SE AIN Aus 8T Bai Bai Coc b( Du: Ed( &y Fie GR, HA Lo\ Lyi b( Ma Manuscript, Archives, and Rare book Library EMORY UNIVERSITY 111 -O'VOiy./ umaTratdr^mu iumx in 16 vols., bound in cloth Motley's R se and Fall of the Dutch Republic, 3 vols., cL-\h. PRESCOTT'i WORKS, Cabinet Edition, 14 vols., cloth One Volume Edition, 5 vols., cloth . Smedl^'s (Frank), in 4 vols., bound in cloth in a box Smollei ?'s (Tobias), in 3 vols., half roan . . in a box Waverley Novels, 3 vols., half roan Wetherell's (Miss), in 6 vols., illustrated, cl. gilt, in a box Old Dramatists: including Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, Wycherley, Congreve, and. others, complete in 9 vols., cloth Old Poets: including Spenser,Chaucer, Dryden, and Pope, 4 vols., cloth ... . • . . . RK8. £ s. d. 1 $ 0 1 S 6 0 10 0 0 18 0 1 10 0 2 5 0 1 1 0 0 17 6 1 10 0 0 8 0 0 7 6 3 5 0 0 IS 0 0 10 0 4 10 0 4 3 0 2 IS 0 1 2 6 1 S 0 1 4 0 0 18 0 3 10 0 1 S 0 0 14 0 0 7 6 0 io 6 0 IS 0 6 12 0 2 2 0 London : GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, The Broadway, Ludgatb. ROBTLEDGE'S POPULAR NOVELS, Well bound in cloth, full gilt back, black' printing on side, cut edges. Price Is. 6d. each. By CAPTAIN MARRYAT. 1 Peter Simple. 2 The King's Own. 3 Midshipman Easy. 4 Rattlin the Reefer. 5 Pacha of Many Tales. 6 Newton Forster. 7 Jacob Faithful. 8 The Dog-Fiend. 9 Japhet in Search of; Father. 10 The Poacher. 11 The Phantom Ship. 12 Percival Keene. 13 Valerie. 14 Frank Miidmay. 15 Olla Podrida. 16 Monsieur Violet. By W. H. AINS WORTH. 17 Windsor Castle. 18 Tower of London. 19 TheMiser'sDaughter. 20 Old St. Paul's. 21 Crichton. 22 Guy Fawkes. By J. 34 Lionel Lincoln. 35 The Deerslayer. 36 The Waterwitch. 37 The Two Admirals. 38 The Red Rover. 23 The Spendthrift 24 James the Second. 25 Star Chamber. 26 Flitch of Bacon. 27 Lancashire Witches. 28 Mervyn Clitheroe. FENIMORE COOPER. 39 Afloat and Ashore. 40 Wyandotte. 41 The Headsman. 42 Homeward Bound. 44 The Sea Lions. 29 Ovingdean Grange. 30 St. James's. 31 Auriol. 32 Rook wood. 33 Jack Sheppard. 45 Ned Myers. 46 The Last of the Mo- hicans. 47 The Spy. By ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 48 Dr. Basilius. 49 The Twin Captains. 50 Captain Paul. 51,52 Memoirs of a Phy- sician, 2 vols. 53 The Chevalier de Mai- son Rouge. 54 The Queen's Neck- lace. 55 Countess de Charny. 56, 57 Monte Cristo, 2 vols. 58 Nanon. 59 The Two Dianas. 60, 6r The Taking of the Bastille, 2 vols. 62 Chicot the Jester. 63 The Conspirators. 64 Ascanio. 65 TheThreeMusketeers. 66 Twenty Years After. By JANE AUSTEN. 67 Sense and Sensibility. 68 Mansfield Park. 69 Emma. 70 N orthanger Abbey. 71 Pride and Prejudice. By VARIOUS AUTHORS. 72 Joe Wilson's Ghost 73 Cinq Mars. 74 My Brother's Keeper. 75 Henpecked Husband. 76 Family Feud. 77 Nothing but Money. 78 Letter Bag of the Great Western 79 Respectable Sinners. 80 Moods. 81 Land and Sea Tales. 82 The Duke: 83 The Warlock. 84 The Celebrated Jump- ing Frog. 85 The Royal Favourite. 86 The Ambassador's Wife. 87 The House of the Seven Gables. 88 The Pride of theMess. 89 Stories of Waterloo. 90 Kindness in Women. LONDON ; GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, The Broadway, Lubgate. ROUTLEDGE'S OCTAVO NOVELS, Handsomely Bound in Cloth. Under this title, Messrs. George Routledge and Sons are abcut to issue, in Monthly Volumes, a Series of the Best Novels by W. Harrison Ainsworth, Frank Smedley, Samuel Lover, Anthony Trollope, Charles Lever, Alexandre Dumas, and cfjier Authors, each Illustrated by the original Steel Plates and Woodcuts of Cruikshank, Millais, and other eminent Artists. ALEXANDRE DUMAS. The Count of Monte Oristo, With Twenty full-page Illustrations and a Portrait of the Author. 21 ILLUSTRATIONS. ( The Tower of London i ") H. ATWBWOBWT J A historical romance. i I 40 Illustrations on Steel and numerous I » Woodcuts by George Cruikshank. ' 40 ILLUSTRATIONS. 0hakle8 leyzbt Charles O'Malley. The Irish Dragoon. 44 Illustrations on Steel by " Phiz.' 44 ILLUSTRATIONS. CHARLES LEVER. | Jack Hinton, the Guardsman. 1 36 Illustrations on Steel by " Phiz." 36 ILLUSTRATIONS. FRANK SMEDLEY. ( Harry Coverdale's Courtship, And What Came of It. 30 Illustrations on Steel by " Phiz." ILLUSTRATION W. H. AINSWORTH. [■ Old St. Paul's : A Tale of the Plague & the Fire. I With 20 Illustrations 071 Steel by ^ J. Franklin ^nd H. K. Browne. 20 ILLUSTRATIONS. CHARLES T.KVWt Confessions of Con Oregan, The Irish Gil Blas. With Illustrations on Steel and numerous Woodcuts by " Phiz." 24 ILLUSTRATIONS. FRANK S MEDLEY. Prank Fairlegh; Or, Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil. With Thirty Illustrations on Steel by George Cruikshank. 80 ILLUSTRATIONS. CHARLES LEVER. Harry Lorrequer's Confessions. 22 Illustrations on Steel by " Phiz." 22 ILLUSTRATIONS. ANTHONY TROLLOPE. Orley Parm. With 39 Illustrations by J. E. Millais. 89 ILLUSTRATIONS. CHARLES LEVER. Tom Burke of " Ours." 44 Illustrations on Steel by " Phis.' 44 ILLUSTRATIONS. ANTHONY TROLLOPE. Can You Porgive Her? With Forty Illustrations. 40 ILLUSTRATIONS. CHARLES LEVER. Luttrell of Arran, 44 Illustrations on Steel by "Phiz.' 44 ILLUSTRATIONS. London : GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, The Broadway, Ludgatb. THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL EY THE REV. G. R. GLEIG AUTHOR OF "THE LIGHT DRAGOON," " THE HUSSAR," ETC. LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE NEW YORK : 416 BROOME STREET BY G. R. GLEIG. THE HUSSAR. THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. THE LIGHT DRAGOON. CONTENTS. an x fage The Library .. .. .. .. .. .. .. i BAIN'S STORY. Chap, I.—Sboweth how Accident may determine both the Place of a Man's Birth, and his Occupation in Life .. . • .. .. 5 Chap. II.—Wherein various Changes of Fortune are set forth, and various Events recorded .. .. .. .. .. ..11 Chap. III.—Proving that Jack himself can run Rusty at Times, and gain No- thing by it .. .. .. ,. .. .. 16 Chap. IV.—Containing some Account of other Perils than War which accom- pany a Soldier's Life, and showing how a Man may establish a quiet Claim of Admission into Chelsea Hospital .. .. 21 DUMALTON'S STORY. Chap. I.—Showing how a Man may become a Soldier unawares, and how Soldiers lived in London Half a Century ago.. .. .. 31 Chap. II.—Which speaks of Processions, Rumours of War, and Wars .. 37 Chap. III.—Speaks of Marches, a Battle, and a Siege .. .. ..44 Chap. IV.—Wherein further Military Operations are described .. ..51 Chap. V.—Which tells of sundry Changes in Equipments, Personal Adven- tures, Battles, Night-Marches, and .other Matters .. .. 5\ Chap. VI.—Which describes sundry and manifold Changes in Triumph and Defeat .. .. .. .. .. .. ..66 Chap. VII.—Which shows how War is conducted at Home, and speaks of other * - Expeditions.—The Helder and its Glories .. .. • • 77 Chap. VIII.—'Which shows how Military Operations were carried on Forty Years ago .. .. .. .. .. ..87 Chap. IX.—Service at Home: a Peep into Hanover, and a final Retreat to Chelsea Hospital.. .. .. .. . • .. 93 HARGROVE'S STORY. Char. I.—Men do not always fulfil the Augury of their Birth .. .. 95 Chap, II.—I enter Life as a Gentleman, and visit strange Lands .. 100 Ciiap, III.—Egypt, and my Adventures there Chap. IV.—Change of Scene, and Change of Habits .. 112 Chap. V.—My Circumstances do not improve .. Chap. VI.—Deeper and deeper still .. 126 Chap. VII.—Things don't go so smoothly; but I have another Chance .. 132 Chap. VIII.—A total Change of Condition .. 138- av CONTENTS. STUREEY'S STORY. Page Chap. I.—My Birth and Education, and my first Acquaintance with the Service 145 Chap. II.—A Military Execution; with Details of another Kind .. .. 152 Chap. III.—Cadiz.—The Battle of Barossa .. .. .. ..157 Chap. IV.—The Low Countries in 1813.—Bergen-op-Zoom.. .. .. 166 •Chap. V.—The Campaign of 1815—Battle of Waterloo—and Chelsea Hospital 174 EWART'S STORY; Chap. I.—The Home of a North of Ireland Farmer, which is not to my Mind, and I leave it.—Service in various Forms; and early Love .. 185 Chap. II.—A Soldier's Life in the Army of Reserve.—I volunteer to the 27th Regiment .. .. .. .. .. .. 196 Chap. III.—Portsmouth—Malta—Sicily, and Adventures there .. .. 204 Chap. IV.—How to deal with a dishonest Quartermaster.—Operations by Sea and Land .. .. .. .. .. ..212 Chap. V.—There are Tyrants in all Ranks, and Just Men also.—We see a good deal of Life after a Fornr * .. .. .. .. 219 Chap. VI.—We stop Conspiracies in Sicily, and open the Campaign in the South of Spain .. .. .. .. .. .. 228 Chap. VII.—Sharp Service.—A Single Combat—and a desperate Wound .. 236 Chap. VIII.—Scenes in Hospital.. .. .. .. .. .. 246 Chap. IX.—I become an Out-Pensioner, and deviate from the narrow Path.— Many Privations.—Sophy and I part .. .. .. 252 Chap. X.—I serve a strange Master.—Become a Wanderer, and an Inmate of a Lunatic Asylum .. .. .. .. .. 260 Chap. XI.—The sad Effects of a'hasty Marriage.—Strange Vicissitudes .. 269 Chap. XII.—.1 become a Seaman, and visit distant Shores .. .. .. 278 Chap. XIII.-—Renew former Acquaintances.—Form others, and at last make Trial of Chelsea Hospital.. .. .. .. . . 287 THE EGYPTIAN'S STORY. Chap. I.—Egypt and the Manners of its Inhabitants .. .. .. 293 Chap. II.—The French Service .. .. .. .. .. .. 298 Chap. III.—France.—The Battle of Trafalgar, and England .. .. 304 Chap. IV.—A Prison Hulk.—Enlist in the Fifth Regiment.—Home Service .. 311 Chap. V.—Portugal and Sir John Moore's Campaign .. .. ..318 Chap. VI.—Return to England.—The Walcheren Expedition .. .. 326 Chap. VII.—Spain.—Salamanca.—I bury a Countryman .. .. .. 331 Chap. VIII.—Retreat from Burgos.—A Deserter, and a Skirmish .. ..338 Chap. IX.—Campaign of 1813.—Battle of Vittoria .. .. .. .. 344 Chap. X—The Pyrenees.—Hard Fighting .. .. .. .. 349 Chap. XI.—The South of France.—Service in America. .. .. .. 355 Chap. XII.—The Army of Occupation.—The West Indies, Ireland, and Chelsea Hospital THE VETEEANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. THE LIBRARY. Within the walls of Chelsea Hospital there is an apartment which, without possessing any attractive feature, either as to form or orna- ment, is yet well worth a moment's inspection by the intelligent visitor. It is the old men's library,—a pleasant and a comfortable chamber,—set round here and there with bookcases, and rendered, by means of a strong cross-light, as convenient as possible, for the decayed powers of vision of those who frequent it. Four long tables, each flanked by its own forms, occupy the centre of the room, and are usually overspread with newspapers, magazines, and other materials of light reading; while a blazing fire sheds in winter an air of comfort over the whole, to which no living man can be more alive than the pensioners. Then again there are half-a-dozen stout armchairs, ren- aered movable by means of castors; a cupboard into which the newspapers, when sufficiently thumbed, are thrust; a stiff horse-hair mat at the door, of which the students, ere they enter, are presumed to make use; and patent wire blinds, which, covering the lower panes in each window, preserve for the little coterie, when assembled, their privacy. As to the ornamental portion of the furniture, it is described in few words. A ceiling neatly whitewashed; walls wainscotted to their full elevation; a few engravings, such as represent London in the olden time; good old George the Third, one of the best of Eng- land's monarchs; a French grenadier; and the likenesses of two well-known characters who have quitted this our stage only a few years ;—these make up the sum total of what the hand of taste has accomplished for the edification and amusement of the Chelsea Pensioners. For, sooth to sav, we are in this our land of liberty exceedingly neglectful of the humanizing influence of the arts, else would this very chamber—or, possibly, some other, both larger and more commodious, and erected for the purpose,—have long ago con- tained well-executed representations of the triumphs of British arms in all parts of the world. The Pensioners' Library is under the immediate charge ot one who appears not a little proud of his office. A fine old fellow he is; slow of speech, and exceedingly methodical, doubtless; yet tender of the treasures which have been committed to his trust, and absent from B 2 TIIE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. liis post never. He is the very beau ideal of a librarian. Not affect- ing to possess the slightest acquaintance with books in general, though quite at home concerning the merits of the particular volumes of which he is the appointed guardian, he meets your inquiries with an air of perfect selt-possession, and will even argue the point with you, should you be rash enough to call in question the soundness of his judgment in literary matters. A better, or more sober, or more trustworthy person than Captain Marshall, albeit a regard to truth compels me to acknowledge that he is a soldier of no service at all, it would be a