The Sun.
London, England, 1809-08-25 00:00:00

BATTLE 0

r TA LA 17111,-1,

XX.TAACT OP A LETTER', DATPD TA LICOEFrA, JULY 2g.

"MY -DRA!t 411.--r instead-of Jeceiving- a letter,
dated :qattiiki, you hod one dated the saint • as last,4nd
now lippe.Sir'Arthur will be content with :dating his
from t to Plains of Ta'eate,r3, become noicitis fOCtlie
etioni of the-27th and 28th inst. at least for:Some
time. • - •

My last was rlatri; arid I :13cli-?ye fnrwari,-0,;
the 2ht?i, af-which tune it was every one's opinion;
that the enemy retreated';' ho'„vever, 4 appears our
advalced g•iatri kept pare‘wid). iiit:ip On they re-
reinforcement. of se%eftai Illousands:, Sir Ar-
C•ui-, mortiin?,-of the 2711 put liirnself.at
rwr a.ivanee INitt:cketizie's brigade),
as iris paid, iuur,ec : them to turn: about and
a!t,,ck bin).

b 11,15

" The brimt rf ihis_bosiness was sustained by the
Spaniards and this brivile, con.s'istlng of about six
,thousand men, about.onr o'clock.p.. in. when the
p tr,iArd,, I.y a conocrred, Nan, b.- au to give way,
which they aid in excellent ovder, and, cOutealed
the gryater. Part of their forte behind the town. but
by Ilr, tune- the enemy came •up, they hi.4.taken up
a 1.)(;4:4)11 in a xv,:od,. with their right to the Tagus,
_ two miles adV:lneed froui Talavera, opposite the ene-
tny's left; ,:'tile our whole force turned out of the
wqod they were batted in, and occupied a most ex-
: ceffent position., Faith our left on a steep hill, but
easy of access, extending to ,the Spanish lines, co-
vt ring a pin of the enemy fiom their right to their
'centre. The enemy, from the rapidity of their
Movements, got hold of some, commanding hills op-
posite our left.
With a tnountairi on their right, and the Tagus
on their lett, the .occupation of this bill, where our
/eft was posted, seemed, to ,be the great objets of the
w enemy during the hole business. The action com-
menced at half past six o'clock, P. M. by a vigorous
attack of the enemy on this post, which was defend-
ed by•General-Hlll's division'. They continued their
exertions to get possession ofthis bill, till eleven at
night, when, 'aftet being repUlsed and driven down
every time' they attempted to ascend, they withdrew
for the night. I could not see.their attack of our
right, but was_ happy" to find they did not succeed
better.in that point, and could'uoi b:)ast,ot having
gained an inch of groped, either on us or the Spa-
niards. We lay on our arms the' whole night, and
were in great hopes, they had retired; hOwever, rat
day-light we were much disappointed at :finding.
them within halt guts shot of us,,determined to,itapt
the hill, the
_attack on which commenced at tive.
o'clock A.-M. with a mot dreadful cannonnde of
rounri, grape, aria shells, from a tiuree;-ons
"'This desoucliVe fire' was so wed directed, that,
notwithstanding ,4verr meauS we cuuld think. of to
conceol onrselVes on the side of the. - and layi,ag,
down our'arms, tlio.rauks_wete.t-higinect eery much,
wititput a single shot in return, excel t_-:_irom 3 Or 4
pieces of ill direAed Spanish ,artillery: A•They now.
renewed their attempt to take it by storinT'thei:
in ,
idvanc,.d up the hilt for this purpose; and
met with ed oppo.ition, exeept from our field-
pieees, till they arrived near the top, when they
Were charged by the 2gth, 2d, 48th, and, I believe,
64th regiments, who drove them Much quicker
down than they came This division now re-
tired to the- f0r.4., of the mountain, and dispatched a
column of about. 2000 to take possession at a tower
Cn the to;,, apelt, I I LW:IG , g to bt.: occupied
by us before, ,s, by means of tie easy descent on
,the
other side, e couid be. cut off, in case'of
a revers e of fortune,' from Ttiati leading from
Orepesa to Talaverh, which was the same, we came
to the latter by.
The 23d- Light Dragoons and Dragoon Guards
now •ca4l.- round the hill, in valley between
the hal and mountain; which kept this -French
•diVision'• from attempting any .thing . further,
till reinforc!d by two ~utter string columns: they
now 4vaDeed-,- and commenced forming a line
of one of tho,e, while the other remained in co-
lumn ready to receive our cavalry. The 23d were
then ordered to advance, 40d did so very regularly,
thOugh under a %ery heavy. fire of musk,:try. On
-eonamthcing the charge, the column, which had de-
ployed succeeded by.double quick time in getting in-,
to columns; before the Dragoons came up. The 23d
not withitanding,came up to the point of the bayonet,
in hope,; the enemy would shew Joule symptoms of
breaking; but rinite't be contrary—they remained as'
steady as a though I saw several shells tall in
the centre;6l-thein-r-and:kept up such a brisk
that they, soon coMpelled the 23d to retirerindisoider.
The GUirds now, up, but every piludently, de-
he loss of the :23d,,tuust have
been very great ; I wetit over the tiel4 !his wriiing,
and saw more than I could iin tine—horses and men
comf,letely burned to
-" this cerjainly:Was one of those'views in-action
which seldom occur, andiudeedOne of the finest
ever saw, Or_that could he imagined, the 231 ad-
vancing under retreated shouts..and huzzas from the
teoopeon the hill, the
,enetnyV,lne, running to get.
into column as a place o(securitv , the steaoitiess of_.'
those celumnS„, which now looked more like build-
ings than men, and the persevering bravery..e_Ltbe.
23d, in charging, and aCtiallY.going round one of f
the colkans-=--1 do not think'any pinnter or pen
ca-
pa4,ie of p',eturingit in" half its beauties„
".13‘Ifore ihe 'Charge four.or five thousand of the.
S, aniarils; got.up thethountain; in rear of our ea-
i n a short time cornMenced a very spirited
attack on the French, Who bad the top, for.near a'
mife, completelYlined. with infantry. They kept up
su quick a tire,,,.and seenied so'deterniined :to carry
their 'point, ,that In about twobolirS the -enetity be-
gan to give, way in That,guarter,
,bnt continued dis-
puting it for several hours after, when, near sun-seG
they left it in quiet possession of this column of the
pi..iiitards., who certainly behaved nobly.
" About three o'clock, .I was glad to find the
enemy had gained no ground on the .right or centre,
though I could not,' for,Jhe fore.st of trees, distin-
guish how-tmatters went on in that-quarter. About
tour o'clock, our battalion was-called upon from its
lurking place on the top of, the hill, when we were
exposed to a heavy fire of shells, by which we lost
1 men, without a shot in return ; and were or-
.1(-1.ed to
,proceed singly down the hill, to check a
that was again advancing to storm the other
(towards the right and centre) of the bill.

