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5 Ferdinand von Schill, wounded at Jena, collected round him a free corps after his country was subdued, but after a few successes on the Elbe was killed at Stralsund, 1809.

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6 The Swede, contrasted with Napoleon in the next sonnet, is the Swedish King, Gustavus IV., of sonnet vii., part i. He abdicated in 1809.

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7 The ancient oak of Guernica, says Laborde in his account of Biscay, is a most venerable natural monument. Ferdinand and Isabella, in the year 1476, after hearing mass in the church of Santa Maria de la Antigua, repaired to this tree, under which they swore to the Biscayans to maintain their fueros (privileges).

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8 The Spanish Guerillas perfected their mode of warfare in 1811. Almost every province had its band: Mina, here mentioned, was Esprez-y-Mina, the Guerilla Chief of Navarre. Viriatus led, in the middle of the second century B.C., the troops of the Lusitanians against the Romans. The "Great Leader" is Sertorius, who, proscribed by Sulla, fled to Spain, and headed the exiles there against the Romans, whom he frequently conquered. On his way to Mauritania, whither he went from Spain, he met sailors in the Straits of Gibraltar who told him of the Fortunate Isles.

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The rejoicings were for the victory at Leipsic over Napoleon.

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