hard matter to find either in Chelsea Hospital or else- where. The old men's library, like more costly institutions of the sort, is, of course, managed by rules; but the rules are of the simplest and most comprehensible kind. The door stands open, not literally, but metaphorically, from nine in the morning till four in the afternoon, so that all among the pensioners, whose humours lead them in that direction, may enter. Formerly tickets were issued, without the production of one of which, no man might reap the benefit of the institution; but the practice was found to operate as a check upon the taste which more than all others ought to be encouraged in such a place, and it has been tacitly intermitted. Still, however, the books are fixtures, except under very peculiar circumstances. Nobody may carry a volume to his ward, tor example, without written leave from the chaplain, and such leave is rarely granted, except in sickness. The consequence is, that the reading-room can boast of a large ana respectable occupancy all the year round. In summer, to be sure, the bright warm sun, and the balmy breezes, lure the old fellows abroad, and the quiet gardens, which were a few years ago prepared for them, and the little rustic temple that looks down upon these gardens, become their favourite haunts; but at other seasons the shelter of a roof, and the warmth of a snug fireside, are found more congenial than any other position to the worn-out frames of our inmates. Ac- cordingiy, it is during the winter months,—that is, from October to the end of May,—that our Library is best frequented. Moreover, there are certain periods in each day—the Lord's day of course excepted—when our people usually congregate here, and certain limits to their zeal in the search alter knowledge. Tne visitor who may chance to look in upon them any time between half-past nine and half-past ten in the morning, is sure to find a dozen and a half or two dozen congregated together; while, by-and-by—in other words, from two till four,—they generally meet again. It is not, however, to be imagined, that the old fellows frequent the reading-room for the mere purpose of holding converse either with the matured wisdom of the mighty dead, or with the crudities of the passing day. The reading-room is to them a place of pleasant rendez- vous, where they gather themselves round the fire in little knots, and hold that sort of conversation which, among old men who have mixed much with their kind, is most in favour: for here we are not only garrulous, but entertaining. We have all seen a good deal of the world; we have had in our own persons, and witnessed in those of others, ups and downs innumerable, and our memories are stored T1IE LIBRARY. 3 with legends of the good and the bad, of the brave and the coward, of the youth and the maiden, of the true and the false-hearted. In this room it is our especial happiness to communicate each to the other his thoughts on the events of human life; and, if it does so happen that the same story may be told more than once, why no human being cares a straw about the matter, or takes the trouble to charge the narrator with a lack of genius. In a word, we are the most contented, and I verily believe, the most deserving class of her Majesty's sub- jects, whose great aim it is to let the sun of our mortal life go down as calmly as possible, in the earnest hope that it shall rise again with increased splendour in a better world. Prom all this the reader is not to suppose that we have a club, or anything resembling a club, within the walls of Chelsea Hospital. There are no exclusives among us; but, according as men's tastes and habits chance to agree, they draw together; never refusing, how- ever, to extend both their good humour and their companionship to any comrade who may express a wish to partake in it. Therefore, I am not going to describe persons in detail; as if to a few out of our body the talent were restricted of talking freely—may I not say pleasantly ? _ It is enough for our present purpose, if the reader will put himself in imagination under my guidance, now—on the 24th day of April, just as the hands of our watches point to ten o'clock. We are, then, at the door of the Library. We push it open, and here the parties, of whom mention has been made, are assembled. _ One group prefers to occupy a table, that the individuals composing it may vary their amusement, and read or talk, as the caprice of the moment dictates. Others draw their chairs about the fire; and it is here, as you have a right to expect, that the chief speakers are usually to be found. What are the topics discussed ? Nay, then, come forward and listen; for these old men have no concealments; and stranger as you are, they will admit you to the benefits of an auditory with as much readiness, and in as perfect good humour, as if you, like themselves, wore the Queen's last and most honoured livery. The inmates of Chelsea Hospital are great chroniclers of times gone by. They seem to retain their faculties longer than ordinary men, and their memories in particular are very tenacious: but, as the thoughts of the aged are said to be more bent than the thoughts of the young upon self, and its petty wants and indulgences, so there is no topic which possesses so much of interest in this place as per- sonal narrative. The pensioners are ready and willing to tell their stories to any who will listen to them; and strange, and varied in their details, these stories sometimes are. Shall we get them upon this beat to-day ? With all my heart. " Come now, my good friends, don't let us interrupt you. Resume your talk, pray. Or, rather, indulge us, and gratify your comrades at the same time, by sketching the careers which you have respectively run. I assure you that you will find us both considerate and willing listeners." The old fellows smile upon one another, and readily come into our project. " Our histories," says one of them, "are for the most part unpretending enough. We have little to boast of, except that we did b 2 4 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. our duty to king and country while we were able, and our chief sub- ject of regret is, that we were not always as careful in doing our duty to God. But we do not distrust his great goodness; and, for tne rest, we are grateful for the asylum which the country has provided, and willing, as you see, to make the most of it. However, you shall hear what each has to say for himself. Come, Commodore, yours has been a sort of amphibious life; indeed, it may be doubted whether you ought to be here or at Greenwich. Take you the lead in this matter. I dare say you have spun many a yarn on the forecastle; let the gentlemen see whether you can spin one here." The pensioner thus addressed is a short spare man, about seventy- eight years of age: with grey hair, a florid complexion, and eyes which have suffered a good deal from inflammation. He is much more of a wreck now than he was two years ago; yet, bating his deafness, you would call him a fine man for his period of life, and his good humour is imperturbable. "You want my story, do you?" is his answer. "Oh' by all means. It will take a long time telling, and, when told, it may seem to contain little; but it was a queer voyage to make, you may denend UP™ 9ue meJox? Mention then, and you shall be gratified " The old feUow, turning his quid in his cheek, gazes for a moment or two intensely m the fire: and then, as if the operation had Sled him to concentrate his ideas, thus begins. enaoieu bain's story. 5 BAIN'S STORY. CHAPTER I. Showeth how Accident may determine both the Place of a Man's Birth, and his Occupation in Life. My name is John Bain. I was born some time in the month of July, 1761, at a place called Conningsburg in Yorkshire, not far from the well-known town of Doncaster. My father, by lineage a Scotchman, by occupation a type-founder, was a man of considerable talent and skill in his calling. My mother was the daughter of a farmer who resided in the village which has the honour to claim me as its own. How my father ana mother first became acquainted, or under what circumstances their marriage took place, I have never been able to discover. I do not even know what it was that brought the former across the border at all; whether he was induced to take the step by the prospect of a more lucrative employment than at home, or yielded only to a restless disposition, which seems never to have abandoned him. But, at the period of my birth it is certain that he was resident in the house of his father-in-law; which he quitted soon afterwards not to behold it again. The truth, indeed, is, that my mother did not long survive the hour which gave me, her youngest child, to the light. About a year and a half previously she had, with much labour and sorrow, brought my elder brother into the world; and the event Sroved, that for a frequent repetition of such exploits nature had not esigned her. On the second day after my birth she expired; upon which my father, whose only tie to the spot seems to have been one of kindred and connection, gathered together his effects, and departed. I did not accompany him in that journey. It would have been on many accounts inconvenient had he been burthened with the care of so young an infant, when he was about, as it were, to begin the world anew • and the honest yeoman, whom he honoured as his father-in- law, had no desire to deal sharply with him. It was accordingly arranged between them that I should remain where I was; and I con- tinued, in consequence, for the space of about five years, to lead the sort of life which children generally lead in such situations. Mean- while my father, carrying my elder brother along with him, removed to Edinburgh. There ne resumed business, his success in which greatly exceeded for a time his most sanguine expectations; for his father, likewise a typefounder, lent him a helping hand; and a second marriage with a well-endowed widow completed his good fortune. The result was, that when I had attained my sixth year I was, at his desire, sent to my proper home, and I found it to be in every point of view exceedingly comfortable. G THE VETEKAXS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. My father had always been a man of great expense. He loved company more than he loved the workshop, and pleasure was much more agreeable to him than business. My stepmother, likewise, a gentlewoman by birth, rather encouraged than restrained him in these propensities, and no great while elapsed before such a tree brought forth its natural fruits. I remember well being delighted, when a very little boy, with the noise of revelry which went on in our house, just under the Calton Hill, and not very far from the abbey. Fiddlers and jesters thronged it from morning till night, and the troops of guests which went and came were incalculable. Meanwhile I was left very much to my own devices, paid little regard to my education, and found companions for myself wherever the most daring and light-hearted youths of my own standing congregated. But, an end was to be put to these days of dissipation. My stepmother died. Her fortune, which had been settled wholly on herself, went to some of her own relations, and her disconsolate husband became in every sense of the term a ruined man. He fled from Edinburgh one night to escape a gaol, and entered on board a man-of-war; but, of the rest of his fortunes I can say nothing, for we neither saw nor heard of him again from that time forth for ever. Long before this crash took place, my grandfather Bain had adopted my elder brother. He did this at the outset to relieve his son; and getting attached to the child, he would not afterwards part with him. As he was a generous man, he now extended his kindness to me also, and 1190 became a dweller under his roof. Moreover, he used his best exertions to remedy the evil effects of the total neglect which I had experienced in my childhood. He sent me to school; offered to bind me apprentice to any trade which I might prefer, and was sore vexed and irritated when I refused to make a selection. As might be expected, the consciousness that I was not a favourite in my new home did not render my abode there pleasant to either party. My habits, indeed, soon became such as I cannot now contemplate without shame; and the old man began to fear, not without some show of justice, that I might bring serious disgrace both upon him and upon myself. Under these circumstances I made up my mind to enter the world in my own way. I was hard upon four-and-twent.y years old, when, one morning, after my grandfather and I had had some words, I told him that 1 was about to leave him. "Well, John," replied he, "I can't say that I shall break my heart at your departure. But, whither do you purpose to go, and to what employment do you mean to betake yourself? " " I will go to sea," answered I, sulkily. "By all means," was the answer. "You might have done better on shore had you chosen a trade long ago ; but, at your time of life, I am not sure that you will act unwisely." I was nettled at this; for I had fancied that the old man would have thrown some obstacles in the way of my departure; yet I resolved to go through with the scheme. He gave me a small sum of money. I set out for Glasgow; and, passing thence to Greenock, bound myself an apprentice for four years on board of a ship that traded between that port and Jamaica. bain's story. 