and then back upon the road on which he 
 stood, and said, " This is Spain, no longer 
 covered with the myriads who have glut- 
 ted themselves with Spanish blood and 
 Spanish treasure!" As he turned with 
 his regiment to take up their allotted 
 quarters, he looked with a new sensation 
 of delight upon the soft green of the In- 
 dian corn, and upon the tent-shaped apple- 
 trees that, decked in their rich and gay
 
 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 23S 
 
 garbs of blossom, gave the most beautiful 
 appearance to the steep and falling fields 
 of this country of cultivated precipices : he 
 felt that the bright promise which they 
 gave would bless the hardy offspring of the 
 soil, and not become the prey of the wolf 
 of France. 
 
 : Alvarez with his patriots was ordered 
 to take up his quarters in the handsome 
 town of Usurbil, a small but well-built 
 collection of houses situated in a rich and 
 beautiful valley, through whidh the river 
 Oria directs its course, and about four miles 
 from the sea shore and from the city of 
 San Sebastian, where a lai^ge body of the 
 French were shut up by the presence of 
 the allied army. The inhabitants of 
 Usurbil received the new inmates into 
 their houses with hospitality. This town 
 liad been resorted to by a considerable 
 number of fugitive families from San Se* 
 hastian, who had left their homes in the 
 city to the mercy of the exasperated gai** 
 rison, rather than suffer the horrors of a
 
 ;234 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 siege : the principal house in the town 
 belonged to a noble and rich famuy of San 
 Sebastian, to whom it served as a country 
 residence, and resort of pleasure in the 
 times of peace and happiness ; it was now 
 inhabited by every branch of the family, 
 and by some intimate friends, to whom 
 they had afforded an asylum when the 
 general emigration took place from San 
 Sebastian, in the first moment of the alarm 
 excited by the news that the town was to 
 be defended by the garrison. This house 
 was the appointed quarter of Felix, and 
 the Señora de Irrizari afforded the best 
 accommodations to him and Ismena which 
 the crowded state of her hospitable roof 
 would admit. 
 
 Established in his quarters, one of his 
 first occupations was the closer examina- 
 tion of the books and papers which had 
 fallen into his hands at Vitoria. The 
 more he examined them, the more he was 
 struck with the singularity of the co- 
 incidence which brought them into the
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 235 
 
 hands of a person, who was so conversant 
 with the subject of them. " These tro- 
 phies are not for me," said he to himself ; 
 " they would be invaluable as an authentic 
 addition to the military records of the 
 siege, to the chiefs who had defended the 
 town of Cadiz. Who were those chiefs ? " 
 The name of Sir Thomas Graham could 
 not fail of recurring to his mind in the 
 most prominent point of view. It was he 
 who had commanded the British troops 
 during the first and the greater part of the 
 period of the siege : it was he with whose 
 army he had first commenced his military 
 career : it was at Barrosa, with which 
 word the name of Graham is so gloriously 
 and so inseparably linked, that he had 
 first dyed his sword with Gallic blood : and 
 when he recollected the passage of the 
 lake of La Janda, and many other in- 
 dividual traits of that General, his ad- 
 miration and reverence for his character 
 was heightened to an enthusiastic degree. 
 *' It is to him," thought Felix, " that these
 
 Sá6 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 
 
 records will be interesting, and it is he 
 who ought to be the possessor of these 
 spoils." He immediately determined to 
 send them to him, and to take the op- 
 portunity of testifying his respect for his 
 character, his pride at having first set out 
 on the road of arms under his directions, 
 and his happiness at being again under his 
 orders. He lost no time in putting this 
 determination into execution, and felt 
 more delight at tlie pleasure which this 
 expression of his feelings afforded him, 
 than if he had filled liis pockets with Ge- 
 neral Villate's doubloons. 
 
 His life at Usurbil was a life of com* 
 parative idleness. Lord Wellington was 
 pursuing his success to the summits of the 
 Pyrenees, and had left Don Carlos de 
 España with the Spanish army blockading 
 the town of Pamplona, while the column 
 to which Alvarez was attached was pre- 
 paring for the siege of San Sebastian. He 
 took this opportunity of making himself 
 acquainted with this most picturesque and
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 237 
 
 interesting country. His daily rides with 
 Ismena carried them into ahnost every 
 part of it, within a considerable distance. 
 San Sebastian was one of the spots to 
 which they paid an early visit. Its situ? 
 ation struck them as peculiarly beautiful. 
 It is built on a small isthmus which con- 
 nects an immense high hill to the Con- 
 tinent ; upon the top of this high hill stands 
 the citadel, while the town, which was 
 regular and well built, consisting of high 
 white houses, occupied the whole of the 
 tongue of land formed by the river 
 X^rimiea on one side, and a beautiful but 
 small circular bay on the other, in the 
 middle of which, about half way between 
 the hill on which stands the citadel, and 
 the hills which close the bay on the other 
 side of the circle, stands a rocky little 
 island called Santa Clara, the singularity 
 of the appearance of which adds consider- 
 ably to the beauty of the view. 
 . Alvarez and Ismena, after admiring this 
 10
 
 ^38 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 beautiful situation from the commanding 
 height, of a hill descended to the very shore 
 of the bay, to look at it in another point of 
 view : they remained th^re for a consider- 
 able time, lost in the admiration which it 
 excited, until their appearance attracted 
 the notice of the French, who, not having 
 then more important objects for the aim of 
 their cannon, began to amuse tliemselves 
 with making them their mark. The first 
 shot that came, fell short into tlie hay, and 
 Felix, who did not conceive it could be 
 intended for them, was looking about to 
 ascertain the probable object at which it 
 had been directed, when he was surprised 
 to find another fall within a few yards of 
 them. He then began to be alarmed for 
 the safety of Ismena, and hurried her away 
 with all possible speed. 
 
 From San Sebastian they dh'ected their 
 course along the coast to Passages, where 
 a larger and more singular bay than that 
 which they had just quitted, offered itself
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 239 
 
 to their view. As this bay is approached, 
 it has the appearance of a handsome lake, 
 surrounded on all sides by bold hills and 
 rocky precipices ; as there seems to be no 
 outlet, the panorama being closed by these 
 natural walls, the large ships at anchor in 
 the bay must excite surprise, and it is only 
 from the town that the entrance is dis- 
 covered. It is a narrow passage almost 
 straight through perpendicular rocks of a 
 great height ; and it is at the interior 
 mouth of this passage, on the shelvy sides 
 of the rocks, as they descend to the bay, 
 that the town is built in two equal por- 
 tions on the two sides of the entrance. 
 The houses are crowded together, and 
 built one above the other in different tiers, 
 but they give a picturesque effect to the 
 bay, and form an object of curiosity as 
 well as interest. Alvarez and Ismena 
 endeavoured to reach the town ; but it is a 
 singular thing, that it is not accessible by 
 any regular carriage-road. There is a 
 track from both the right and the left
 
 240 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 town, going over the mountains round the 
 bay, but these are both difficult and dan- 
 g-erous, from their situation, and the neg- 
 lected state in whicli they are left. 
 When tlie tide is low, a great part of the 
 bay is left dry, and the beauty of it is 
 spoiled by the unpleasant sight of a quan- 
 tity of mud which remains exposed : on the 
 sides, however, it is hard Ijeach, and it is 
 ^long this beach that the town is ap- 
 proached : but as the tide, when high, 
 washes the mountain's very base all round, 
 this usual way is no longer practicable, 
 and the traveller must either go by those 
 difficult tracts, or follow a dangerous foot- 
 path along the edge of a precipice. As 
 the tide was higli, Felix and Ismena de- 
 clined taking either df these alternatives, 
 and returned to Usurbil quite satisfied 
 with what they had seen. 
 
 In the family of the Irrisaris, Alvarez 
 and Ismena found a veiy agreeable society. 
 The girls were amiable and lively, and 
 took a great deal .of pains' to 'endeavour to
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 241 
 
 make them both understand something of 
 the extraordinary language of Biscay, 
 vvhicli has no analogy whatever with the 
 Castillian. They amused themselves by 
 attending to these lessons, but it was a 
 most unprofitable amusement, for they 
 made very little progress in the language ; 
 and indeed they were Tiot stimulated by 
 any hopes of success ; for the Biscayans 
 have a proverb that the devil lived seven 
 years in Biscay, and then left the country 
 because he could not make himself under- 
 stood ; and Alvarez and Ismena thought 
 they had no chance if so able a professor 
 had l^iled. (45) 
 
 After making many attempts to adapt 
 phrases, which she had taken a great deal 
 of trouble to learn, Ismena was at last 
 obliged to limit all her knowledge of 
 Bascuence, to learning tlie words of some 
 of the provincial songs, with the wildness 
 and beauty of which she was particularly 
 struck. Her kind friends enriched her 
 memory with a large stock of these, and 
 
 TOL. IIL M
 
 242 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 taught her to pronounce and to translate 
 the words of them, and consoled her for 
 her inability to profit Ijy their lessons in 
 grammar, by assuring her that she pro- 
 nounced the country songs with the true 
 Bascuence accent. With one of these 
 songs she was peculiarly delighted ; and 
 she used to sing it very frequently in her 
 walks and rides with Felix. (46) 
 
 Sweet is the beam of the mornnig 
 
 That chases the shadows of night, 
 Giving to darkness the warning 
 
 That tells of the coming of light ; 
 Oh ! but sweeter far is Julia's smile, 
 
 That gently is warring with sadness, 
 When sorrow that lurk'd on her cheek awhile, 
 
 Flies from the dimples of gladness. 
 
