blown up or expended, which of course silenced the British artillery. Hyder's guns upon this drew nearer and nearer at every discharge, while each shot was attended with certain and deadly effect. LieutenantColonel Baillie's detachment seeing their artillery silenced and remaining inactive while exposed to certain destruction, very naturally became dismayed; which the enemy no sooner perceived than they made a movement for a general charge and advanced on all quarters to a close attack. At this dangerous and trying juncture, sufficient to damp the spirits of the most intrepid, all the camp-followers rushed in confusion through the ranks of every battalion, and in an instant threw the whole into disorder. The black troops, finding themselves in this calamitous situation, relinquished every hope of success; and, notwithstanding the extraordinary exertions of their European officers, were no more to be rallied. But such of the Europeans as had fallen into disorder by this irregularity, quickly united again in compact order, headed by their gallant commander, who was at this time much wounded; and, being joined by all the Sepoy officers, planted themselves upon a rising bank of sand in their vicinity, where they valiantly resolved to defend themselves to the last extremity.

"History cannot produce an instance, for fortitude, cool intrepidity, and desperate resolution, to equal the exploits of this heroic band. In numbers, now reduced to five hundred, they were opposed by no less than one hundred thousand enraged barbarians, who seldom grant quarter. The mind, in the contemplation of such a scene, and such a situation as theirs was, is filled at once with admiration, with astonishment, with

horror, and with awe. To behold formidable and impenetrable bodies of horse, of infantry, and of artillery, advancing from all quarters, flashing savage fury, levelling the numberless instruments of slaughter, and darting destruction around, was a scene to appal even something more than the strongest human resolution; but it was beheld by this little band with the most undaunted and immoveable firmness. Distinet bodies of horse came on successively to the charge, with strong parties of infantry placed in the intervals, whose fire was discharged in showers; but the deliberate and well levelled platoons of the British musketry had such powerful effect as to repulse several different attacks. Like the swelling waves of the ocean, however, when agitated by a storm, fresh columns incessantly poured in upon them with redoubled fury, which at length brought so many to the ground, and weakened their fire so considerably, that they were unable longer to withstand the dreadful and tremendous shock; and the field soon presented a picture of the most inhuman cruelties and unexampled carnage.

"The last and awful struggle was marked by the clashing of arms and shields, the snorting and kicking of horses, the snapping of spears, the glistening of bloody swords, oaths, and imprecations; concluding with the groans and cries of bruised and mutilated men, wounded horses tumbling to the ground upon expiring soldiers, and the hideous roaring of elephants, stalking to and fro, and wielding their dreadful chains alike amongst friends and foes."

The following anecdote relating to elephants is recorded, which, if true, is a singular instance of sagacity. It is said the late Tippoo Saib possessed

an elephant, which had been badly wounded in several engagements with the English. In one of these battles an English surgeon was made prisoner of war. As the art of surgery was imperfectly known in the dominions of Tippoo, this was thought an invaluable capture. This surgeon was employed, and liberally paid for his services. Tippoo at length told his captive that his favourite elephant was badly wounded, and that he must attend to the recovery of this formidable patient. The English surgeon remonstrated against the peril of this practice; but the reply of the monarch was short and conclusive-his head should answer for the neglect of his majesty's command. Tippoo attended the first three or four visits of the surgeon to the four-footed patient, and while the ball was extracting spoke to the beast in a tone of command. The elephant obeyed his master, and amidst the groans excited by the pain of the operation, while the tears were streaming from his eyes, offered no symptoms of resistance, or of annoyance. After his wounds had received two or three dressings, and the anguish of the pain had abated, the elephant, with the other patients, would visit the surgeon in his tent, and wait for the assistance of the medical hand with all the gravity of an intelligent being.

At the battle of Laswarree, gained by General Lake, on the 1st November, 1803, Brigadier-General Thomas Pakenham Vandeleur, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighth Hussars, whilst in the act of drawing his sword, and taking his place at the head of his regiment, was shot through the heart by a French artilleryman, and fell off his favourite black charger. This was a celebrated race-horse, of a jet-black colour, and

T

long after the death of his gallant rider, the noble animal kept his place with the regiment. He subsequently became the property of Cornet Burrowes, and was taken great care of until the regiment quitted India, when he was shot in order to prevent his falling into unworthy hands.

In D'Auvergne's "History of the Campaign in Flanders, in 1691," it appears by the following extract that the artillery were drawn by white oxen, for he says, "The Landgrave of Hesse joined the Confederate army with his forces in this camp, attended with a proportionable train of artillery, all drawn with white oxen, which made a fine show upon a march." camp alluded to was at Gemblours.

The

During the dreadful retreat to Corunna the wife of Sergeant Monday, orderly-room clerk of the Twentyeighth Regiment, actually carried a lap-dog in a basket over her arm, and brought it safe home to England.

At the battle of Waterloo, some of the horses, as they lay on the ground, having recovered from the first agony of their wounds, commenced eating the grass about them, thus surrounding themselves with a circle of bare ground, the limited extent of which showed their weakness; others were noticed quietly grazing in the middle of the field, between the two hostile lines, their riders having been shot off their backs. Whenever a charge of cavalry passed near them, the horses would form themselves in the rear of their mounted companions, and, without riders, gallop with the rest, neither stopping or flinching when the encounter took place.

Lieutenant-Colonel Cadell relates the following incident, which occurred in November, 1812:-" While

we were on the march, about four miles from Alba, Lieutenant Irwin, of the grenadiers, had a singular opportunity of displaying his strength and intrepidity. An overdriven bullock got among the ranks of the regiment, and knocked the men about very unceremoniously, when Lieutenant Irwin rushed forward, and boldly seizing the animal by the horns, actually threw him over upon his back into a deep cut in the road, where he was instantly killed, and cut up by the hungry soldiers; nor was he then done with, for we left a party to cut up the hide into sandals for some of the men who had lost their shoes."

During the battle of Talavera, and at the time the enemy's guns were playing on the left of the British line with great effect, a solitary hare was started on the plain and valley, on the left of the height, by a shell bursting accidentally near the cover of the affrighted animal; and being discovered by the divisions on the height and in the valley, a halloo was set up by the men, much to the annoyance of the general officers, who, however, could not prevent them enjoying the chase in fancy, until the timid creature, unable to extricate itself (the artillery playing from every direction in which it attempted to retreat), was shot by one of the soldiers.

It is a curious fact that during the siege of Silistria, hares were to be found in the adjoining vineyards. The Chasseurs killed one not three hundred yards from the bastion, where the briskest firing was kept up. The storks, also, never left their nests, and built on houses which were riddled with shot and splinters.

It appears by the "Recollections of Samuel Rogers,"