ASIA CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ARTHUR PROBSTHAIN Oriental BoolcBeller 41 Gt. Russell Street LONDON, W.C. I Cornell University Library DS 475.2.D25A3 Memories of a long life 3 1924 024 060 166 DATE DUE ibr?>fV I )an GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A. B Cornell University B Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024060166 MEMORIES OF A LONG LIFE. Edinhurgh : Printed ty Mornson and Glhl,, FOR DAVID DOUGLAS. LONDON . SIMPKIN MARSHALL HAMILTON KENT AND CO, LTD. CAMBRIDGE ilACMILLAN AND BOWES. GLASGOW . JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS. ^fi-z-u^^ '^uIX^^ hd/t^^^^ {All Bights resened.) MEMOEIES A LONG LIFE. BY Lieutenant-Colonel DAVID DAVIDSON, C,B., H.E.LC.S., HONORARY COLONEL AND LATE COMMANDANT OF THE QOEEN'S EDINBURGH RIFLE VOLUNTEER BRIGADE. "Sweet Memory ! wafted by thy gentle gale, Oft up the stream of Time I turn my sail." —Rogers. EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS. 1890. {All Rights reserved.) 33 ^^ ^ V /3 TO MY WIFE, THE BEAK COMPANION AND HELPMEET OF THE BETTEE HALE OP THAT LONG LIFE. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Earliest recollections— Sent to school — Dr. Welsh — Dawson the trainer — Gilbert Burns — Reign of tawse — Edward Irving — Claggum Nanny — How to teach Chinese — Knox Institute — Dr. Chalmers — Crossbow — WombweU's monkeys — Lord Wemyss — Old Sandy — George Spiers' door — The fire-bell — Monkrigg — Rabbit smouohing — Wicked little gun — Dorothy J^bster— Bamborough Castle— Bothwell Castle — Cadetship — Sandy on "dooelling," 3-27 CHAPTER II. Leaye-takings — The Bard of Hope — College pranks — London — Sir John Ross — " Naebody but lassies " — Bay of Biscay — Spring a leak — Lisbon for repairs — Don Miguel arrives^Review of British troops — Fellow-passengers — Arrive at Bombay, 28-40 CHAPTER III. Report arrival — Dinner-party — The griffin — Imprisoned — March of cadets — "Butters is tuffs" — Sir John Malcolm — Wild elephant between two tame ones — Poona — Florence — Bad spill — Sir David Leighton— Robbed — Ramoosees — Emaum — Fellow-ensigns — Battle of Corygaum — Wallace lost — "Tiger Davis " — Dowlutabad — Caves of Ellora — Adjunota— Among tigers, 41-64 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAGE Asseerguiii — Major Bagnold — Attack on Residency at Mocha — Middy killed— Sepoy in war-paint — Mess, camp fashion — Pitch water — How I learned Hindustanee — Tommy Tapp — Out revolvers — Panther-hunt — " Bhite giyah" — The quiet nook — Soldier's funeral — Mahal Gooraree — Tom Fraser — "Don't be afraid "— Cobras — One caught — Dreams and apparitions — Mark Antony — Mark and bison — Benjamin Robins — Outram — Father's death — Brother — Bedowin — Hunting cap saves two lives — Nullah in spate — Charpaee raft— Muffy— Nancy 65-98 CHAPTER V. Lectures — Blieel trackers — Tracking outlaws — Outram and the Bheels — Hyder and his cakes — Climbing powers — Outram spears bison — New station — Incompetent commander — "The Twa Dogs " — The brigadier — ' ' Rogue's March " — Cannelure bullets — New rifle sight — Raft dodge — Manzeroote — Real turtle — Marvellous escape — Miscarriage of justice — Blind man's evidence — Boyd and the bear — Ravenswood's shot — Killed in action — Caves of Adjuncta — Runaway elephant — Sporting doctor — General John Jacob — Early march — Big gun at Beejapoor — Marching powers of sepoys — Kaladgee, 99-130 CHAPTER VI. Religious impressions — Fate of companion — Great sorrow — Comfort — Questionings, What is free grace ? — Answer by Dr. Chalmers — Old and new covenant — Co-operative Christianity — Shorter Catechism — Grandmamma JIarshall — My Eben- ezers — Dr. Wilson — A time to dance — Thugs — Samuel Hebich — Visit and work — Results — Like Zaoohaeus — The ' ' shivil gentleman " — The ' ' vite head " — Finds a ' ' Shew " — Open window — Youngest ensign brought back to his knees — Staff-ofEcer — Retrograde Christianity — The two pictures — Christ the Foundation, .... 131-160 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. PAGE Trip to coast — Honawar — Predicament — Nature's cloisters — Pleasant meeting — Falls of Girsappa — Rural breakfast — Water rockets — Review of regiment — Cholera — Meet for prayer — Sad scenes — "Panee! panee!" — Regiment deci- mated — Public thanksgiving — Cassee's header — Leave 18th — Spars with Outram — Mr. Parish — Revenue Survey — "Goolmit Nana" — Deccan plough and other implements — " My yoke is easy " — Seetaram — Longee, . . 161-188 CHAPTER YIII. First report — Statistical diagrams — Originator of educational cess — Goldsmid at work — Classing soil — Goldsmid's jokes^ Longee chased by wolves — Arab horse — First spear — Piggy in well — Outram and lion cubs — Dr. A. Graham — Reeves on "Allegro" — Bear — The FaiTars and their son Fred — The young ensign and engineer — Sad death of latter — Rifled cannon — Telescope sight — Famous pistol, . . . 189-212 CHAPTER IX. Early history of India — Village system — India far from self- government — Capability of Ryots — Bible in schools — Kept back at our peril — History of Joseph — Rhinoceros on war- path — Volunteer for Scinde — "Bundook dho" — Itinerant fishermen — Man-eater — Killed by Outram — Think of fur- lough — Cart before the horse — Sir George Arthur — Triumphant death — Brave stand — Mr. Townsend — First Parsee converts — Concert for prayer — Revival in Indian Navy — Lieutenant Campbell, 213-235 CHAPTER X. Overland route — Arabian night — Top of pyramid — Ophthalmia — Easter Eve — Crushed hats — Egyptian hog hunt — Van Rhijn — Young Sam — Tragic death — Bluebells once more ! — Sight- CONTENTS. PAGE seeing — Baron Tauchnitz — Berlin — The Thames — Gun- makers' shops — Purday's shooting range — Purday at Windsor — Express rifle at last — Express train — Home ! — Old Friends — "Lamp of Lothian" — Dr. Welsh's death — Disruption — Grouse-shooting — Social changes — Sir George Hayter's model— Growth of beards, 236-264 CHAPTER XL Edinburgh — Bishop Terrot — Dr. Innes — Malta — Back to India — Old Scenes — Oil in vessel — Results of survey — Land all cultivated — Fixity of tenure and moderate assessment — Our rule — Prize essays — Education without Christianity — Hin- drances to baptism — Native goldsmith — Carved furniture — Farewell to India, 265-282 CHAPTER XII. Chisholm born and baptized — Colonel Hawkins— Exhibition of 1851 — Queen inspects my exhibits — Look out for residence — Castle Huntly — Incident in life of AVallace — Rev. Joseph Wilson — Islay Burns — Fruits of the Spirit — Micklewood — Collimator — Adopted and forgotten — Described — General Robert Shaw— Salmon-fishing, 283-296 CHAPTER XIII. Correspondence with Mrs. Thomas Carlyle — Early flirtations — Carlyle teaching tall major — Carlyle and Tennyson — Dear, darling old Betty — Narrow escapes — Promised visit — Colo- nizing India — Faithful Mary — Her "Turners" — Georgina Craik's smallpox — Photograph — Languor and disappoint- ment — Recovers — Katie Macready's MS. — Grant's Braes — Mrs. Gilbert Burns — Mrs. Carlyle's early portrait — Her beauty — Her sudden death — Her letters — Letter to Mr. Carlyle — Death of Thomas Erskine — His last words sent to Carlyle — Mr. Carlyle's answer — Interview with old Betty — Sent to CONTENTS. PAGE Mr. Carlyle — His answer — "Lord Jesus" — Mrs. Carlyle's auuts — Last interview with Mr. Carlyle — "Another work of John Knox" — His anecdote of "John Knox's hoose" — Tree to be planted on site — My mystery about Carlyle, 297-331 CHAPTER XIV. Telescopic sight applied to Enfield and Whitworth rifles — Whitworth buys royalty and runs the blockade for use of Confederates — So delays sending mine to War Office three years — Woodcroft — Volunteer movement — Queen's Brigade — First corps seen by Her Majesty — Review of 1860 — Review of 1881 — Shooting of Queen's Brigade — Revival movement — Scottish Evangelical Association — Students give help — Yetholm — Mr. Moody — Justified in Grassniarket — Ordained evangelists wanted — Christian friends — Review of three- quarters of the century — Conclusion, .... 332-354 Portrait of Col. Davidson, from a photograph by Marshall Wane. — Frontiajiiect, When Time, who steals our years away, Shall steal our pleasures too, The memory of the past will stay, And half our joys renew. MOOEE. MEMORIES OF A LONG LIFE. CHAPTER I. My life is divided, like tliat of Moses, into three distinct epoclis. The first sixteen years, taking in my childhood and boj'hood, as passed at Haddington, form the first epoch ; the twenty years I spent continuously in India is the second ; and the remaining years of my life, spent at home, after my retirement from the service of the Honourable East India Company, constitute the third epoch. In looking back, these three periods seem of about equal length ; the years gliding on so much more rapidly as we advance in life. The recollections of my childhood are with me especially vivid ; but there is one event which, although it caused a great sensation, I cannot recall. My father possessed a monkey, the history of whose tricks afforded endless amuse- ment to us children in after years. When I was an unconscious baby, this same monkey, taking advantage of a short absence of the nurse, lifted me out of the cradle, and was very busy stuffing me with pap, when the nurse returned, and with a shriek communicated her alarm to the whole household; for every attempt to relieve Mr. Jacko of his assumed services was only answered by a hideous grin and threatened resistance. At last my father appeared upon the scene, and, after some coaxing, Jacko was induced to relinquish his charge. My only recollection of this member SENT TO SCHOOL. of the family is a handsome red coat which formed part of his attire ; for shortly after his flattering attentions to me he was killed in a fight with a greyhound, but not till he had inflicted such severe woimds on his antagonist that he had to he destroyed. One of my earliest recollections was being handed over from the arms of an old nurse to those of a new one, to which transfer I strenuously objected, saying, ■' I no' gang to that wifie," and this excellent woman bore the name of " Wifie " till she died, shortly after my return from India. About this time, one night I awoke and found myself alone in a pitch-dark room ; my screams brought my mother to my rescue, when I declared by way of excuse that " the dark went up my nose and choked me." At last the dread time came when I was sent to school. I unbuckled my wooden sword, hid it carefully among the shrubs in an angle near the library window, and was led unwillingly away. Not many years afterwards, a real sword was buckled to my waist, and I was despatched to India to begin another epoch of my life. I never was distinguished at my lessons At the very commencement I was unfortunate, and tried to conceal my want of success. A great friend of my father's. Captain Stewart, who had made a considerable fortune in command of a ship in the Indian trade, was at that time a frequent visitor at our house, the inmates of which he alarmed by sleeping without a night-cap and with the window open. He took a special interest in me, and one day he asked me how I stood in my class. With a little hesitation I replied, "Second dux." The same answer having been frequently given to the same question, it occurred to the Captain to ask, "But, Davie, how many are there in your class?" I replied, with a little hanging of the head, " Weel, there's just anither little lassie and mysel'." When I was advanced into a larger class, the Captain said one day quizzically, " Well, Davie, are you dults?" (booby). "No, I'm no' just DR. WELSH. dults, but I'm very nearhand it." But I need not multiply my early school experiences, whicli always left a sort of humbling sensation behind them, and the more so that my elder brother was particularly clever. I was rather uplifted one day, however, after I had been " put into Latin," when, in answer to my father if I knew my own name in Latin, I briskly replied, " David Davidus, Davidus being sometimes pronounced long and sometimes short." "Ah," said my father, I being tall for my age, "you'll be the long Davidus." My schooling was at one time interrupted by a somewhat severe accident. One afternoon, in performing the accustomed pleasant trick of sliding down the rail of the nursery stair, I toppled over, and went down the pit head foremost, cutting my chin, breaking some teeth, and bursting a blood-vessel, which caused a rush of blood from the ear. As I lay bleeding but quite conscious, my