cause, and sent them guns and gunpowder and money. He also sent an army to Portugal, under Sir Arthur Wellesley, who afterwards became the Duke of Wellington. He had fought well in India, but nobody knew yet how very great a man he was. The war which now began in 1808 is known as the Peninsular War, because it was fought in the peninsula formed by the two countries of Spain and Portugal. Wellesley beat the French in Portugal, at Vimiero, and drove them into Lisbon. An, arrangement was made by which the French army was to be allowed to go back to France, leaving Portugal free. Soon after this Wellesley returned to England, though part of his army remained behind. About the same time a French army had to surrender to the Spaniards at Baylen, in the south of Spain. The Spaniards fancied that their troubles were nearly at an end.

2. Napoleon in Spain.—The Spaniards had plenty of trouble before them. Each separate Spaniard was ready to fight and to die for his country. But they did not fight well when they were together in an army. The men were without discipline, and did not trust their generals. The generals did nct deserve to be trusted. They thought it was so easy to win victories that they did not take any pains to win them. The consequence was, that they were always beaten whenever they fought battles. Napoleon no sooner heard that his soldiers had been taken prisoners than he resolved to come himself to Spain. At the head of an army he marched into the country, beat the Spaniards, and entered Madrid in

triumph. The English general, Sir John Moore, was advancing through the north-west of Spain. He hoped that the Spaniards would gather round him to fight the French. The Spaniards did nothing of the sort. When Moore reached Sahagun he heard that Napoleon was coming to attack him with a much larger army than his own. He had to retreat, and fortunately for him Napoleon went home to France, and left one of his generals to follow the English.

3. The Battle of Corunna.-Sir John Moore reached Corunna with difficulty. He had hoped to find the English fleet there to take his army on board. But a mistake had been made, and the fleet had gone to another harbour. Before it could be fetched, the French arrived, and a battle had to be fought, to drive them off, in order that the tired soldiers might get safely on board. The French were beaten, and the men got safely away, but their brave commander was killed. He was buried on the field of battle by his sorrowing companions. The story has been told by a poet named Wolfe:

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As the corpse to the ramparts we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero was buried.

We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning,
By the struggling moon-beam's misty light,
And the lantern dimly burning.

No useless coffin inclosed his breast,

Not in sheet nor in shroud we wound him,
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest
With his martial cloak around him.

Few and short were the prayers we said,

And we spoke not a word of sorrow,

But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead,
And we bitterly thought of the morrow!

We thought as we hollowed his narrow bed,
And smoothed down his lonely pillow,

How the foe and stranger would tread o'er his head,
And we far away on the billow !

But half of our heavy task was done,

When the clock struck the hour for retiring,
And we heard the distant and random gun
That the foe was sullenly firing.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,

From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line and we raised not a stone,
But we left him alone with his glory!

4. Oporto and Talavera.-The next year Wellesley was sent back again with a fresh army to Portugal. Landing at Lisbon, he marched swiftly to Oporto, and drove the French out. Then he returned and pushed on towards Madrid. At Talavera he met the French army. He had a large Spanish army with him as well as his own. But the Spaniards were jealous of him and would not fight. The British soldiers had to do everything themselves. At last they won the victory. The Spaniards gave no help. Before long other French armies approached, and Wellesley, who was made Lord Wellington on account of the victory, had to go back to Portugal. It seemed as if all this fighting had been useless. In reality it was of the greatest use. It taught Wellington that he could not depend on the Spaniards,

and he never again trusted their promises to help him, or marched anywhere at their request.

5. Walcheren.-Napoleon was by this time engaged in another war with Austria. The people of the North of Germany was longing to rise against his tyranny, but his armies were too strong for them, and he had put French soldiers into all the strong fortresses in those parts. The English Government had an army to dispose of, and if it had been sent to the north of Germany it might have given great assistance to the Germans. Instead of this, Lord Castlereagh, who was the minister who managed the war, sent it to the Scheldt, to attack Antwerp. The command of the army was given to Lord Chatham, the eldest son of the great minister. He was not a

good soldier, or a wise man. The command of the fleet was given to Sir Richard Strahan. Instead of sailing quickly up to Antwerp, the commander stopped near the mouth of the river, and landed the men on the Island of Walcheren. The French soldiers from all parts hurried to Antwerp, and made the place too strong to be taken. Walcheren is a low flat island, and a fever broke out amongst the English soldiers, which destroyed a great number of them. At last the expedition came back without doing anything, and people in England laid the blame on the general and admiral. Some clever

fellow wrote that

My Lord Chatham, with his sword drawn,
Stood waiting for Sir Richard Strahan;
Sir Richard, longing to be at 'em,
Stood waiting for the Earl of Chatham.

6. Wellington's Difficulties in Spain. -Wellington had difficulties enough in Spain. He had but few soldiers to oppose to the hosts of the French. If the French armies could have joined together, they must have driven him out of the Peninsula. Yet he did not despair. He did not trust merely in his own skill, great as it was, so much as in the righteousness of his cause. He knew how terribly cruel and oppressive Napoleon was, and he felt sure that, sooner or later, his cruelty would provoke all Europe to rise against him. How soon that day would come he could not tell, but he felt that it was his business to wait patiently till the time came. In Spain, the French armies, numerous as they were, were already in difficulty. The Spaniards could not fight great battles, but they, could form small groups of men, each having his gun in his hand, and firing at small parties of Frenchmen. Then too there were always a number of French generals in Spain, and they despised Joseph, whom Napoleon had made King of Spain, because he was not a soldier, and, therefore, they would not do as he ordered them. They were also very jealous of one another, and never liked to help one another, for fear that the other might get the credit of any victory that was gained. All this helped Wellington very much, because, if he had two or more generals against him, he could calculate that they would not agree what to do. Perhaps the treatment which Wellington received from the ministers at home was worse for him than the opposition of his enemies. Canning ceased to be minister about this time, and Mr. Perceval became Prime