Note 100 — Chapter XXXIV

Writing of this to his wife, on the 7th April, he says, “Well, yesterday, alma mia, was the anniversary of that which led to our blessed union, and, after my check at the natural fortress, which, by Jupiter, was very strong—inaccessible, in short—I thought to myself, ‘Well, this day so and so many years ago, I had a good licking in Badajos breaches, and the old Duke tried something else.’ So the blood rushed into my heart again as gay as ever. ‘By G—d, I’ll have them out yet.’ I had no information but my spyglass, and I made a détour, and was lucky in hitting off the plan to approach.”