ao" “.14 4.14/5 g
innee
Wounded, „and standing the tire of this colunn,.sup-
:ported bra heavy discharge of artillery, for about
_five minutes, we tired a volley, and' instantaneously
came to the charge ; halted, tired once nme-, ad-
vanced, and charged a second time; when the ene--
my went to the right about, and retired. Although
they did not wait the point of our bayonets, we suc-
ceeded in .the grind object of making them retire.
On returning, we received the thanks of Sir Arthur
on the spot, and I understand we have the same re-
peated to us in this day':; Public Orders. • In Eta,
nothing. could be steadier or more deterlined than
' our conduCt. Atter this they retired .to some dis-
-tanee, and again commenced,with.their shells, which
they continued nil about seven in the evening, when
-they began to form their columns of infantry end
cavalry, as it intending to keep it up during, the
night. However, after remaining under antes the
~virhnle night; expeebtig, if possible, a Jn( dreadful
havoc ,this day, to.our great joy and satistadion •we
found they had retired ; not a man was' to be seen.
" Our light infantry brigade, with some guns,
arrived this morning, and have pursued, in order to
keep them view: Their nombers could not be
less than. 50,000, having been joined by Joseph;and
the 'army trout Toledo. Joseph was iTesetft, it is
said, during the whole time;, their:loss is very great
but, I am afraid, not in-.proportion to otira,' Which
cannot be less in killed -' and Wounded than 6000
men, out of not more than 22,000. .We loSt about.
180 privates, and Ifi officers; fOr which we had no
more satif.iaion thatrsik rounds per man; the offi-
cers wounds, I bWieve, are not dangerous.
The tov‘n and held of battle, at this moment,'
present the most •dieadful scene you can imagine.
Some of the Wounded have remained two days un-
dressed, for want of medical assistance ;- and awn.
bers, who could not be carried off in time, baveb;:en
burnt ; this was occasioned by the enemy's shells,:
winch set fire to every -field that had the least herb-
age ; what verdure does appear is, atsi his time of the
year, quite parched, and consequently Setting fire to
theirTroughes, attil blowing tlietn up:- This, at the
moment, could not be belmi. Sometimes whole
fields were on fire-at once, which often Covered their
advance. .

