Iberia Won 31

Iberia Won 31

“The forlorn hope took its station at the mouth of the most

advanced trench about half-past ten o’clock. The tide, which had

long turned, was now fast ebbing, and these gallant fellows beheld

its departure with a degree of feverish anxiety such as he only can

imagine who has stood in a similar situation. This was the first

time that a town was stormed by daylight since the commencement

of the war, and the storming party were enabled distinctly to

perceive the preparations which were making for their reception:

there was, therefore, something not only interesting but novel

in beholding the muzzles of the enemy’s cannon from the castle

and other batteries turned in such a direction as to flank the

breaches, whilst the glancing of bayonets and the occasional rise

of caps and feathers gave notice of the line of infantry which was

forming underneath the parapet. There an officer from time to time

could be distinguished leaning his telescope over the top of the

rampart or through the opening of an embrasure, and prying with

deep attention into our arrangements. Nor were our own officers,

particularly those of the engineers, idle. With the greatest

coolness they exposed themselves to a dropping fire of musketry,

which the enemy at intervals kept up, whilst they examined and

re-examined the state of the breaches. It would be difficult to

convey to the mind of an ordinary reader anything like a correct

notion of the state of feeling which takes possession of a man

waiting for the commencement of a battle. In the first place, time

appears to move upon leaden wings, every minute seems an hour, and

every hour a day. Then there is a strange commingling of levity

and seriousness within him, a levity which prompts him to laugh

he scarce knows why, and a seriousness which urges him ever and

anon to lift up a mental prayer to the Throne of Grace. On such

occasions little or no conversation passes. The privates generally

lean upon their firelocks, and the officers upon their swords, and

few words except monosyllables, at least in answer to questions

put, are wasted. On these occasions, too, the faces of the bravest

often change colour, and the limbs of the most resolute tremble,

not with fear but with anxiety, whilst watches are consulted till

the individuals who consult them grow absolutely weary of the

employment. On the whole, it is a situation of higher excitement

and darker and deeper agitation than any other in human life, nor

can he be said to have felt all which man is capable of feeling who

has not filled it.

 

“Noon had barely passed, when the low state of the tide giving

evidence that the river might be forded, the word was given to

advance. Silent as the grave the column moved forward. In one

instant the leading files had cleared the trenches, and the others

poured on in quick succession after them, when the work of death

began. The enemy, having reserved their fire till the head of the

column had gained the middle of the stream, then opened with the

most deadly effect. Grape, canister, musketry, shells, grenades,

and every species of missile, were hurled from the ramparts,

beneath which our gallant fellows dropped _like corn before the

reaper_; in so much, that in the space of two minutes the river was

literally choked up with the bodies of the killed and wounded, over

whom, without discrimination, the advancing division pressed on.

The opposite bank was soon gained, and the short space between the

landing-place and the foot of the breach rapidly cleared without

a single shot having been returned by the assailants. But here

the most alarming prospect awaited them. Instead of a wide and

tolerably level chasm, the breach presented the appearance only of

an ill-built wall thrown considerably from its perpendicular, to

ascend which, even though unopposed, would be no easy task. It was,

however, too late to pause; besides, the men’s blood was hot and

their courage on fire, so they pressed on, clambering up as they

best could, and effectually hindering one another from falling,

each by the eagerness of the rear ranks to follow those in front.

Shouts and groans were now mingled with the roar of cannon and the

rattle of musketry: our front ranks likewise had an opportunity of

occasionally firing with effect, and the slaughter on both sides

was dreadful. At length the head of the column forced its way to

the summit of the breach, where it was met in the most gallant

style by the bayonets of the garrison. When I say the summit of the

breach, I mean not to assert that our soldiers stood upon a level

with their enemies, for this was not the case. There was a high

step, perhaps two or three feet in length, which the assailants

must surmount before they could gain the same ground with the

defenders, and a very considerable period elapsed ere that step was

surmounted. Here bayonet met bayonet, and sabre met sabre, in close

and desperate strife, without the one party being able to advance

or the other succeeding in driving them back.”

 

 

I. “While shattering Fate his iron moulds doth fill!”

 

Ἀλλ’ ἁ μοιριδία τις δύνασις δεινά·

Οὔτ’ ἄν νιν ὄμβρος, οὔτ’ Ἄρης,

Οὐ πύργος, οὐχ ἁλίκτυποι

Κελαιναὶ νᾶες ἐκφύγοιεν.