7 11 have not much to tell concerning my career as a seaman on board this merchant vessel. My time I served out steadily enough—that is to say, I belonged to her from the year 1785 up to 1789. I was a wild, harum-scarum fellow, to be sure; yet a regard to truth compels me to state that I cannot now look back upon any act performed by me of which youths in my rank and station of life are not apt to be guilty. Accordingly, both the captain and his employers expressed themselves very well pleased with me, and among my messmates I have reason to believe that I became a bit of a favourite. In other respects the tenour of my existence was monotonous enough. Prom Greenock to Port Royal, from Port Royal back to Greenock; some- times in calm, sometimes in storm; an occasional lark in the Scottish port, with a spree from time to time among the niggerssuch was my business till the period of my apprenticeship drew to an end, and plans in reference to the future required to be formed. I have never all my life long taken much heed of the morrow. To me, in a sense even more extended than ought to be applied to it, sufficient for the day has been the evil thereof; and on the present occasion it appeared as if I were going to receive proof that my rule of action was a sound one. When we reached Greenock, after the termination of the last trip which I was to make in the Jamaica-man, at least as an apprentice, we found that place even more than usually active; for war had broken out,—in what part of the world I really do not know—and press-gangs were everywhere abroad. Like other craft in our situation, we were boarded as soon as we dropped anchor, and I and two others were selected by the officer in command of the party, as fit men to serve the king under his Majesty's pendant. My companions seemed to regard the preference with which they had. been honoured as a grievance. Por me, the world was all before me; and, not having any ties which linked me to any particular corner of it, I was quite indifferent whether I wore myself out in a king's ship or a merchantman. I went with the press-gang, therefore, very cheer- fully, and got rated as an able seaman in the Savage sloop of war. We cruised for a while up and down the Pritn of Clyde, stopping the traders as they went and came, and relieving them freely of their supernumerary hands, sometimes to the undisguised dissatisfaction of all concerned. We were then ordered round to Plymouth, that we might make over to the squadron, which was fitting out there, a portion, at least, of the human cargo with which we were freighted ; and it came to my particular lot to be transferred to the Carron, of forty-four guns, which the authorities were equipping as a trooper. But with her Providence had so ordered things that I should never do a week's duty; for I had not been many days on board when I met with an accident which entirely disabled me. I fell down the main-hatch, and fractured my skull. I was taken up insensible, and in this state transferred to the hospital, of which, during the space of six months, I continued an inmate. It strikes me that I have both heard and read terrible tales of the neglect, and even cruelties, to which in these establishments the sailors and soldiers of my own standing used to be subjected. Of my own case I can only say, that had I been under the care of my mother I could not have 8 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. been more tenderly dealt with. I was long, indeed, in a state of unconsciousness; during the continuance of which they trepanned me. But when I came to myself again I found that a nice clean bed had been provided for me, and that everything which my situation seemed to require was to be had for the asking. Of Dr. Gates, who superin- tended the establishment, as well as of his assistants and nurses, I can never therefore speak except in terms of gratitude. They all did their duty more than strictly both by me and by those around me, and the cure which they made of me was perfect. I was never addicted to habits of self-indulgence. A hospital, for example, with all its comforts, and even luxuries, had no charms for me; so, my strength no sooner returned in part than I was anxious to leave it. The doctor resisted my application for a while ; for he said that it came prematurely; but, finding me resolute, he in the end gave way. I got my discharge in due form, as well as my arrears of pay to the last farthing, and, proceeding to Deptford, where the Board of Greenwich then sat, I was examined, and declared unfit for further service. They awarded me a pension of six pounds a year as a remu- neration for my hurt, and I was once more my own master. And, let me declare, in all soberness and truth, that whether it were the natural result of my long illness, or that time was beginning to work upon me the change which he generally works on others, I expe- rienced at this period a hearty desire to become a settled and steady member of society. The fire of youth seemed to have burned itself out, and I had seen enough of the world to make me weaiy of its companionship, so I determined to return, like the prodigal in the parable, to the haunts of my boyhood, and apply myself to whatever regular calling my grandfather might recommend. How curious are the feelings which come upon and overmaster us, when, after long years of absence, we turn our faces in the direction of home! _ Mine was not, I confess it with sorrow, connected with any associations peculiarly endearing. I had not done much to please those with whom I dwelt, and in every situation tenderness, if not returned, soon grows cold. Yet I respected the memory of my grand- father as an honest and an upright man; and between my brother and myself no mortal quarrel had ever arisen. As to the rest, the friends and companions of my looser hours, my thoughts of them were all of a very mixed kind. Some, in spite of my conviction of their worthlessness, had in a considerable degree linked themselves to me with the chain of affection; but there were others whom I would have gone miles out of my way to avoid. However, I did not bestow much of serious consideration on them. My project was to start at once in the character of an industrious and sober man; and I knew that if I acted up to this, all who were not inclined to act on a similar principle would save me the trouble of cutting their acquaintance. I took a passage at the port of London in a coaster, and was in due time landed at Leith. Even in the interval between 1785 and 1791, some changes had taken place there; but I did not pause to examine tbem very narrowly. I made at once for the old house in the Canon- gate; and mounting the common stair, knocked at a door through the bain's story. 9 portals of which I had passed and repassed scores of times. It was opened by a girl whom I did not recognize; but that circumstance affected me little. Five-and-forty years ago servants, though not quite so locomotive as they seem to be now, shifted their quarters often enough; so that when I inquired whether my grandfather were at home, 1 did so nothing doubtmg that I spoke to his hand-maiden. The girl answered that no such person lived there, nor, as far as she knew, in any other house in the land. I was startled and shocked; for I knew that I had fallen into no mistake in reference to localities, and it was hard to account for the absolute desertion of the old nest, seeing that my brother, brought up to our grandfather's business, was only by a year and a half my senior: but neither from the maiden nor from the mistress, who gave us the aid of her more matured expe- rience, could I learn anything satisfactory. She had not inhabited the house more than twelve months; and the people whom she succeeded in occupation did not resemble in any respect those of whom I seemed to be in search. I turned away from the home of my youth with a very sore heart. It seemed to me as if fate had interposed between me ana the realisa- tion of dreams which had just begun to take my imagination captive; and I had well nigh sought refuge from the care and mortification which took possession of me in a relapse into habits for which I had then no taste. But while I was thus musing, it occurred to me that I was not absolutely a stranger in the city of my childhood. A cousin of mine, by name Campbell, was in business there as a writer to the signet; so I determined to find him out, and at least ascertain what had become of my grandfather and my brother. There was no difficulty in effecting the first of these objects. Mr. Campbell was well known, and, to ao him justice, he received me with great frankness and hospitality. I heard from him, likewise, that the relatives of whom I was in search had removed, about four years previously, to Philadelphia, in North America, and that they had left directions with him, in case I should ever return, to send me out after them to the land of their adoption. Indeed, Mr. Campbell delivered to me a letter from my brother,—of old date, to be sure, but in his well-known hand, in which the plan of emigration was strongly recommended, and which contained, among other argu- ments, the incontrovertible statement, that if I persisted in my preference of a seaman's life, I should find it just as easy to procure a ship in Philadelphia as at Leith or Greenock. It seemed to me that there was both truth and kindness in the tone of the letter, so I determined to act upon its suggestions. I abode with my cousin as his guest for about a fortnight; and then, proceeding to the Clyde, embarked there on board of a ship which was bound for Philadelphia. I had been a stranger in Edinburgh, or fancied myself such,— I was doubly a stranger in Philadelphia. My grandfather, it appeared, had been dead some time, and my brother was gone, no one knew whither, into the back-settlements. Such was the intelligence that reached me the very day of my landing, and its effect upon me was not different from what might have been expected. I ate a solitary supper, went early to bed, and slept 10 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. little; but I rose next morning in better beart, concluding that no good could come of sorrow, and sallied forth to have a peep at the town, previous to the arrangement of any plan of action for the future. I suppose nobody would care to be told either how the houses were built, or what I thought of them: and if the reverse were the fact, 1 am quite sure that I am in no condition to gratify so laudable a thirst after knowledge. Eor my visit took place near half a century ago, and my memory is not now so sharp as it was then. But there did occur a circumstance which was by far too remarkable not to have left an enduring impression behind. I was wandering about the river side, looking hither and thither with a half-vacant stare, when a well- dressed man stopped me. " Your name is Bain," said he, "and you are just arrived from the Old Country." " Even so," was my answer; " and what follows ? " "Why this," replied the stranger: "you have come out in the expectation of finding your grandfather and brother, and you are dis- appointed. I am sorry that I cannot assist you further in your researches than by informing you, that your grandfather died in good circumstances, and that he left his business, by will, to your brother^ on condition that he would pay to you the sum of two hundred and sixty pounds. I am the attorney that made the old man's will, and the rough draft of it is still in my possession." " Much obliged to you, sir," was my answer. " The information which you communicate is so far satisfactory, that it lets me into the knowledge of benefits intended for me; but, unless you can go a little further, I am afraid that your benevolent intentions will hardly be realized. Do you happen to know the point of the compass to which my brother has betaken himself? or has any portion of these two hundred and sixty pounds been entrusted to your safe keeping?" " I am sorry to be obliged to answer both your questions in the negative," replied he. "Your brother meant, I am sure, to act honestly by you; for he never made a secret of your grandfather's wishes. But you were nowhere to be heard of • and affairs prospered with him so well, that by-and-by he felt himself in a situation to wind up the concern. He sold off all his stock, and removed with a young family into the back-settlements." " Where I can never hope to trace him out," said I. " Well, I did not come here in search of two hundred and sixty pounds; but hoping to discover the kind, good guardian of my youth, and the friend of my childhood. I have been unfortunate; but, thank God, I can shift for myself, and so there is an end to the matter. I thank you very much for your civility, and will be further obliged by your telling my brother, should you ever meet him, that he is heartily welcome to my grandfather's legacy, of which, as I never came into possession of it, I am not likely ever to feel the want." We parted upon this for the moment; but often met again, when I invariably found my acquaintance a useful as well as an agreeable companion. He assisted me in ferreting out such a lodging as was suitable to my condition and prospects, and gave me his countenance bain's story. 