‘,‘ Want of time and fatigue prevent me oontinu-
ing a detail which
.any moderate. man 4night, fill
p,ages on ;. however, one thing we w.2re onich de-
ceived in—the enemy's ntffaber ; t. ~Iy, it was
doubtful at a late hour yesterday, ‘‘ hat <:, Id be the
result; Al) we can bodst of, aft:-.r. 17 01 „;
hd,rd ‘ghtitig, is possession tiie held of
I believe 1g .pieces at argliery, I have (itten of
the vast superiority of the management of their great
guns; which I must say is far short of: what it
really is.;

Proviioni are still very scarce. The ,ratty lost
number cat men by the mistake occasioned by the
'darkness of the night of the 271 h 5 several titnt,,s one
line has been Mound firing On another. The regiS
dent Henry Sh:phard it attached to (83d) sot-feted
very much; however he has escaped, but rather
sick, fighting so long at a tine, as-wsellas-athers.

" I remain-, 6,cc

" T. C."

POLICE.

UNION-HALL.--Mary Mac "Karnrs underwent a
second examination, on the charge of veering to
pledge silver rings gilt representing- them to be gold
rings.—Mr. Essex, of the Sttand, stated, that he had
discovered the person who made the rings, by an ap-
plication at Goldsmith's Hall. The rings were
stamped at the Hall with the stamp used by the
Company for stamping silver.—Mr."Slack,'.th7 per-
son who made the rings, mentioned the names of the
peoiSie from* whom he "had received •the order : he
had-made three dozen and a halt similar to that pro-
duced ; it is not usual to have ariiides' so small as
these stamped; but when they were ordered Mr.
Slack was desired to get them
,stainpo, as they were
to be sent to the West Indies. They were worth
about 21. 3d. each,- and were nut gilt when d,-;•
livei;ed to the persons, who ordered them.—ThePri-
saner, ayoutig woman, said in her tplerence, that the
ring was given to her by a in;:in, she did np; know;--•
The Magistrate, Mr. Justice Chambers, said it did
itot appear that the prisoner had'Solki thering, repre-
senting it to be gold; she had offered it, to pledge,
and the pawnbrokers with difficulty discoVered the
cheat; it Was possible the woman might have re-
ceived it as she stated, and really be ignorant that
was not.gold : unless:, therefore, any 'person could-
idet& the Prisoner as being the peison, who, had*,
.pledged any of the other rings, he should discharge
her.—No proof being produced, she was discharged..

PUGILISM EictRAORDINAII Y.--"WC,TIIICii(:I'.y a battle
took place between two of the fair sea; on. of them
a retailer of oysters, and the otherit dealer anples,
_who daily take their stands nearly bpp °Sit& AJari-i-
-street, -in the Strand. The fair fruiteress, it seems,
was jealous of her neighbodr, and the husband being
imprudent enough to go and 'S'wallow down, not
love•from her eyes, but oysters from-the tub, of the
objc(t. of his wife'a jealousy, even in her
injured wife's ire was raised, and she attacked the
oyster woman with tongue and'nail; this attack was
returned with. interest, caps; bonnets, and handker-
chiefs, were soon reduced to tatters; and the visages'
of the fair combatants were disfigured with copious
streams of blood ; the battle raged with such fury,
that had not the standers by interfered, serious con-
sequence's might have ensued ; the' oyster-dealer,
however, enraged .at the imputation which had
been cast upon her virtue, sallied forth in all 'the pa-
rapharnalia of woe, to Bow-street, to proenre a war-
rant fur her opponent.
The great objeaiOns to gaming arise from seve-
ral circumstances usually attendant on play. The
parties who adveniwe generally lose more than they
intended, or can afford. They-are sometimes out-
witted, and at others suffer by the ignorance of a bad
partner. All these things disturb the mind, injure
the health, and create a culpable riegle& of the most
material concerns of life. Theonly species of play
from which such effeEts do not arise, is the• Lottery ;
and such a one as that which will be soon dra..% n, af-
f girds the fairest Opportunity of acquiring a :very lure.
sum, for a very small adventdre, .of any that ever
existed.