Note 189 — BATTLE OF SALAMANCA.

“Capt. Brotherton, of the 14th dragoons, fighting on the 18th at Guarena, amongst the foremost, as he was always wont to do, had a sword thrust quite through his side; yet, on the 22nd, he was again on horseback, and being denied leave to remain in that condition with his own regiment, secretly joined Pack’s Portuguese in an undress, and was again hurt in the unfortunate charge at the Arapiles. Such were the officers. A man of the 43rd, one by no means distinguished above his comrades, was shot through the middle of the thigh, and lost his shoes in passing the marshy stream; but, refusing to quit the fight, he limped under fire in rear of his regiment, and, with naked feet, and streaming of blood from his wound, he marched for several miles over a country covered with sharp stones! Such were the soldiers; and the devotion of a woman was not wanting to the illustration of this great day.

“The wife of Colonel Dalbiac, an English lady of a gentle disposition, and possessing a very delicate frame, had braved the dangers and endured the privations of two campaigns, with the patient fortitude which belongs only to her sex; and in this battle, forgetful of every thing but that strong affection which had so long supported her, she rode deep amidst the enemy’s fire; trembling, yet irresistibly impelled forwards by feelings more imperious than horror, more piercing than the fear of death.”—Napier.

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“At the sale of some deceased officer’s effects at Salamanca, the man who officiated as auctioneer on one occasion, on producing a prayer-book as the next lot for competition, remarked, that “he must indeed be a brave man who purchased it, as that was the fourth time during a month he had submitted it for sale.”