forced the shattered columns back into the village. It was in vain that, with desperate valour, the Allies, time after time, broke through the narrow way, and struggled to spread a front beyond. Ross fell dangerously wounded; and Taupin, whose troops were clustered thickly, and well supported, defied their utmost efforts. Nor was Soult less happy on the other side. The nature of the ground would not permit the 3rd and 6th divisions to engage many men at once, so that no progress was made; and one small detachment which Picton extended to his left, having made an attempt to gain the smaller tongue jutting out from the centre hill, was suddenly charged, as it neared the summit, by Foy, and driven down again in confusion, losing several hundred prisoners."*

Finding that the left attack had not succeeded, Lord Wellington detached a Caçadore battalion to clear Ross's right flank from the skirmishers that had annoyed it. But the Portuguese brigade was already broken and driven back, and the village cleared of the British troops, and again occupied by the enemy. On every side the attack had failed; for beyond a given point the assailants had never been able to advance and now, disordered and repulsed, nothing appeared wanting but for the French marshal to push forward his reserves, and seize a decisive victory.†

But the lion was in his path. Wellington had galloped forward to direct the movements of his left wing personally; and now, in the thickest of the fire, he suddenly changed the plan of attack; and with that rapidity of conception, which with him had turned the fortunes of so many fields, he instantly changed his dispositions. Directing Walker's division (the 7th) and Barnard's light brigade against the left of the height, where the French right united with the

*Napier.

"As this happened at the moment when the detachment on Picton's left was repulsed, victory seemed to declare for the French; and Soult, conspicuous on a commanding open hill, the knot of all his combinations, seeing his enemies thus broken and thrown backwards on each side, put all his reserves in movement to complete the success. It is said that in the exultation of the moment he smote his thigh, exclaiming, 'At last 1 have him!' Whether this be so or not, it was no vainglorious speech: for the moment he was most dangerous."-Napier.

centre, he supported their attack by an advance of the 3rd and 6th divisions, which had previously remained unengaged, until Beresford's operations should be demonstrated. In a moment, "the face of the battle was changed." The furious assault of the light brigade bore down resistance, and gained the crest of the hill. The 52nd pressed right against a French battalion which connected the divisions of Foy and D'Armanac, and at the same time Picton and Clinton were moving on their flank. On both sides the musketry was close and destructive. Two generals, Bechand and Foy, were carried from the field; and troops, so lately confident of victory, as suddenly became shaken and discouraged. Indeed, the storm had so strangely burst from an unexpected quarter - for the march of the 52nd had been hardly perceived save by the skirmishers—that the enemy "got into confusion, and the disorder spreading to Reille's wing, he also was forced to fall back and take a new position to restore his line of battle. The narrow pass behind St. Boes was thus opened, and Wellington, seizing the critical moment, thrust the 4th and 7th divisions, Vivian's cavalry, and two batteries of artillery through, and spread a front beyond."

Instantly D'Armanac's position was crowned by a British battery, whose fire swept through the columns exposed to their cannonade, and rent these heavy masses into pieces. In vain the French cavalry charged the English guns. The fire of the 42nd repulsed them-the 3rd division fought with its customary determination-Inglis's brigade charged with the bayonet; and Soult, seeing the ground was not to be recovered, commenced an orderly retreat, although but a brief space before, his movements had indicated the advance that leads to victory.

How rapidly the fortunes of a battle alter! Immediately after he had changed his dispositions for attack, Lord Wellington ordered Hill's corps to force the bridge of Orthez,an order that was promptly executed. Comprehending in a moment how matters went, Hill, when he crossed the Gave, pushed rapidly forward by a parallel ridge to that by which Soult must retire his beaten army to Sault de Navailles. The French retreat had already commenced, and nothing

* Napier.

X

could be more soldierly than the steadiness with which it was conducted, as the whole corps d'armée fell back by échelons of divisions, each covering the movements of the other, and holding by turns the different positions which the ground they crossed presented. "In this manner the French yielded, step by step, and without confusion, the Allies advancing with an incessant deafening musketry and cannonade, yet losing many men, especially on the right, where the 3rd division was very strongly opposed. However, as the danger of being cut off at Salespice by Hill became more imminent, the retrograde movements were more hurried and confused: Hill seeing this, quickened his pace, until at last both sides began to run violently, and so many men broke from the French ranks, making across the fields towards the fords, and such a rush was necessarily made by the rest to gain the bridge of Sault de Navailles, that the whole country was covered with scattered bands. Sir Stapleton Cotton then breaking through, with Lord Edward Somerset's hussars, a small covering body opposed to him by Harispe, sabred 200 or 300 men; and the 7th hussars cut off about 2000, who threw down their arms in an enclosed field; yet, some confusion or mismanagement occurring, the greatest part, recovering their weapons, escaped, and the pursuit ceased at the Luy of Bearn."*

Never did a beaten army escape the worst consequences of a déroute more narrowly. Had the British cavalry been enabled to get forward with more celerity, a large portion of the French infantry must have been unavoidably cut off. To another circumstance, also, the comparatively low amount of the French casualties may be attributed. A defeat, complete as that of Orthez, would have most probably entailed upon the vanquished army a terrible disaster, had not Lord Wellington been prevented from following up his success, and pressing his advantages by personal direction. At the very moment when the confusion in the enemy's ranks was increasing, a spent shot struck the pommel of his sword, and caused a painful contusion. Lord Wellington with difficulty kept his saddle, and an intersected country, which otherwise he would have crossed at speed, was therefore slowly traversed. Had he been allowed to urge it on,