The Tagus surrounds about two-thirds of Toledo, and was navigable from this city to the sea in 1588. The quay, at which the boats loaded and discharged, is still to be seen, and is called the Plaza de los Barces. The town is built on hills, the streets in general are very narrow, and many of the houses in ruin; the whole presenting the appearance of poverty and decline.

Though the General had invited me to partake of a sumptuous breakfast, I preferred a crust of ration bread and a glass of spirits in the open air, to the necessity of submitting a second time to his great attention.

I was somewhat surprised at finding General Lavoisier in the convoy, for though he swore to me that his friendship was so great that he would accompany me to Madrid, I put no more faith in his sincerity in this respect, than I had done in that of the snuffbox. He insisted that I should live with him during the journey; but as I did not admire this plan, I begged to decline his polite offer.

A part of our escort consisted of a detachment of the Hesse Darmstadt regiment, in garrison at Toledo, and among the officers were several who had served in the British pay in Holland. A Spanish regiment also guarded us; and it would be difficult to say which, the Spaniards or Germans, were most brutal in their conduct to the prisoners. On the march I was addressed by a soldier, who at first pretended to be a Spaniard; but on observing to him that his broad brogue denoted the green isle of his nativity too plainly to admit of his deceiving me, he acknowledged that he had deserted from the 87th regiment. He recounted the misery to which the French troops in Spain are often reduced, and said that he had suffered so much since his desertion, that he would willingly undergo any punishment, short of death, to be once more restored to his country. I listened to him with the more satisfaction, as he was overheard by some of our soldiers, who had shewn symptoms of an intention of entering the French service.

We passed through a country, of which the soil is a deep clay, retaining the marks of cultivation though it now lays waste, and arrived at the miserable village of Allascas, which, as well as others in the neighbourhood, were more than half destroyed by the French. Here, there being no quarters whatever for our officers, they were obliged to take part of mine, which were very little better than a stable.

On the 1st of December, the convoy set out at day-light for Madrid, but my mules not being ready I walked on with the rearguard, composed of a detachment of the 18th légère, a regiment I was well acquainted with, from its having been continually opposed to us in Egypt. On quitting the village I was witness to the cruel treatment of a poor old Spaniard, whom the French soldiers not only robbed of the things he was carrying to market, but also beat most unmercifully. My own safety I perceived rendered silence prudent, for had I remonstrated, it was very probable these ruffians would have murdered me without hesitation. As my mules were still behind, I entered into conversation with a dragoon who led his horse, and who entertained me with the feats of arms he had achieved, particularly in the campaign of Portugal. He passed the highest eulogium on Massena, who he had no doubt would chase the English into the sea; a prophecy which has however turned out as false as that of his imperial master, on the same subject. In order to get rid of this fellow’s tiresome babble, I quitted the road for the fields, where, putting up a hare and some partridges, my attention was entirely drawn to them, and the mules passed me on the road without my observing them. On returning to the road and not seeing them, I supposed they were still behind, and walked back nearly three miles to meet them, but not doing so I began to fear some accident, particularly as the people I met on the road had all the appearance of brigands. I therefore returned towards the convoy, and soon perceived my servant gallopping towards me.

As we were now approaching Madrid, the General mounted his charger, and put on his full uniform, which is superb in the extreme, and consequently calculated to inspire respect in the soldiery, though the hat, edged with feathers, certainly too much resembled that of a drum-major, and reminded me of the anecdote of a cockney sportsman, who in the confusion of a first essay, seeing some feathers waving over a hedge, instantly fired, and lo, shot off the head of a recruiting serjeant.

On our right was pointed out to us a ruined chapel, in which one of the General’s aides-de-camp, with four other officers and sixty men, were attacked a few days before by the brigands, who set the chapel on fire and burnt every soul of the party. We rode to examine this ensanguined spot, in which were still seen the half consumed carcases of these victims of retaliation, who had been intercepted by a party of Il Medico’s band on their return from Madrid, whither they had escorted a convoy. This sight seemed to shock the General and his officers, who could not help expressing their detestation of the barbarous manner of carrying on the war.

The General being excessively vain, both of his horse and horsemanship, in order to shew them off, set out on a full gallop in the deepest part of the road; though on a miserable Spanish hack, I was determined to shew off too, and getting my beast into a prancing canter, I soon passed the General, who putting spurs to his horse, at the same time that he slacked the reins, and the animal being knee deep in mud, came down, as might be expected, and rolled over his rider. The aide-de-camp and some chasseurs immediately ran to his assistance, but the miserable pickle he was in, and his ludicrous grimaces, almost discomposed their gravity, and they could scarce refrain from laughing aloud at the bedaubed face and uniform of their General. Such is the force of national pride even in trifles, that while I pitied the General’s plight, I congratulated myself on having proved my superior horsemanship, for the honour of Old England and my satisfaction was increased by reflecting, that had the same accident happened to me, the whole detachment would have triumphed both at the expence of my country and myself.

A short halt was the consequence of the General’s mishap, and when he was rubbed down tolerably clean, we proceeded towards Madrid over a flat and well cultivated country, but with much fewer villages, or inhabitants, than might have been expected so near the metropolis; these few however were much superior in appearance to those we had hitherto met with.