as it did, the best road for the retreat of the French; and Soult had given orders for it to be carried at any cost. Though daily assaulted, it was, nevertheless, held from the 18th to the 30th of April, with signal courage and perseverance; and some excellent officers, commanding the Portuguese troops, fell in its defence; among whom was Colonel Patrick. On the 2d of May, Soult brought a large reinforcement in person, carried it, and drove Silveira across the river. Sir Arthur, with his accustomed promptness, adapted his plans to this change of position; and, on the 6th of May, directed Marshal Beresford to march with 6000 Portuguese, two British battalions, five companies of riflemen, and one squadron of heavy cavalry, direct upon Zamego by Vizeu.

The entire force now advancing upon Oporto amounted to 14,500 infantry, 1500 cavalry, and twenty-four guns, including six three-pounders. The troops were disposed in four divisions, one consisting of cavalry, and three of infantry; and they marched in two columns. One of these consisted of a division of foot, commanded by General Hill, moving upon Aveiro; the other advanced upon the Vouga. At Aveiro, the same evening, General Hill embarked on the lake of Ovar, and as soon as the astonished fishermen were made acquainted with the reasons for which their boats had been seized, they used their oars with so much good will, that the troops were landed at Ovar by sunrise,- —a movement by which the right flank of Soult was already turned.

On the same day, Marshal Beresford, at the head of the corps of Wilson, and his own Portuguese, pressed upon Loison, and by compelling him to retire on Amarante, turned the left of the enemy. Having so far succeeded in his plan of operations, Sir Arthur learning the position of General Franceschi, formed the idea of surprising him; a project perfect as to its means, and which he determined to execute in person. On the morning of the 10th, the French commander was at Albergaria Nova; and, but for one of those accidents to which war, with all its science, is, perhaps, more subject than any other

he would assuredly, with all his companions, have been in the hands of the English general within a few hours. Some petty delay interrupted the progress of the march, till on arriving in presence of the enemy it was broad daylight; and, instead of a surprise, Franceschi was seen drawn up in a strong position ;— his fine dragoons in ready line, their flank well protected by resting on a wood filled as thick as leaves with tirailleurs. Sir Arthur approached rapidly at the head of Paget's division of infantry, and he quickly dislodged the French sharpshooters from the wood. Franceschi abandoned his position, and succeeded in making his retreat with difficulty, closely pursued, to Oliveira. By marching all night he formed a junction with Mermet at Grijon, where the French again drew up on a range of hills which cross the road. Their right flank rested on a wood; their left was unprotected, and the ground in front was tolerably firm. The 16th Portuguese regiment first drove their infantry out of the wood on their right, while the German infantry attacked the left, and turned it without difficulty. The British column was already engaged in front; but soon finding their position completely turned, the French retreated briskly, pursued by two squadrons under Brigadier-general Stewart, who took more than a hundred prisoners. The enemy again took up a position on the heights of Carvalho, but continued their retreat when the British appeared in sight. In this manner, by following up a running fight till nightfall, much ground was won. The British columns passed the night on the last position they had taken; and the French, as they lay wearied with their hard day's combats and pursuits, crossed the Douro, destroying the bridge in their retreat.

Soult, meantime, was busied in making arrangements to evacuate Oporto, though he believed that General Loison still held his position on the Tamega, and that if General Wellesley should make an effort to cross the Douro, vessels would first come round by sea, and the passage thus be attempted below the city. The boats on the river were accordingly brought to the northern bank, which was carefully watched and protected.

The artillery and baggage were slowly withdrawn on the road to Amarante; and, satisfied that his retreat was secured, the French general resolved to hold the city another day, that measures might be taken to convey the remaining baggage and other property away with regularity and good order. He occupied a house which commanded a fine view of the river, and directing his attention to the side by which he conceived the English must approach; while Sir Arthur, from the convent of Serra, was contemplating the rapid waters of the Douro, three hundred yards wide even up to the city itself, where the stream wildly flows between its high and craggy shores.

Before eight the next morning the British were concentrated at Villa Nova, behind the convent of Serra, concealed from view by the lofty hill on which it stands. Having overcome all lesser obstacles, the British general was here devising means to surmount the last and greatest, and to secure the prize he had in view. Having formed his plan, his first care was to look out for a boat-a mode of conveyance of which Soult had been equally careful to deprive him. It was the good fortune of Colonel Waters, whose zeal and activity was ever on the look out, to find a little skiff which had lain concealed among some bushes at a spot where there is a bend in the river shaded by wood, about a mile from the city. Near the skiff stood the prior of a convent, and a group of peasants. Leaping into the boat, the colonel persuaded them to accompany him, and, escaping the eye of the French sentinels, they soon returned with several barges from the opposite bank. The guns were next brought up from the convent of Serra, and planted as a battery; Major-general Murray was directed to march to Barca de Avintas, three miles up the river, and seizing on any mode of conveyance he might find, there make good his passage.

It was ten o'clock on the morning of the 12th, when a single boat made its appearance at the point of passage. "Let the men cross, was the brief order given; and one officer, with twenty-five soldiers of the Buffs, went over and entered a large empty building-the seminary, opposite Serra, without

exciting the slightest attention or alarm. They were followed by two other boats, with General Paget, long distinguished for his intrepidity, particularly in Egypt, where he had displayed equal skill and courage, and, supported by only three companies of foot, he was the first to expose himself to the attack of the whole French line, should the bold attempt in which he was engaged miscarry. Scarcely had he taken up his position before the drums of the enemy sounded the alarm; troops were seen hurrying in masses, bringing up the artillery, and preparing to crush in the outset this daring exploit to pass the river. The preparations of Soult were soon made; at the head of a large force of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, he directed the whole attack against the gallant few who had made good their landing. But, with marked gallantry, General Paget sustained the shock; he knew that his commander and his comrades, though separated from him by the expanse of a rapid stream, were doing all in their power to relieve him; and the desperate resistance of the Buffs showed how well founded was the confidence placed in them, by selecting them as the vanguard of an expedition like this. They continued unbroken till supported by the 48th and 66th regiments belonging to General Hill's brigade, and a Portuguese battalion, and afterwards by the first detachments belonging to General Stewart's brigade.

Soon after this terrific attack commenced, the gallant Paget was severely wounded, and the command of these brave troops devolved upon General Hill. Although the French made repeated attacks, they produced no impression; for at every return of the boats they were now receiving fresh support. Still the enemy's numbers increased; the fire of their musketry was incessant, and their artillery began to play upon the building. The English batteries in reply, from the convent, swept the bank on both sides of the seminary, which compelled the enemy to confine his assaults to the area and gateway in the front. Here the contest grew desperate; and the force despatched under General Murray had not yet appeared on the side of Avintas. So critical at one time appeared the battle,