Page:Some Particulars of the Life and Adventures of James Guidney - third edition.pdf/13

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lay there in temporary barracks three months, in expectation of Buonaparte's threatened expedition against England. They then encamped on the Downs, near Southbourne, under the command of General Maitland; and after a short stay removed to the Isle of Wight, where they lay in temporary barracks at Freshwater, to prevent smuggling.

In February, 1805, the Battalion moved to Winchester, and from that place to Portsmouth, where it embarked on board transports for Lisbon. When it arrived there, the Portuguese authorities resolved in a council of war to prevent its landing; they therefore sailed on to Gibraltar, and remained there in garrison about five years, which gave James Guidney a good opportunity of seeing every thing connected with that place.

Gibraltar is a town situated at the extreme south of Andalusia, in Spain, on a narrow neck of land running into the sea. It is built at the foot of a rock of the same name, and is strongly fortified both by nature and art. It can be approached only by a narrow passage between the mountain and the sea, across which the Spaniards have drawn a line and fortified it, to prevent the garrison from having any communication with the country. It was taken from the Spaniards by the English in