mother, dressed for a party, appeared. Her turban (the fashion of those days) singularly became her beautiful Jewish cast of countenance ; and as she stood with uplifted hands, a picture of the Tragic Muse was firmly fixed upon my mind, never to be effaced. I was dreadfully frightened, thinking I was going to die, and screamed, " Send for the doctor." I was carried to bed, and shortly Dr. "Welsh (the father of Mrs. Thomas Carlyle) appeared to my relief. On his saying, " David, I must bleed you,'' I thrust out my arm and submitted heroically to the operation, which I thought was the only thing that would save my life. There were " white days " during that schooling time. These were the Wednesdays and Saturdays, when we had a half holiday. My father was very fond of coursing, and had a fine batch of greyhounds ; and proud I was to accompany him on Dickie ; and still more so to ride home through the streets with a brace of hares under each saddle-flap, fastened by the buckles of the girths. I took to riding as a gosling does to water, and we were put into the saddle almost as DA WSON THE TRAINER. soon as we could walk. Rather soon for my elder brother Henry, for in one of his earliest rides, when, as they were fording the Tyne at Westfield (he holding manfully by the bridle), Dickie suddenly put down his head to drink, and pulled the little fellow over his ears into the water, from which he was rescued, wet and weeping, by the groom. Dickie was my mother's pony ; a beautiful creature, a cross between an Arab and a Shetland, milk-white, with flowing- tail and mane, but, following a barbarous custom of these days, with cropped ears. Dickie considered himself a lady's l)ony, and so disliked the other sex that when Edward the groom had to catch him in the " Crofts," where Dickie sometimes grazed, he used to wrap a horse-cloth round him by way of skirt, and approach in the guise of a lady. This same Edward was a woiiderful fellow for work. A very smart Englishman, he groomed a riding horse (Bird), t\^•l > carriage horses, and two ponies, had charge of a kennel of greyhounds, was valet to my father, waited at dinner when there was company, cleaned the plate, taught the boys to ride, cut their hair, and, if thoy were not steady under the operation, threatened to clip their ears. I rode one day with my father to GuUane, where Iilr. Dawson, the ancestor of the family of trainers, the latest of whom has his portrait in Vanity Fair, began his career, and had his course and stud of racers. Mr. Dawson so admired Dickie that he presented me with one of his little training saddles. Mr. Dawson's brother was a resjicctable watchmaker in Hadding- ton, whose shop, in my wee boy days, I visited at least once a week, for the regulation of my watch. This watch has a little history of its own. It was given to me by my grand- mother, it having belonged to one of her deceased sons, when I was about eight years old ; and as my nether garments buttoned on to the upper, which was jacket and waistcoat combined, set off with a frill at the neck, in the absence of watch-pocket, I suspended it by a gay ribbon. GILBERT BURNS. then the fashion, to one of the buttons. And I was not a little proud when, evading the eye of the master, I exhibited it to my companions at school, and, opening the massive silver cases, disclosed the central diamond on which it moved. Its maker must have been an honest vi'orkman, for in recording his name, " G. King," he had modestly added, " No. 1." It was my only watch for many years in India, and when stolen from me at the Fort of Asseergurh, it was cleverly retrieved by a native police detector, in the thatched roof of a house in the city of Boorhanpoor. It is still in my possession, and goes well. Having been trans- ferred to the nursery, it has accurately recorded the hour of birth of five sons and five daughters. After rendering these faithful services, No. 1 now enjoys a silent repose among other relics of the past. One of my rides, when a very little fellow, is vividly imprinted on my memory. I started, in company of the groom, to deliver a letter at Salton, which was rather more than five miles off. Whether I got saddle-sick, or whatever was the reason, when we got to Grant's Braes, Edward thought I had gone far enough, and proposed that I should wait there till his return from the ten-mile ride. Grant's Braes happened then to be the residence of Gilbert Burns, the elder brother of the Poet. He was standing at his door, and, having kindly taken Dickie and put him up in his stable, he brought me into the house. I sat patiently and wonderingly by one side of the fireplace, and, young as I was, I felt a sort of awe. I knew about Burns and his songs ; and a kind of reverential feeling possessed me as 1 sat in his brother's house. I had often seen Gilbert in church, where he was an elder, and had marked him, especially on sacramental occasions, when he solemnly dis- pensed the sacred bread. He had a splendid head, with high forehead and "lyart haffets wearing thin and bare.'' The lower part of his face was less refined than that of his REIGN OF TA WSE. brother, the mouth larger, and the chin well developed, indicating stronger moral qualities. His daughters were sitting in the room reading. Gilbert patted one of them on the back, and asked her gently what she was reading. She said " An essay." It was the first time I had heard the word, and I wondered what it meant. It was a somewhat weary wait. Part of the time I studied the construction of a receptacle for spills, which had been built in the angle of the mantelpiece in the form of a hay-rack, with the bars radiating from a point. At last Edward returned, Dickie was saddled, the kindly old man helped me to mount, and I rode homewards with Gilbert Burns and his family photographed like a pleasant picture on my mind. My school days were during the Eeign of Terror, or, in other words, the Reign of Tawse. This instrument of torture, a thick leathern strap, with two-thirds of its length divided into four or five thongs, hung over the teacher's left shoulder, the thongs, with their tips hardened in the fire, dangling down his back, the loop at the other end lying conveniently ready for the hand. This equipment caused young hearts to palpitate when lessons were imperfectly prepared. Sometimes it was whispered, " The maister's got on his angry coat this morning,'' which added in no small measure to the dismay. The efl:ect of this system was, that, while the dull lazy boys got their deserts, and the dull studious boys were unduly punished, the clover lazy boys escaped. Besides, it tended greatly to foster a savage spirit in the teacher. It was interesting to see the different ways in which the punishment was taken. Some would bellow at the first flourish of the tawse ; others would shrink, and withdraw the palm at the critical moment of descent ; while others — but they were few in number — would greatly irritate the operator by receiving the lashes without flinching, with something of the heroism of a Red Indian under torture. He EDWARD IRVING. is the best instructor of the young who makes the most of the material on which he has to work, whether it be good, bad, or indifferent. But it is too much the system, even in our more modern schools, to push on the clever boys, and leave the slow ones to hobble on in the rear as best they can. I have sometimes thought it would be curious if those who had formed one class at school could be drawn up together in after years in the order in which they had made most progress in the battle of life. I cannot but think some who were at the bottom of the class would rank first as to success in the world. So in the science of projectiles ; the "Express," with its light bullet and heavy charge, has a great muzzle velocity and low trajectory at the near distances, but it is caught up and left behind at the long ranges by the heavy bullet and light charge. The Burgh School of Haddington was both ancient and distinguished. It was established before the Eeformation, and there John Knox got the elements of his education, having been born in 1505, within a few hundred yards of the school. In 1809 the Mathematical School was added, and it was as master of that school that Edward Irving began his public life, at the recommendation of Professor Leslie, as " a lad of good character and superior abilities." His atldetic performances seem to have left a more lasting impression on after generations than his teaching qualities ; and a certain part of the mill-dam, where it approaches the ancient Abbey, is still pointed out as " Irving's jump." In my time the masters of the two schools were men of a different stamp. The Eector of the Grammar School, Mr. Graham, who was elected at the beginning of the century, was a fine-looking, pompous man, carefully got up, witli powdered hair, and, on special occasions, knee breeches, silk stockings, and buckled shoes. He bounced into the school within a second of the hour, marched up to his rostrum, and offered a short prayer. He then took out his flowing silk CLAGGUM NANNY. handkerchief and carefully dusted his seat. This, it was said, was a precautionary measure, as on some notable occasion a wicked boy had inserted in the seat certain incon- venient pins. He then opened his desk, took out the dreaded tawse, and some well-known books, which he arranged with systematical precision. He was an excellent Latin scholar, and his boys occasionally took high places when trans- ferred, as my brother was, to the Edinburgh High School. The annual examination was a great affair. It was conducted chiefly by ministers of the town and adjoining parishes, some of whom, having been originally teachers, were glad of this opportunity of airing their Latin. The deep-toned " Cave ! " of Mr. Steel of Morham, when a slip was made, was an oft-recurring incident. But the happy time was the moment of dismissal, with a month's vacation in view, and a bag of "sweeties," the gift of the town, presented to each boy as he rushed to the door. On the Saturdays, just before dismissal, an event took place which, while it created a general interest, placed a portion of the scholars in an enviable position. The Eector from an inner recess of his desk pulled out certain piles of penny pieces, and placed them with a complacent air in a conspicuous position. Then the favoured ones, the boarders, advanced one by one, and each received his penny. One big boy, whose father was regarded as a sort of Croesus, actually received a sixpence ! Immediately on dismissal, there was a rush either to Claggum Kanny's or the nearest sweetie shop, and the penny pieces, and even the sixpence, soon changed owners. Nanny Cairncross, the vendor of this sticky material, was a special friend of mine, and proposed sending to me in India some of her favourite ware, but it was suggested that under the influence of a tropical sun it would certainly melt. Nanny immediately met this objection by saying, " Oo, mem, but he'll sup it." The teacher of the Mathematical School was quite another HOW TO TEACH CHINESE. type of man. Tall and spare, handsome in features, with a shock head of red hair, powdered too, from the habit of running his chalkj' fingers through it as he worked out a problem on the blackboard. Utterly careless of attirt-, intensely earnest in his teaching work, unpunctual, to the sore trouble of his pupils, when the hour of their dismissal had come and gone. An enthusiast in regard to everything he taught, he imparted no small measure of his enthusiasm to his scholars. Severe in the early part of his career, he mellowed greatly towards its close. To be taught by such a master was to me a new era in my school life. Learning a dead language, in the sadly roundabout way in which it is taught, was to me tiresome in the extreme ; and "the science of number and quantity " was much more to my taste. The mathematical problems we got as exercises at home were pleasant puzzles, the solution of which created a wholesome and friendly rivalry in the class. I dreamt about them, and the board at the head of my bed was covered with triangles, squares, and circles, in my eagerness to put my solution to the test, and, when solved, it was as if I had discovered a new planet. Mr. Hardie, though well up in the earlier stages of mathematics, was in danger of being caught up by his more advanced pupils in the higher branches, and had to apply himself to keep ahead. In this, his case resembled that of a certain young professor