Portuguese." He continued shouting his remarks until I got about
forty yards in advance, when I commenced laughing; but it would
have been more prudent in me to have held my peace, for the next
moment, with bang--bang, two bullets, well aimed, came whizzing
past my ears. A small river lay just before me, though the bridge
was a considerable way on my left. I spurred my animal through it,
closely followed by my terrified guide, and commenced galloping
along a sandy plain on the other side, and so escaped with my life.

These fellows, with the look of banditti, were in no respect
better; and the traveller who should meet them in a solitary place
would have little reason to bless his good fortune. One of the
carriers (all of whom were Spaniards from the neighbourhood of
Badajoz, and had been despatched into Portugal for the purpose of
conveying the stores), whom I afterwards met in the aforesaid town,
informed me that the whole party were equally bad, and that he and
his companions had been plundered by them of various articles, and
threatened with death if they attempted to complain. How frightful
to figure to oneself an army of such beings in a foreign land, sent
thither either to invade or defend; and yet Spain, at the time I am
writing this, is looking forward to armed assistance from Portugal.
May the Lord in his mercy grant that the soldiers who proceed to
her assistance may be of a different stamp: and yet, from the lax
state of discipline which exists in the Portuguese army, in
comparison with that of England and France, I am afraid that the
inoffensive population of the disturbed provinces will say that
wolves have been summoned to chase away foxes from the sheepfold.
O! may I live to see the day when soldiery will no longer be
tolerated in any civilized, or at least Christian, country!