 Bright is the goblet that flowing 
 
 Purples the rays of the sun, 
 Sweetly the beams round it glowing 
 
 Concentrate themselves into one ; 
 Oh ! but brighter far is Julia's eye, 
 
 Its hue is more brilliantly fail-, 
 And as the rays to the goblet flv, 
 
 Every heart centres there.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 243 
 
 But ill the society of the family at 
 Usurbil, the conversation was not always 
 of the same, nature ; here too, as every 
 where else, Alvarez was obliged to listen 
 to histories of horrors, and tales of misery, 
 for here too the French army had been. 
 Amongst the many incidents characteristic 
 of the armies of France that he was in- 
 formed of by the Irrisaris, the account of 
 the manner in which the French first became 
 masters of the fortifications and citadel of 
 San Sebastian afforded the most striking 
 exemplification of the principle of warfare 
 upon which they acted. The General 
 commanding a column of the French, 
 quartered near Tolosa, applied for and 
 received permission from the Spanish com- 
 mander of the garrison of San Sebastian 
 to send the sick of his army, which he 
 represented as being numerous, into that 
 town, for the benefit of commodious hos- 
 pitals and sea air. In consequence of this 
 permission, upwards of two thousand men 
 were admitted into the town, and lodged 
 m2
 
 ^44 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 in the hospitals. They came in waggons 
 and vehicles of various kinds, with bandages 
 applied to different parts of their bodies; 
 some with their heads wrapped up, others 
 with their arms supported by slings, and 
 all having the appearance of sickness and 
 debility. The Spanish authorities offered 
 every accommodation to the sick allies, in 
 which character the French then appeared 
 to stand towards Spain, and were forward 
 in lending assistance to every plan for 
 their relief and comfort. They had not 
 been many days in the town before the 
 chief surgeon reported to the Governor of 
 the town, that he had about five hundred 
 cases of extreme debility which might 
 receive considerable benefit from the 
 higher and purer air of the citadel, re- 
 questing to know whether they might be 
 placed there for this purpose. The un- 
 suspecting Governor readily consented to a 
 proposal so evidently founded in reason and 
 humanity ; hoping that the poor men might 
 profit by the arrangement, he ordered a
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. Ü^6 
 
 temporary hospital to be prepared for them 
 in the citadel, to which they were shortly 
 removed. Thus far the success of the 
 French had kept pace with the infamy 
 and treacheiy of their plot; disguise was no 
 longer necessary, and one morning before 
 day-light these poor debilitated dying 
 men issued from the hospitals where the 
 generosity and humanity of their victims 
 had placed them, and found very little 
 difficulty in taking possession of every 
 part of the fortifications of the town as 
 well as the citadel, before the astonished 
 and bewildered garrison were aware of 
 their intentions, or prepared to receive 
 them as enemies. When morning dawned, 
 the inhabitants found themselves under the 
 guard of their perfidious allies, whom, in 
 spite of the circumstances that had been 
 passing in the capital, they had not yet 
 looked upon but as friends : — how soon 
 and how dreadfully they were awakened 
 from their error, may be easily imagined, 
 when it is recollected that the men whot
 
 !l!46 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 had thus m defiance of every law, humaii 
 and divine, made themselves masters of San 
 Sebastian, were part of the same army 
 that had committed tlie horrors which have 
 been recorded in some of the foregoing 
 pages. (47) 
 
 A more important post had at the same 
 time been entrapped into the hands of these 
 lawless ravagers. Pamplona had been lost 
 to the Spaniards by a stratagem in some 
 degree similar : the French troops stationed 
 in the villages around it were allowed to 
 come to receive the rations of provisions 
 and forage which were supplied by the 
 duped Si)aniards out of the magazines of 
 the city ; to take away these supplies a con- 
 siderable number of men was necessary, 
 and by degrees the numbers were increased, 
 until one day this large foraging party, in 
 entering the town, appeared to amuse them- 
 selves by throwing snowballs at each other 
 upon the glacis ; from the glacis the game 
 gradually grew warm and extended into 
 the town ; other of their comrades, in ap-
 
 FELIX ALVARES. 247 
 
 parent confusion, joined them as if to share 
 their sport, and upon these others, some of 
 A\ horn brought their arms ; l)ut this cir- 
 cumstance was unattended to in the amuse- 
 ment excited by the now general sham 
 battle of snow balls. By this means a large 
 body of men was introduced into the town, 
 sufficient to seize upon the guards at the 
 gates, and ensure a free entrance to the 
 whole army, which rapidly advanced to 
 complete this treacherous conquest. 
 
 To this trait of the spirit by which the 
 chiefs of the French army were actuated, 
 were added innumerable instances of indi- 
 vidual character in their officers and soldiers, 
 by the communicative family who seemed 
 to be never tired of recounting the misfor- 
 tunes of tlieir country and their country- 
 men. Alvarez and Ismena frequently en- 
 deavoured to avoid the afflicting repetition 
 of distressing tales, by devoting the greater 
 part of the day to long rides amongst the 
 mountains. In one of these excursions 
 tliey had gone a considerable way, and were
 
 ^48 FELIX ALVAREZ^. 
 
 thinking of returning, when they came to 
 a small farm-house, at the door of which was 
 sitting one of the stout, thickset, but healthy 
 and fresh looking women of the country, 
 spinning and singing one of those simple 
 and sweet little songs which Ismena had 
 learnt from the Irrisaris. They attempted 
 to speak to her, but could not by any pos- 
 sibility make themselves understood. The 
 girl, after endeavouring in vain both to un- 
 derstand and to be understood, resumed hei" 
 occupation and her song. (48) 
 
 Love is a little runaway 
 
 That makes each heart his home, 
 
 And when he's had his fun, away 
 
 He flies elsewhere to roam. 
 
 The mansion where his tricks he's play'd. 
 
 Must soon to ruins fall ; 
 
 By love left uninhabited 
 
 'Tis nothing worth at all. 
 
 If he should take possession 
 Maitia* of thy bosom, 
 Trust not each fair profession, 
 But chain him or you lose him. 
 
 * Maiiia in Bascuence mean* mv Love.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ 249 
 
 Let prudence bar the window, 
 And modesty the door ; 
 Inconstancy to hinder, 
 'Tis best to make things sure. 
 
 After listening- with pleasure whilst she 
 sung- several more verses, they at length 
 interrupted her to endeavour to obtain a 
 draught of cider, the common drink of the 
 country, of which th^y were in great need. 
 As no Spanish word would give her any idea 
 whatever, they were obliged to have recourse 
 to signs, upon which she readily invited 
 them in, and went to dravv^ some fresh 
 cider from the cask, which she speedily 
 produced, together with a slice from a 
 round loaf about six feet in circumference, 
 and a foot thick. (49) It was yellow 
 clammy bread made of Indian corn, and 
 covered on the outside with bay-leaves. 
 When the girl first presented this bread to 
 Ismena, it had a very tempting appearance, 
 like Hght yellow cake ; but upon tasting- 
 it, the unflavoured sweetness and doughy 
 consistency of it completely disgusted her. 
 U 5
 
 250 FELIX ALVARES, 
 
 The cider however was very good, ana 
 refreshed her. 
 
 They had extended their ride a great 
 deal too far, and they were only just now 
 returning to Usurbil as the sun was setting : 
 as he was setting in clouds which portended 
 the very reverse of an agreeable ride home, 
 the Bascuence girl pointed out the black- 
 ness of the heavens, and endeavoured to 
 explain that Ismena had better remain 
 there than attempt to go on with such a 
 prospect, by taking her to a bed in a recess 
 of the only room of which the farm-house 
 consisted, and pointed to it, to inform her 
 that it should be for her. Ismena conceived 
 that it was a bed that was not in use, for it 
 consisted only of a thick mattress with a 
 thinner one over it, and a pillow at the 
 head ; but Alvarez rectified her mistake, 
 by informing her that the people of the 
 country always slept between two mat- 
 tresses without any other covering. Ismena 
 smiled at this custom, but declined the 
 offer, and they set out on their return.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. Q51 
 
 They liad not proceeded far before it be- 
 came quite dark; and had Alvarez not been 
 very well acquainted with the country, 
 they would in all probability have lost their 
 way, and wandered about all night ; but he 
 had well observed the road they had come, 
 and was able to follow it in returning in 
 spite of the night. As they passed over a 
 very elevated height, which commanded a 
 view of San Sebastian, they were struck 
 with the brilliant and singular effect pro- 
 duced by a treble row of flambeaux, with 
 which tlie citadel was surmounted, and 
 which, being relieved by the darkness of the 
 night, emitted an extraordinary light. They 
 were at first at a loss to account for this 
 singular and beautiful appearance, but they 
 soon recollected that it was the 15th of 
 August, Napoleon's day, and they doubted 
 not that the garrison of San Sebastian 
 was celebrating it by this illumination. (50) 
 The rain which had long been threaten- 
 ing, began to fall only as, after descending 
 from the hills, they entered upon a nairow
 
