natives of Toro. This place made a great figure in the. fifteenth century, during the wars between Ferdinand, Prince of Arragon, and Alphonso, King of Portugal, which, ended in securing to the former the throne of Castile.

Nothing can surpass the want of comfort or misery in which the people of this country live, or, I should say, exist, if I may be allowed to judge from what I have seen since I left Salamanca. Their clothes and linen ragged and threadbare; their persons shockingly filthy; houses nearly unfurnished; windows without glass; fuel dear and scarce; and their food consisting almost entirely of an execrable mess, called gaspacho, which they eat thrice a day, This is made of a mixture of vinegar, garlick, lamp-oil, and Cayenne pepper, mixed with boiling water, poured over a dishful of bread. Once a week (on Sundays that is) they allow themselves, as a rarity, a bit of bacon or a sausage; and in this way they subsist all the year round. Their winters are as cold as their summers are dry and sultry, Their chief fuel consists of chaff or chopped straw, thrown over a few twigs; and, as they are unacquainted with the luxury of a pair of bellows, they are obliged to be eternally on their knees, blowing up the embers, if they happen to have any pot or jar on the fire; for they have almost no cooking utensil that is not of earth. Now and then you see a copper ladle, which is scoured very bright,

and hung against the wall as an ornament. Knives, forks, and spoons are rare articles; consequently, they make use of their fingers, and clapping their mess on a low stool, round which they assemble like a set of Hottentots, they endeavour to satisfy the cravings of nature. It is melancholy to contemplate these extraordinary repasts in a country which the All-bountiful Creator has distinguished by so much fertility. Such, however, is the lot of the unfortunate Spaniard.

16th December, 1808.

I have just heard, that in consequence of some dispatches which have been intercepted and brought to Sir John Moore, he has changed his plan of proceeding against Valladolid, and is going to Sahagun, to attack the Duke of Dalmatia, who is posted at Saldanha.

The army is to march to-morrow to some villages to the westward. Head-quarters are to remove to one of these, named Castro Nuevo. By some accident, my baggage-mules have not joined me since I left Salamanca ; and, as it is possible that they may have gone towards Zamora, I shall ride there to-morrow, to inquire about them.

Zamora, 17th December, 1808.

The road from Toro hither follows the course of the

Duero, through a very beautiful valley. The country around is chiefly in pasturage, in part tolerably clothed with groves of oak and alders, and diversified with several cheerful villages. Immediately around Toro the hills are covered with vines, which yield a red wine, little inferior in flavour to that of Burgundy..

Zamora, though of very ancient date, is much the most cheerful and cleanly town I have seen in Spain. It is placed on a hill commanding the Duero, which is here a beautiful river. A Gothic stone bridge of eleven arches. opens the communication with the southern bank, and the city of Salamanca, from which it is distant ten'leagues.

This city was built on the site of an ancient Roman station, called Senica, by Alonzo the Third, towards the beginning of the ninth century, and made the capital of the kingdom of Leon. It was called Zamora, from the number of turquoises which were formerly found there, these stones being named zamora in the Moorish dialect. It is still surrounded with a strong wall, flanked with square towers, and the inhabitants consider it capable of opposing some resistance to an enemy. Zamora is the seat of the military government of Old Castile, and has been more than usually active in the patriotic cause..

It was at this place that that brave regiment belonging

to the Marquis de la Romana's army was raised, which made such an extraordinary march, to escape from the tyranny of France: if I recollect rightly, it was not less than seventy-two miles in twenty-four hours.

I here received a billet on the house of a Spanish gentleman, who received me with great hospitality. Indeed, the English have been better treated here than in any other part of the north of Spain. About two hours before I entered Zamora, a Spanish officer had arrived from Madrid, with accounts of the surrender of that city to Bonaparte, and several copies of the proclamation issued on that occasion. I have not been able to procure a sight of it, but am, however, acquainted with the leading points. The Junta here would not believe the intelligence; he was accordingly arrested and sent over to the Marquis de la Romana, at Leon. However, I must tell you, that the people cannot help expressing the delight they feel at the abolition of the Inquisition, and the partial suppression of the monastic orders. Several neighbours of the gentleman at whose house I am, came this evening to pay him a visit, and were absolutely capering about the room with joy. One of these was a cura, or secular clergyman. I mention this to you, as it will give you an idea of the great popularity which this first, act of the new monarchy is likely to give to Joseph Bonaparte..

L L

LETTER XLIV.

ZAMORA.-REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY ITS HISTORY.- FERDINAND OF ARRAGON. THE INQUISITION.-CASTRO NUEVO.-VILLALPANDO. VALDERAS.-A FALL OF SNOW.-MAYORGA.—SAHAGUN.-LORD PAGET'S ACTION WITH A BODY OF FRENCH CAVALRY.

Sahagun, 21st December, 1808.

I ARRIVED here this afternoon, and shall give you my journal from the 17th, the date of my last letter.

18th. This morning, being unable to hear any tidings of my mules and baggage, I quitted Zamora, after taking a hasty survey of a town which had been the scene of so many interesting events, during the struggle of Ferdinand of Arragon for the crown of Castile. On getting to the top of a small hill without the walls, and stopping my horse to take, probably, the last look at Zamora, I could not but reflect that the landscape I then contemplated had been the theatre on which Ferdinand, that hero and conqueror of the fifteenth century, had laid the foundation of his future greatness. The whole events of that period seemed to flit before me with the rapidity of a vision.