right, and we soon found ourselves opposite to the stupendous arches of the aqueduct of Alcantara. It was built about the year 1748, in the reign of King John the Fifth, the founder of Mafra; and providentially received no injury from the earthquake of 1755. It is constructed, like all the other public buildings here, of white marble.

This aqueduct is really a stupendous work, and does honor to the Portuguese nation. It collects a number of springs on the mountains and heights adjoining to Bellas, and conveys their joint produce for several leagues, into a large reservoir, situated near the north-west extremity of Lisbon. In passing over the vale of Alcantara, it unites two hills by thirty-five arches, fourteen of which are very large; some of them three hundred and thirty-two feet high.

There are ten smaller arches near the city, and many more of still less dimensions near its source. The pillars which support these arches are square, and the largest measure thirty-three feet each side, at the base.

Before this building was erected, Lisbon suffered the greatest distress for want of water; and you may judge of the value of this element here, when I inform you that eighty thousand pounds sterling is calculated to be the sum annually paid by the inhabitants for the water which

is carried from the fountains, in small barrels, to their respective houses, by a class of men called Gallegos.

On entering Lisbon, I rode to the Caffee del Commercio, where I supped with my friend H***, and retired to rest on a sofa, every bed in the house being engaged.

Before concluding this letter, I must not omit a remarkable circumstance which has lately occurred: When a detachment of troops went from hence, to take possession of the town and fortress of Elvas, they found that place invested by a body of Spaniards, part of the army of Estremadura, under the command of a General Galluzzo. On being made acquainted with the terms of the convention of Cintra, Galluzzo would not consent that the garrison of Elvas, whom he already anticipated as his prisoners, should be included; and so resolute was he in his refusal to permit our troops to execute their orders, that it was found. necessary to dispatch a field-officer from head-quarters, to persuade this Spanish Bobadil of the absolute necessity of his withdrawing his army. Colonel Graham, of the nineteenth regiment, was selected for this delicate mission, and has succeeded in bringing Galluzzo to reason. Adieu.

M

LETTER XIII.

DEPARTURE OF SIR HEW DALRYMPLE FOR ENGLAND. CHARACTER OF SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY.-SKETCH OF HIS PUBLIC LIFE.

Lisbon, 6th October, 1808.

I AM in hopes that I shall be enabled to send you this second letter by the fleet, in hich Sir Hew Dalrymple returns to England.

The English papers, just received, have put the army in possession of all the particulars of the convention: they likewise give us an idea of the sensations it has excited in the public mind at home. These are, indeed, such as we had all anticipated.

The departure of Sir Arthur Wellesley for England, is a subject of great regret with the army. He had won the entire confidence and affections of the soldiery, in an uncommon degree, by his talents and affability.

Indeed he possesses such a combination of rare qualities, as seldom fall to the lot of an individual; and, with the exception of Nelson, whose fame he bids fair to rival, England has, perhaps, produced no man, since the days of Marlborough, of so much innate military acumen. To a body unusually active, there is added, in him, a mind the most fertile in resources. His quickness of conception can be equalled only by his intrepidity in execution. With an instinctive readiness, he forms a just conception of the character and talents of his enemy, as well as of the result of his own plans.

He is one of those whom our country ought always to cherish; as it is only with such men at the head of our fleets or armies, that we can. hope to meet, with suitable energy and effect, the powerful means of an inveterate foe.

Besides these grand traits of character, Sir Arthur has been trained in the best, perhaps, of all schools for learning the art of war, I mean the plains of Hindostan. It is experience alone that can enable any general to put thirty or forty thousand men in motion. The mind, if long confined to petty and minute details, can seldom be brought to collect with facility into one point, a multiplicity of particulars, and to refer a variety of operations to their common principle. It is for this reason that a

good officer of a battalion, is often found to make but a very indifferent general.

In illustration of what I assert, I shall give you a short sketch of the public life of Sir Arthur Wellesley.

Sir Arthur Wellesley is the third son of the late Earl of Mornington. After receiving the rudiments of education at Eton, he was placed at a military academy at Angers, in France. During his residence there, he applied himself with great industry to acquire a thorough knowledge of the theory of his future profession. He entered the army, as a subaltern, at an early period of life, and reached the rank of field-officer, without having had any opportunity of distinguishing himself.

Having accompanied the Earl of Moira to Holland, in 1794, he had an opportunity of displaying his talents, while conducting the retreat of a brigade of three battalions, which he effected with great credit and applause.

On the appointment of his brother, the Marquis Wellesley, to be governor-general of Bengal, Sir Arthur, who had purchased the lieutenant-colonelcy of the thirty-. third, accompanied his regiment to India. On his arrival, an expedition being then on foot for the reduction of Ma