 252 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 road running along the river Oria, at the 
 commencement of the valley of Usurbil. It 
 wound for some distance round a perpen- 
 dicular rock, and led to a bridge which 
 was the way to the good valley road ; but 
 being hewn out of the solid rock, it was 
 very narrow, and M^as undefended by any 
 fence along the side of the river, which, 
 being a continuation of the same rock, was 
 as perpendicular as the mountain on the 
 other side : besides these dangers, there was 
 a circumstance that rendered them parti- 
 cularly terrific. The road was nothing 
 but hard stone, appearing like large flakes 
 of rock, in which there were no interstices 
 where a horse could find a hold for his feet, 
 and the rain, which now descended in tor- 
 rents, gave a glassy slipperiness to these vast 
 stones, which made it almost impossible for 
 a horse to walk without falling. As they 
 commenced this perilous path, the thunder 
 rolled over their heads in awful and repeated 
 peals; and between the intervals of its 
 voice, the violent pattering of the descend-
 
 FELIX ALVAEE^r. 253 
 
 ing rain mingled with the loud rushing of 
 the broken course of the river, and formed 
 a kind of slighter but unceasing thunder. 
 The vividness of the lightning was the 
 only means by which they could direct their 
 course, for the darkness was so great that 
 they could not distinguish the heads of 
 their horses. In this dreadful situation 
 they continued advancing, Alvarez before, 
 and Ismena following close behind ; whilst 
 the constant trippings of their horses proved 
 the difficidty the poor animals had in 
 keeping their feet, and menaced them 
 every moment vv^ith precipitation over the 
 perpendicular rocks into the raging river. 
 Too anxious to keep at a distance from the 
 edge of the precipice, Alvarez nearly made 
 his horse's feet slip from under him, by 
 keeping him against the side of the rock, 
 while Ismena resigned herself to her fate, 
 and allowed her horse to follow that of her 
 husband, without any other guidance than 
 the occasional support which he required 
 when he slipped. Having proceeded thus
 
 254 FEI.IX ALVAREZ. 
 
 over a distance which appeared to Alvarez 
 the whole length of the road, he calculated 
 that they must have arrived at the bridge; 
 and after in vain straining his eyes to ascer- 
 tain the truth of his suggestion, he was 
 convinced that they were come to it, although 
 he could not see it, and consequently he 
 turned his horse's head to go over it. The 
 careful horse refused to obey the impulse 
 which would have sent him forward, and 
 the spurs of his master were applied in vain. 
 Alvarez reconsidered his road, and was the 
 more convinced that something which he 
 thought he saw before him was the bridge; 
 he again urged his horse, which again dis- 
 obeyed the spur. While he was still en- 
 deavouring to make him go on, a violent 
 flash of lightning revealed to him the peril 
 of his situation : he stood upon the very 
 brink of the precipice, with no bridge before 
 him ; had the horse obeyed him he must 
 inevitably have been dashed to pieces. The 
 same flash of lightning showed him the 
 bridge a few yards further on, and with 
 10
 
 FELIX ALVAUEZ. 255 
 
 more certainty directed his steps. In a 
 few moments more he had the happiness of 
 finding himself and Ismena rescued from 
 the perilous pass, and safe upon the great 
 road which conducted them without diffi- 
 culty to their quarters at Usurbil. (51)
 
 256 FELIX ALVAHEZ. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Assault of San Sebastian— Dangerous Experiment 
 of the British Artillery — Wanton Cruelty of the 
 Besieged — Courage of the Defenders — The Town 
 Won — Situation of the Town when taken — Con- 
 clusion. 
 
 ÜUT the time was now come when 
 Felix was to be no longer idle. The 
 siege of San Sebastian had been conducted 
 by the British army with extraordinary 
 vigour, and they had made an enormous 
 breach on the side of the town which 
 looked towards the Urumea, that ap- 
 peared in every respect practicable. The 
 moment of the assault was anticipated 
 with the greatest anxiety ; and from every 
 part of the army there were volunteers 
 who pressed to be allowed to engage in 
 this dangerous service. A selection from
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 257 
 
 these volunteers was allowed to be made 
 by the commanders, that every regiment 
 might take its part in the duty for which 
 all seemed so anxious. Alvarez was de- 
 termined not to be without his share in the 
 anticipated glory of the day, and he left no 
 means untried to obtain permission to ac- 
 company the assaulters : he found it a more 
 difficult thing, from the circumstance of 
 there being no Spaniards employed in the 
 siege ; but at length, by application to Sir 
 Thomas Graham, he succeeded in his 
 wishes, and was allowed to join in the 
 dangers of the assault. 
 
 It was before mid-day on the 31st of 
 August that the troops marched out of 
 their trenches and ascended the broad 
 breach in the demolished walls of the 
 town. It was a fearful ascent, and the 
 first who arrived at the summit fell, to 
 give their bodies as steps to their comrades 
 who followed. And many were they who 
 thus fell ; for, upon gaining the height of 
 the breach, an insurmountable impedimerJi
 
 25S FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 was discovered to their further progress : 
 an immense chasm had been dug behind it, 
 filled with chevaux dc frieze, and every 
 possible instrument of defence. Surprised 
 and disheartened, the British soldiers ne- 
 vertheless remained immoveable upon the 
 steep ascent of the breach, although ex- 
 posed to the fire of one of the defences 
 which commanded it, and the musketry 
 of the French upon the ramparts. It be- 
 came necessary to destroy the curtain 
 which commanded the breacli, and which 
 prevented all hoj)es of any further progress : 
 but the British troops were situated be- 
 tween the batteries and this point, which 
 consequently could not be annoyed but 
 by directing the cannon balls immediately 
 over their heads, and not much above them. 
 Such a dilenuna would have intimidated 
 less experienced and less skilful engineers, 
 but the British artillery officers confidently 
 assured the General that they could destroy 
 the curtain without endaup-ering- the brave 
 men whose progress. it arrested, and they
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. ^59 
 
 performed their promise. So skilfully a\ ere 
 their shots directed, that although they 
 passed but a few feet over the heads of the 
 assaulters, not a shot but reached the enemy, 
 without doing any injury to those \^ horn it 
 was intended to assist. 
 
 While this dangerous and difficult ma- 
 noeuvre was performing, a brigade of Por- 
 tuguese marched across the river Urumea, 
 to reinforce those who were already on the 
 breach. Fording the river at its very em- 
 bouchure, these gallant men steadily con- 
 tinued to wade through the water, which 
 i-eached above their middles, altliough ex- 
 posed to a destructive fire of grape-shot 
 from the town, which ^vas well directed, 
 and did great execution ; but they continued 
 to persevere, without being thrown into dis- 
 order, and with undaunted courage joined 
 their allies upon the breach. 
 
 After the march of these brave Portu- 
 guese across the river, a circumstance oc- 
 curred which strongly exemplified tlie 
 wanton and sanguinary cruelty of tlie
 
 26o FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 French. Many were the poor fellows who 
 fell in the ford by the grape-shot, and 
 found in the water the death which their 
 wounds might have failed to produce ; but 
 there was one unhappy wretch whose pro- 
 gress had been stopped at the very edge of 
 the river by a shot, whicli, by breaking his 
 leg, prevented him from moving from the 
 spot where he was wounded. The poor 
 fellow remained for some time in this 
 situation ; but when the tide began to 
 ascend, the waters rapidly increased, and 
 he endeavoured in vain to save himself 
 from the certain fate which seemed to 
 await him. Two compassionate sailors, 
 who were stationed in the breaching bat- 
 tery with the heavy naval ordnance which 
 had been disembarked from the ships, were 
 touched Avith pity at his situation, and hu- 
 manely went to his assistance. They were 
 without arms, and evidently intended only 
 to remove the unhappy Portuguese from 
 the spot where in a short time he must 
 have been drowned ; but, the savage sol^
 
 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 261 
 
 tliers on the ramparts of the town, neither 
 prevented by their unarmed inoifensiveness, 
 nor softened by the hvuiianity of their in- 
 tention, deUberately made them a mark, 
 and evinced but too much skill in directing 
 their muskets. One of the sailors was 
 struck before he arrived at the unhappy 
 object of their compassion, and he was 
 dragged away by his comrade through a 
 shower of musket balls which fell around 
 them. When the impulses of humanity 
 were despised, and the common laws of 
 war outraged, every one was forced to 
 look out for himself, and therefore the^ 
 poor Portuguese was drowned without any 
 other effort being made to assist him. (52) 
 
 But the balls of the British artillery 
 had now almost destroyed the battery 
 that had been so successful in check- 
 ing the assaulters. They again roused 
 their hopes and their exertions ; but the 
 French fought bravely, and the whole line 
 of the ramparts and defences was crowded 
 with their legions. Their fire was terrific,
 
 í262 ' FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 and could oidy liave been witlistood hy 
 such brave spirits as those which were op- 
 posed to tliem. There was but one narrow 
 passage at the end of the breach by which 
 an entrance into the town was practicable ; 
 and this was defended hy ranks upon ranks 
 of undaunted men, wliich were filled up as 
 speedily as they were mown down. The 
 Fiench officers saw that if that pass were 
 preserved, no bravery, no courage could 
 surmoimt the obstacles to the descent 
 in the interior of the breach ; and they 
 encouraged their men with the enthusiasm 
 inspired by the magnitude of the stake. 
 One particularly stood upon an elevated 
 l^rt of the ramparts, and with the voice of 
 a Stentor, seemed to pour courage into the 
 breasts of his men. No ball had touched 
 him — he seemed invulnerable amidst the 
 shower of deaths that fell around him. 
 But his hour was rapidly approaching ; it 
 had been delayed that it might be more 
 terrible. The skilfully directed balls which 
 the British artillery still continued to pour
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 26S 
 
 upon the exposed rampart, were as success- 
 ful as they deserved to be, and one at length 
 fell upon an expense magazine of powder 
 at the very corner of the breach, wlieretliis 
 officer was inspiring and encouraging the 
 mass of men which defended the passage. 
 The effect was instantaneous and terrific — 
 the wliole rampart was Ijlown up, involving 
 in its destruction friends and enemies — 
 besiefiers and besieged. The defenders of 
 the passage and their courageous chief 
 were blown into the air or crushed by the 
 masses of falling stone, together with a 
 number of those who were upon the breach 
 in the immediate neighbourlujod of the 
 explosion. But, though some of the as- 
 saulters were the victims of this blow, it 
 was the decision of the day ; it opened the 
 town to their comrades, who failed not to 
 profit by the advantage ; and climbing over 
 the ruins which buried many of their fellow- 
 soldiers, they rushed through tlie unde- 
 fended avenue into the town. 
 