of languages, who was applied to by a wealthy self-made man, who wished to give his son and heir that liberal education, the lack of which he had himself so greatly felt. After arranging for some of the European languages, he wound up by saying he was anxious to add to these a fair knowledge of Chinese. "Very good," said the professor; "I shall be happy to teach your son Chinese, but that branch is more expensive than the others. I charge ten shillings a lesson for Chinese, and my engage- ments are so numerous just now, that I shall not be able to begin it for a month." This matter having been settled to KNOX INSTITUTE. the satisfaction of both parties, the millionaire withdrew. A friend of the professor, who had been sitting in a corner apparently absorbed in study, now broke into a horse-laugh, and said, " "What a fellow you are, to undertake to teach Chinese, when you know as much of it as of the language of the moon ! " " Not so fast, my friend," said the professor ; " I know what I am about. I am to get ten shillings a lesson, and having, you observe, a month's start, it will be odd if I cannot keep well ahead of my pupil." Mr. Hardie married in 1835. In 1836 his wife and child were laid in the same grave, and in 1837 he took his place beside them ; all " in the sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection." A letter from me must have reached him just before he died; his executors, old pupils, found it in his desk, and were kind enough to send it to me. A handsome tombstone (for which I had the privilege of subscribing) was erected in the yard of the Abbey Church, as a tribute from his scholars, and marks this interesting grave. " The Knox Institute," toward which Mr. Thomas Carlylo contributed handsomely, has now supplanted the Burgh Schools ; and, with its excellent Rector and well-chosen staif of teachers, it promises to maintain the character of Haddington for educational advantages. Latterly I was tutored in French by Mr. Johnstone, the early friend and correspondent of Carlyle ; a gentle, scholarly man, capable of great things, but destined to wear out the last few years of his too short life in the drudgery of teaching for a miserable pittance, the ABC and elements of English and arithmetic in the Haddington Parish School. A couple of years before I left for India, there was estab- lished at Haddington, chiefly through the exertions of Dr. Robert Lorimer, son of one of the collegiate ministers, a School of Arts, the lectures of which I attended regularly ; thereby getting a smattering of chemistry, natural philo- sophy, and logic. At one of the annual meetings, Dr. DR. CHALMERS. 13 Chalmers gave an address, in which he ridiculed the notion some had of the danger of over-educating the working classes. He said it would tend rather to the general advancement, that " it was like transferring the spur from the heel to the toe, so that the rear-rankers would prick on those in the front rank of the community." At the time referred to in these jottings, the tendency of those who had earned an independence to crowd to the capital was not so great as it is now. They were generally contented to occupy a villa in the neighbourhood of the town, and enjoy their otiuni cum dignitate among the friends and associates of their early life. These, with a sprinkling of retired naval and mihtary men, formed a pleasant society. Up to the end of the last century, and even later, the nobility had their residences in the county town, and went in and out among their own people. Now, except in the shooting season, their time and their money are spent either in London or on the Continent ; and even in the capital of Scotland, the Earl of Wemyss was the last nobleman to retain a family house, and it was sold the other day. Among the retired officers in Haddington, in my early days, was Sir James Baird, who occupied a modest vdla ; and, as Commandant of the East Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry, revived his military ardour, as he mounted his charger for the annual training. The yeomanry went into quarters at Dunhar, and drilled on the Belhaven sands. They were splendidly mounted, and a fine body of men. The Marquis of Tweeddale was a private in one of the troops. They messed together, and a good deal of toddy was drank on these occasions. Sir James Baird presided ; and on asking one of his troopers if he would allow him to help him to the roast of beef he was carving, he answered, " Thank ye. Sir James, but I'll ha'e nane o' yer red flesh ; I'll joost help mysel' to the doo tairt.'' My father was a keen yeoman, and did not resign till my elder brother could take his place. 14 CROSSBOW. The latter long commanded the last surviving troop, and lived to be the senior yeomanry officer in the kingdom. His elder son was also a yeoman, so there were three generations in the troop. In 1848, when I was present at the annual review, a little boy, the second son of my brother, seeing the smart adjutant (a retired sergeant of cavalry) ride past, pointed him out to me, and asked in a confidential whisper, " Uncle, is that a real soldier ? " This boy became a real soldier himself, was adjutant of his regiment in the Abyssinian campaign, has now retired as a lieutenant- colonel, and is one of the Queen's Gentlemen-at-Arms. But I have been led away from what is personal in my early reminiscences. Having developed a decided taste for mechanics, I was always " making something." On showing one of my novelties to old Sandy the gardener, he would say approvingly, "Eh, Maister Davit, the invention o' man is wonderfu', for my son Sannie invented an ailshone heft ! " (an awl handle), ily greatest success was a crossbow of peculiar and novel construction, from which I could shoot leaden bullets with singular precision. To this fact the cats of some generations back might have borne testimony had they been alive. But it was against the sparrow that I mainly waged war ; having as a pet a fine sparrow-hawk, whom I considered it a duty to supply with his natural food. From constant practice I attained no ordinary skill, and was well acquainted with every point in the trajectory of my crossbow ball. One Saturday afternoon, with only fifteen rounds of ammunition in my pocket, I brought home to my hawk eight sparrows, shot with single pellets on the highest ridges of the distillery roof In the neighbourhood of our house the sparrows grew wary, and I used to take an occasional shot by way of practice at the gilded ball of a weathercock, which offered a most tempting target. From the effects of constant peppering, the side of the ball got bulged in-\\'ards, and, pressing on the staff of the vane, WOMB WELL'S MONKEYS. ij stopped its action. In this condition it served no purpose beyond furnishing my father with matter for a joke, when he would say, " People looked at that vane in vain ! " At last the plumber was sent for to put it right. Crossbow in hand, I watched him from below with rather a curious eye. On reaching and examining the ball, the man looked down to me with a look and shake of the head that plainly said, "I know who did this, but I won't tell." One day Wombwell's menagerie made its appearance in the town, and formed up into its mysterious hollow square on a piece of vacant ground, dedicated to such use, just opposite my father's stables, and at a considerable distance. From the flat leaden roof of the coach-house I could just see on the opposite inner side of the square of waggons the upper row of cages that contained the monkey tribe. From this coigne of vantage, and sheltered from view by a con- venient ledge or parapet, I lay concealed, and contemplated some lively practice. The distance was so great, I knew I would merely tickle the monkeys and enliven them a bit. Lying flat like a sharpshooter in a rifle-pit, I made a few experiments to find the range, with satisfactory results. The monkeys, who had been accustomed to be peppered with hazel nuts, at first entered heartily into the fun ; till at last a well-directed pellet found its way between the bars, and, with sufficient force to give a tolerable sting, it hit a well-conditioned monkey in a fleshy place. Jumping round with marvellous agility, rubbing the place with one hand, while with the other he seized the bullet, he put it between bis teeth ; but it appeared from his grimace a harder nut than be could crack. Had he known the kindly offices performed for me in my babyhood by one of his fraternity, I daresay he would have considered my treatment of him a very shabby return. When I was exercising my skUl on my more legitimate game, the sparrows, a fine boy of some seven or eight years 16 LORD WEMYSS LESSON IN PROJECTILES. of age was handed over to me to amuse, and I thought I could not do better than give him a lesson in projectiles. The birds, as usual, made themselves scarce, and I almost despaired of getting him a shot. At last I spied a young sparrow of some second brood, perched on the top of a pear tree, and offering a very favourable mark. We stalked the game skilfully under cover of some gooseberry bushes, and at last the bow was bent and in the hands of the eager young sportsman, while I was anxiously watching the result. Twang went the bow, and, with my practised eye, I saw the bullet pass an inch or two over the sparrow's head. Again he tried, and this time it went so close it must have caused the bird to wink. The third shot struck ! Down fell the sparrow, and up rushed the youngster, as proudly, I doubt not, as he did years afterwards, when he brought down his first antlered stag in the forests of the North. The young sportsman was the present Earl of "VVemyss, so well known, not only as a shot, but as the distinguished leader of the ^'olunteer movement. "While on the subject of sport, I may mention that my father had made a varied collection of arms, consisting of guns, pistols, and blunderbusses, to say nothing of swords, rapiers, and dirks. These my elder brother Henry and I had tastefully arranged in a press, which we called the armoury. The possession of such a store of weapons suggested to my brother the propriety of bringing them into use. So one Saturday afternoon he assembled a good number of his school companions, and we had a jolly sham tight. The field of battle was the garden, to the alarm of our neighbours, and the wrath of Sandy, whose gooseberry bushes were much disturbed, as it was among them that the enemy to be dislodged had established a strong position. On that memorable occasion the weapon I carried was a very light single-barrelled flint gun, which had evidently been built for a youth. From that moment I cast a covetous OLD SANDY. 17 eye upon this piece, longing to put it to the test with some- thing more formidable than blank ammunition ; and soon afterwards, when I was fourteen years of age, it actually came into my possession. Having proved its efficiency with shot, I longed to make some experiments with ball. Ranged along the bottom of the garden wall, and at a suitable distance from my bedroom window, was a row of flower- pots, which I took for granted must be cracked. I practised at these with a small charge of powder, with more satisfac- tion than success ; till an unfortunate stray shot barked the stem of a rider cherry tree, and enraged old Sandy the gardener to such a degree that I had to seek another range. It was seldom Sandy lost his temper, for he was a kindly old soul, and he and I were sworn friends. When writing to Sandy from India, I reminded him of those days, and in his characteristic answer he says, " Yes, Maister Davit, and well do I mind helping you to string your crossbow ; and eh, Maister Davit, weren't ye a gran' marksman ! Didn't ye gar the pigeons come aff the hoose % " Sandy himself was one day my target. He was perched on the top of a long ladder nailing some cherry trees, when I from the other side of the garden, seventy yards off, called out, " Sandy, may I have a shot at you ? " " Oo ay, and I'll wager ye'll no' hit me." But hit him I did in a safe place, and made him start. He told me afterwards "it was vary sair." Sandy Ogilvy was one of those who, when they get a good place, think it wise to stick to it. He served the family for half a century, was still " to the fore " when I came home, and left the garden only for the grave. He came of a good stock, for "his father before him" got a prize as the servant who had been longest in one place of any in the county ; I think it was seventy years. Owing to the not unreasonable objections to my ball practice in the garden, I established my range in a field behind it ; and, seeing an old disused door in a very suitable B i8 OFFER OF HANDSOME REWARD. position for a target, I proccftded to put it to that use. Tliis door was in the wall of a neighbouring garden, and, never having known it to be opened, I supposed it was built up on the inner side. Sticking up an oyster shell for a bull's eye, and having paced a hundred yards, I made some tolerable shots. A few days afterwards I heard the town crier, with beat of drum, proclaiming something in the street. Listening curiously, I heard words to this effect : "Whereas some evilly disposed person has fired bullets through the back garden door of Mr. George Spiers, thereby endangering the lives of himself and the members of hi.'