[35] One gun, an Austrian eight-pounder, was lying dismounted in front of the redoubt. In the darkness of the morning it had been too far advanced, and a round of grape from an English twenty-four pounder in battery, had annihilated the men attached to it, and killed the four horses.
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The colours bore most honourable inscriptions:—“Le Passage de la Serivia; Le Passage du Tagliamento; Le Passage de l’Isonzo, Le Prise de Graz, Le Pont de Lodi.”
[36] The body was conveyed to Malta in a frigate, and buried in the north-east bastion of Valetta. A black marble slab, with a Latin inscription, marks the place where the ashes of the brave old commander are deposited.
[37] Life of Sir David Baird.
[38] “It is utterly impossible to convey to your lordship an adequate idea of the obstacles which opposed the advance and retarded the success of our army.
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“A deep, heavy, and dry sand, covered with shrubs, scarcely pervious by light bodies of infantry; and above all, the total privation of water, under the effect of a burning sun, had nearly exhausted our gallant fellows in the moment of victory; and with the greatest difficulty were we able to reach Reit Valley, where we took up our position for the night.”—Baird’s Despatches.
[39] The parapet is a part of the rampart elevated six or seven feet above the rest, to cover the troops from fire.
The banquette is four feet lower than the parapet, and two or three higher than the rampart. It is the platform from which musketry is discharged, with the least possible exposure to the soldiers from the fire of the besiegers.