 Although almost every street in the town
 
 S64 FELIX ALYAKEZ, 
 
 was prepared to be defended from small 
 breast-works which had been erected across 
 them, tlie conquered garrison thought no 
 longer of fighting, but made all possible 
 speed to leave the town and ñy to the 
 citadel. Safe in tliis retreat, tlie pursuit 
 was given over, and the victorious soldiers 
 scattered all over the city, irritated by 
 the resistance they had met with and the 
 heavy loss they had sustained, and further- 
 more, impressed Avith the common idea 
 tliat tlie spoils of a town taken by assault 
 were the right of its victorious assailers, 
 l)egan to enter the deserted houses and lay 
 tiieir hands upon what they could find. 
 
 Alvarez had been one of those who had 
 pursued the enemy to tlie very gates of 
 tlieir retreat, and he was now returning 
 through the streets of the town, which 
 presented a most afflicting spectacle. In 
 many parts the mangled bodies of bayoneted 
 rsoldiers were strewed about ; and the flames 
 which had been originally created by the 
 firing upon the city, and those which the
 
 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 265 
 
 French in retiring had hghted in many of 
 the principal edifices, now burst forth from 
 the houses in many parts of the town. 
 The confusion which prevailed in the street 
 added to the horror of the scene : the sol- 
 diers had lost most of their officers, and 
 those who were present had no power or 
 authority over the men, who were every 
 where roaming about in parties, or, singly, 
 entering and plundering the deserted houses 
 which presented themselves. (53) 
 
 Alvarez wandered about the town a long 
 time, finding the flames at almost every 
 corner, and anticipating Vvitli horror the 
 fate of so iDeautiful a city as it appeared to 
 be. He entered the Plaza Mayor, a square 
 of excessively handsome stone houses, from 
 the windows of several of which he dis- 
 cerned the destruction which was going on in 
 the inside. While he was lamenting the im- 
 possibihty of saving the city, he saw a man 
 rush out of one of the houses from the win- 
 dows of which the flames were issuing : 
 he was pursued in his flight by several 
 , VOL. III. N
 
 ^66 FELIX ALVAEEZ. 
 
 Portuguese soldiers, and overtaken at the 
 corner of the street, near whicli FeUx was 
 standing. The man had a sword in liis 
 hand, with which he attempted not to 
 defend himself, but began in a supplicating 
 and crying tone to beg mercy from the 
 exasperated soldiers, who overwhelmed him 
 with all sorts of vilifying epithets. Felix ap- 
 proached; but before he had time to inquire 
 into the cause of the scuffle, his feelings and 
 thoughts were directed into a new channel 
 by recognizing the man who was assailed 
 by the soldiers. It was no other than Luis 
 Mosquera. At sight of him the blood 
 boiled in his veins, and pushing aside the 
 man who stood between him and the object 
 of his vengeance — " Infernal villain !" he 
 exclaimed, " if ever one spark of courage 
 animated your cowardly soul, defend your- 
 self now, or give this sword an uninter- 
 rupted passage to your heart." 
 
 Mosquera was, indeed, surprised at sight 
 of Felix, and endeavoured to reply to his 
 challenge in a conciliatory manner; but 
 Alvarez answered only by his sword ; and
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 267 
 
 Mosquera, finding himself pushed, roused 
 all the energies of his mind and body to 
 endeavour to sustain a combat with a man 
 whose rage he conceived might blind him 
 and place him in his power. But Felix's 
 impetuosity was guided with skill, and in 
 a very few moments the traitor received 
 the blade of his injured friend in his bosom. 
 Mosquera fell, and covered the pavement 
 witíhb his blood. One of the Portuguese 
 soldiers would have hastened the death that 
 was fast approaching, by running his 
 bayonet into his body, but Alvarez pre- 
 vented him, and questioned him as to why 
 they were pursuing him. 
 
 " We found the fellow in yonder house," 
 said the soldier, " with his drawn sword 
 menacing a woman who was on her knees 
 before him. The moment we came into 
 the room she screamed out to us that he 
 was a traitor and a Frenchman, and begged 
 us to protect her. The rascal ran off, and 
 we followed him to this spot." 
 
 Mosquera evinced that he was not yet 
 N 2
 
 268 FEI.IX ALVAREZ. 
 
 dead by uttering several deep groans ; and 
 at length opening his eyes, he with some 
 difficulty pronounced a few words. 
 
 " Alvarez," said he, " that woman is 
 your sister, Albertina !" 
 
 Surprise, horror, indignation, and a mul- 
 titude of contending emotions, for a mo- 
 ment impeded the animal functions of Felix; 
 but rapidly recovering himself, he darted like 
 lightning towards the house from which he 
 had seen Mosquera rush. The flames were 
 issuing with violence from the upper win- 
 dows ; and as he entered, the staircase was 
 completely blocked up v/ith furniture of all 
 kinds that had been thrown confusedly 
 down. Making his way over every obstacle, 
 he arrived at the first suite of apartments ; 
 he ran from room to room, calling repeat- 
 edly the name of Albertina, and rapidly 
 glancing into every corner of every room. 
 No voice answered his ; nowhere could he 
 discover the object of his search. Regain- 
 ing the staircase, he began to ascend the 
 second flight of steps; but his progress "was 
 impeded by the thickness of the smoke, and
 
 I'ELIX ALVAREZ. 269 
 
 the intense lieat which he felt. Despair 
 urged him on, and he continued to ascend 
 in spite of every thing. As he was advanc- 
 ing, his foot struck something that was 
 lying across the stairs, though hidden from 
 his sight by the smoke, and he fell. Ex- 
 hausted and almost suffocated, he would 
 hardly have made an effort to rise, had not 
 a gleam of hope darted across his mind 
 that this might be the fainting, peri^aps the 
 dead body of Albertina. Dreadful as was 
 the thought, it roused him into action. 
 He groped about in the thickening smoke, 
 and was not long in finding the body over 
 which he had fallen. It was, indeed the 
 body of a woman, and he rushed with it 
 from the perilous situation in which he 
 stood, and not without great difficulty 
 reached the open air in the plaza. A 
 glance convinced him that the features of 
 her whom he bore in his arms, however 
 pallid, however impressed with the stamp 
 of death, were those of his dear — his long- 
 lost sister : and she !)rcathed, and it was 
 not long before the fresh air restored her to
 
 270 FELIX ALVAREZ. 
 
 her senses ; but she opened her eyes only 
 to close them agam, for the first object 
 that struck her sight v/as her brother : 
 it was too much for her weak nature to 
 bear, and she again fainted in his arms. 
 
 Alvarez hastened to remove her from the 
 scene of destruction which surrounded 
 them. As he passed by the corner of the 
 street where he had fought with Mosquera, 
 he saw the dead body of that fiend on earth 
 lying extended without motion where it 
 had fallen, for his black spirit had fled. It 
 was with the greatest difficulty that he 
 conveyed the still fainting Albertina through 
 the town, and out at the gates which had 
 now been opened ; and having at length 
 arrived at the great road, he placed the 
 burthen which he had hitherto carried in 
 his arms upon a mule, which, with its 
 owner, a poor Spaniard, was waiting to 
 receive some of the plunder from the Por- 
 tuguese and British soldiers, in this manner 
 he arrived at a large farm-house about a 
 mile from San Sebastian, where Ismena 
 and the Irrisaris had been anxiously wait-
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 271 
 
 ing to have the most speedy intelligence of 
 the result of the day. The evening had 
 closed in before he reached this spot, and 
 the rain descended in torrents, a circum- 
 stance which considerably aided the reco- 
 very of Albertina, who, under the tender 
 care of those around her, was soon awakened 
 to life, and to a full sense of the happiness 
 which was in store for her. 
 
