above it, and on which a few marksmen were perched. From these points the defenders were driven into their last castle, which, being higher and larger than the others, and covered by a natural ditch or cleft in the rocks fifteen feet deep, was called the Donjon. 5. There they made a stand, and the assailants, having advanced so far as to look into the rear of the rampart and star-fort on the table-land below, suspended the vehement throng of their attack for a while; partly to gather head for storming the Donjon, partly to fire on the enemy beneath them who were now warmly engaged with two battalions of Portuguese riflemen. These last were to have followed the 43rd, but seeing how rapidly and surely the latter were carrying the rocks, they had moved at once against the traverse on the other side of the marsh; and very soon the French defending the rampart being thus pressed in front, and warned by the direction of the fire that they were turned on the ridge above, seeing also the 52nd forming the extreme left of the division now emerging from the deep ravine beyond the star-fort on the other flank, abandoned their works. Then the 43rd, gathering a strong head, stormed the Donjon; some leaped with a shout down the deep cleft in the rock, others turned it by the narrow paths on each flank, and the enemy abandoned the loose walls at the moment they were being scaled; thus in twenty minutes 800 old soldiers were hustled out of this labyrinth yet not so easily, but the victors lost 11 officers and 67 men. 6. All the mountain was now cleared of the French, for the riflemen dropped perpendicularly from the greater Rhune upon the post of crags in the hollow and seized it with small loss; but they were ill-seconded by Giron's Andalusians, and hardly handled by the 34th French regiment, which obstinately clung to the slope and covered the flight of the confused crowd rushing down the mountain behind them towards the connecting neck of land; at that point also all rallied and seemed inclined to renew the action, yet after some hesitation continued their retreat. This favourable moment for a decisive stroke had been looked for by the commander of the 43rd, but the officer intrusted with the reserve companies of the regiment had thrown them needlessly into the fight, thus rendering it impossible to collect a body strong enough to assail such a heavy mass. 7. The contest at the stone wall and star-fort, shortened by the rapid success on the hog's back, had not been very severe. Kempt, however, always conspicuous for his valour, was severely wounded; nevertheless he did not quit the field, and soon reformed his brigade on the platform he had thus so gallantly won. The 52nd, having turned the position by the ravine, was now approaching the enemy's line of retreat; but Alten, following his instructions, halted the division partly in the ravine itself to the left of the neck, partly on the table-land. 8. The signal guns from the Atchubia, which sent the light division against the Rhune, had also put the fourth and seventh divisions in movement against the redoubts of San Barbe and Grenada, and eighteen guns were instantly placed in battery against the former. While they poured their stream of shot, the troops advanced with scaling ladders, and the skirmishers of the fourth division soon got into the rear of the work; whereupon the French. leaped out and fled, and Ross's battery of horse artillery, galloping to a rising ground in rear of the Grenada Fort, drove them from there also; then the divisions carried the village of Sarre and the position beyond it, and advanced to the attack of Clausel's main position. 9. It was now eight o'clock, and from the smaller Rhune a splendid spectacle of war opened upon the view. On the left the ships of war, slowly sailing to and fro, were exchanging shots with the fort of Socoa; and Hope, menacing all the French lines in the low ground, sent the sound of a hundred pieces of artillery bellowing up the rocks, to be answered by nearly as many from the tops of the mountains. On the right the summit of the great Atchubia was just lighted by the rising sun, and 50,000 men, rushing down its enormous slopes with ringing shouts, seem to chase the receding shadows into the deep valley. The plains of France, so long overlooked from the towering crags of the Pyrenees, were to be the prize of battle, and the half-famished soldiers in their fury broke through the iron barrier erected by Soult as if it were but a screen of reeds.-Sir W. Napier. Nievelle, the name of a small river to the south of Bayonne, in S.W. corner of France. It was here that Marshal Soult, one of Napoleon I.'s bravest generals, determined to oppose the entry of Wellington into France through the Pyrenees. He spent some months in the construction of fortifications along the river and on the neighbouring heights, which were spurs from the Pyrenees. Rhune and Atchubia, names of summits to offshoots from the Pyrenees. artillery, cannon. hog's back, ridge of the mountain. exhausted, tired out. assailants, those attacking. Sir W. Napier, who wrote this Where is Nievelle? Who commanded the battle on the British side? Who on the French? Describe the commencement of the battle. What regiment led the attack? In what part of the fortification did the French make a stand? What general displayed great bravery though wounded? How many men attacked from the British side? What was the prize of the battle? PEACE AND WAR. How beautiful this night! the balmiest sigh, That wraps this moveless scene. Heaven's ebon vault, Through which the moon's unclouded grandeur rolls, A metaphor of peace;-all form a scene Ah! whence yon glare That fires the arch of heaven?-That dark red smoke The discord grows; till pale death shuts the scene, And o'er the conqueror and the conquered draws His cold and bloody shroud. Of all the men Whom day's departing beam saw blooming there, Comes shuddering on the blast, or the faint moan, The gray morn |