In the last of these, when making a
reconnaissance with both regiments, he was met by the whole of
Franceschi's cavalry. They charged down on all four sides of the square
into which he formed his force, expecting that, as upon two previous
occasions, the Portuguese would at once break up at their approach. They
stood, however, perfectly firm, and received the cavalry with such
withering volleys that Franceschi speedily drew off, leaving upwards of
two hundred dead behind him.
The day after this fight Terence received a letter from Mary, saying that
General Hill had arrived before they reached Lisbon, and that Don Jose had
learned that Major O'Connor had retired on half-pay. Also that Captain
Nelson had obtained a passage for her in one of the returning transports,
and had given her a letter to his mother, who resided in London, asking
her to receive her until she heard from the major.
A few days afterwards he learned from Colonel Wilberforce that the English
army had marched for Leirya. General Hill's force of five thousand men and
three hundred horses for the artillery arrived at an opportune moment. The
storming of Oporto, the approach of Victor to Badajos, after totally
defeating Cuesta's Spanish army, killing three-fifths of his men, and
capturing thousands of prisoners, while Lapisse was advancing from the
east, had created a terrible panic in Portugal.
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