 It is impossible to describe the joy of 
 Albertina, Alvarez, and Ismena, at their 
 union, for Providence had guarded the 
 honour as well as the life of Albertina 
 through a series of unheard-of trials, and 
 there was no cloud to darken the delight 
 of this happy termination of her misery. 
 She had been carried away from the Quinta 
 de Vistosa, by order of the general offi- 
 cer who had slept there on the fatal night 
 of the burning of Las Casas del Puerto, 
 and who had conceived a passion for her as 
 respectful as it was violent. From this 
 circumstance she w^as preserved from any 
 otlier peril than that arising from his im- 
 portunities, and she had remained in this
 
 272 FELIX ALVAllEZ. 
 
 situation ever since. Various were the 
 circumstances which favoured her escape 
 from the dangers which surrounded her ; 
 and the chances of war at last conducted 
 her to San Sebastian, where she found an 
 enemy from whom she had more to fear 
 tlian from any she had yet encountered. 
 Mosquera was employed in some lucrative 
 civil situation in San Sebastian, and he 
 soon discovered the sister of his friend and 
 his victim. Urged by the same diabolical 
 spirit which had excited him to plan the de- 
 struction of Alvarez, he determined to effect 
 that of his sister, and he left no means 
 untried to forward his purpose. He endea- 
 voured to enflame the passions and excite 
 the jealousy of her hoping lover and the 
 protector of her virtue ; but he had little 
 success in this endeavour ; and his further 
 intentions were prevented by the assault of 
 the town. He had not prepared for his 
 retreat to the citadel; and when he attempt- 
 ed it, retreat was no longer possible. Even 
 in this situation, the blackness of his heart 
 overbalanced the cowardice of his nature.
 
 FELIX ALVAREZ. 273 
 
 and, in waiting- the event of the assault 
 with respect to himself, he proceeded to 
 the house where he knew Albertina had 
 remained, and insulted her with the most 
 gross and horrible propositions. He would 
 have carried his insults to greater lengths 
 had he not providentially been interrupted 
 by tlie arrival of the Portuguese soldiers. 
 
 The narrative of Albertina's misfortunes 
 occupied many of the calm hours of retire- 
 ment which followed the siege of San 
 Sebastian, and served only to heighten the 
 happiness which they all felt in the manner 
 in which they had closed ; " for," said 
 Alvarez, " now I may allow myself to 
 think of nothing but happiness. My 
 oath is fulfilled — the ravagers and de- 
 stroyers of my country are driven beyond 
 its limits, and my dear sister is found." 
 
 N 5
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Note(l), p. 2. 
 
 The gitanos, or gypseys of Spain, are a most 
 extraordinary people, and have their character 
 more distinctly marked than those of any other 
 country. Although very many of them for- 
 sake their wandering life, and settle in towns, 
 they never alter their customs and manner of 
 living, and it is very rare indeed that they 
 marry out of their tribe. One of Cervantes's 
 tales is called La Gitanilla, the little gypsey 
 girl,* and is a well drawn picture of their cus- 
 toms and manners. In it an old gitano gives 
 an account of their mode of life, to a young 
 man who joins their band, and to whom he gives 
 the gitanilla. 
 
 Note (2), p. 5. 
 
 I think I have heard that the custom of keep- 
 ing the Domingo de la Piñata is not known at 
 
 * See Las Novelas de Ccrvactcs,
 
 NOTES. 275 
 
 Madrid. Its derivation is Genoese; and from 
 the circumstance of a number of the principal 
 commercial houses at Cadiz being originally Ge- 
 noese, the festival has become universal amongst 
 the inhabitants of that town. 
 
 Note (3,) p. 39. 
 
 No pen can do justice to this interesting scene, 
 which took place in the Isla de Leon, on the 
 29th INIarch, 1812. It is most singular that in 
 spite of the jealousies and prejudices which mu- 
 tually existed in both the armies against each 
 other, and the hasty temper of both the Eng- 
 lish and Spanish soldiers, the harmony of the 
 feast was not disturbed by one single quarrel 
 or dispute of the slightest nature, even though 
 all were enflamed with wine. The effect that 
 this festival had in softening the prejudices of 
 the two armies towards each other was striking. 
 On the evening of that day, whole lines of 
 soldiers indiscriminately mixed, Spanish and 
 English, twenty and thirty at a time, arm in 
 arm, walked up and down the broad street 
 (Calle Real) of the Isla de Leon, singing together 
 patriotic songs, or in mii'thful conversation ; and 
 ever after, it was no imcommcn thing to see 
 soldiers of both nations walking together in the
 
 276 NOTES. 
 
 street, and seeking each other out, a circum- 
 stance which before that time was hardly ever 
 known. 
 
 Note (4), p. 44-. 
 
 The vast powers of tlie extraordinary mortars 
 here alluded to are well known to every one, 
 particularly since the one presented to the Prince 
 Regent has been placed in St. James's Park. 
 They were cast at the celebrated cannon- 
 foundery at Seville, carried down the Guadal- 
 quivir, and from its mouth transported wnth im- 
 mense labour to the Napoleon Battery, which 
 was the nearest point to Cadiz, but at a distance 
 of upwards of 6000 yards from it. The shells 
 thrown from these mortars reached over two- 
 thirds of the city. 
 
 Note (5), p. 45. 
 
 The number of people killed and wounded in 
 and about Cadiz during the four months of 
 bombardment amounted ioJifty-foiLr. 
 
 Note (6), p. 49. 
 
 This manner of giving warnincf of the cominfl: 
 of the shells gave occasion to a circumstance 
 which is worthy of being recorded. The man 
 
 who was placed in the steeple of the church of 
 3
 
 NOTES. 277 
 
 San Francisco to announce the danger as soon 
 as he saw the smoke issuuii^ from the Napoleon 
 Battery, where the mortars were placed, tolled 
 the bell. The shell, of whose approach he gave 
 warning, struck the steeple and took away part 
 of the wall of the small belfry, where he was 
 placed. The man, however, knew that they 
 never fired off one mortar until they had pre- 
 pared two, and he was so little affected by the 
 danger of his situation, or by the dreadful en- 
 gine that had passed so near him, and he was 
 so much on the alert, that in less than the space 
 of lialf a minute, he perceived the fellow 
 shell, and gave his accustomed warning by 
 again tolling the bell, which had escaped un- 
 injured. This brings to mind the well-known 
 anecdote of Charles XII. and his Secretary"; 
 and certainly the watchman at San Francisco 
 displayed as much calm and steady courage as 
 the hero of Sweden. 
 
 Note (7), p. 55. 
 
 Almost all the principal Spanish guerilla 
 chiefs had appellations, some of which, from 
 their familiar turn, may be rather called nick- 
 names. El Empecinado is one of these. Por- 
 lier was called El Marquesito— the little Mar-
 
 S78 NOTES. 
 
 quis; another was called El Padrecito — the 
 little priest ; and so generally were they desig- 
 nated by these titles, that to t\e greater number 
 of those who talked about them, their real 
 names were unknown. 
 
 Note (8), p. 57. 
 
 MADRID LIBRE. 
 
 15 cle Agosto, — El dia 10 y 1 1 partió Pepe con 
 unos 15 mil hombres, inclusos 3 regimientos de 
 juramentados: cerca de 10 mil prófugos rene- 
 gadillos, rencgaditos, renegados y renegadazos 
 seguían á su soberano. El 12 entraron nuestros 
 redentores. El gozo de estos momentos prodrá 
 sentirse mas no explicarse. El 13 y 11- fue 
 batido el Retiro : á las 1 2 del dia de este ultimo 
 capitularon los 1700 franceses y 300 jurados de 
 la guarnición. Se han hallado grandes respu- 
 estos de efectos, vestuarios, comestibles y 180 
 cañones. Ha habido 3 noches de iluminación 
 y 4 ya de gozo universal. Hoy se ha aumen- 
 tado la satisfacción y jubile de este pueblo Espa- 
 ñol con la solemne y magestuosa fiesta de la 
 publication el 13, y hoy con el juramento á la 
 constitution que entre bombas y granadas ha 
 sido formado en Cadiz por los dignos represen-
 
 NOTES. 279 
 
 tantes de la nación Española. El pueblo de 
 Madrid será siempre el que dé el exemplo de 
 fidelidad, sumicion, obediencia y constancia en 
 favor de la patria. Salen hoy 3 divisions acia 
 la Mancha. Se presentan desertores y pasados 
 que es una maravilla. Tenemos buenas esperan- 
 zas en los jicrame/itados, que van por fuerza 
 con Pepe. 
 
 Madrid, 16. — A la una de la mañana del 12 
 salieron de Madrid los últimos Franceses sin 
 causar estrago : á poco tiempo después entraron 
 los aliados con la 7"^ division y 2 brigadas de 
 cavallcria: también lo hicieron los empecinados. 
 La alegría, vivas y miles de aplausos con besos 
 y abrazos que fueron bien recebidos mutualmente 
 no pueden compararse, ni hay pluma que pueda 
 explicarlo. El Lord está alojado en palacio, en 
 la habitación del infante Don Antonio que se le 
 escogió por no estar aun infestada de vapores 
 vraidales: Don Carlos España, en casa del 
 Marques de Santiago : el Empecinado en casa 
 del Señor Duque del Infantado, y á los demás á 
 porfía se los llevaban á sus casas los habitantes. 
 Las Manolas y Manolos con sus panderos fueron 
 á arrancar los arbolitos de la alameda que Pepe 
 hizo en la puerta de San Vicente, y con ellos 
 hicieron enramadas para recebir al I ord : hicie-
 
 280 NOTES. 
 
 ron locuras que no son fáciles de describir con 
 sus vivos coloridos. Tres dias de iluminncion, 
 colgadas todas las calles, locos todos sin saber 
 quando volverán a sano juico: los aliados están 
 admirados al ver estos extremos de gozo y re- 
 conocimiento. 
 