^ family, notice is hereby given, that any one who will give information that will lead to the detection of the offender Avill be handsomely rewarded." Thinking no person could give better information than myself, though without any sanguine expectation of being "handsomely rewarded," I confessed the delinquency, and was not a little alarmed when I found that my bullets had not only pierced the garden door, but had gone through the door of a summer- house into which it opened, and then swept down the garden walk ! The owner, a very worthy man, with great good-nature, accepted my sincere expression of regret, but 1 daresay he was somewhat relieved when, not long after, the little gun was packed into a box, and it and I were packed off to India, to prosecute the science of projectiles in a wider and more interesting field. Xothing excited a greater sensation in the quiet town of Haddington than the rapid tolling of the fire-bell. It was heard on three occasions quickly succeeding one another. Haddington having been burned down according to history twice, it was feared that the prophecy that it was to be burned down a third time was about to be fulfilled. The accomplices of some notorious characters in jail raised fires in the outskirts of the town, and in the confusion attempted to break open the prison, and set their comrades free. My THE FIRE BELL. 19 father had for his amusement, and a costly one it proved, a sort of home farm on the east suburb, and, as he was a conspicuous figure in the Justice of Peace Court, his stack- yard, unfortunately not yet insured, was the first to suffer. As the fire-bell sounded, we rushed to the gate, and over the tops of the houses we could see the livid glare and the flying embers. At that moment some one whispered to my father, " Oh, sir, it's yer ain barnyerd ! " No effort could stay the conflagration. Two lines, one of men for the full buckets, and one of women for the returning empty ones, stretched from the stackyard to the Tyne. Blankets were pulled from many a bed, wetted and thrown upon the stacks, and by this means several were saved that were detached from the others by an intervening road. What seemed to grieve my father most was the loss of a little hayrick he had allowed the humble Methodist preacher to build within his ground. The feeling of indignation was general and intense. An old wife standing at her door was heard to exclaim, "Wha could a' done this to Maister Davidson, him that does naebody ill and a'body gude ! " The other places fired were the farm offices of a Justice of Peace ; and, worst of all, a row of poor cottages at the Yellow Craigs, a height immediately above the town. The alarm was so great that a body of mounted gentlemen were formed into squads to patrol the town at night. I have many pleasant recollections in connection with our summer visits in my early boyhood to Salton, where my father for some years had the home farm. He was one of the trustees of the Salton property, and, as factor, he had to be a good deal there during the minority of the late Andrew Pletoher, the lineal descendant of the patriot of that name. There were plenty of trout in the Salton water ; though, my skill with the rod being hmited to bait fishing, my success was comparatively small, still it was pleasant to wander by the side of that beautiful stream, cheered by MONKRIGG. occasional nibbles, and sometimes by tlie capture of a trout. I cannot say all tlie memories were pleasant, having a painful recollection of being stung severely by wasps, whose nest under a huge iron roller I had unfortunately disturbed. The row of cottages in connection with the farm had been occupied through a long succession of years bj' the same families of labourers ; and in almost each of them the three generations were to be seen : the aged grandfather propped up in the easy-chair, the stalwart son with his tidy wife, and their bairns, building their little chuckystone houses and making their mud pies, near the door. Not long after the burning of the stackyard, my father gave up the land he had in the immediate vicinity of Haddington, and took, to my mother's dismay, the farm of ]Monkrigg, then the property of Mr. Fletcher. I say to my mother's dismay, for she knew by past experience that my father's farming had always been a losing concern. But it afforded him great amusement, and there was something fascinating about Monkrigg, as a pretty place in itself, and capable of great improvement. The old-fashioned house, nestled in wood, was perched on the summit of a ridge, the land stretching down from it in almost equal portions towards the north and south. As the name implies, it had originally belonged to the monasteries at Haddington, from which it was distant about a mile ; and had been selected with that taste for which the Romish ecclesiastics were so distinguished. To me this new mo\e was a source of new pleasure. There were plenty of rabbits on the place, and I had the shooting of them. The little gun was in frequent requisition, and I am sure our pointer, "Till," know the "Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, for she was alwaj-s -(vaiting behind the stable door, ready to rush out, and in the usual direction, the moment I applied my finder to the latch. I found Sandy Wight, the grieve, or farm- steward, at Monkrigg, a very cordial coadjutor in my cam- RABBIT SMOUCHING. 21 paigns against the rabbits, which he denounced as "vile varmint," that made constant inroads on his crops. Before I had acquired the art of "shooting running," I vras glad of his help in a stalk for a standing or sitting shot. " Come \vi' me," he would say, "and I'll gie ye a gran' chance at a kinnan." Through a bit of young wood we would creep, and, peeping stealthily over the wall at the edge, we would discover a batch of rabbits taking their evening feed on forbidden ground, unconscious of our evil designs. " Noo, Maister Davit," he would whisper, "ye see that muckle yin; tak' time, and tak' a gude vizzie." Before long I happened to make a running shot, and it seemed so easy, that I forthwith abandoned my smouching practice as unworthy of a sportsman, and in due time I became a very tolerable shot. Monkrigg up to this date was ignorant of high farming, and its fences, formed of double hedges with a ditch on each side, afforded admirable cover for game ; besides, it marched with Lennoxlove, which was strictly preserved. But of course I drew the line at rabbits, although I must confess a hare would sometimes " cross my line of aim " and suffer for it. It is told of a sporting Paddy, that, on being charged before a Justice of Peace with shooting a hare, he put in for his defence that the hare was to blame for crossing his line of aim when he was firing at a bush. "No, no," said the Justice, "that won't do. There is Pat OTannogen, who says he saw you take a deliberate aim and shoot the hare." " Plase yer honour," says Paddy, " don't be minding what Pat says ; it's not me that would tell your honour what I heard Pat say the other day." " Well, what did he say?" "Plase yer honour, if yell excuse me, but he said yer honour was not as fit to fill that chair as a jackass!" "And what did you sayl" "I said ye was, yer honour ! " One day my father, happening to see me with my gun in WICKED LITTLE GUN. my hand, asked me to let liim see me shoot a rabbit. So we put "Till" into one of these thick double hedge fences, and before we had gone many yards a rabbit bounded out and was doubled up. A few steps farther on, something very like a rabbit rushed along between the double hedges, and, as it crossed a slight opening, was knocked over. It proved a hare ! Well, thought my father, that was a very natural mistake. Farther on, "Till" made a dead point; when, with a whirr that made my heart jump, something with a glittering green neck, golden body, and long taper tail, rose like a rocket from the thickest of the cover ! The little gun came up instinctively to the shoulder, and went off of its own accord. Down came the feathered rocket with a tremendous thud. It was a pheasant ! My father looked at me, I at him, and then at the gun. "David, my man, do you mean to say you took that for a rabbit ? " The only other occasion on which I erred in the same direction was perhaps more excusable, for it was on the Queen's highway. Walking from INIonkrigg in the company of an old retired major, we spied a fine cock pheasant feeding in a field close to the road. I said to the Major, " If that bird is put up, it will fly over our heads to the covers of Lennoxlove." I had hardly spoken when up went a hat into the air, and it had scarcely reached the ground, when up rose the pheasant like a paper kite, steering its way towards Lennoxlove. The little gun again jumped instinctively to the shoulder, and down went the pheasant, after a series of gyrations, flop on the hard road. The jMajor wrapped it in his silk pocket-handkerchief and put it under his arm, with the tail sticking out, and carried it off as a surprise to his wife. My father must have looked with a lenient eye on these delinquencies, for in one of his last letters to me when in India, he said he hoped to see me once again at Monkrigg, bringing down (of course legitimately) a long-tailed cock. DOROTHY FOSTER. 23 Not long ago, wliile reading Besant's charming story of Dorothy Foster, I was pleasantly reminded of a visit I paid with my father, in the summer of 1826, to Etherstone, or Adderstone, as it latterly was called. To me who had never been farther than Edinburgh, that beautiful drive into Northumberland was a no ordinary treat. Old "Dunny," who took us there, was about the finest gig horse I ever saw, and was quite a member of the family. It was great fun to my father, in driving one of us to Edinburgh, to keep a few hundred yards ahead of the mail coach, and hear from time to time the horn of the Lfuard warning us to clear the way. As "Dunny" lingered, and the coach drew nearer, expecting to give us the go-by, a little touch of the whip, and off ho went with a fresh spurt, which was repeated again and again at each tout of the horn. We went from Haddington to Berwick at one drive, stopping to bait the horses and refresh ourselves at Broxburn and Houndswood, drawing rein for a little at the Peasebridge to examine that marvel of architecture, as it was thought in those days, crossing as it does a very deep ravine. We stayed a day or two at the old and interesting town of Berwick, receiving a hearty welcome from old friends of ours now all gone. I walked up the southern bank of the Tweed to see another wonder of that time, the Union Suspension Bridge, the first success in that line of our friend Sir Samuel Brown, and returned to Berwick by the opposite side of that splendid river. On the way out I witnessed a grand take of salmon, thirty-three in number, and admired the stalwart fishermen of the Tweed, dragging the heavy net ashore. As the segment of the net grew smaller, there was a wild commotion as the fisli attempted again and again to leap out, but they were cleverly tossed back again by the watchful fishermen. Then there was a scramble, and a tap on the snout, rapidly and cleverly administered, ended the career of each. 24 BAMBOROUGH CASTLE. The drive from Berwick to Adderstone was delightful, the sea on one side, and Holy Island, and a fair landscape on the other. We were welcomed to Adderstone hy my mother's cousin, Mr. Foster, and his wife. The old house, described by Besant, has given place to a modern erection, designed by Burn, but Bamhorough Castle stands on, or rather liangs over the cliff, washed at its base by the angriest of angry hillows, — the scene of many a wreck, — much as it wa.'; centuries ago. In the interior we were shown a Avell of great depth, dug out of the li^'ing rock. To help the visitor to appreciate its depth, a frame, holding a candle at eacli of its four angles, was slowly lowered. As we Avatched it, the four lights, like the stars of the Southern Cross, grew more and more dim, and drew nearer to each other till they almost merged into one. We spent a few days visiting my mother's relations and friends ; and we had some good coursing, which, mounted on one of Jilr. Foster's ponies, I greatly enjoyed. I noticed that the gentlemiai still adopted for evening dress the fashion of older times, and Mr. Foster, though a middle-aged man, wore poAvder, small- clothes, silk stockings, and shoes with buckles, whicii, being a well-made man, became him very well. IMr. Pratt of Bellshill, another cousin of my mother's, received us at dinner in a light brown coat with gilt buttons, a splendid waistcoat, drab breeches and white silk stockings, a perfect beau of the old school. The question of my choice of a profession began now to assume some prominence. As I had shown some aptitude for mathematics and military drawing, m}' father asked the then Marquis of Tweeddale to get my name placed in the Duke of "Wellington's list as an engineer cadet, which he readily agreed to do. This appeared a settled thing, and some of my outfit had been procured, when it was dis- covered that, through some unexplained delay, my name had not been added to the list till it became evident that BOTHWELL CASTLE. 