11 when I put myself to school, and became a student of navigation. This done, and my finances beginning to get low, I took a berth on board of the American ship Canton, bound for the East; and in 1792 was once more occupying my business on the great waters. CHAPTER H. Wherein various Changes of Fortune are set forth, and various Events recorded. The ship Canton was an old and well nigh worn-out tub, which leaked so fast as to find us in constant work even during calm weather, while in a gale we used to be in perpetual danger of foun- dering. She was laden with timber, with masts and spars and such like, which it was intended that we should exchange at Madras for cotton. With extreme difficulty, and not without very considerable danger, we accomplished the first part of our voyage, and the cotton was taken on board, and the spars landed. But the next stage in our progress—for we were bound ultimately for China—proved a thorough sickener. We worked down from Madras to Prince of Wales's Island with such difficulty, that there was scarcely a man who, from sheer fatigue, could, on reaching the harbour, assist in getting out the cargo. Still the captain persevered in following out the instructions which he had received, and the cotton was here exchanged for opium and aloes: after which he again put to sea, and stood for Malacca. This was the most toilsome trip of the whole. We were so continually at the pump, that our patience could not stand it longer—so I, with three others, made up our minds to leave the ship, even though, in doing so, we must sacrifice not wages only, but the whole of our kit into the bargain. Nor did any great while elapse before we carried this resolution into effect; having watched our opportunity, we stole on shore one day when the captain was absent; and though we carried with us nothing except our ready money, and my guadrant, we rejoiced as those are apt to do who have escaped, if not from certain death, at all events from toil which ceaseth not. I have a lively and a pleasant recollection of the sort of life which we spent among the Malays. It was in some sort a life of hiding- because the captain had an undoubted right to our services, and, haa lie succeeded m discovering us in our lair, he might have required the native authorities to send us on board by force. But the people entered into our views with all their hearts, and there was no lack of places of concealment. I have repeatedly seen the skipper pass under the very balcony on which, behind the screen of a painted blind, we were sitting, and once his voice was heard at the door of our apartment: but the Malays were all faithful to us, and no dis- eovery took place. At last the old Canton got under weigh, and we watched her movements with a degree of interest such as they had hardly excited before. The wind was fair, and away she went, never again by me, at least, to be seen, nor, sooth to say, to be thought of, far less inquired about, 12 TUB VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. We were now free men, and we made the sort of use of our free- dom which sailors are apt to do in similar circumstances. We ate and drank, and smoked, and ran about, seriously offending nobody, because even the Malays seemed to comprehend that we were non- descripts, till our purses began to grow light in our pockets, and idleness grew irksome. Then came the question, how were we to dispose of ourselves?—which, in my own case, did not long remain unanswered. I was sauntering through the town one day, not knowing very well how to dispose of myself, when a person, whom I recognized as the commander of a brig which had put in only the previous evening, accosted me. He asked whether I wanted a ship, and I replied without hesitation in the affirmative. " Are you a scholar ? " continued he. " Yes," was my answer, "a bit of it." " Do you understand navigation ? " " That is my forte." " Oh, very well; you are just the sort of man whom I want. Come along with me on board the Venus, and take the post of first mate. You shall have good wages in the mean time; and if you conduct yourself properly, I will recommend you to the owners when we get home, ana more will doubtless come of it." I did not think that it was worth while to refuse the offer; so I returned to the house for my quadrant, and having transferred it, together with the few necessaries which, since my arrival on shore, I had found it convenient to purchase, I became that same afternoon first mate of the brig Venus. The vessel to which I thus attached myself belonged to Calcutta. She had been sent on a voyage to China; but the captain having died at Batavia, the real first mate was afraid to go on; he distrusted his own seamanship, put about, and was so far on his way back to the port whence he nad set out, when I joined him. It was not for me to argue against a determination at which he had arrived before he and I formed our acquaintance; yet I did venture to suggest that he was acting imprudently; but he would not listen to me. On, therefore, we went, till we reached Calcutta? where the consummation, which in my own mind I all along anticipated, came to pass. The owners of the Venus, disapproving of the mate's con- duct, and annoyed at the loss which it had occasioned to them, dismissed him their service; and I, for what reason I could not well divine, shared the same fate. To do them justice, however, they paid me my arrears in full; and, as a trifle of my former stock yet remained, I was enabled, by means of this twofold fund, to spend some weeks in the capital of British India very agreeably. Ashore-life at that period was not, however, to my mind, and the heat of the climate oppressed me. I was glad, therefore, when an opportunity offered, of taking service in the General Coote, a large East Indiaman, which, with many more, was preparing to set out for England. This was in 1795, after the war of the Erench Revolution had broken out, and at a time when the Erench navy was as yet formidable, so that merchant vessels never put to sea except in large fleets, and under the convoy of one man-of-war or more. On the bain's stoky. 13 present occasion, we mustered at least twenty sail, including the Lion, sixty-four; the Sampson, fifty; and the Argo, of forty-four guns; and our progress was, as in convoys it necessarily must be, in the highest degree unsatisfactory; for the rate of going is deter- mined by that which the slowest sailor in the fleet can keep up; and every night we are made to close in, lest amid the_ darkness we might either separate or be cut off by an enemy's cruiser. Yet the passage, thougli tedious, was not in any other respect disagreeable. No accident befell,—no bad weather overtook us; but with the same sails and spars as when we stood out of the Ganges, and without being two miles away from our reckoning, we came to an anchor in the Downs. You may perhaps ask,—what was there in this to interest me ? I had no friends or relations in Deal, nor, as far as I knew, throughout the length and breadth of England; yet was I just as eager as those about me to tread once more the soil of my native land. Eor a sailor always makes friends where he may not have pre- viously made them, and a lark ashore is to him a joy inexpressible. But this time I was not destined to be a participator in that; my old acquaintances, the press-gang, paid us_ a visit before yet the ship had swung to her anchor, and I had again the satisfaction of being told that the king stood in need of my services. I was put on board of a frigate—unless my memory has failed me quite, the Caroline—a new ship, as yet imperfectly manned, and which the captain was making every effort to get ready for sea. He accomplished his purpose towards the end of January, 1796, and some day m the beginning of the following month, we stood down Channel. By-and-by, Cape St. Vincent bearing to the northward of us, we discovered several sail of ships in the offing, which proved, as indeed the captain expected them to be, a portion of Sir John Jarvis's fleet, to whom his orders directed him to_ attach himself. I think it was on the 6th of Eebruary that this junction was effected, from which date, up to the 13th, we kept beating up against a head- wind, the ships narrowly escaping, at times, coming into collision during the darkness, and, at least in a single instance, running foul of one another. This was in the night of the 12th, when the Colossus and Culloden, both seventy-fours, came together with such violence, that the latter, as seen in the grey light of dawn, appeared a perfect wreck. But a noble fellow, Captain Troubridge, had the command of her, and a gallant crew obeyed his orders, which were issued so promptly, and so cheerfully and skilfully acted upon, as very soon to i>ut all the damage to rights. It really seems to me, now when I ook back upon those times, that there was nothing attainable by human skill and activity, which British seamen could not accomplish. Though the knees and cheeks of the Culloden's head, her head-rails, larboard cat-head, bowsprit-cap, bumpkin, jib-boom, and fore-top- gallant mast were entirely carried away, and her bowsprit itself badly sprung—her ship's company, with the rough materials at their disposal, had in a few hours so trimmed her up again, that before the sun went down she was reported fit for service. I don't think any- body that saw that sight will ever be able to forget it. We were steering at this time towards Cape St. Vincent, in the 14 TIIE VETE11AXS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. hope, as was generally understood, of falling in with the Spanish fleet, which, to the number of twenty-five or thirty sail of the line, was expected to pass from Barcelona to Cadiz, and ultimately to Brest. It will scarcely be forgotten that, at the period of which I am speaking, the French having failed in an attempt to invade Ireland, were meditating a still bolder enterprise, the invasion of England herself. Accordingly, all the disposable marine of her allies, of the Spaniards in particular, and of the Dutch, was directed to join itself to the national fleet in Brest; by which means it was ex- pected that such a superiority of force would be got together, as must effectually sweep the narrow seas, and lay the shores of England open. It was Admiral Jarvis's business to interrupt this arrange- mcnt, if he could; and history has recorded how well he accomplished his object. Our fleet, soon after it had been joined by five sail from the Channel, numbered only fifteen ships of the line, with four frigates, two sloops, and a little bit of a cutter called the Fox. Yet we held our course as boldly as if we had been seeking to engage an inferior enemy; and our sole regret from hour to hour was, that we could not discover them. At last, 011 the 13th, the look-out ships made signal of an enemy approaching. Before the sun went down, we had all cleared and made ready for action: and after dark, guns were distinctly heard at > a distance, which we were not slow to con- jecture betokened the vicinity of the Spaniards. "We accordingly kept well together, the admiral having so directed us, as a precaution against a sudden attack; and the ship's company lying down at their quarters, we took such sleep as in such a situation even British sailors may be expected to take. There was some communication made about an hour after mid- night to the admiral, by a Portuguese frigate which hailed him. We did not know, at the moment, what it implied; but the dawn of day enlightened us on that head, for it exhibited the Spanish fleet steering in loose and careless array towards Cadiz. They seemed at the same time to discover us, and a good deal of manoeuvring took place, of the details of which I shall not be expected to give an account, even if my memory served me to do so, which it will not. I must content myself, therefore, with stating, that Admiral Jarvis, observing a great gap in the enemy's line, signalled his fleet to throw themselves upon it, so as, by engaging the Spaniards in detail, to reduce the battle to something like an equality; for it must not be forgotten that the Spaniards mustered in all twenty-five sail of the line—one of one hundred and thirty, six of one hundred and twelve, two of eighty guns, and all the rest seventy-fours; whereas, out of our fifteen, there were but six which exceeded seventy-fours, and one, namely the Diadem, which fell short of that rating. So, also, in his frigate force, Admiral Cordova far surpassed us, not fewer than eleven, with a brig, attending his fleet. But when did your hearts of oak care for odds ? On we steered, ship after ship shooting ahead in the most beautiful order, till we had lodged ourselves exactly where old Jarvis wished, and then to it we set, hammer and tongs. What need is there for me to tell the tale of the great battle of Cape St. Vincent ? What could I say about it—except that the roar bain's story. 