 Pepino marchó con toda su farsa por el camino 
 de Aranjuez y Toledo, en cuyos alrededores 
 andan errantes por seguirlos los aliados; ya se 
 asegura que capitularon los de Toledo. La guar- 
 nición del Retiro de 1800 hombres capituló: 
 los mil partieron acia Arabaca; 800 juramenta- 
 dos quedan á disposición del gobierno, del que 
 se espera tome prontas disposiciones. En el 
 Retiro se encontrá,ron 2 aquilucbos, ] 80 cañones 
 20 mil fusiles, 15,000 vestuarios, muchas muni- 
 ciones, centenares de miles de raciones, muías, 
 bueyes, 3 millones de reales y 50 ex-doncellas 
 con 100 renegados. 
 
 El Lord nombró á Don Carlos España Go- 
 bernador de Madrid, y este lixó al punto un 
 bando pava que todo el que sepa el pai'adero de 
 effectos franceses, ó de viles Españoles los ma- 
 nifieste en el termino de 8 dias. Se cree parta 
 pronto el Lord, pues trata de batir á los gabachos 
 en detal.
 
 NOTES. 281 
 
 Note (9), p. 63. 
 
 The manner in which the French destroyed 
 their cannon upon raising the siege of Cadiz is 
 not unconnnon. The mortar which is now 
 placed in St. James's Park has been rendered 
 useless by this means, and bears the mark ot" 
 the ball which was fired into its mouth. 
 
 Note (10) p. 66. 
 PAPELETA DE ENTIERRO. 
 
 REQUIESCANT IN PACE. 
 
 Bonaparte hijo de Leticia, Pepe hijo de la 
 misma madre, Soult sátrapa de Andalucía, 
 Semellé general de la costa, los demás parientes, 
 albaceas y amigos del difunto Sitio de Cadiz 
 que espiró en el dia de hoy, suplican á V. 
 se sirva favorecerles con su asistencia para ver 
 arder las baterías, reductos, repuestos de pól- 
 vora, Síc. incendiados (desde los campos de 
 Salamanca por el celebre caudillo ingles Wel- 
 lington) y atizadas sus llamas j)or los fugitivos 
 valientes de las invencibles legiones que hoy se 
 re-re-re-retiran acia adelante. A lo que que- 
 darán reconocidos. Cadiz, 25 de Agosto, de
 
 282 NOTES. 
 
 1812. Vivía en Chiclana. Trocadero, Puerto- 
 real y Puerto de Sta. Maria. 
 Al Señor Don Público. 
 
 Note (11), p. 71. 
 So great was the confusion and surprise of 
 the division of the French which was driven out 
 of Seville by the handful of men under the com- 
 mand of Colonel Skerrett, that being very early 
 in the morning, many of the officers are said by 
 the inhabitants to have jumped out of bed, and 
 made their retreat without their necessary quan- 
 tity of clothes. General Villate is stated to 
 have been one of those who was put to flight in 
 this condition. 
 
 Note (12), p. 73. 
 
 What is here recorded of Felix Alvarez is 
 the faithful narrative of the conduct of the brave 
 General Sir John Downie, then a Colonel in 
 the Spanish army. The sword, which he pre- 
 served by throwing it across the bridge, was the 
 identical sword which was worn by Pizarro 
 during the conquest of America, and had been 
 presented to Colonel Downie by the present 
 Marquesa da Conquista (the title given to the 
 family of Pizarro,) upon the occasion of the
 
 NOTES. 283 
 
 consecration of llie colours of the Legion of 
 Estremadura, which was raised and commanded 
 b}' him. The sword thus preserved was after- 
 wards restored to him by the soldier "who picked 
 it up, upon his return to Scvilie^ the French 
 havinii left him some distance from the town, in 
 their retreat, because they could carry him no 
 further, taking, however, his parole not to serve 
 for a certain time. 
 
 Note (13), p. 80. 
 
 The origin of the rosary is not the least ex- 
 traordinary of the many miracles ascribed to 
 St. Dominick. I have lately met a droll 
 account of it, contained in a few words in an 
 old description of the curiosities of Paris, by 
 Monsieur Dulaure. 
 
 " Rien n'est plus miraculeux que Forigine du 
 rosaire. Un jour Saint Dominique transporté 
 d'un saint courage s'etoit si vigoureusement 
 fastigé, qu'il tomba u demimort sous les 
 coups de sa discipline. Marie le voit, vole á 
 son secours, et le pressant contre son sein, lui 
 dit : Moil clier Dominique, sachez que la Saiute 
 Triiñié r¿a point choisi d'aulres armes pour ejfac^er 
 tous les peches du monde, que la salutation ange- 
 liquc, qui est la base et le J'ondement de la loi
 
 284< NOTES. 
 
 nouvelk'.'* Apres cctte avis, Dominique s'em- 
 presse de precher et distribiier partout le rosaire. 
 Ce fut alors que I'enfer irrité fit retentir les airs 
 d'un bruit affreux de démouo qui liurloient et 
 crioient. IMalheur a 7ious, parceqite par le ro- 
 saire nous sonunes lie's et enchaims avec des chames 
 de feu. C'est une grande preuve de la vertu du 
 rosaire que le desespoir de ees diables. 
 
 Note (14), p. 81. 
 
 Among the various ways which the French 
 invented to endeavour to legalise their gross impo- 
 sitions and robbiqg taxes, one of the most sin- 
 gular was a duty upon deaths, which was actually 
 established in Seville a short time only before they 
 were driven from the place. The plan was ar- 
 ranged in this manner : the old established 
 parroquial fees upon funerals were taken off, 
 and offices were appointed, where the relations 
 of the deceased were obliged to apply for per- 
 mission to have his body biu'ied ; for this per- 
 mission they paid extravagantly, and without it 
 no priest dare perform the sacred office. The 
 priest afterwards, upon producing the permission, 
 received a small sum, and the rest became the 
 
 * Ue fialernitalé rosarii rnandulens.
 
 NOTES. 285 
 
 perquisite, or rather the plunder of the French. 
 The following is the edict which established 
 this arrangement. 
 
 " Edicto — En atención á lo acordado por la 
 municipalidad en al art. P del reglamento for- 
 mado para la recaudación de los derechos de ce- 
 menterios, se previene al público, que desde el 
 dia 17 del corriente deberán ocurrir todas las 
 personas que con arreglo al art. 5'' y 6° del cap. 
 P del reglamento provisional para los enterra- 
 mientos, paguen algunos derechos mortuorios en 
 su parroquia, á recoger la papeleta que designe 
 el derecho que ha pagado y satisfecho conforme 
 á la clase de enterramiento que elijan, en casa de 
 los recaudadores que se han nombruvío á este 
 intento para cada cementerio, y son los sig- 
 nientes [here follow the names of the persons] . 
 
 Recogida la papeleta según va prevenido, se 
 presentará á los Srs. Capellanes de los cemen- 
 tarlos á que corresponda, quienes están encar- 
 gados de cuidar se hagan los enterramientos con 
 arreglo al derecho que dexen pagado y designe 
 la papeleta, sin cuyo requisito de ninguna 
 manera lo verificarán ; y para evitar confusiones 
 y que llegue á noticia de todos, se fixa el pre- 
 sente en Sevilla y Agosto 11 de 1812. 
 
 Ventura Ruiz Huidobro, 
 
 Secretario de la Municipalidad.
 
 Í2S6 NOTES. 
 
 Note (15), p. 83. 
 
 The ceceo is the particular defect of the Anda- 
 lusian manner of pronouncing the Spanish lan- 
 guage. It consists in pronouncing the s like a z 
 or a c, both of which letters sound in Castillian 
 exactly like i/i in English. It is the provincialism 
 of Andalusia to pronounce an s always like a z^ 
 and a z always like an s. 
 
 Note (16), p. 85. 
 
 In a chapter on the natural wit of the 
 Spaniards, in the preliminary discourse to Don 
 Antonio de Capmany's Teatro-Historico-Critico 
 de la Eloquencia Española, this expression is 
 stated as having been made use of in the exact 
 manner in which it is here introduced ; and the 
 author brings it among others as an example of 
 the strength and aptness with which the lowest 
 and most unlettered inhabitants of Spain express, 
 themselves. On this subject he writes with all 
 the force and enthusiasm so characteristically 
 Spanish, when their "amada Patria" is brought 
 into question. The following is the manner in 
 which he relates the trait which 1 have adopted, 
 and his observations on it: 
 
 '' Un tio Machuca, anciano ordinario de 
 Sevilla á la Corte, mas curtido de los soles y
 
