Busaco, which was now to become fa"mous in British history, had long been a " venerable name in Portugal. It is the only 66 place in that kingdom where the barefooted "Carmelites possessed what, in their language, "is called a desert, an establishment where "those brethren whose devotion flies to the highest pitch, may at once enjoy the ad 66 66 vantage of the eremite, with the security of "the cenobite life; one of those places where "man has converted an earthly paradise into 66 a purgatory for himself, but where super"stition almost seems sanctified by every 66 thing around it. The solitude and silence "of Busaco were now to be broken by events, "in which its hermits, dead as they were to "the world, might be permitted to feel all the agitation of worldly hope and fear. The "British and Portuguese army was posted 66 66 along the ridge, extending nearly eight miles, and forming the segment of a circle, "whose extreme points embraced every part "of the enemy's position, and from whence every movement of the enemy below could "be immediately observed. On the 26th Sept. 1810, the light troops on both sides 66 66 с "were engaged throughout the line; at six "on the following morning, the French made "two desperate attacks upon Lord Welling"ton's position; one on the right, the other "on the left of the highest point of the sierra: "this spot is remarkable, as commanding one "of the most extensive views in Portugal; "and on the very summit stands a cross, planted upon a basis of masonry of such magnitude, that it is said three thousand "carts of stone were used in the work. One "division of French infantry gained the top "of the ridge, and was driven back with the bayonet; another division, farther on the right, was repulsed before it could reach the 66 66 66 66 66 top. On the left they made their attack "with three divisions, only one of which "made any progress towards the summit, and this was charged with the bayonet, and "driven down with immense loss. Some of "the Portuguese charging a superior force, 66 got so wedged in among them, that they "had not room to use their bayonets; they "turned up the but-ends of their muskets, "and plied them with such vigour, as completely to clear the way." 66 BATTLE OF BUSACO; DELIVERANCE OF PORTUGAL. The breeze sigh'd sadly o'er the midnight flood; I taught proud Commerce here her gifts to pour, And here the ground-works of the empire laid ? Affrighted Italy her blasted vines Has dropp'd, and Spain let fall her orange lines, And tough Teutonic forests, though they broke Awhile her force, yet yielded to the stroke. Where shall I turn, where find the free, the brave, A heart to pity, and an arm to save? To Britain, glorious Britain, will I call, Her bulwark, valour, and the sea, her wall. From Highland rocks came every Scottish clan; Who bore Gaul's standard through the hostile throng, Who traversed Egypt's plains and Syria's waste, Who bathed, midst French and Austrian heaps of slain, |