15 of the cannon was ceaseless, and that the winds became hushed, and the sea calm, by reason of the violence of the mortal men who braved them ? It was somewhere about half-past eleven in the fore- noon when the first broadside was fired. I think, too, tljat the Culloden opened the ball; and if so, the gallant Troubridge had double reason to congratulate himself that the damage which he sustained in the collision on the 12th was by his crew so lightly thought of. But, however this may be, the action thus commenced raged with indescribable fury till near four in the afternoon. It was to no purpose that the Spaniards strove to rectify the error into which carelessness had led them at the outset, and from which Admiral Jarvis gave them no opportunity to escape. They could not, with all their efforts, bring their fleet together; so that, though numerically superior to us, almost as much as two to one, we con- trived in every instance to bring against them a power, both of guns and men, at least equal to their own. This I may venture to say in reference to the science of the battle; and as to the deeds of per- sonal heroism wrought—in an affair which saw Nelson carry, by boarding, first the San Nicholas, and then the San Josef, from her decks—surely I may be excused from dwelling upon them. I can 1 J1 J far as my own observation went, every man in the But what were we of the Caroline about all this while ? A frigate, as I need hardly state, is never brought into the line except in the last extremity: and we with our consorts were directed to keep aloof, but to be ready, wherever our presence might be needed, as well to secure the prizes as to afford succour to the larger ships, should they be overmatched. For a while we obeyed these orders literally; but an enemy's frigate happening to come in our way, we could not resist the temptation of engaging her, and to it we fell— on our parts with hearty good will, and on the part of the Spaniard with a manifest disposition not to accept our favours without re- turning them. "We had a tough fight for it; and, on the whole, a fair one, inasmuch as the ships, in point both of guns and tonnage, appeared to be pretty equally matched; and our loss in killed and wounded, as well as the damage done to our masts and rigging, proved that our adversaries were not to be cowed by trifles; but we took her in the end. She struck her colours after a very gallant resistance; and we congratulated one another on the result. There followed immediately a signal of reconcentration, the enemy having got together about seventeen sail, with which they threatened us, and in the confusion our prize, I am sorry to say, gave us the slip. This was the more tantalising that, when the condition of the several ships came to be inquired into, we were found to have sustained such damage, as to render a visit to some dock-yard necessary; we were therefore ordered to Malta, regretting only this, that the fruits of our hard knocking should not have gone with us. 16 the veterans of chelsea hospital. CHAPTER III. Proving that Jack himself can run Rusty at times, and gain nothing by it. It took us several weeks after our arrival in Malta, said John Bain, resuming the thread of his narrative, to complete the repairs of which we were in need; for the island was not then in possession of the English, neither was there English energy in any of its establish- ments. But the job, though slowly done, was done effectually; after which, we hastened hack to rejoin the admiral. We found him before Cadiz, blockading the port, and amusing himself from time to time by bombarding the fleet that found shelter therein, the effects of which practice were to knock down a good many houses, without, as far as I could discover, doing any serious damage to the ships. But the shipping did not escape uninjured neither. Signals would occasion- ally order the boats of particular vessels to be manned, which, after nightfall, stole in beneath the batteries; and more than one prize, acquired by skill, and now and then by hard fighting, testified to the excellency of the arrangement. A cutting out, from such a situation as the harbour of Cadiz, at least, is, under every circumstance, a nervous affair; so it may not be amiss if I describe in detail a service of the kind in which I was once engaged. The inshore squadron, to which all the frigates were attached, had it in charge to observe narrowly whether any vessels passed to or from the harbour, and to report such changes of position as the fleet which lay at moorings within the basin might attempt. One day a fine brig, taking advantage of a skiff of wind, which did not reach us, came creeping along the shore, and, in spite of a sharp chase from the boats, which were immediately ordered out, succeeded in passing the Cape, and brought up under the guns of a strong battery. There was a sort of bravado in this which Nelson, who commanded our squadron, did not quite relish, so he determined to convince the Spaniard that he was not so safe as he fancied himself to be. Accordingly, up went the well-known signal for the boats of our ship and the Terpsichore to get ready for service soon after nightfall, while the captains were desired to assemble on board the admiral to receive orders. What passed in the admiral's cabin I can't tell: but when the skippers returned, the whisper soon went about that we were going to make a prize of the saucy Spaniard; and, as volunteers were looked for to execute a service of some hazard, every soul on board hastened to give in his name. I had the good luck to be heard among the first, and so was chosen; and good luck I call it, because all the credit and very little of the risk of hard service came to me. Well, we stowed away our cutlasses and pistols in the proper place, ate a merry supper with our comrades, drank our grog to the toast of success, and about ten o'clock at night went quietly over the ship's side, and awaited the order to start. It was a calm and beautiful night. There was no moon in the sky, bain's story. 17 but the stars were out by millions, and the sea lay under their soft pale glitter as still as a baby when it is sleeping. We were at this time about five miles from the shore; yet upon the gentle air there came off to us, even at that distance, the perfume of the many scented shrubs which grow in abundance among the gardens that surround the town. I don't know whence it came about, but I felt unusually sobered down that night. I had no fear of death, I did not even fancy that I was going to be killed 5 but I became grave and thoughtful to a degree which, without making me unhappy, acted upon my spirits as in some situations we are apt to be affected by melancholy music. I was sitting next one of my messmates, with whom I had long lived on terms of great intimacy; a fine, bold, rollicking fellow, called Ben Hartley 1 " ' " :n, and the best merry e: _ llating, and Ben seemed nowise inclined to check his mirth now; for he was the most thoughtless of mortals, and would have cracked his joke, I verily believe, at the foot of the gallows. However, I did not join chorus with my laugh, and once or twice I gave him no answer. "Why, Jack," said he, "what's the matter? Art out o' sorts, or out of spirits,—or what ails thee ? " " Nothing, Ben," answered I; " only, I can't tell how, but I fancy that both you and I had better be grave than merry just at this moment." " Why so, messmate? " answered he. "Afraid, I know you aint; but has the old fellow under hatches there been 'sinuating that he might want you by-and-by ? " "No, Ben," replied I; "I think that I shall see the ship again; but others will not, and mayhap yourself may be of the number." " So be it," replied Ben gaily. " H it come to-night, it won't come to-morrow; and if it don't come now, it must come hereafter. And yet, Jack, if it should be so. don't forget poor Sail. Give her my backy-box, and tell her—Poon '.—what's the use of grieving." The word was by this time passed to give way, and we stretched 011 our oars lustily. Silence, too, was the order of the night; for the brig lay within half-musket shot of one battery, and was commanded by the guns at a very narrow range of another. It was therefore as much as many lives were worth that we should at least reach her unobserved. Fortunately for us, the shadows of the land fell darkly and strongly on us; for we did not pull straight to the harbour's mouth, but rather obliquely towards it; so we succeeded beyond our most sanguine expectations, and the prize seemed to have fallen into our very hands. But we had reckoned a little beyond our host. There was an open space to cross; the harbour, though narrow, lay between us and the brig, and we could not hope to pass it unnoticed. Quietly, therefore, but resolutely, each said to another, " Hurrah! hurrah 1" and at her we dashed like men who pull for their lives. There was a challenge from the brig's forecastle,—a single musket was discharged, and we lay under her bows. Up we sprang, and in five seconds she was ours. Yet a blow or two had been struck while we were scrambling up, dancer We had been c IS THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. and there was one plunge back into the water, nobody at the instant could tell of whom. And now began the hoisting of canvass, the cutting of cables, and the turning, with might and main, our prize into mid-channel, that she might catch the land-wind, which blew gently but steadily in our favour. It is astonishing to me even at this moment that we should have been permitted to go through with our work so quietly. Not a gun from the shore-battery opened; indeed we were actually under weigh, and leaving all danger behind, ere the Dons appeared to become conscious of our proceedings. Then, indeed, there arose a prodigious bustle everywhere. Men shouted, drums beat, and all Cadiz was roused,—but it was too late. The batteries began to fire only when we were so far distant as to render their efforts of small avail, and we escaped without having been once struck. We brought our prize in triumph under the admiral's quarter, and were thanked for the skill and gallantry which we had displayed in securing her. During the hurry of active operations, especially when they are carried on at night, there is neither time nor opportunity to inquire into the casualties that may have taken place. It was not, indeed, till we broke up to return, each boat's-crew to its own ship, that the absence of Ben Hartley was noticed, and even then we were slow to believe that he had not joined himself to the other party. But when we met on our own quarter-deck, and Ben answered not to his name, all doubt on the subject was removed. I recollected the circumstance of which I have already spoken,—the splash that was heard while we scrambled up the brig's sides, and Ben's fate was no longer a mystery. How strange it is that the death of one man should, when it occurs under such circumstances as this, affect us much more powerfully than the loss of hundreds whom a general action have swept away! I declare that there was deeper, and more sincere lamentation over Ben, than we had thought of paying to the memory of all of whom the battle of Cape St. Vincent had deprived us. Dor myself, I felt for awhile like one whom some terrible personal calamity had overtaken, and there w as not a soul in our mess that did not mourn with me. Besides this, and other expeditions of the same kind, we moved more than once to cover the fireships, which, in their endeavours to destroy the Spanish fleet at its moormgs, wrought the town of Cadiz no little damage. It was on one of these occasions that Nelson with his boat's crew encountered and made prisoner the Spanish com- mandant Don Miguel Tyrason. I was not personally engaged in that affair; I only witnessed it .from a distance,—I cannot therefore under- take to describe it. But the superiority of British seamen was fully proved by it, inasmuch as Nelson had but fifteen hands to back him, while his adversary was supported by six and twenty. Out of these, eighteen were killed in the melee, and of the remainder, all received wounds before they surrendered. And now I come to a matter concerning which I would willingly keep silence,—first, because I really cannot speak in full as to the designs of those engaged; and next, because it forms the one dark page in the volume of Engla r ds'_naval history. There was a sad bain's story. 