25 before it could reach the top I would be considerably beyond the restricted age. So this project was at an end, and, as I had a decidedly mechanical turn, the next pro- fession thought of was that of civil engineer. Rennie being an East Lothian man, my father anticipated getting me into his office, but, before taking any steps in that direction, he consulted Jardine, with whom professionally he had at that time a good deal to do ; and he discouraged the pro- posal on the ground that, at that time, engineering was a poor provision for any but those who had attained to eminence ; and these, he said, in Great Britain might be numbered by the fingers of one hand ! So here again I was adrift. Much of my spare time was devoted to mechanics. Patterson, or "Pirnie," as he was called from the nature of his profession, as a maker of pirns and spinning-wheels, was a special friend of mine, and his shop was my favourite resort. The old building in the lower part of which that shop was situated occupies a place in history. It belonged to the Earl of Bothwell, and some have believed that he brought Queen Mary to it on his way to Dunbar. It is also said that Cockburn of Ormiston, when conveying four thousand crowns to Haddington for payment of the English troops at that time established there, was intercepted by the Earl, wounded and robbed. The Earls of Arran and Moray, with a considerable body of horse and foot, as well as two pieces of artillery, laid siege to Bothwell Castle, and would have captured the Earl, but, creeping down Gool Close to the Tyne, and stealing along the bank of the river, he took refuge in the house of Cockburn of Sandybed, and, changing clothes with the turnspit, took his duty till he effected his escape. Pirnie, a grave, stalwart man, belonged to an Old Light congregation, to whose church I sometimes went with my nurse " Wifie," and heard the minister, Mr. Chalmers, preach in top-boots and broad Scotch. I soon 25 CADETSHIP. learned to turn, and erected a very primitive lathe in my bedroom ; but afterwards got the use of a superior instru- ment, on which I could turn metal as well as wood. Another workshop which I frequented still more constantly was that of two brothers, named Halliday, who were mechanical engineers, and did something in the steam-engine line, which was then in its infancy. With their guidance I was busily engaged in constructing a miniature steam-engine to stand on the top of the kitchen grate and turn the jack ; when " a change came o'er the spirit of my dream." I was busy one day in the garret where my workshop was established, at work on this very engine, when I heard a hurried foot- step on the stair, and in rushed the cook, saying my mother wanted to see me. Seeing something unusual was in the wind, I said, "Peggy, what's the matter?" "I dinna ken, but yer mother says ye're gaun to Indy ! " And, true enough, I found Sir George Warrender, uncle of the present baronet, had somewhat unexpectedly offered a cadetship, and that to India I was bound. It was a great surprise, as I had heard nothing of the cadetship having been asked. Now came a great ado about outfit. Many experienced ones volunteered their advice, with the result that I was supplied with some things that were not the thing, such as silk stockings to wear at the Governor's levees, and shoes a mile too big to allow for the swelling of the feet. But in essentials I was well rigged out, only before reaching Eombay I had outgrown my suits of white clothes, which at that period was the usual dress when out of uniform. The gunnery department was the one about which I was most deeply exercised. True, there was the little gun, but I looked with a covetous eye on a new percussion gun my father had taken as part payment of a debt due to him by a gunmaker in the town. Experienced old hands were again consulted, and it was settled, to my grief, that, as the percussion principle was then quite new, there would be SANDY ON DOOELLING. 27 difficulty in obtaining caps in India, and it would be safer to adhere to the flint. After I had been some years in India, the double gun was sent out ; and it turned out a first-rate one, both with shot and ball, and was well known by the name of " the Haddington " in our [sporting expedi- tions in the Asseer jungles and elsewhere. Then for pistols the " armoury " was ransacked, and I was allowed my choice of some four or five pair of primitive as well as more modern weapons. Selecting a pair from among the latter, I pro- ceeded to the garden to put them to the test. When busy shooting at one of the posts in the washing green, which formed an appropriate object, old Sandy the gardener, attracted by the shots, came up with an unusually grave face, and, seeing me at work on a supposed enemy at the conventional distance of twelve paces, said in a tone of severe expostulation, " Ah, ISIaister Davit, I ken what ye're about ; it's that dooelling ye're after ! Eh, sir, I hope ye'll no' meddle wi' that ; " and I had some difficulty in soothing the good old man, assuring him I had no intention of putting them to that use. CHAPTER II. It was with mingled emotions I contemplated my approach- ing departure to a land of strangers, and my separation from tlie friends and scenes of my early life. There was an exuberance of feeling at the prospect of entering a manly profession, and that in a land full of adventure and romance. ()n the other hand, there Avas something like a sinking of the heart when I thought of parting from so many loved ones, just when the event of my leaving drew forth an almost unexpected exhibition of affection and regard. Jly father, too, was laid upon a bed of sickness, having been attacked with an affection of the heart, which filled us with the gravest apprehensions ; and ]ny mother had just given birth to the little fellow who was to take my place. So I went my round of leave-takings. Kind and hearty were the wishes for my welfare, even from unexpectoil quarters ; and I did not know I had so many warm friends till I was on the point of losing them. Patterson, the turner, when I went to BotliAvell Castle to bid him good- bye, said, " AVeel wad I like to gang wi' ye, sir, if it was but to get a cut at the Indian wuds." It was about eight o'clock on a cold Xovember morning in 1827, that, as I stood in my father's sick-room, we heard the horn of the guard that heralded the approach of the "Union" coach. So, after some hasty and sad partings, I hurried to the Bell Inn, where I found a number of well-known faces gathered about the coach. The last hand that was thrust THE BARD OF HOPE. 29 into the coacli for a farewell grip was the horny one of old Sandy, whose wheelbarrow had conveyed my luggage from the house. Sixteen was an early age to be cast on the ocean of life to sink or swim, and India was, in the practical sense, farther off and less known then than it is now. I confess to some strugglings of the heart as we hurried past the scenes of my boyhood, where every object awakened some cherished recollection. Something like a .sense of desolation crept over me as I felt myself for the first time utterly alone in the world. But there is a buoyancy in the young heart that bears it up under the pressure of such feelings as these. There is a principle lurking there that no circumstances, however depressing, can altogether subdue, causing the heart to rise again and again, as the billows sweep over it. That principle, I need hardly say, is Hope. Seated opposite me, as my travellmg companion to London, wrapped up in no end of broadcloth, with his keen eyes sparkling from under the peak of a fur cap, was the Bard of Hope, the immortal Thomas Campbell. We had proceeded some way before I discovered I was in such distinguished company. Yet I was struck with the vivacity and humour of my fellow-traveller ; and especially with the adroitness with which he suited his conversation to the various parties who in succession occupied the vacant seats. An old lady travelled with us some fifty miles, and the poet was soon deep in her confidence. She had a son who was a hypochondriac, and she poured into the poet's ear a long account of the varied hallucinations that in turn took j)ossession of his mind, some of them highly ludicrous, but which were listened to with the utmost gravity ; while he unfolded in his turn a marvellous list of similar cases that had come under his observation, some of which, I could not help thinking, were pure inventions. At one place we took up a country bumpkin whom the poet discovered to be irrecoverably wound up in an affair of love, and the twinkle 30 POET CAMPBELL. of his eye sliowed how much he rehshed the simple and earnest way in which the rural swain "owned the soft impeachment." As we approached London he got hold nf a member of Parliament, and they were soon in deep dis- cussion on the politics of the day. But what interested me most was a series of anecdotes illustrative of his pranks at College. He had just been elected Lord Eector of the Glasgow University, and this naturally led him to speak of his college days. He seemed to have taken the lead in all the mischief ■ it his time. The principal butt was a pompous little professor, who had not been very happy in his efforts to command the respect of the students ; and he went so far as to complain to the Principal that they neglected to give him a hat. ]\Ir. Campbell declared, though I for one could scarcely swalLiw it, that, in order to make amends for this dereliction, sorup of the leading students went to a hatter and ordered a hat of prodigious dimensions, which Campbell was selected to j)resent to the professor with an apology for their apparent neglect. Then followed some, what appeared to me apo- cryphal stories of the tricks they played on this professor, who, he declared, had not only made love, but had the audacity to spend his honeymoon within the precincts of the University, when the happy couple were subjected tn a series of practical jokes, which, with other of his stories, would hardly bear to be repeated. In truth, I arrived at the conviction that our distinguished bard was poking fun at his companions in the coach, and was a coarse man, and an accomplished fibber. We slept the first night of our journey at l^ewcastle, but the second we spent in the coach, of which Mr. Campbell and I were the only occupants. It was intensely cold, and, as Mr. Campbell was suffering from ague, all the fun was taken out of him, and he had a miserable night of it ; indeed, his groans so excited my compassion, that I transferred from LONDON. 