ion with the Arragonese at
Zaragossa, the situation of the Catalonian insurgents on the one side
would be prodigiously strengthened; while, on the other hand, the armies
of Leon and Galicia (whose coasts offered the means of continual
communication with England) would conduct their operations in the
immediate vicinity of the only great road left open between Madrid and
Bayonne--the route by Burgos. He therefore had instructed Savary to
consider Zaragossa as an object of the very highest importance; but the
corps of Lefebre was not strengthened as the Emperor would have wished
it to be, ere he sat down before Zaragossa. The siege was pressed with
the utmost vigour; but the immortal heroism of the citizens baffled all
the valour of the French. There were no regular works worthy of notice:
but the old Moorish walls, not above eight or ten feet in height, and
some extensive monastic buildings in the outskirts of the city, being
manned by crowds of determined men, whose wives and daughters looked on,
nay, mingled boldly in their defence--the besiegers were held at bay
week after week, and saw their ranks thinned in continual assaults
without being able to secure any adequate advantage. Famine came and
disease in its train, to aggravate the sufferings of the townspeople;
but they would listen to no suggestions but those of the same proud
spirit in which they had begun. The French at length gained possession
of the great convent of St. Engracia, and thus established themselves
within the town itself: their general then sent to Palafox this brief
summons: "Headquarters, Santa Engracia--Capitulation"; but he received
for answer: "Headquarters, Zaragossa--War to the knife." The battle was
maintained literally from street to street, from house to house, and
from chamber to chamber. Men and women fought side by side, amidst
flames and carnage; until Lefebre received the news of Baylen, and
having wasted two months in his enterprise, abandoned it abruptly, lest
he should find himself insulated amidst the general retreat of the
French armies. Such was the first of the two famous sieges of Zaragossa.

The English government meanwhile had begun their preparations for
interfering effectually in the affairs of the Peninsula. They had
despatched one body of troops to the support of Castanos in Andalusia;
but these did not reach the south of Spain until their assistance was
rendered unnecessary by the surrender of Dupont at Baylen. A more