19 spirit of disaffection in those days throughout the British fleet. Grounds of complaint the seamen doubtless had, and serious grounds too when the movement began; but these, at the period when Lord St. Vincent's crews caught the infection, had been removed; as far, at least, as a compliance with the demands of the Portsmouth mutineers could remove them. The truth, however, I believe to be, that a good deal of the misfortune is attributable to the mistaken means which were then adopted for filling the king's ships. Neither by voluntary enlistment nor the use of the press gang could hands enough be picked up, and recourse was had, in an evil hour, to the prisons. Ttogues and vagabonds from all quarters, pickpockets, thieves, and swindlers; fellows who, if tried, were sure to cross the herring-pond, if indeed they escaped the gallows, were allowed, when brought before the magistrate, to volun- teer for his Majesty's navy,—nay, I am mistaken if, in some instances, the very inmates of condemned cells were not cleared out, and handed over to the officers commanding tenders. Now these fellows had all a certain degree of education, with a great deal of cunning, and the gift of the gab; and they were always ready, not only to get up grievances for themselves, but to impress upon the minds of those about them, that thev were aggrieved also. I know that in Lord St. Vincent's fleet we had our own share of these land-sharks, and I am inclined to think it was by them that our mutiny was got up. But, however this may be, the crews of several of the ships began about the end of June to run rusty, and the officers found it no easy matter to maintain even the appearance of discipline. And here again I must take care to add, that I make these statements rather from hearsay than personal knowledge; for our ship never caught the infection, though no efforts were spared to inoculate us. There never came a boat from the St. George, for example, that did not bring one or more disseminators of mischief, who did their very best to make us discontented with our lot, and seemed both astonished and annoyed that we would not adopt their views. But they had a taut hand to deal with in old Jarvis, who made such good use of the yard-arm, when the necessities of the case required, that he came to be familiarly spoken of among the seamen as hanging Jarvis. I don't mean to say that he ever hanged a man improperly; and am quite sure that the gentlemen whom he strung up on the present occasion richly deserved their fate. _ Mutiny is the very last means to which either sailor or soldier will think of resorting for the purpose of getting redress even of serious grievances; but mutiny in the presence of an enemy—the man who can think of that deserves more than hanging. Now such was pre- cisely the situation of our fleet when symptoms of discontent became so frequent and so glaring among us, as to render the interference of authority prompt, bold, and ruthless, absolutely necessary. I think it was in the St. George that this spirit first showed itself, though it was not there that, in the outset, at least, matters were carried to an extreme; but the admiral having caused three rare gaol-birds to be tried by court-martial, determined that the St. George's crew should have the honour of casting them off. The people looked exceedingly blank when the prisoners came on board, though they said nothing, 20 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. neither was any opposition offered to the arrangement which placed them, in close irons, under the charge of the marines • but the same evening a remonstrance was presented to Captain Peard, by which the delegates declared that the whole ship's company would stand, and which he was required to lay before the admiral. He topk it, of course,—he could not well avoid takng it,—and he carried it to the flag-ship. But the mutineers, if they calculated on overawing Lord St. Vincent, had entirely mistaken their man. Captain Peard was directed to return their paper to his people, and to tell them that the culprits should be executed, as their sentence required, at the yard- arm of their ship. Captain Peard was a resolute man, and he was well supported by his officers, especially by his first lieutenant, John Hartley. He saw, from the bearing ot his crew, that there was mischief brewing, and he made up his mind to deal with it vigorously whenever it should come to a head. Accordingly, when, on the evening previous to the day which had been fixed for the execution, intelligence reached him that their plans had all been matured, he boldly threw himself with his first lieutenant into the waste, where the ship's company were assembled.—" I knpw what you are up to, my lads," said he. " You have spoken of seizing the ship, turning the officers adrift, and giving these scoundrels their liberty. I warn you that the attempt to do so will cost you dear, for I will resist you to the utmost of my power; and, as I know the ringleaders, I will bring them, at all events, to justice."—The men heard him: but either fancying that matters had gone too far, or worked upon by the obstinacy of their leaders, they not only refused to go to tneir quarters, but gave utterance to threats of defiance. Captain Peard and Mr. Hartley had taken their part, and they went through with it. They rushed into the middle of the throng, grasped the ringleaders by the collar, and dragging them out unopposed, except by the efforts of the mutineers themselves, put them in irons. There is nothing like a display of courage and self-possession in such cases, for getting rid of difficulties. The mutinous seamen returned at once to their allegiance, and the same night there was not a better conducted crew in all the fleet than that of the St. George. We knew nothing of what had happened, and were therefore at a loss to assign a cause for the appearance of a signal, which, as a repeating frigate, we sent on, requiring all the ships to draw together round the St. George. This was about seven o'clock in the evening of the 6th of June. But we obeyed it, of course; and I can testify to the fact, that decks more quiet than those of tbe ship in question were not to be seen throughout the fleet. We knew, indeed, that an execution had been appointed for the morrow; and as the causes of that execution were more than usually stringent, we should have taken it for granted that the object of this concentration was to give to it all the weight of an extended example, had not the position of the St. George been such as to carry us further than seemed to be convenient from the harbour's mouth. But as the case stood, this hardly satisfied us, and we demanded one of another whether all were right. No boats were permitted all that night to pass from ship to ship; no certain information therefore reached us. Yet the care bain's story. 21 with which the admiral laid the Ville de Paris alongside the St. George, and kept her there, left very little for a more direct messen- ger to cpmmunicate. "We suspected that here, as well as elsewhere, evil spirits had been busy, and we watched for the dawn of day with some anxiety. It came at last, and with it the firing of the gun, and the hoisting of the pennant half-mast high, which told of prepara- tions going on for the violent extinction of human life. There is something very awful, I had well nigh said humiliating, in such a scene as that of which I am now speaking. We may hate the crime, and think hardly of the criminal; but as the moment ap- proaches which is to put an end to his career, we shrink almost in- voluntarily from the sight of his last agonies. 1 defy you, indeed, to close your eyes, or even to turn them away, so soon as the second gun gives notice that all is in readiness; and when the booming of the third is followed by the running up of the doomed men to the yard-arm, you watch them while they spin aloft, as if you were com- pelled to do so by the influence of a spell. Poor devils! the suffer- mgs of these three seemed to be very short. They never stirred a muscle after their heads reached the block. Let me hurry over this part of my story. There was another court-martial on the leaders of the revolt in the St. George, another condemnation, and another hanging match; but there the matter ended. Both in her and in the rest of the ships the people returned to their senses, and the blockade was continued with unremitting energy and perfect success. CHAPTER IY. Containing some Account of other Perils than War which accompany a Soldier's Life, and showing how a Man may establish a quiet Claim of Admission into Chelsea Hospital. Prom this date, up to the conclusion of the short peace in 1802, I continued knocking about, through the Mediterranean, along the Bay of Biscay, now and then taking a cruise in the Adriatic, but never setting a foot on shore, at least in an English port. At last the order arrived—a pleasant one for us—to make the best of our way to Portsmouth, outside which we no sooner anchored than the captain left us. By-and-by came the signal to work in from Spit- head to the harbour, and to dismantle and strip the frigate, pre- paratory to her being laid up in ordinary; while to us, who were still kept together, berths were assigned in an old hulk hard by, with full liberty to go on shore as often as we liked. I enjoyed this season of half work half play exceedingly, but it did not last long'; for just as we were reckoning on being paid off, and sent adrift in real earnest, fresh instructions were received, and the frigate was again put in order of service. Away we next went to Deptford, where the Alarm, of twenty-eight guns, was lying, and into her we were, with- out the smallest ceremony, bundled. But it soon came out that our connection with the new ship was not intended to be a lasting one. 22 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. We carried her round to Portsmouth, and almost immediately after- wards got our discharge. I had not forgotten Ben Hartley's injunction to seek out Sail, and give her his dying message. I knew that she "was to be heard of in Portsmouth; for, if the truth must be spoken. Sail "was not, more than sailors' sweethearts in general, very fastidious as to the sort of company which she kept: yet, somehow or another, I had not been able, when there with the Caroline frigate, to discover any trace of her. This time I was more fortunate. We were paid off on the 23rd of April, and that same day I met her at the Point. Why should I make a short tale long ? Sail was a kind creature; she wept when she saw Ben's backy-box, and she smiled through her tears as I endeavoured to comfort her. We became sworn mess- mates on the spot, and the very next day we were married. My wife was a native of a village near Birmingham; and, as all parts of the world were the same to me, I agreed, at her suggestion, to remove thither, and begin housekeeping. We went accordingly, and for several years I spent my days there very pleasantly, if at times somewhat hardly; for Sail was an excellent manager; my pension was regularly paid; I picked up an odd job wherever I could get it; and the arrears of my pay, which were at the time of our marriage considerable, helped to keep the wolf from the door even when work was slack. But the war broke out again, and the press for seamen became by-and-by so great, that I could not reckon from day to day on an escape from capture. Now I had got tired of a sea life before I abandoned it in 1802; and the thought of re- turning to it, after so long a rest on shore, was very disagreeable to me; yet, as rewards were offered to such as would report to the officer on the impress service, where seamen might be found, I knew that I was continually at the mercy of any person who might think it worth his while to sell me. I became annoyed and irritable, and said to myself, let come what will, I won't go to sea. Therefore, in order to avoid that risk, I went one day to a public house, where a recruiting party from the thirty-eighth regiment hung out; and having drunk pretty freely, I offered myself, and was accepted as a soldier. It was in the second battalion of the thirty-eighth, which was then newly formed, that I enlisted^ .1 cannot say that I retain any very agreeable impression of the effect which was produced upon me by my early career as a soldier. The perpetual drill was a nuisance intolerable, especially to me, who could not for a long while be made to understand their words of command; and the stiff stocks, and the pipe-clay, and all the rest of it,—I did not know whether to laugh at the whole concern, or to be driven to my wits' end by it. But custom reconciles us wonderfully to all things: when we got our route for Ireland about four months after I joined the corps, I had become, though I say it myself, a smart soldier; and during the entire period of my service with the regiment, I am not aware that I ever forfeited the character. I am not sure that much good would be accomplished were I to give a detailed account of my home service, which wore itself out partly in Ireland, partly in the island of Guernsey. In the former of bain's story. 