31 my legs to his a pair of warm worsted overalls, which a considerate friend bought at " Curly Cunningham's " hosiery shop close to the Bell Inn, and pressed on my acceptance, in consideration of the coldness of the weather, just as we were starting. On our arrival, about midday, at the " White Horse " in Fetter Lane, during the bustle attending the collection of our luggage, my travelling companion walked off with my warm overalls on his little legs, and this was the last I saw of them and the Bard of Hope. As I had accompanied ray father on a visit to London about the middle of the year, I had formed the acquaintance of kind friends who were ready to receive me, and help me to complete my outfit. Mr. Charles Kerr, of the house of Fletcher & Alexander, undertook to arrange my passage, and was anxious to ship me on board the Sarah, which wa.s to leave Gravesend in the beginning of December. But my heavy baggage had been sent from Leith in a smack, and at that season of the year smacks were proverbially slow in making the passage to London. And then there were certain letters of introduction to the Governor of Bombay and other big-wigs, which my friends in the simplicity of their hearts expected would at once get me on the staff, and lay the foundation for my future success ; and without these letters I was on no account to start. Before the luggage arrived, or the principal letter was obtained, the Sarah had sailed. However, she too had to encounter adverse winds, and the day my traps arrived, intelligence reached London that she had put into Ports- mouth ; so at a few hours' warning I took the Portsmouth coach and travelled all night to catch her. The last night I was in London, dining at Sir Samuel Brown's, 1 met a batch of scientific men who had just returned from an experimental trip to Brighton on Mr. Gurney's steam locomotive, and the chief topic of conversa- tion was the recent history and future destiny of steam S/J? JOHN ROSS. as a locomotive power. Sanguine as they were in their anticipations, I think it would have astonished them had I been able to foretell that in twenty years I should return from India to find England a perfect network of railways ; and that by one of them I should be taken back from London to Haddington in about eleven hours. Sir John Koss, the Arctic voyager, was one of the party, and led the conversation with many interesting anecdotes of his adventures, and spoke of writing the probable future of steam. He mentioned that when he was a middy just come from school, with a very limited knowledge of Latin, he helped to carry on a conversation in that language between some grandee from the coast of Kaples and the Admiral, without understanding much of it himself. The Xeapolitan spoke of course in the Italian style, while the Admiral flourished off his Oxford Latin, to the bewilderment of the Italian. Ross, who was standing by, had learned to pronounce Latin in both the Scotch and English fashion, and was able to turn the Italian Latin into English, and the Admiral's English into Italian, so as to enable both parties to understand each other. Lady Brown in a bantering way reminded me of a week's visit I paid her father, ISIr. Home, at 12 Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, when she and her sister were in their teens. I was a very little fellow, and on them fell the somewhat diffi- cult task of keeping me amused. I did not feel at all in my element making calls with them ; besides, the porridge ■was thin and the milk blue, and altogether I was like a fish out of the water. On the last evening of my stay a brother of theirs who was in the army came home on leave, and entertained me with a display of fireworks ; and the Eoman candles and Catherine wheels, which were tied to the area railing, must have astonished the neighbours as well as me. When I got home, on being asked if I enjoyed my visit, I was ungallant enough to say, " No ; there was naebody but NAEBODY BUT LASSIES. 33 lassies ! " This unfortunately was repeated to the old gentleman, and for years afterwards it was a standing joke at my expense ; indeed, on the day I went to bid him good- bye before starting for India, he said, " You will not be able to say in India, 'There's naebody but lassies,' for you'll find very few lassies there." The time I spent in London is very pleasant to look back upon. My host, old Mr, Hurley, — with his two sons and two handsome daughters, — was everything that was kind. And when I had so suddenly to leave for Portsmouth, Mr. Hurley resolved to do a father's part to me, and see me on board. Well happed up by his careful daughters, for it was intensely cold, and having purchased a fur travelling-cap for the occasion, he started with me by coach at six in the evening, and we arrived at Portsmouth next morning. As there was not a moment to lose, my luggage was put on board a boat, and we pushed off in search of the Sarah. There were many ships lying windbound on the '' Mother Bank," and our boatmen did not know which was ours. All were getting under weigh, as a favourable breeze had sprung up. It seemed as if we were going to lose the race, when my at that time telescopic eye descried the word Sarah chalked on the bow of a vessel slowly moving from her anchorage. We overhauled her, and got on board. Brief space was allowed for thanks and farewell words, and soon was I watching, with saddened heart, the boat returning with my kind friend seated in the stern, and the boatman pulling hard against the breeze. We had not been long iinder weigh before I had to yield to Neptune's demand for tribute, which did not add to my happiness. As my cabin had not been put in order, the captain asked me to occupy his; and as I lay there with my eyes shvit, I listened to sounds that were new to me. First a shrill whistle, then "All hands to 'bout ship," followed by " Sheets and tacks, mainsail haul ; '' then a 34 -BA y OF BISCA V. tramping of feet and a dragging sound. After an interval the same sounds were repeated, and so again and again, till, overcome witli the want of sleep on the previous night, I fell into a slumber. When I awoke the sickness was gone, and all was comparatively quiet ; so I got up and came on deck. To my surprise, we were at anchor on the '' Mother Bank,'' surrounded by the beautiful scenery of that lovely region. The ship had tacked and tacked again, in the vain attempt to get through the Solent and past the Needles. During our enforced detention I joined the other passengers in some pleasant visits to the Isle of "Wight and Ports- mouth, inspected the Victory, and witnessed an official visit of the Duke of Clarence. We, in our wish to get as near as possible to the pageant, rowed too closely past the Victory as she was firing her royal salute, and one of her wads just cleared our heads. About the end of 1827, — I cannot recall the precise day, — when the captain and most of the passengers were on shore, a favourable breeze sprang up, and at the summons of the " Blue Peter " we hastened on board, taking with us a lot of cats, to whose presence the sailors attributed our subsequent misfortunes. We had hardly passed the Needles when we encountered a formidable gale, which increased into a hurricane when we got into the Bay of Biscay, and sent even the more seasoned of the passengers into the sick bay ; I of course among the earliest ; and I lay tossed and troubled for several days. When I looked over the edge of my hammock with lacklustre eye, I saw that most of my belongings had broken loose ; and floating helplessly in the water we had shipped, were candles, soap, hair-brushes, and other toilet conveniences, in elegant confusion. The desire to rescue my cherished property caused me to leap out of bed, and, once on my feet, I managed to dress, and scramble upon deck. The sight that met my eye as I held on by the tackle of the mizzen, was beyond anything my imagina- SPRING A LEAK. 35 tion had pictured of a storm at sea. The waves were indeed, as the story-books say, " mountains high ; " as the ship pitched headlong into the hollow, it seemed as if she never would rise out of it. There, some way off on the weather bow, was an object that excited great interest. It was a vessel in distress, with her flag half-mast high, asking for that help which we in our own disabled condition were unable to afford. We had sprung a leak, and it required the constant working of our only pump to keep ahead of the water in the Avell. Our cargo was of iron badly stowed, part of which, as we afterwards discovered, had broken loose, and had driven a hole in the ship's bottom. I did not understand the danger, and, having by this time found my sea-legs, rather enjoyed the scuffle. I heard afterwards that there was a consultation among the officers of the ship as to whether we should turn back to London, or try to make Lisbon for repairs. The latter course was providentially adopted ; for we learned afterwards that we would have encountered a dreadful storm in the English Channel, in which many vessels were lost, and which we in our disabled state could hardly have weathered. Though after the lapse of some days the wind abated, there was a heavy swell ; and groping our way along the coast of Portugal, for we had lost our reckoning, we entered the Tagus, glad to be anchored in smooth water, amid such beautiful surroundings. As there were at that time no docks in Lisbon, the only mode in which the Sarah could be repaired was by dis- charging her cargo, and having her careened ; that is, hauled over first on one side, and then on the other, and her bottom thoroughly examined and repaired. This threatened to be a long business, but when we realized the extent of the damage sustained, and the narrowness of our escape, we could only be thankful. "We had been twenty days in making Lisbon, but the Sarah, though a small teak-built vessel of not more than 500 tons, had proved a good sea 35 LISBON FOR REPAIRS. boat, for we found that the British packet conveying the mails had been three weeks at sea, and had not yet arrived. Subsequently we learned that several vessels had been lost in the storm we encountered. As it was ascertained that it would take at least two months to get the Sarah ready for sea, a large house was taken for the passengers, and we made ourselves as comfortable as circumstances would admit of. The period of our detention at Lisbon was one of unusual interest and excitement. Don Miguel was about to return from England, where he had out-generalled the Duke of Wellington and the Tory Government, who had accepted his professions of fidelity to the Constitution, in spite of the protestations of the moderate party, who had been driven into exile, and were then in England. Having the sujiport of the reactionary party, headed by his mother, and relying on his popularity with the old nobility and the army, he had not landed long before he showed himself in his true colours; for, in spite of his promises, he dissolved the Cortes, and shortly afterwards, having got himself proclaimed King of Portugal, he entered on that career of tyranny and despotism which wrought such mischief to the country, and ended in ruin to himself. Portugal having solicited the assistance of Great Britain, a considerable force had been despatched to Lisbon in the month of December ; and when we arrived, on the 1 9th of January 1828, we found two battalions of Guards and ii troop of Horse Artillery in quarters close to the city, and seven British seventy-fours and two brigs of war at anchor in the harbour. Among the sights of Lisbon, we visited the quarter where the royal carriages of some centuries were stored, a wonderful collection of gilded and highly decorated rattletraps ; little thinking that shortly afterwards we should see a whole cortt^ge of them actually in motion. The man- of-war having Don Miguel on board somewhat unexpectedly hove in sight, and put the whole city into a state of des- DON MIGUEL ARRIVES. 