" Such," says Lord Byron, in a note, " were theexploits of the Maid of Saragoza, who by her valour elevated herself to the highest rank of heroines. When the author was at Seville, she walked daily on the Prado, decorated with medals and orders, by command of the Junta." The editor of Murray's complete edition of Lord Byron's Works, adds : " The exploits of Augustina, the famous heroine of both the sieges of Saragoza, are recorded at length in one of the most splendid chapters of Southey's ' History of the Penin sular War.' At the time when she first attracted notice, by mounting a battery where her lover had fallen, and working a gun in his room, she was in her twentysecond year, exceedingly pretty, and in a soft feminine style of beauty. She has further had the honour to be painted by Wilkie, and alluded to in Wordsworth's ' Dissertation on the Convention (misnamed) of Cintra,' where a noble passage concludes in these words : — ' Saragoza has exemplified a melancholy, yea, a dismal truth, yet consolatory and full of joy, that when a people are called suddenly to fight for their liberty, and are sorely pressed upon, their best field of battle is the floors upon which their children have played; the chambers where the family of each man has slept ; upon or under the roofs by which they have been shel tered ; in the gardens of their recreation ; in the street, or in the market-place ; before the altars of their tem ples, and among their congregated dwellings, blazing or uprooted.' Southey, in his most interesting account of the memorable Siege of Saragoza, says of this heroine, " Augustina Saragoza, a handsome woman of the lower class, about twenty-two years of age, arrived at this bat tery with refreshments at a time when not a man who defended it was left alive, so tremendous was the fire which the French kept up against it. For a moment, the citizens hesitated to re-man the guns; —Augustina sprang forward over the dead and dying, snatched a match from the hand of a dead artilleryman, and fired off a six-and-twenty pounder ; then jumping upon the gun, made a solemn vow never to quit it alive during the siege. Such a sight could not but animate with fresh courage all who beheld it. The Saragozans rushed into the battery, and renewed their fire with greater vigour than ever, and the French were repulsed here, and at all other points, with great slaughter." " The women were eminently conspicuous in their exertions, regardless of the shot and shells which fell about them, and braving the flames of the building — women of all ranks assisted : they formed themselves into companies —some to relieve the wounded ; some to carry water, wine, and provisions, to those who defended the gates. When circumstances force them out of the sphere of their ordinary nature, and compel them to exercise manly virtues, they display them in the highest degree ; and when they are once awakened to a sense of patriotism, they carry its principle to its most heroic pitch." " The noble defence," says Mr. Locker, " of this city against the French army under Lefebvre Desnouettes, in 1808, renders it an object of universal interest ; after an interval of five years, we found it still in ruins, the inhabitants being too poor to restore even their private dwellings. Saragoza (Caesarea Augusta), once a Roman station, is the capital of the kingdom of Arragon. It stands in an extensive plain, fruitful in olive-yards and vineyards. We crossed the Gallego, a tributary stream which falls in below the town, and soon after entered it by the bridge of the Ebro. The wreck of the public buildings, destroyed during the bombardment, associated in our minds with the heroic exploits of the inhabitants, compelled us to pause at every step to observe the ravages of the shot and shells; and this interest in creased on reaching the principal street, El Cozo — every door and window which remained bore the marks of bullets ; for here the Saragozans fought their inva ders hand to hand : while the French took possession of one side, the citizens maintained the other, disputing every inch of ground between them. The walls which separated the houses were pulled down, and this long street was thus converted into two immense forts. Loop-holes were opened for musketry, embrasures were broken through the front walls, and cannon brought up from within, which spread destruction from side to side. Every expedient practised in more regular sieges was tried in succession ; mines and counter-mines were carried below the pavement, and exploded underneath the opposite houses. The dead lay in heaps between the combatants, threatening a pestilence more terrible than the sword. Every church and convent —nay, every building capable of defence, became a military position. Priests were seen defending their altars, and pouring out their blood at the foot of the cross. Among the most con spicuous of these was Padre Santiago Sass, who took the lead in every hazardous enterprise. Females rivalled the most undaunted of their fellow-citizens. The Portilla was saved by the gallantry of Augustina Saragoza, a fine young woman, who, when none else survived in the battery, snatched a match from the hands of a dead artilleryman, and renewed the fire on the besiegers." The convent of Sta Engracia gives name to one of the gates of Saragoza, to which it stands contiguous. On the 3rd of August the French opened a tremendous fire on Sta Engracia, which soon burst into flames. Seizing the advantage, they pushed on two strong columns, which, after a most desperate conflict, gained possession of the quarter of Sta Engracia, from whence they immediately summoned the inhabitants to sur render. The proposal and the reply were equally laconic : — Proposal —" Quartel General, Sta Engracia. " La capitulacion." Answer —" Quartel General, Saragoza. " Guerra al cuchillo. " Palafox." The answer is rendered by Lord Byron, " War even to the knife ; " an energetic expression of determination, which will longer endure in the poetry of Lord Byron than the city and site of the event be known among men. Such was the success of these enthusiastic exer tions, that the enemy were driven into a narrow circuit; the citizens gradually regained the greater part of their town ; and Lefebvre, having set fire to the quarter of Sta Engracia on the night of the 13th of August, withdrew his troops from the contest, leaving the defenders to enjoy the triumph of their patriotism.

Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, etching, lithograph, plate, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, and NOT blocks of steel or wood or any other material. “ENGRAVINGS”, the term commonly used for these paper prints, were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books, and these paper prints or “engravings” were created by the intaglio process of etching the negative of the image into a block of steel, copper, wood etc, and then when inked and pressed onto paper, a print image was created. These prints or engravings were usually inserted into books, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone lithographs. They often had a tissue guard or onion skin frontis to protect them from transferring their ink to the opposite page and were usually on much thicker quality woven rag stock paper than the regular prints. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper.

A RARE FIND! AND GREAT DECORATION FOR YOUR OFFICE OR DEN WALL.