seasons, were of course terrible, and only to be
equalled by their fidelity to those to whom they had attached
themselves. Their endurance of fatigue was wonderful; their services
were often great; and many a soldier, stretched disabled on the field of
some bloody battle, and suffering from the terrible thirst attendant on
wounds, owed his life to their gentle ministry. In circumstances of
danger, they showed remarkable courage. At the assault of Ciudad
Rodrigo, the baggage-guard, eager to share in the fight, deserted
their post and rushed to the trenches. Immediately a host of
miscreants--fellows who hung on the skirts of the army, watching
opportunities to plunder--made a dash at the camp, but the women
defended it valiantly, and fairly beat them off. Of course feminine
sensibility got a little blunted by a life of this kind, and it was
rarely with very violent emotion that the ladies saw their husbands go
into action. Persuaded of their invincibility, they looked upon success
as certain, and if, unfortunately, the victory left them widows, they
deemed a very short mourning necessary before contracting a new
alliance. Now and then a damsel of birth and breeding would desert the
paternal mansion to follow the drum; and Mr Grattan tells a romantic
history of a certain Jacinta Cherito, the beautiful daughter of a
wealthy judge, who blacked her face and tramped off as a cymbal boy
under the protection of the drum-major of the Eighty-eighth--a
magnificent fellow, whose gorgeous uniform and imposing cocked hat
caused him to be taken by the Portuguese for nothing less than a general
of division. The young lady had not forgotten to take her jewels with
her, and the old judge made a great fuss, and appealed to the colonel,
who requested him to inspect the regiment as it left the town. But the
sooty visage and uniform jacket baffled his penetration, and at the
first halt, the drummer and the lady were made one flesh. Thorp, the
lucky bridegroom, was a fine dashing fellow, bent upon distinguishing
himself. He was often wounded, but never missed an engagement, even when
his hurts were unhealed. He fell gloriously at Toulouse, and the next
day came the gazette with his promotion to an ensigncy, which, if it was
then of little value to him, was at any rate "a great consolation to his
poor afflicted widow, and the means of reconciling her father to the
choice she had made; and her return once more to her home was a scene of
great re