His arrival was very opportune, for the Portuguese troops with Wellington were completely demoralized, and exhausted, by the failure of their government to supply them with food, pay, or clothes.

So deplorable was their state that Wellington had been obliged to disband the militia regiments, and great numbers of desertions had taken place from the regular troops.
The regiment had been stationed on the British right.

Here the fighting had been very severe.

The French cavalry force was enormously superior to the British, who had but a thousand troopers in the field.

These were driven back by the French, and Ramsay's battery of horse artillery was cut off.