37 perate excitement. Mounted officers were galloping in all directions. Lackeys and coachmen were rushing along, button- ing on their laced toggery as they ran. Unwilling steeds, of every degree of disablement, were being forced along to horse the dilapidated royal carriages. A royal barge of great length, manned by a host of oarsmen, moved on its centi- pedal course towards the man-of-war, to land the royal Don. Of Portuguese troops none seemed ready for the emergency, to do honour to the Regent and future King. It was a battery of British Horse Artillery that gave the royal salute at landing, and a regiment of British Guards that received the hero with presented arms. The Portuguese men-of-war, to the great amusement of the officers and men of the Sarah, tugged and tugged in a vain attempt to hoist their topmasts, and bungled sadly as they manned the yards, in striking contrast with the smart way in which the thing was done by the British fleet. Backed by the English, the Eoyalists had it all their own way, and the Constitutionalists had to hide their diminished heads; but a time of retribution came, when the bad son of a bad mother had an arrest put on his wild career, and in turn was obliged to flee. At night there was an illumination, and we were told, if we did not light up our house, we would get all our windows broken. The arrangements for this were laid on me, and it was done in style ; for, in addition to the candles in the windows, I made a grand display of fireworks from the balcony that stretched along the upper windows, and gave a prominent place in largo illuminated letters to the legend, "VIVA DON MIGUEL NOSTER EEY ABSOLUTO." The harbour with its surrounding scenery is exceedingly beautiful, but the city itself has, or had sixty years ago, few attractions. The architecture of the churches struck me as very commonplace, but the old Tower of Belem has a fine efifect as j'ou enter the Tagus. The aqueduct which conveys 3$ REVIEW OF BRITISH TROOPS. the principal supply of water to the city is carried over the valley of the Alcantara on a structure the central arch of which, with a span of one hundred feet, is more than two hundred and sixty feet high ; and, as it is very narrow, look- ing up to it from below, it appeared to me like a ribbon floating in the air. The city, ^vhen I visited it, was filthy in the extreme, and the prevailing savour of sardines fried in olive oil was almost acceptable, in so far as it overpowered worse smells. Having procured a mount, I went to a grand review of the British troops, and saw the Guards march past in fine style. The day was hot, and when some smart manceuvres had been gone through, and the men were allowed to " stand easy," they could not resist the temptation to upset a hand-barrow full of oranges, which was followed by a general scramble. This rather amused the officers, although they had to fork out liberally to satisfy the bellowing vendor. In the evening a ball was given to the British residents, attended of course by the naval and military officers. The most striking figure was that of the beautiful Countess of A'illa rior, whose husband was one of the banished Consti- tutionalists. The dances were square dances, executed with that dancing-school precision to which I had been s<> recently accustomed. We had great trouble with the crew of the Sarah. V^mu being cheap, sobriety was the exception, and some of them bolted. The steward robbed the captain of some watches and jewellery, and, having raised some money on ,them, he ran a fine rigg; till one night he was recognised by the second officer at the opera, where he was sporting the hand- some uniform of a naval officer. A good deal of the property was recovered, and he had to complete the remainder of his service before the mast. "While at Lisbon, I recvivcd letters from home, containing distressing accounts of my father's health ; and I had to carry this sorrow with me through the remainder of my voyage. FELLOW-PASSENGERS. 39 After aLout two months' detention, the Sarah put to sea, and our voyage to India was a prosperous one. We sighted Madeira, and one of the Canary Islands, but touched no- where. A word or two about my fellow-voyagers. The captain, though a good enough sailor, was far from being a pleasant man. Presuming on his position on board the little ship, he carried himself haughtily towards his officers, and his bearing even towards the passengers was not that of a gentleman. His orders to the officers were plentifully inter- larded with imprecations, which lost nothing of their volume when passed on to the men. The doctor was a good-natured Yorkshireman, with curly hair and a rubicund countenance. The officers were a rough set, as were the men, with a few exceptions. On the previous voyage of the ship under another captain, there had been a regular mutiny. A chalk line was drawn across the deck, and. death was threatened to any one who crossed it. One of the more violent did so, and was shot dead by an artillery cadet, who was tried and acquitted at Bombay. The passengers were few in number : Dr. Gilder, who, after serving some time as surgeon in the Bombay Army, joined a mercantile firm, and made a mode- rate fortune; Captain Mason of the 15th Native Infantry, returning from furlough ; a young fellow of the name of Wooler, joining a long-established house of that name in Bombay ; and a Mr. Gray, who settled first as an agent for Cockburn's house, and ultimately on his own account. Gilder was a delightful companion, and I had great enjoy- ment in his society. Mason had been subject to some impertinence from the captain, and, on arrival at Bombay, consulted Gilder and myself on the propriety of demanding satisfaction, but was dissuaded from so serious a step. Gray was a nice enough fellow, sang a good song, and went by the name of Gentleman Gray. The first time I ventured up the rigging, I saw a sailor stealing after me with a suspicious-looking lanyard in his 40 ARRIVE A T BOMB A Y. Land ; and, concluding rightly that he had come to tie me up, I gave him the slip by coming down to deck hand over hand by the mizzen halyards. However, I thought it best to pay my footing, and so be made free of the rigging ; and many a seat I had on the maintopgallant yard, watching the porpoises and flying fish, and dreaming of times past and times to come. The voyage was somewhat barren of incidents ; we had no visit from Neptune on crossing the line, did not kill the inevitable shark, or shoot the poor albatross. I may mention one thing as illustrative of natural history. The second mate, from the dolphin-striker, hit a dolphin with the grains, or trident, but did not secure it. This poor fish followed the ship for several weeks, even when we were running at the rate of eight knots an hour. I could see it from the stern window of my cabin, with the wound in its back, and its nose close to the rudder. We concluded that it kept close to the ship for protection till its wound was healed, lest it should have been preyed upon by the voracious tribe. It could not have slept during that time, errjo, fishes do not sleep. We passed the Cape of Good Hope in a hurricane, going ten knots almost, under bare poles. Passing through the Mozambique, we sailed close to Johanna ; and, the wind favouring us, we sighted the coast of India in the end of June. A streak of low land, fringed wdth cocoanuts and palms, was the first glimpse we had of our destination, and in a few hours more we were at anchor in the beautiful harbour of Bombay ; when began, as if in a new world, the second epoch of my life. CHAPTER III. Ceebping into a palanquin, I went under the escort of Captain Mason to report my arrival to the Adjutant- General and Fort-Major ; and I cannot say that our journey through the narrow streets and stifling odours, so peculiarly Oriental, gave me a pleasing impression of the land of my future sojourn. I found, as my entrance on the service dated from the day my ship left Gravesend, that, however tedious my passage, I had superseded in rank nearly all the cadets of the season, and that I stood third on a list of forty. I have that list now in my possession, and, alas ! how few are now in the land of the living ! I had hoped to get quarters — for inns were not in existence in those days — with an old friend of my mother's, Mr. Romer, who had recently been appointed a member of Council ; but found he had not yet arrived from Surat. Mr. George Forbes, of the old firm of Forbes & Company, kindly offered me the hospitality of his house, but suggested my sleeping at the Cadet Establishment, as he could not accommodate me with a room. However, on delivering my introduction to Messrs. Leckie & Co., on whom I had a draft, one of the partners, Mr. Sindry, was kind enough to ask me to put up with him at Colabah ; so thither I went. At that time Colabah was a separate island, reached by ferry-boats at high tide, and by a causeway at low water. When I started for it in a palanquin, with the doors closed on account of the torrent of rain, the water on the causeway was up to the bearers' knees, and the sensation of water overhead, and the 42 DINNER PARTY. splashing of water nearly up to the bottom of the palanquin, was new and curious. Colabah is a long and narrow island, with a lighthouse at the farther end, and my host's house was somewhere about the middle. It had, of course, the usual verandahs all round, and plenty of openings for air and the sea breeze. I noticed that all the chairs were arm-chairs with open cane seats, and the dinner-table was adorned with fruit and flowers, which arrangement was at that time unknown at home. When the master of the house called out " Boy ! " for there were no bells, to my surprise a grey-headed old man answered the summons. After the usual courses, and before the sweets, came the inevitable rice and curry, and the chief beverage, both during and after dinner, was Hodson's Indian ale, a very heady article. M'lien I retired to bed under mosquito curtains, I was disturbed by a concert maintained by crickets, buzzing insects, and croaking frogs. In the morning I awoke to the consciousness that I had been severely bitten, and, on examining the curtains, I detected a small hole in one corner, through which the mosquitoes, gorged with my blood, were bundling, like the audience of a theatre on fire. I took my revenge by administering a fillip with my finger-nail to as many as had not effected their escape. Dining shortly after at the house of Mr. Eorbes, within the fort walls, where there was a large party, chiefly of gentlemen, the scene was peculiarly Oriental. Every guest had brought one, two, or, I might say, if I include the hookaburdar, three servants, who stood in their pure white dresses and handsome turbans and cummerbunds with folded arms behind their master's chairs. If you had not a servant, your chances of being attended to were some- what small, as you were dependent on the voluntary services of the attendants of the guest next you. After dinner, the hookaburdars slipped in, and each, having spread a handsome narrow Persian rug behind his master's chair, prepared the THE GRIFFIN. 43 chillum, blowing vigorously at the red - hot balls, and handed the chased silver mouthpiece of the snakelike tube to his master, when a general gurgling was heard that astonished unaccustomed ears. As a new arrival in Australia is called a "new chum," so the raw Indian is called a " griffin." His mistakes, until he gets experience, subject him to no small amount of mis- adventure and practical jokes. A thoroughly Scotch lad arrived in Bombay with some good introductions ; one being to a member of Council, who lived high up on Malabar Hill, and who asked him to be his guest. Starting in a palanquin, he observed that the hamals groaned, as they always do, when they climbed the hill ; and being a tender-hearted lad, and somewhat fat withal, he could stand it no longer, but jumped out, and, in spite of the hot sun, clambered up the hill. In answer to his host's inquiry, and to account for his want of breath and the drops of perspiration that were rolling down his cheeks, he said the bearers suffered so much in ascending the hill, that he thought it better to get out and walk; and he added he was glad he had done so, as he was distressed to notice that some of them were actually spitting blood. The fact was, the hamals, who were chuckling at the softness of their fare, had been regaling themselves as usual by chewing their paun leaf and suparee, the acrid juice of which, combined with a touch of lime, gives that blood-red tinge to the saliva which had so greatly frightened the cadet. In continuation of the experiences of this " griffin," and in connection with mosquitoes and the curtains used as a defence, I may mention that next morning the member of Council, finding his guest did not make his appearance at breakfast, was afraid he was ill, and went to his room to see what was the matter. There he found his ruddy-faced young friend lying in bed all right. On asking why he had 44 GRIFFIN IMPRISONED. not come down to breakfast, the cadet replied, " I wad liae come doon, but I canna get cot." The fact was, the hamal, or Eastern valet, after the youth had gone to bed, had carefully tucked in the curtains all round, so that when the cadet awoke, and thought of getting up, he felt all round the curtains for an opening without success; and, after repeated trials, was obliged to accept the situation, and attempt to fall asleep. Shortly afterwards he had to present himself at the levee of Sir Charles Colville, the Commander - in - Chief. Some of the staff, having heard he was a good subject for a practical joke, informed him that it was the custom on his first presentation to salute with his sword ; and, having made him practise the salute in an adjoining room, he entered the reception chamber, and, walking with severe gravity up to Sir Charles, deliberately drew his sword, and made a clumsy attempt at a salute. Sir Charles drew back for a moment, and then, seeing the lad had been played upon, he received him very kindly, and made him put up his weapon. The cadet, encouraged by Sir Charles's condescension, on meeting him shortly after- wards, said, by way of conversation, " Another fine sunny day. Sir Charles." Sir Charles laughed, and said, " Yes, my lad, you'll get plenty sunny days before you are done with India.'' But it hardly becomes me to expose this Johnny Eaw, seeing that, at the time to which my narrative refers, I was myself a jolly griffin, wondering with open eyes and ears at the new experiences that were presenting themselves at every turn. 