23 these countries we went through the usual routine of marching,— from Waterford to Cork, from Cork to Kinsale, from Kinsale to Dublin, where for some time we were stationary. In the latter, which we reached in the early part of 1810, we did not linger long We were ordered soon after our arrival to join the army in Portugal, and embarked for that purpose. It was now, for the first time smce our marriage, that I parted from my poor wife, and a sore heart the part- ing occasioned to both; for, in spite of the haste with which the wedding was got up, we loved each other tenderly. But there was no help for it, inasmuch as her name did not come up in the fist of those who were to accompany the regiment. Accordingly she betook herself to her native village, unencumbered, happily for her, with any children; while I went away with my comrades, on board of the transport, which waited to receive us. We had a fair passage, tedious perhaps, but not otherwise uncom- fortable, and landed in Lisbon, where we were put into quarters till the necessary field equipments should be supplied. These came int due time: after which we were marched up the country, and joined; the army in its position behind the Coa, just as the French, under Massena, were advancing to besiege Ciudad Bodrigo. We were immediately attached to General Leith's division, and brigaded with the first battalion of the ninth regiment, as gallant a corps as ever shouldered arms, or drew trigger in presence of an enemy. I am not going to describe the retreat to the lines of Torres- Vedras, nor yet the battle of Busaco, which broke in upon its mono- tony. These tales have been told at least a hundred times, and I could add nothing to the interest which others have shed over them. For what could I relate, except that we toiled on day after day, heavily laden, indifferently fed, and witnessing all round us spectacles of desolation which wrung our very hearts. So also in reference to the battle; if I were to give my version of it, there are fifty chances to one if it would not be found to be at variance with the versions of others. I saw nothing and heard nothing except the line of French- men whom my own regiment opposed, and the noise of their and our musketry, enlivened by a heavy fire of cannon; and as to the rest,, soldiers have described their feelings both before and after so fre- quently, that there really seems to me nothing of which I can-, make mention. Enough, then, is done when I state that I went through the day's work unscathed, and that the following morning I retired, with the rest of the army, pleased with the victory which we- had gained, yet well knowing that to retire was necessary. I am not, and never was, a very strong man; and even at the date of the battle of Busaco, 1 had passed my prime. My early habits, too, were all against me in sustaining the fatigues of such a cam- paign, and I sank before long under them. At Coimbra I fell sick, and could keep my place in the ranks no longer. Together with many others whose case was similar to mine, I was accordingly put into a waggon, and sent on under an escort to the general hospital at Belem. I cannot say that everything was arranged here on the scale of abun- dance which marked the arrangement of affairs in the naval hospital at Plymouth; yet we had no right to complain, for the medical gen- 24 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. tlemen were unremitting in their attentions, and all was done for us, I verily believe, which the state of the magazines would allow. But it was found, after I had been an inmate of the hospital for some time, that I was not likely to he of further use in Portugal; so they sent me home, together with a whole hatch of invalids, to he disposed ot as the commander-in-chief might deem expedient. To have kept me on the strength of the thirty-eighth regiment, under such circum- stances, would have been clearly an act of imposture. I was accord- ingly transferred to the third garrison battalion, and joined it in the autumn of 1812, while it was doing duty among the forts and hat- teries which, at that period, overlooked in all directions the entrance of Cork harbour. . I do not know how far the composition of the garrison battalions, as they then existed, may be generally understood. Originally em- bodied as an army of reserve, these corps, fourteen in number, were never expected to serve beyond the limits of the United Kingdom,— that is to say, they were liable to be sent anywhere throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and the islands adjacent; but could not be called upon to cross the seas, even for the purpose of occupying one of our more distant possessions. As the war thickened, however, this reservation of their usefulness was found to be inconvenient; so, instead of enlisting fresh men, they had their casualties supplied by drafts from regiments of the line, those persons being selected to do -duty with them whom wounds or natural infirmities had rendered incapable of active service. As soon as by such means the numbers •of two or three of them became abundant, the limited service men -were all drafted out of them, and thus they became available, as far as a body of invalids could well be, for any service, in any part of the world to which the government might send them. The third batta- lion was one of those which had been thus dealt with. In point of numbers, too, it was, when I joined it, exceedingly strong. 1 believe that our muster-roll told a tale of twelve hundred rank-and-file, at the least. But such a collection of halt and lame, and blind, and sick, and lazy ! I verily believe that a single good light company would have thrashed us all. Nevertheless, we were considered quite efficient enough for garrison duty either at home or abroad; and abroad, it soon came out, that we were destined to go. I had not occupied my barrack-room on Spike Island a month, when we received orders to prepare for foreign service; and two or three troop-ships coming in soon afterwards, we were with all practicable haste put on board and sent to sea. I had been rejoined by my wife at the Isle of "Wight, whither, on my return from Portugal, I was sent, and had brought her thence, not anticipating another separation, to Ireland. We both pleaded hard for leave to make the voyage together; but this was contrary to the rules of the service, and could not be acceded to. Once more, therefore, we bade each other farewell, and once again she went back,' sorrowful and faint-hearted, to her relatives in the neighbourhood of Birmingham. Meanwhile the regiment pursued its voyage, and, early in the spring of 1813, reached Malta. It may perhaps be supposed that of service in that most quiet of quiet stations, I can have abso- bain's stoky. 25 lutelv nothing to tell; and had Malta been circumstanced as it usually is, the supposition would have been well founded. But the case was quite otherwise. When we reached the place, the plague was raging with excessive violence, and the state of excitement in which we were kept by it was extreme. I am quite ignorant whether or not any account of that terrible visitation has ever appeared; but to what I myself both saw and heard I may in either case bear my testimony, warning you that mine must necessarily be but a meagre narrative, inasmuch as the utmost care was taken to hinder the corps in garrison from holding any communication, verbal or otherwise, with the inhabitants. I have reason to believe that the plague was imported into Malta so early as the year 1810 or 1811, ana that it was brought thither by a ship from the coast of Barbary, of which the lading was cotton. I believe, too, that the infected goods were smuggled on shore ; for the ship was put into quarantine as usual—and yet the disease broke out. Be this, however, as it may, weeks, ana even months elapsed before the authorities became aware of its prevalence in the island; so fearful were the Maltese of the consequences which were sure to follow, and of the total stop which the discovery would put to their trade and their amusements. But by degrees, things came to such a pitch, that a universal alarm' was created. People died by dozens and scores daily; and the knell rang so often, and funeral processions became so frequent, that the attention of the government was called to it, and an inquiry was instituted. The result of that inquiry was to confirm beyond dispute the terrible suspicions which were afloat. It was found that the disease, which cut off so many of all ages and sexes, was no ordinary malady. It did not show itself in all cases in the same way, neither were its issues invariably fatal; but there was a character about it which was not to be mistaken. Persons might be, or seem to be, in perfect health up to a given moment: they ate, and drank, and went about their busmess as usual, till all at once a slight swelling, accompanied by redness, made its appearance in some part of their bodies, and health and strength, and not unfrequently life itself, disappeared with extraordinary rapidity. The boils in ques- tion affected often the forehead, but more frequently still the armpits. They showed themselves, however, on other parts of the body likewise, and their progress to maturity was marvellously quick. If the patient was vigorous enough to hold out till they burst, tnen were his chances of recovery considerable; if they did not burst, he invariably died. But this was not the only mode in which disease did its work. People might be seen walking the street apparently in the highest health and spirits, till suddenly they were seized with giddiness, which did not throw them down, but spun them round and round, like sheep when afflicted by the complaint which is called the staggers. There was no instance of a patient surviving where the plague took this form. He fell from one nt into another; and dying in a few hours, became imme- diately afterwards black and livid, like one who has heen poisoned. No sooner was the presence of the pest made known, than the governor adopted every possible precaution, in order to hinder the contagion from being carried into the barracks, where as yet no symp- 26 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. toms of the malady had shown themselves. The gates of all were shut, and guards mounted, with orders to shoot those who should attempts to pass, either from the military stations into the town, or from the town into the military stations. Outposts likewise were established, and a cordon drawn round the forts, any attempt to break which was to be dealt with in like manner; while the troops were ordered to send out the reliefs with bayonets fixed, and to clear the way for themselves in passing along the streets, as if they had been dealing with an enemy. In like manner each guard and piquet, after it had been relieved at its post, was marched into one of the casemated apartments, where the men were required to strip to the skin, and to bathe in huge jars of oil. At the same time, their garments, and belts, and accoutrements were suspended over a fire of charcoal, and tho- roughly smoked; a process- which was said to have contributed much to keep infection at a distance, but which was certainly not of a nature to gratify the colonels of regiments, who might have looked for a handsome reserve out of the government allowance for clothing. Whether it was owing to these precautions, or that the style of living in barracks had something to do with it, or that Providence took more care of us than we either expected or deserved, I cannot tell; but it is as certain as it is remarkable, that not one British sol- dier died of the plague. Two years it was in the island, committing fearful ravages everywhere, and sparing in its wrath neither the old nor the young j but it came not near the quarters of the garrison, except in one instance, and that was a very remarkable one. Under the cavalier of St. Jaques, in the counter-force of the port, there is a casemate, or bomb-proof lodging, in and near to which dwelt two families, between whom all direct communication was, on account of the plague, cut off, though, in other and brighter days, thev had been the best friends possible. One of these consisted of a Maltese func- tionary, the captain, as he was called, of the magazine, whose duty it was to take care of the stores in that quarter, and of whom all men spoke and thought favourably. He was an old man, whom his very style of dress had rendered remarkable; for he wore a scarlet coat, in shape resembling that which I now wear, scarlet breeches, and crimson stockings, with a cocked-hat trimmed with gold lace, and hooked with bands that were made of gold. He, with his two daughters, inhabited apartments in the casemate, and very quietly, albeit very contentedly, they passed their days there. The other family of whom 1 have spoken was that of Sergeant Crighton, of the British artillery, and which con- sisted of the sergeant himself, his wife, and two children, who dwelt in a small detached house hard by. Both parties had gardens, which a wall only divided; both parties, too, had goats, or rather the goats were their common property; and so just were they in their dealings one with the other, that, rather than divide the produce on each occa- sion of milking, they took it by turns to milk, and alternately kept the whole. Thus, if the Maltese milked the goats in the morning, the goats were driven to Sergeant (Brighton's for milking in the even- ing; if the evening's gift went to the captain of the magazine, the British soldier put in his claim to whatever the morning might produce. bain's story. 