lington's lines; and he employed several days in examining their
nature, and in endeavouring to discover a spot through which he might
force a passage. Some demonstrations were made in order to compel the
British divisions to exhibit their force; and on the 14th there was some
fighting between the town of Sobral and the lines, in which the French
were defeated by the English bayonet. The war was now reduced to a
species of blockade. The heart of Mas-sena was smitten with despair at
the sight of the scarped rocks, and the cannon on the eminences; and the
object he had in view now was to support his army till re-enforcements
should arrive. In the meantime re-enforceinents had arrived in
Wellington's camp from England and Gibraltar, so that he had a force
numerically equal to that of the enemy. Massena's situation soon,
however, became desperate. In order to starve his opponents Lord
Wellington brought down the Portuguese militia from the north, and
persuaded Carlos d'Espaua to pass the Tagus with a considerable corps
of Spaniards, to co-operate in cutting off all communication with
the French rear and, as it were, enclosing the blockades. Massena was
reduced to such straits for provisions that he was obliged to send
movable columns to scour the country; and, on these columns the
independent corps of Portuguese Spaniards sought revenge for desolated
homes and slaughtered kindred: they were attacked and slain with as
little mercy as they had shown to others. Losses by the sword, by
sickness, and by privation, amounting to about 15,000 men since the
battle of Busaco, at length induced Massena, on the 15th of November,
to make a retrograde movement. He withdrew his army from the low wet
grounds in front of Torres Vedras, and placed it in cantonments for
the winter: the second, or Itegnier's corps, being placed in and near
Santarem; the eighth in Perns; the sixth corps further back, in Thomar;
while his head-quarters were at Torres Novas. Before Massena could reach
these safe positions, his soldiers were molested by the British light
division and cavalry, who took some prisoners. Lord Wellington did not
deem it prudent to attack them in these several positions, but leaving
part of his army in the lines, he moved forward with the remainder; and
having placed Hill's division on the banks of the Tagus, he fixed his
head-quarters at Cartaxo. Such were the positions of the belligerent
forces during the winter. By his movements Lord W