'N^Hren I got into my cadet's jacket, I could not resist the temptation, when I approached the sentry at the Apollo Bunder Gate, to expose a bit of my red sleeve, to secure a salute. I met with great kindness from the different gentlemen to whom I had letters of introduc- tion ; and on Mr. Romer arriving to take his seat in Council, I went to stay with him. He had been long in MARCH OF CADETS. 45 India, and I was surprised at his vivid recollection of people and places at home, which led to many a long talk. He was very deaf, and on my introducing myself, not catching my name, he said, " I should know your face ; " and when he ascertained who I was, he said, " Yes, your face is familiar to me, for you are like your mother." I had not been long with him before I got orders to proceed to Poona. A batch of cadets, under charge of Lieutenant Aston, left the Apollo Bunder in boats for Panwell. There were thirteen of us, and great fun we had, especially in racing up the Panwell river, when ever and again a boat would stick in the mud, and others would pass it, in their turn to stick fast, and be given the go-by. We had to land in small dug- outs, which were easily upset. Next morning we com- menced our journey up the Ghauts. Taking shelter under a tree to escape a passing shower, my head touched a nest of red ants hanging on one of the boughs. In an instant I had the whole inhabitants swarming over my face and neck, digging their mandibles most viciously into my flesh, a very unpleasant experience of Indian life. I messed with Lieutenant Aston and a somewhat aged cadet. When sitting at dinner after our first march, a cadet named Lodge, who was killed in action, poor fellow, soon after he joined the 25th, came rushing in with pale face to say another cadet had beat his servant, and he wished to know whether he should call him out. This same Lodge, at the next station, stripped and plunged into a deep weedy tank to recover a Malabar pheasant which a brother cadet had shot ; and he had some difficulty in getting out, having got entangled in the weeds. The " pheasant," so retrieved, was duly roasted and eaten, on the strength of its name, although it really belonged to the crow species. The mess- men at the travellers' bungalows had some difficulty in supplying the wants of so many hungry youths. These messmen are often the retired or dismissed messmen of 46 "BUTTERS IS TUFFS." European regiments. One of the latter class had belonged to the 20th, and, in excuse for his dismissal, used to lay the whole hlame on the commanding oiScer, Colonel Thomas; whom he declared it was impossible to please. " Yes, masser, one day he say, ' You messmans, muttons is tuffs ; ' other time, ' fowls is tuffs, beefs is tuffs ; ' and some- times ' butters is tuffs.' Xow, masser, how can butters be tuffs?" With so many wild young fellows under his charge, Lieutenant Aston had a difficult duty to perform, but, except that a fight was got up between two of their ponies, whereby one was kicked down a steep descent, and got a good deal injured, nothing serious occurred. IMaking two marches a day, we reached Poona on the third, haying passed through some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever beheld. It being the monsoon season, we had many falls of rain, and jets of water like silver threads, and some- times of larger bulk, streamed down the distant heights ; while the clearness of the atmosphere made the most distant features of the landscape appear as distinct as those at hand. It is perhaps a fault in Indian scenery, that there is really a want of distance. The summits of many of the mountains, terminating in scarp rock, form natural fortresses, and Httle was left for man to do, beyond strengthening some weak point, to turn them into those formidable strongholds which played so conspicuuus a part in the Maratha wars. At Poona I was received into the house of Mr. Dunlop, the judge : having Ijeen introduced to him by my fellow- passenger, Mr. Gilder, a very old friend of his. ]Mr. Dunlop was a grandson of Mrs. Dunlop of Dunlop, the descendant of Wallace, and the lifelong friend of Eobert Burns. I found he was born at Morhani (almost marching with Ml inkrigg), which belonged to his father ; and that Mr. Dunlop had begun his education at the Haddington Burgh School. In his features he bore a strong resemblance to the portrait of his grandmother, and he was not wanting in Sm JOHN MALCOLM. 47 the characteristics of Hs race. A first-rate liorseman, he was a keen hog-hunter, and had gained many a first spear. His son '' Wallace," recently dead, did good service during the mutiny in India as a leader of volunteer horse, for which he was made a C.B., and latterly he was well known as a rifle shot, and captain of the Scotch Eiglit. Mr. Dunlop was an excellent pubHc servant, and rose to bo a member of Council. Shortly after my arrival at Poona, the Governor, Sir John Malcolm, came with his staff and other officers and civilians, to breakfast with Mr. Dunlop, and I had the opportunity of delivering a letter of introduction from Sir Samuel Brown, ;is also plans of various bridges on the suspension principle, of which I had charge. These had reference to a suspension bridge which Sir John had some thought of getting erected at the Sungum. He received me very kindly, and, taking me into a corner, he said he did not intend to ask me to stay with him at Government House, as big dinners were not good for young lads ; but that I must apply myself diligently to acquire a knowledge of my profession, and study the language. During breakfast he managed to lead, if not monopolise, the conversation. Happening to speak of Edward Irving, who was then in the zenith of his popularity, he said he had heard him preach before leaving London, and, having mentioned the text, he gave us an outline of the sermon, which lasted a considerable part of breakfast. I met his brother Sir Charles in Bombay, when staying at Colabah, he being then superintendent of the Indian Navy. He naturally was a great admirer of his brother, who one day, in pulling on his boot, felt a snake wriggling in it, and with great presence of mind pulled on the boot and crushed the snake. Shortly after this Sir Charles was pulling on his boot, and felt something in it that he made sure was a snake ; so, pulling it on with great energy, he found to his discomfort it was his spur ! 48 WILD ELEPHANT BETWEEN TWO TAME ONES. It was during my stay with Mr. Dunlop that a serious collision took place between the Government and the Supreme Court at Bombay. Mr. Dunlop had given a decision in the Adalut Court where the parties were two natives of rank, and he who lost the case appealed to the Supreme Court at Bombay, of which Sir John Peter Grant was the third Puisne Judge, and they upset Mr. Dunlop's decision. The matter was referred home ; but, before the answer arrived, the two judges senior to Sir John Peter Grant died, and he took upon him the responsibility of shutting up the Court. Before going this length, the Court issued a habeas corpus on the native in whose favour the decision had been given, and sent a body of armed peons to effect his arrest. Sir John Malcolm resisted this, and put a company of soldiers at Mr. Dunlop's command to defend the native's house. The decision from home was against the action of Sir John Peter Grant ; and in appointing two judges to fill the vacancies, one of whom was to supersede Sir John Peter Grant, Lord EUenborough said they would thus put the wild elephant between two tame ones. The first " official " I received was from the adjutant of the regiment to which I was attached, requiring for the information of the commanding officer my " reasons in writing,'' for not attending divine service on the previous day, it being Sunday ; and I " had the honour to state " in reply that I had attended service twice that day. Having arrived only the day before, I was not aware of the division order that all cadets were to attend divine service^ and report having done so to their respective commanding officers. Some wild fellows had been in the habit of galloping their tattoos past the church when the service was goinw on, a practice which Sir Lionel Smith, who commanded the division, was determined to put a stop to. It was no small relief to me, soon after my arrival at Poona, to receive a POONA. 49 letter from home, giving very cheering accounts of my father's health. He had made a most unexpected recovery, and was enabled in some measure to resume his official duties, and to enjoy his country occupations. I had had the satisfaction of recovering for him a considerable sum of money, advanced by him some twenty years before, for the outfit of an officer high up in the service, which, by some mistake, had been overlooked, and was now cheerfully repaid. Poona I found to be a delightful residence in the monsoon. It was the resort of all who could find it convenient to live there during that season, and was the scene of uninterrupted gaiety. Of that, however, I saw little ; for Mrs. Dunlop being then at home, although Mr. Dunlop exercised good hospitality, and had frequent dinner-parties, he neither gave nor attended evening assemblies. In the afternoon the bands played on the open plain round which the lines circled, and all the fashionables gathered there. I was struck with the old-fashioned dress of the ladies, which seemed years behind that at home, and even the carriages had a very antiquated appearance. What I enjoyed most was the divisional parades, which were on a grand scale. It was splendid to see the Horse Artillery scampering over all kinds of ground : sometimes, on a " march out," ascending rough, stony hills independent of anything like roads. Colonel Wiltshire, commanding the Queen's, was a splendid drill and a thorough martinet ; and his voice of thunder was to be heard, — "Mr. Cavendish, that right shoulder of yours will be the death of me!" or, "Mr. Courtney, you speak like a mouse in a cheese ! " Poona was very hot in the hot season, and at that time Mahabheshwar had just been discovered as a sanatorium. I remember the Governor and his staff dining with Mr. Dunlop just after they returned from exploring it. I accompanied jNIr. Dunlop to an afternoon party, at an 50 FLORENCE. old palace under the hill Paliur Buttee, where there is a beautiful loch on which we sailed. Having ridden there somewhat hurriedly, and all the shelter for horses beinj,' occupied, my horse, in his heated state, Avas exposed to a land wind which seized his loins, and I lost the use of him for a month or two, so that I was for some time deprived of riding exercise. When the cold weather set in, Mr. Dunlop accompanied the Governor on a lengthened trip to Dharwar and the southern JIaratha country, and left me alone in the little bungalow in his garden which I occupied. As I knew very few of the cadets, and had lost the use of my horse, I led a very solitary time of it in the gay camp ; strolling about tlie extensive garden in the mornings and evenings, firing bullets at the water-snakes that swam about a neighbouring tank, and readint; Shakespeare during the heat of the day. At last Colonel Russell, commanding the artillery, to whom I had a letter from his brother-in-law. Captain Miller, a nephew of the Edinburgh publisher, asked me to stay with him, and pitche