 NOTES. í287 
 
 iViüS (jue los mulos do su recua, por una gran 
 urgencia tenia que emprender su viage el dia 
 cabalmente de la fiesta del Corpus-Cliristi. Pre- 
 gúntele yo en la víspera, como era tanta impa- 
 ciencia en un hombre criado en el camino ? y 
 respondióme: reniego de mi oficio ;. vea vmd qué 
 dia mañana de arrear bestias, que por permisión 
 de Dios ni las moscas habían de volar. Qué 
 orador ni que poeta podia encarecer mas la san- 
 tificación del dia augusto del Señor ? No dixo 
 las águilas no hablan de volar ; esto ya era vago 
 y afectado; no las palomas: esto olla á lugar 
 rhetorico ó concepto predicable; nolos gorreones: 
 esto era común y pueril. Tampoco dixo los 
 ríos debían parar su curso; esto era pedir mila- 
 gros á la omnipotencia, y no desearle el obsequio 
 de las criaturas sino el trastorno del orden esta- 
 blecido en la creación. Pues que dixo? estarse 
 immobiles las moscas, que es decir, hasta el mas 
 despreciable insecto ; el viviente que menos parte 
 j)arece que puede tener y tomar en la celebración, 
 de tal fiesta ; aquel en cuya acción de volar 
 aparece menos trabaxo y esílierzo ; aquel enfin, 
 cuyo vuelo es menos estrepitoso, cuyo movimiento 
 y ruido, por su ínfimo y casi invisible objeto es 
 menos capaz de distraer á los hombres de la 
 reverencia y quieta contemplación de lafestividad
 
 288 NOTES. 
 
 de tan altü misterio ; pues si, aun aquel animalcjo 
 debe reposar en obsequio del Señor. En la 
 mosca compendió el tio Machuca todo el reyno 
 animal, tal es la imagen, que por ser como la 
 ultima y mas abreviada íi nuestros ojos, supone 
 ya en aquella obligación de quietud á los pri- 
 meros y principales volátiles. En la quietud y 
 descanso de la mosca comprehendió este sencillo 
 ordinario, por un dicho mas sencillo pero mui 
 extraordinario, á los mismos elementos, prohi- 
 biéndoles toda agitación ; y en la obligación de 
 cesar todo movimiento, parece abrazó íi la na- 
 turaleza entera, que debía estar dij^ámoslo asi, 
 muda y baldada, menos ciega para contemplar so- 
 segada y silenciosamente la solemnidad del Crea- 
 dor Sacramentado. Toda esta extension corre la 
 frase, quando en aquella quietud reverencial se 
 obligaba hasta el ultimo insecto. Yo no sé si 
 esto pensimiento es oriental á occidental, ni si 
 los Egypcios, Bracmancs, ó Laconios lo hu- 
 bieran exprimido con mas consecion, energía, 
 grandeza y sencillez. Puede ser que yo no lo haya 
 bien entendido ; mas, ay de aquel ! que no en- 
 tendiese la fuerza y sentido de este gallardo dicho 
 aunque parezca fanfarrón I que bien puede dex- 
 arse de leer Horneros, Hesiodos, Platones, y 
 sus entrescartieos esoliadores, y exercitai' la»
 
 NOTES. 289 
 
 fuerzas de sus brazos en cabar la tierra ó ma- 
 chacar esparto, paraque reposen las de su virgen 
 y apalmazado entendimiento. 
 
 Note (17), p. 9t. 
 A Spanish woman when married preserves her 
 maiden name, and adds that of her husband to 
 it, with the conjunction y, and. 
 
 Note (18), p. 99. 
 
 An immense number of the women of Seville 
 became attached to individuals of the French 
 army. The number which left the town during 
 the period of its stay there, to accompany their 
 lovers, was computed at upwards of 4000. 
 
 Note (19), p. 122. 
 
 This little story is not an imaginary one. It 
 is reliited strictly and literally as it occurred; and 
 many other Elnglish officers were acquainted 
 with the parties as well as the author, who, in 
 reading these pages, will recognize the characters 
 of the jealous lover and his unhappy wife. The 
 only variation from the exact truth which has 
 been made in drawing these characters, is the 
 speech which is stated to have produce d the con- 
 vulsions of the girl upon the return of the lover. 
 
 VOL. III. O
 
 290 NOTES. 
 
 This it was impossible for the author to know, 
 although the scene in every other ' respect is 
 correctly drawn ; but this speech was introduced 
 for the purpose of relating another incident, 
 equally true, although it was by no means con- 
 nected with the story now related. The cii- 
 cumstance told by Captain Blackwell, at the end 
 of the chapter, I heard from the person to whom 
 it happened, and who is in every respect worthy 
 of credence; in relating the two stories, I have 
 only connected them together. 
 
 Note (20), p. 132. 
 
 These words are adapted to a wild and beau- 
 tiful cossack air, which is very generally known. 
 It has, I believe, been published with w^ords by 
 M. G. Lewis, Esq. 
 
 Note (2)), p. 136. 
 
 A strong exemplification of the inherent and 
 natural fondness of the Spaniards for the guitar, 
 occurred when the Spanish prisoners, who had 
 been detained in France for so long, and em- 
 ployed in the most laborious public works, were 
 returning to their native country. I saw a great 
 number of them pass through Saint Jean de Luz, 
 and very many of them were provided with
 
 NOTES. 291 
 
 guitars, which tliey slung about their shoulders 
 and carried in spite of the inconvenience, the 
 form and size of the instrument must have been 
 to them in making long marches. 
 
 Note (22), p. 137. 
 
 These couplets are freely translated from some 
 of the common verses, which are originally com- 
 posed in the manner here described, and are 
 afterwards transmitted from mouth to mouth, 
 and sung by every child in the street. These 
 stanzas are perfectly distinct and unconnected 
 one with another, as is always the case with the 
 boleras and tiranas, from which description of 
 national music those here offered are selected. 
 
 Porque te miro en la cara 
 
 No por eso te he de amar, 
 
 Que hay muchos que van á la feria 
 
 Por ver, y no por comprar. 
 
 Al principio de amarse 
 Dos corazones 
 Nunca falta un diablillo 
 Que los estorve : 
 Pero en queriendo, 
 Se amarán aunque salga 
 Todo el Infierno. 
 O 2!
 
 29^ NOTES. 
 
 O fingeS) ó no finges 
 Querido dueño ; 
 Si finges, acabóse; 
 Si no, acabemos. 
 
 Note (23), p. 139. 
 
 The bolero here refered to is one of the most 
 beautiful that I ever heaid in Spain. It is com- 
 posed by Sor. The words adapted to it are not 
 translated from the original. 
 
 Note (24), p. 143. 
 The country about Añovcr del Tajo, ÍS famous 
 for potatoes, which are sold at Madrid for a 
 higher price than those of other districts. 
 
 Note (25), p. 146. 
 
 This horrible story was related to me exactly 
 in the same manner as I have made it relate 
 to Felix Alvarez. I shoold have made it a point 
 to see the unhappy survivor in the morning, as 
 it was on the night of my arrival at Añover 
 that I was informed of it ; but I was suddenly- 
 obliged to leave the town in the middle of the 
 night, and 1 had no opportunity. I, however, 
 made a note of the circumstance, and mentioned 
 the man's name, which is here recorded.
 
 NOTES. 293 
 
 Note (26), p. 149. 
 
 This occurrence took place on the night before 
 the affair of Bornos, where Ballasteros defeated 
 a body of the French. 
 
 Note (27), p. 155. 
 
 The author was the last person who left the 
 town of Cienpozuelos, before the French passed 
 the Puente Larga, and of course entered it. 
 He left it exactly in the deserted state here de- 
 scribed ; but shortly after overtook a body of its 
 inhabitants, who were hastening towards Madrid. 
 From them he heard accounts of horrors which 
 it is impossible to describe, as having been com- 
 mitted by the French in their last retreat 
 through the town of Cienpozuelos. The cir- 
 cumstance which is here stated of their conduct 
 at the convent, is but a sketch of the enormities 
 which they detailed to rne as having occurred 
 there. The lady abbess, who was eighty-three 
 years old, was not safe from their infernal licen- 
 tiousness ; but their conduct saved them the 
 trouble of killing her ; she died ! 
 
 Note (28), p. 158. 
 
 The lion here referred to stands upon the exact 
 point where the road over the Sierra of Guadar- 
 o 3
 
 294) NOTES. 
 
 rama bearins to descend, and is the limit of the 
 two kingdoms of Castille. The following is the 
 mention made of it in the Guia de Caminos or 
 post-road book of Spain. 
 
 " En lo mas alto del Puerto hay un Leon de 
 piedra, sobre un pedestal de lo mismo, esta 
 apoyando las manos sobre dos mundos mirando 
 á la parte del oriente ; dicho pedestal tiene once 
 pies regulares de largo, y si€te de ancho, poco mas 
 ó menos : tiene también una inscription latina, 
 que no se conoce mui bien, y denota en qué rey- 
 nado se hizo, y el año. Aquí empieza Castilla la 
 Vieja." 
 
 Note (29), p. 158. 
 
 The battle of Salamanca is called by the 
 Spaniards the battle of the Arapiles, having been 
 fought upon the plains of that name, whicii are 
 at a considerable distance from the town. 
 
 Note (JO), p. 162. 
 
 This incident is a fact. The number of 
 Portuguese women who followed the British 
 army is incredible, and most of them suiiered 
 much greater hardships than the men to whom 
 they attached themselves. Many of these wo- .
 
 NOTES. 2^5 
 
 men had remained with the army from its first 
 arrival in Portugal, until they were obliged to 
 quit it by orders from the chiefs, when it re- 
 turned to England from Bordeaux. Those 
 who had been thus constant were sent to their 
 native country with the Portuguese army, which 
 marched through Spain. 
 
 Note (31), p. 167. 
 
 The common manner of attracting the atten- 
 tion in Portugal is by hissing ; and in calling 
 any person, a Portuguese invariably accom- 
 panies his name, or his title, by the exclama- 
 tion O! 
 
