We were afterwards informed, that the commander of the citadel, expecting but one attack, had called off the men from the most distant and western part of the fort to that side which was next the town; upon which our men got into a demi-bastion in the most extreme part of the fortification. Here they got possession of three pieces of cannon, with hardly any opposition; and had leisure to cast up a little intrenchment, and to make use of the guns they had taken to defend it. Under this situation, the enemy, when drove into the inward fort, were exposed to our fire from those places we were possessed of, in case they offered to make any sally, or other attempt against us. Thus we every moment became better and better prepared against any effort of the garrison; and, as they could not pretend to assail us without evident hazard, so nothing remained for us to do till we could bring up our artillery and mortars. Now it was that the general sent for the thousand men under brigadier Stanhope's command, which he had posted at a convent, half-way between the town and Monjouick.

There was almost a total cessation of fire, the men on both sides being under cover. The general was in the upper part of the bastion; the prince of Hesse below, behind a little work at the point of the bastion, whence he could only see the heads of the enemy over the parapet of the inward fort. Soon after an accident happened, which cost that gallant prince his life.

The enemy had lines of communication between Barcelona and Monjouick. The governor of the former, upon hearing the firing from the latter, immediately sent four hundred dragoons on horseback, under orders that two hundred dismounting should re-enforce the garrison, and the other two hundred should return with their horses back to the town.

When those two hundred dragoons were, accordingly, got into the inward fort, unseen by any of our men, the

Spaniards, waving their hats over their heads, repeated over and over, Viva el Rey, Viva. This the prince of Hesse unfortunately took for a signal of their desire to surrender. Upon which, with too much warmth and precipitancy, calling to the soldiers following, They surrender, They surrender, he advanced with near three hundred men, who followed him without any orders from their general, along the curtain which led to the ditch of the inward fort. The enemy suffered them to come into the ditch, and, there surrounding them, took two hundred of them prisoners, at the same time making a discharge upon the rest who were running back the way they came. This firing brought the earl of Peterborow down from the upper part of the bastion, to see what was doing below. When he had just turned the point of the bastion, he saw the prince of Hesse retiring, with the men that had so rashly advanced. The earl had exchanged a very few words with him, when, from a second fire, that prince received a shot in the great artery of the thigh, of which he died immediately, falling down at the general's feet, who instantly gave orders to carry off the body to the

next convent.

Almost the same moment, an officer came to acquaint the earl of Peterborow that a great body of horse and foot, at least three thousand, were on their march from Barcelona towards the fort. The distance is near a mile, all uneven ground; so that the enemy was either discoverable, or not to be seen, just as they were marching on the hills, or in the valleys. However, the general directly got on horseback, to take a view of those forces from the rising ground without the fort, having left all the posts, which were already taken, well secured with the allotted numbers of officers and soldiers.

But the event will demonstrate of what consequence the absence or presence of one man may prove on great occasions: no sooner was the earl out of the fort, the

care of which he had left under the command of the lord Charlemont, a person of known merit and undoubted courage, but somewhat too flexible in his temper, when a panic fear (though the earl, as I have said, was only gone to take a view of the enemy) seized upon the soldiery, which was a little too easily complied with by the lord Charlemont, then commanding officer. True it is; for I heard an officer, ready enough to take such advantages, urge to him, that none of all those posts we were become masters of were tenable; that to offer at it would be no better than wilfully sacrificing human lives to caprice and humour; and just like a man's knocking his head against stone walls to try which was hardest. Having overheard this piece of lip-oratory, and finding, by the answer, that it was too likely to prevail, and that all I was like to say would avail nothing, I slipped away as fast as I could to acquaint the general with the danger impending.

As I passed along, I took notice that the panic was upon the increase; the general rumour affirming that we should be all cut off by the troops that were come out of Barcelona, if we did not immediately gain the hills, or the houses possessed by the Miquelets. Officers and soldiers, under this prevailing terror, quitted their posts, and in one united body, the lord Charlemont at the head of them, marched, or rather hurried, out of the fort, and were come half-way down the hill before the earl of Peterborow came up to them; though, on my acquainting him with the shameful and surprising accident, he made no stay; but answering, with a good deal of vehemence, Good God, is it possible? hastened back as fast as he could.

I never thought myself happier than in this piece of service to my country. I confess I could not but value it, as having been therein more than a little instrumental in the glorious successes which succeeded; since immediately upon this notice from me, the earl galloped

up the hill, and, lighting when he came to lord Charlemont, he took his half pike out of his hand, and turning to the officers and soldiers, told them, if they would not face about and follow him, they should have the scandal and eternal infamy upon them of having deserted their posts, and abandoned their general.

It was surprising to see with what alacrity and new courage they faced about, and followed the earl of Peterborow. In a moment they had forgot their apprehensions, and, without doubt, had they met with any opposition, they would have behaved themselves with the greatest bravery. But as these motions were unperceived by the enemy, all the posts were regained, and anew possessed, in less than half an hour, without any loss; though, had our forces marched half musketshot further, their retreat would have been perceived, and all the success attendant on this glorious attempt must have been entirely blasted.

Another incident which attended this happy enterprise was this: the two hundred men which fell into the hands of the enemy, by the unhappy mistake of the prince of Hesse, were carried directly into the town. The marquis of Risburg, a lieutenant-general, who commanded the three thousand men which were marching from the town to the relief of the fort, examined the prisoners as they passed by; and they all agreeing that the general and the prince of Hesse were in person with the troops that made the attack on Monjouick, the marquis gave immediate orders to retire to the town; taking it for granted that the main body of the troops attended the prince and general; and that some design therefore was on foot to intercept his return, in case he should venture too far. Thus, the unfortunate loss of our two hundred men turned to our advantage, in preventing the advance of the enemy, which must have put the earl of Peterborow to inconceivable difficulties.

The body of one thousand, under brigadier Stanhope,

being come up to Monjouick, and no interruption given us by the enemy, our affairs were put into very good order on this side; while the camp on the other side was so fortified, that the enemy, during the siege, never made an effort against it. In the mean time, the communication between the two camps was secure enough; although our troops were obliged to a tedious march along the foot of the hills, whenever the general thought fit to relieve those on duty on the side of the attack, from those regiments encamped on the west side of Barcelona.

The next day, after the earl of Peterborow had taken care to secure the first camp to the eastward of the town, he gave orders to the officers of the fleet to land the artillery and ammunition behind the fortress to the westward. Immediately upon the landing whereof, two mortars were fixed; from both which we plied the fort of Monjouick furiously with our bombs. But the third or fourth day, one of our shells, fortunately lighting on their magazine of powder, blew it up, and with it the governor and many principal officers who were at dinner with him. The blast, at the same instant, threw down a face of one of the smaller bastions; which the vigilant Miquelets, ready enough to take all advantages, no sooner saw, (for they were under the hill, very near the place,) but they readily entered while the enemy were under the utmost confusion. If the earl, no less watchful than they, had not at the same moment thrown himself in with some regular troops, and appeased the general disorder, in all probability the garrison had been put to the sword. However, the general's presence not only allayed the fury of the Miquelets, but kept his own troops under strictest discipline: so that, in a happy hour for the frighted garrison, the general gave officers and soldiers quarters, making them prisoners

of war.

How critical was that minute wherein the general