[20] Marshal Victor, in his official account, affirmed, as positively as falsely, that there were 22,000 men, among whom were at least 8000 of the best English troops; thus, according to the system of his government, doubling the number of his opponents.
[21] The following epitaph upon Alburquerque, worthy of the author and of the subject, is the composition of Mr. Frere:—
“Impiger, impavidus, spes maxima gentis Iberæ,
Mente rapax, acerque manu bellator, avita
Institui monumenta novis attollere factis;
Fortunâ comite, et virtute duce, omnia gessi;
Nullâ in re, nec spe, mea sors incœpta fefellit.
Gadibus auxilium tetuli, patriamque labentem
Sustentavi; hæc meta meis fuit ultima factis,
Quippe iras hominum meritis superare nequivi.
Hic procul a patriâ vitæ datus est mihi finis,
Sed non laudis item; gliscit nova fama sepulto,
Anglorum quod testantur proceres populusque,
Magno funus honore secuti, mœstitiâque
Unanimes. Æterna, pater, sint fœdera, faxis,
Quæ pepigi. Nec me nimium mea patria adempto
Indigeat, nec plus æquo desideret unquam.
Sint fortes alii ac felices, qui mea possint
Facta sequi, semperque benignis civibus uti.”
[22] This lady is known with her own hand and that of her waiting woman, to have vaccinated above 12,000 persons. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Lisbon presented her with a medal in acknowledgment and commemoration of the services which, in public and private, she was continualy rendering to humanity.
[23] The dispatch, however, like other falsehoods of the same kind, carried with it its own confutation; for it stated that the allies made no prisoners except two or three hundred wounded, who were left on the field; but the same dispatch said, that the French kept the field for two days, retaining the position they had won, ... how then could the wounded who were left upon the field have fallen into the hands of the allies? But throughout this war the remark made some three centuries ago by the Flemish historian Meyer was verified, that res suas Galli non majore solent SCRIBERE fide, quam GERERE.
[24] Diario de Manresa, April 20.
[25] Voilà qui est militaire was the phrase in which Buonaparte expressed his approbation.
[26] Sixty thousand bushels, from the woods at the foot of the western mountains, were shipped in the year 1775.—Swinburne.
[27] This, which was suspected at the time, I happen to know.
[28] Contreras insinuates as much in his account of the siege. I have heard it asserted as a thing believed by those who had the best opportunity of forming a true opinion; but the assertion was not supported by direct evidence, as in the case of Fort Olivo.