 Note (32), p. 172. 
 
 No person who has travelled in Portugal will 
 be inclined to suppose this description of a real 
 event to be at all exaggerated. 
 
 Note (33), p. 175. 
 
 The author witnessed the representation of 
 this sacred play, in the Spanish theatre at Gib- 
 raltar. There are a vast number of the same 
 kind, which are commonly acted at the sacred 
 seasons, but l>ardly any more indecently ir-
 
 296 NOTES. 
 
 reverent, or more preposterously childish, than 
 
 La paciencia de Job. 
 
 Note (34-), p. 182. 
 
 The conversation of these two guides here 
 recorded was carried on with the author, in a 
 situation exactly similar to the one in which 
 Alvarez is placed. 
 
 Note (35), p. 185. 
 It was a common peasant whom the author 
 accidentally met in the road, who thus explained 
 the distance from Alcañizas to Trabazos, and as 
 far as I have been assisted by memory, his own 
 words are used. The justness of the distinction 
 vvliich he made has often struck me in situations 
 where it would equally apply. 
 
 Note (36), p. 187. 
 
 This instance of British stoicism occurred in 
 my own hearing, and I noted down the brave 
 man's words in my common place-book im- 
 mediately after. 
 
 Note (37), p. 189. 
 
 The French in their last retreat never passed 
 a village, or the most insignificant hamlet, with- 
 
 9
 
 NOTES. 297 
 
 out extorting contributions to the extent which 
 they conceived it possible the poor inhabitants 
 could produce. It is said that after imposing a 
 considerable amount to be raised in a few mud 
 cottages, they have not been ashamed to receive 
 the pakr^^ sum of twenty rials fa dollar) in pay- 
 ment of the absurd imposition. As the su- 
 bordinate officers had so good an example set 
 them by the generals who passed through the 
 larger towns, the commander of every detached 
 company or handful of men conceived Inmself 
 authorised in imitating his superiors as far as he 
 could in his small field of action. 
 
 Note (38), p. 193. 
 
 This remark has so frequently been made in 
 the army, that it is hardly possible that any 
 person connected with it can be ignorant of it. 
 The coincidence of thunder preceding Lord 
 Wellington's battles has been so often repeated, 
 that there are many good British soldiers who 
 superstitiously believe it to be an omen. In the 
 actions which followed the battle of Vitoria to 
 the termination of the Peninsular contest, the 
 same precursor was generally observed even at 
 times when the season of the year rendered such 
 an event a phenomenon : and the minute details
 
 -Í98 NOTES. 
 
 of the last and greatest battle of the hero of 
 Spain — the battle of Waterloo — are too ge- 
 nerally known to all classes of the British pub- 
 lic, to make it necessary for me to inform them 
 of the storm which preceded that eventful day. 
 
 Note (39), p. 199. 
 The particular part of the battle of Vitoria 
 here described is the progress and charge of 
 Major General Sir G. Anson's brigade of ca- 
 valry, being that with which the author is more 
 acquainted from his own observation. 
 
 Note (40), p. 201. 
 
 It is astonishing hov/ speedily the dead and 
 wounded men are stripped after a battle by these 
 inhuman plunderers. The instance of it here 
 related fell within the observation of the au- 
 thor. 
 
 Note (41), p. 204. 
 
 This was an incident told in the army, but 
 for the truth of which I have no other authority 
 than general report. 
 
 Note (42), p. 218. 
 The pass of San Adrian is here faithfully
 
 NOTES. 299 
 
 described. It divides the provinces of Gui- 
 púzcoa and Alava. 
 
 Note (43), p. 223. 
 
 This account of the enthusiastic delight of the 
 inhabitants of Tolosa is not exagj^erated. The 
 effect produced by the sudden and brilHant 
 illumination of the town, as the soldiers passed 
 through the principal street, is not to be de- 
 scribed. 
 
 Note (44), p. 228. 
 This guerilla incident is one of the exploils of 
 Espoz y Mina, and was performed by him at 
 the head of a handful of Biscayan volunteers, 
 to destroy the escort of a convoy, which was 
 passing from Pamplona to Tolosa, at a time 
 when the French were firmly established in the 
 country, and when there was scarcely a hope of 
 deliverance from them. It was related to the 
 author upon the very spot where it occurred, 
 which is correctly such as has been described, 
 by the postillion who was conducting him with 
 post-horses from Tolosa to Pamplona. It is 
 impossible to hear this incident without being 
 struck with the similarity of the manner in 
 which the Spaniards under Pelayo gained the
 
 300 NOTES, 
 
 batde of Covadonga, so beautifuily desciibecl in 
 Roderick the last of the Goths. 
 
 Note (45), p. 241. 
 
 The Bascuence language has not the slightest 
 analogy with the Castillian, and there are not 
 above thirty words of the latter which are ever 
 introduced into the former. A Biscayan priest, 
 whose name was Irremendi, undertook to form 
 a grammar of this language; and after an in- 
 defatigable course of constant labour he pi'o- 
 duced one, which he entitled " El Impossible 
 vencido" the impossibility vanquished. It can, 
 however, be hardly said to be vanquished, for it 
 seems only to have proved the impossibility of 
 reducing the language to rules. He has not 
 been able to erect fewer standaids for the con- 
 jugation of the verbs than upwards of two 
 hundred : and to almost all these different con- 
 jugations, there are innumerable classes of ir- 
 regular verbs, which seem to differ as much 
 from the conjugation with which they are 
 classed as the several conjugations do one from 
 another. Another great difficulty exists also in 
 the various dialects into which the' language is 
 divided, it being spoken in a manner essentially 
 different in two villages at the distance of three
 
 NOTES. 301 
 
 or four leagues from each other, and in pro- 
 portion as you increase the distance, the dif- 
 ference becomes greater, so that the inhabitants 
 of one end of the province of Guipúzcoa arc 
 really at a loss to understand those of the other 
 end. 
 
 Note (46), p. 242. 
 
 The original words of the song, to which 
 these lines are adapted are subjoined as a spe- 
 cimen of the language: 
 
 Aitaric estut eta 
 Ama ere zartu, 
 Lagumbaten bearra 
 Echien badagu ; 
 Zuc placer basenduque, 
 Nic naico sin duquet zu, 
 Ene decira zerden, 
 Grain badaquizu. 
 
 Zure borondateac 
 Biotza urquitudet, 
 Estut orain munduvan 
 Nic vertu decir ic ; 
 Zu urus icusteco, 
 Ene Saietzian, 
 Eguiiiendut segurque,, 
 Es fortza gusteac. 
 VOL. III. P
 
 302 NOTES» 
 
 Note (47), p. 21-6. 
 
 This account of the manner in which the 
 French became masters of San Sebastian was 
 related to me by one of its most respectable in- 
 habitants, who also gave the account which 
 follows of the manner in which they seized upon 
 Pamplona. 
 
 Note (4-8), p. 248. 
 
 The following are the original words to the 
 air to which these lines are adapted. The 
 English lines take up the idea of the original, 
 though they are not a translation : 
 
 Biotz biguiiacuac 
 Ecu zitzen badu, 
 Mira garrisco ederrbat, 
 Buruba galtzendu. 
 Ni biotz deguñicua 
 Zu ederrmira ¡guia ; 
 Ñola estizut emango, 
 Anima gustia. 
 
 Ustarigo gorrada 
 
 Matrimoñiua, 
 
 Bein artu esquerostic, 
 
 Esta usticua.
 
 NOTES. 303 
 
 Posible valitzaque, 
 Imposible daña 
 Laster larga corneuque, 
 N¡ nere Senarra. 
 
 Note (49), p. 249. 
 
 The Biscayans bake their provision of In- 
 dian corn bread once in five or six months, and 
 make it into enormous loaves, which they cover 
 all over with bay leaves before they put them into 
 the oven. They are then hung up to the beams 
 of the house, and consumed as required. These 
 poor people never think of eating v/heaten bread; 
 and when they saw the British cavalry give the 
 Indian corn to their horses, they were shocked 
 at what they considered a shameful misapplica- 
 tion of the food of man, and would have per- 
 suaded the soldiers to substitute wheat for it. 
 
 Note (50), p. 251. 
 
 This description is drawn from the real effect 
 produced by the illumination of the castle of 
 San Sebastian, in honour of Napoleon's day, 
 about a fortnight before it was assaulted. 
 
 Note (51), p. 255. 
 
 The road from Zubicta to Usurbil alona: the 
 side of the river, will be easily remembered by 
 7
 
 304 NOTES. 
 
 those who have ever seen it. It was passed by 
 the author exactly in the situation which he has 
 here described. 
 
 Note (52), p. 261. 
 
 This circumstance is a literal fact, to which 
 the author was a witness. 
 
 Note (53), p. 265. 
 
 The destruction of San Sebastian has been 
 very frequently discussed, and has given rise to 
 a great deal of ill-will between the Spaniards 
 and the British. It has been reported in a 
 great many different ways throughout Spain, 
 and generally very much against the allies. 
 The manifesto, published by the inhabitants of 
 the town after its destruction, is an exaggerated, 
 and in many respects unfounded account of 
 the horrors which are inevitable in a town 
 taken by storm, and is written with a spirit 
 evidently irritated and malevolent. 
 
 END OF VOL. Ill; 
 
 C Baldwin, Printer, 
 New BriJse-strecf, London. 
 
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