bon, the contents of which he was pleased to communi

cate to us."

Previously to the seizure of Portugal by the French army, a young man, residing at Lisbon, the son of a mer chant of Oporto, had become enamoured of the daughter of a powerful Portuguese nobleman. He soon made known the state of his affections to the young lady, who, overlooking the prejudices of birth, yielded a return to his passion, and found means to elude the vigilance of her friends, and give him her hand at the altar of a neighbouring chapel. The marriage was soon discovered. Mortified pride and indignation seized the hidalgo. The young man was banished by the ministry to Oporto; while the Inquisition, ever ready to engage in any measure of despotism and barbarity, immured the poor imprudent girl within the precincts of a convent.

The entry of Junot into Lisbon, however it might be regarded by the rest of the nation, was, by these two unfortunates, hailed as the æra of their liberty. The young man made a personal appeal to the feelings of Junot. It was not made in vain. Young man," said Junot, "your wish is granted; your wife shall be restored to you." The gates of her prison were thrown open; and Junot, for once at least in his life, was instrumental to the

happiness of two fellow-creatures. The British conquered. The French retired. Again the prisons of the Inquisition yawned. Dread and horror seized the lady. She fled to the protecting arms of her only brother, who resides in the neighbourhood of Guarda. The fell Inquisition reclaims its prey; and their agent at Guarda, unless he shall be disposed of by an apoplexy, or some other way equally effectual, will soon lay his clutches on this poor creature, and conduct her to the Inquisition.

From Guarda hither the road is over a bleak plain, interspersed with mean villages, and intersected with stone walls. Immense blocks of granite cover the face of the country, in all directions; and oak-trees, their usual accompaniment, are not wanting. The white, or Spanish broom, grows here in abundance. We crossed one or two .streams, and at length the Coa River, over which there is a singular, but rather handsome bridge, of three arches. Of this place I shall defer the description till I have more time.

Adieu.

LETTER XXXIII.

ALMEIDA DESCRIBED.-CHANGE IN THE ART OF WAR.-UNPROMISING ASPECT OF AFFAIRS IN SPAIN.THE SPANISH ARMIES EXIST BUT IN NAME. THE JUNTAS-THEIR APATHY-THEY DELAY THE LANDING OF SIR DAVID BAIRD'S ARMY AT CORUNNA, UNDER FRIVOLOUS PRETENCES. BRIGADIER-GENERAL ANSTRUTHER.—IGNORANCE OF THE INHABITANTS OF ALMEIDA OF THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN SPAIN.

Almeida, 19th November, 1808.

THIS town stands on the top of a very high mountain, or, more properly perhaps, on a lofty mountain-plain, which is divided by an immense glen, containing in its sinuosities the rapid river Coa, which, rushing down amidst rifted granite rocks, and after being joined by three small rivers, adds its stream to the majestic Douro. Almeida is the principal place in the district of Pinhel; and Dumouriez thinks it "the strongest fortification in Portugal. It has six royal bastions of stone, and as many ravelins, that fronting the Coa, which runs at the distance of a mile, is of a noble extent, and furnished with a cava

BRIDGE OVER THE COA RIVER, near Almeida.

Published June 15.1809, by Richard Phillips, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London.