XI.-MONTE VIDEO AND BUENOS AYRES XIII. PENINSULAR WAR: ROLIÇA, VIMIERA, CORUNNA.. XV.-PASSAGE OF THE DOURO, Talavera XVII.-BAROSSA, BADAJOZ, ALBUERA XVIII. CIUDAD RODRIGO AND BADAJOZ XX.-VITTORIA AND SAN SEBASTIAN C. TABULAR STATEMENT, SHOWING DATE OF FOR- MATION AND FORMER DESIGNATION OF EVERY ERRATA TO VOL. II. At page 141, for "H Battery, 11 Brigade," read "H Battery, 16 Brigade." bottom, for “and 2nd Battalion 82nd, besides," &c., read "2nd Ba INTRODUCTION. HAVING AVING in the Preface stated the plan of this volume, it is incumbent on the Author now to acknowledge, with gratitude, the assistance he has received during its execution. Acting on a suggestion made by one of the reviewers of the first volume, he has noted in the margin the various authorities on which the narrative is based; and, as in many instances these are manuscript letters in the Record Office, he has given the dates of such,-to facilitate access to them by any one anxious to obtain information in detail. Among those to whom the Author is chiefly indebted, Sir Collingwood Dickson-for the reason stated in the body of the work-stands first. Not only the Author, but the Regiment at large, is indebted to him for the generous confidence with which he entrusted the letters and journals. of his distinguished father to the writer of this history. The labours of Captain G. E. W. Malet, R.A.—so visible in the tables at the end of this volume-demand the next place in the Author's acknowledgment; and the Reader will be able to judge how great has been the value, to this narrative, of the published writings of Captain H. W. L. Hime, R.A. Sir J. Bloomfield, Sir E. C. Warde, Sir D. E. Wood, General Burke Cuppage, Major-Generals W. J. Smythe and C. J. B. Riddell, Colonel Lynedoch Gardiner, Major H. Geary, and Lieutenant J. Ritchie, have contributed valuable information connected with the history of the Regiment to which they belong, and have greatly facilitated the Author's labours. The assistance of the Committee of the United Service Institution; of its Librarian, T. D. Sullivan, Esq.; Sir Edward Perrott, and of Captain H. W. Gordon, C.B., is also gratefully acknowledged. To Mr. James Browne, the author of England's Artillerymen,' a double debt is owing. His labour produced the Index to the first volume; and his published work has been a mine of reference, the value of which became more apparent, the more it was explored. Written without the adventitious aids at the disposal of the custodian of the Regimental Records, it is yet so exhaustive and accurate, that, when admiration of it has ceased, it is only because that feeling has passed into envy. The admirable Index to the present volume is due to the skill, ability, and industry, eminently possessed by the Assistant-Superintendent in the Record Office, R. H. Murdoch, Esq., R.A. These talents were generously placed at the Author's disposal, with a view to this work being made as complete as possible. The conducting a work of this description through the press, although the last occupation in point of time,-is not the least in point of importance. Careful comparison with the MSS.,-much patient and merely mechanical labour, -and watchfulness, lest errors of style should be overlooked in the anxiety to secure rigid accuracy, or lest the latter should be sacrificed to attempts at literary embellishment, all these are involved in the process. And all these have been displayed by one who has assisted in this operation, the Rev. G. Martyn Ritchie, Chaplain to the Forces, whose services the Author acknowledges with gratitude.. Not unfrequently the official letter-books differ from Kane's List of Officers in the spelling of proper names. Where the correct reading is doubtful, that found in the letter-books is given in the body of the work, and both are given in the Index. History moves so rapidly, that even while this work has been in the press, a slight alteration in the pay of the non-commissioned officers and men of the Regiment has been made, making the rates given in the following pages as those of the year 1873, accurate only up to the 1st of October in that year. The reader can with ease make the requisite corrections. |