Soph. _Antig._ 951.

 

“Crushing is the power of Fate! which neither the elements, nor

Mars, nor a tower, nor the black wave-roaring ships can flee.”

 

 

III. “Nor fairer Hella on the Ægean flood.”

 

Utque fugam rapiant, aries nitidissimus auro

Traditur: ille vehit per freta longa duos.

Dicitur infirmâ cornu tenuisse sinistrâ

Femina, cùm de se nomina fecit aquæ.

Pene simul periit, dum vult succurrere lapsæ

Frater.

Ovid, _Fast._ iii. 867.

 

See also Pindar’s Fourth Pythionic.

 

“Nor with more grief was Athamantis torn.”

 

Et frustrà pecudem quæres Athamantidos Helles.

Ovid. _Fast._ iv. 903.

 

 

VII. “But Isidora’s lot was e’en more drear,

For none might dare from San Sebastian pass.”

 

La verde primavera

De mis floridos años

Pasé cautiva en tus prisiones,

Y en la cadena fiera.

Lope de Vega, _Arcadia_.

 

 

“To pluck the summer flowers, and brush the dewy grass.”

 

“In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and

pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against Nature not to go

out and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with Heaven

and Earth.”--Milton, _Tractate on Education_, § 22.

 

 

VIII. ----“Invoked the Virgin’s might,

And deemed she saw her form within that orb of light.”

 

The nightly hunter, lifting a bright eye

Up towards the crescent moon, with grateful heart

Called on the lovely wanderer who bestowed

That timely light to share his joyous sport;

And hence, a beaming goddess with her nymphs

Across the lawn, and thro’ the darksome grove,

Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes,

By echo multiplied from rock or cave,

Swept in the storm of chase; as moon and stars

Glance rapidly along the clouded Heaven

When winds are blowing strong.

Wordsworth, _The Excursion_.

 

 

IX. ----“‘Empress-Queen

Of Heaven, Immaculate Virgin!’”

 

For these epithets see the _Horas Castellanas_.

 

 

XIII. ----“Great Arthur calls

For nigh a thousand hearts that danger scorn

To rush like Ocean-surge against the walls.”

 

Disse ai duci il gran Duce: “Al nuovo albore

“Tutti all’ assalto voi pronti sarete.”

Tasso, _Gerus. Lib._ xi. 17.

 

 

XIX. “To where the grisly bastion-breach doth frown.”

 

--Γοργείην κεφαλὴν δεινοῖο πελώρον.

Hom. _Od._ xi. 633.

 

 

XXV. “Alcides’ arm--the eye that Python slew,

The limbs and shoulder of the Delian God!”

 

Nec quòd laudamus formam, tàm turpe putâris;

Laudamus magnas hâc quoque parte Deas.

Ovid. _Fast._ vi. 807.

 

 

XXVI. “And Morton now, and Nial by his side,

In peril’s front the impetuous stormers lead,” &c.

 

Φευγόντων σὺν νηυσὶ φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν·

Νῶϊ δ’ ἐγὼ Σθένελός τε μαχησόμεθ’, εἰσόκε τέκμωρ

Ἰλίου εὕρωμεν.

Hom. _Il._ ix. 47.

 

“Let them fly with their ships, to their dear native country;

but we--Sthenelus and I--will fight till we find the end of

Ilion!” Cæsar addresses his soldiers in language very nearly

similar:--“Quòd si præterea nemo sequatur, tamen se cum solâ decimâ

legione iturum, de quâ non dubitaret.”--_De Bella Gallico_, lib. i.

§. 40.

 

 

XXXI. “Not death at every footstep can appal.”

 

Per damna, per cædes, ab ipso

Ducit opes animumque ferro.

Non ...

Monstrumve summisere Colchi

Majus, Echioniæve Thebæ.

Horat. _Carm._ iv. 4.

 

 

XXXII. “Like mariner that dashed on stormy beach,” &c.

 

Naufragum ut ejectum spumantibus æquoris undis.

Catul. lxvi.

 

“As snorts the wild bull

Whom the banderils pierce.”

 

E qual táuro ferito il suo dolore

Versó mugghiando e suspirando fuore.

Tasso, _Ger. Lib._ iv. 1.