27 So long as the hills of health were everywhere clean, there neither occurred, nor could occur, any interruption to this device; indeed, the goats soon came to understand as well as their owners what was expected of them, and of their own accord went from house to house at the appointed seasons. It came to pass, however, some time after the plague had broken out, that Mrs. Crighton observed, from the appearance of the goats' udders when they arrived, that they had not been milked that morning. She was surprised; but either because no thought of evil entered into her mind, or that she looked upon the circumstance as the result of accident, she took no notice of it. The animals were milked,—they were turned loose again, and betook them- selves, as usual, to the place of pasturage. When, however, the same appearances presented themselves again and again, Mrs. Crighton became alarmed, and, without communicating her intention to her husband, she determined to ascertain whether all were well with her neighbours. For this purpose she clambered over the wall, and made her way to the apartments of the casemate; but, though she knocked several times, nobody paid attention to the signal. She then pushed open the door and entered. In one room lay the father in bed, and his two daughters stretched at length along the floor beside him. The Maltese family were dead, and the appearance of the bodies left no room to doubt that they had died of the prevailing malady. Mrs. Crighton returned to her own home a sadder, if not a wiser woman,—but she returned not unscathed. Either she had contracted the seeds of the pest during the brief space which she stood in the dead chamber, or the udders of the goats which she milked conveyed to her the infection,—for she had caught the plague. She communicated it, moreover, to her children, and within the customary period all became its victims; for it was one of the horrible parts of this horrible tragedy that people and houses which were suspected of infection became things to be shunned by all around them, and that the very conscious- ness of this, as well as of other consequences which were sure to follow, caused the unhappy creatures themselves to conceal their misery. Hence both of these families, as well as many more which became utterly extinguished in Malta, died in secret; no one being aware that there was illness among them till its results became pal- pable to the whole world. As a matter of course, one of the first measures adopted by govern- ment, as soon as the state of the city became known, was to erect everywhere, in the ditches, and resting against the scarps of the glacis, numerous temporary hospitals. These were composed of a few boards only, which, being hastily fastened together, were run up beside the breastwork of the fortifications, and covered over, so as to be imper- vious to the weather, with light deals and tarpaulins. The orders issued were, that every person who was taken with the plague, no matter of what age, sex, rank, or condition, should be immediately conveyed to one of these pest-houses, and that all the wearing apparel and cotton and linen furniture belonging to the invalid, or to the house of which he might have been an inmate, should be immediately buimed. These were terrible, though perhaps necessary, orders, with which no human being complied who could avoid it; for cupidity is 28 THE VETERAXS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. in the human breast a stronger passion than the love of life itself; and men preferred running the almost inevitable risk of infection rather than that their property should be destroyed. In like manner there were particular persons appointed to remain and bury the dead,—a body of wild Burgomotes from Smyrna, whom the temptation of large pay lured over to face the enemy, and to die or not, as chance, or rather Providence, might determine. There was something fearfully picturesque in the dress and bearing of these charnelites. They wore coarse canvas smock-frocks, with gloves which reached above the elbow, boots of untanned leather, and caps, which, buttoning down over the ears, left only a small portion of their swarthy visages exposed. Their implement of office, again, was a long hook, in form and size not unlike to a boat-hook, with which they seized the dead body, and dragged it from the place where it lay, and threw it into the cart; for in Malta, as in London long ago, the dead-cart traversed the streets both day ana night, that corpses might be piled upon it, and that, unceremoniously torn from hands which would have naturally prepared them for the grave, they might be cast unshrived, unblest, unmourned, into holes, which the strange scavengers dug. The plague in Malta was, as I believe it generally is, very capri- cious in its operations. Multitudes caught it, no one could tell how, and perished; whereas, others who came in perpetual contact with the dying and the dead escaped. Sergeant Crighton, of whom men- tion has already been made, offered a striking example of this fact. His wife and children died beside him; he watched them in their decline: and, when life became extinct, he did for them the last offices which he was permitted to do. He sewed the corpses in linen bags, took them one after another on his shoulder, carried them to the top of the garden-wall by means of a ladder, and dropped them into the dead-cart—yet he never caught the infection. The Burgo- motes, on the other hand, though they carefully abstained from handling the dead bodies—though they never touched them except with their hooks, and underwent frequent ablutions in jars of oil and vinegar—all, to a man, contracted the loathsome disease, and all died under its ravages. Ay, and more remarkable still, a thorough-paced ruffian of an Irish seaman, who, being under sentence of death for murdering his captain, had accepted the alternative which was offered to him, and became a charnel-man—ate and drank, grasped the infected corpses with his naked hands, and went about unwashed and unmasked, and almost alwavs in a state of intoxication, yet exhibited no symptoms of plague to the last. What became of him eventually I do not know; but that the pest had no influence over him is certain. There occurred, as was to be expected in a place so visited, fre- quent cases both of tenderness and its opposite, which were very remarkable. Among others, the following struck me at the time, and is remembered now as more than commonly affecting:—At a place called Yittorosia, not far from the magazine where Mrs. Crigh- ton died, there dwelt a Maltese family—to what rank of life belonging I cannot tell, but certainly none of the meanest, though scarcely noble. From the non-appearance in public of any member of that bain's stoky. 29 household, it was surmised that the plague had broken out among them; and by-and-by this suspicion became confirmed in a way which moved all who saw it even to tears. There came to the balcony of that house one day two little children, the eldest about five, the youngest scarcely four years old, who, weeping bitterly, said that their father and mother, and all the rest, were asleep, and that they could not waken them. The fact was, that in that infected habi- tation there was no living thing except these children. All had died • and such was the horror of facing such a danger, that nobody could be prevailed upon to remove the little ones from their living tomb. Yet they were not wholly neglected: day after day they came to the balcony; and letting down a basket by a string, their neighbours supplied them with food and drink, which they drew up_ for them- selves, and consumed. I have forgotten how long this state of things continued; but I know that it went on for some time. At last intelligence of the matter came to the governor's ears, and the police received orders to remove the children to a place more suited to their condition, while the house was cleansed of its putrefying inmates, and all the furniture burned. It was about this time that the obstinacy of the inhabitants in concealing the ravages which the plague was making among them rose to such a height, that the authorities were obliged to counter- work it by means the most vigorous. Not only would each deny that there was sickness in his dwelling; but their dead they buried under the hearths of their kitchens, in the very wells—anywhere, in short, so that they might only escape the vigilance of the officers of the sanitary corps, and the confiscation of property which went along with it. The practice, shocking under any circumstances, but in such a case as the present pregnant with danger to themselves and others, began by degrees to be suspected by the police: and an order went forth, that the names of all who inhabited each particular house should be posted on the door, and that twice a day they should be required to answer from the balcony when the roll was called over. By these means many a train of infection came to light, which would have otherwise been concealed for ever, and many lives were saved, though at the expense of a great deal of valuable but polluted pro- perty. Yet a bad feeling was engendered by it in the minds of the inhabitants. They began to hate the troops; first, because they regarded them as instruments of oppression; and next, because they learned, to their astonishment, that not a single case of plague had appeared in any of the barracks. To what horrible inventions will men not be carried, if a spirit of rancorous and deadly hate towards their fellow-creatures once obtain a mastery over them! Seeing that our guards were incorruptible, and their vigilance untiring—that nothing was permitted to pass the barrack-gates, not even provisions or other necessaries, till they should have undergone a process of fumigation—the Maltese adopted the expedient of throwing money, and especially paper money, in the way of the men on duty, in the hope that by it infection might be carried into their quarters. The motive which actuated them in this proceeding was not for a while suspected; but the probable consequence of bringing any unclean 30 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. thing, even money, within the barricade, could not be overlooked; so the soldiers were forbidden, on pain of death, to lift aught from the streets, and positive orders were given, in case any man should be caught in the act of disobedience, to shoot him on the spot. I do not believe that in a single instance our people disobeyed these orders; but there were others whose sense of duty was not capable of overmastering their thirst of gain, and who followed their ruling impulse to their sorrow. In addition to the ordinary police, a number of Maltese were at this time enrolled as a sanitary force, whose exclusive business it was to take care that the orders of government, in reference to the sick and their effects, were not violated. In particular, they had it in charge to burn the effects of all who died of the plague; and as they were regularly officered, and the officers paid upon a liberal scale, little apprehension was entertained that they would fail in their duty. The government was deceived in this respect. Several of the officers were accused of appropriating to their own use large quantities of valuable stuff, which ought to have been consumed; and being put upon their trial, the charge was brought home to them. They were condemned to death; and a gallows being erected in the principal square of Fort Manuel, they were all hanged without mercy. Moreover, the better to impress the people with the wisdom of paying Qbedience to the laws, the names of the several culprits, with a statement of their respective ranks, and of the offences for which they suffered, were inscribed on marble slabs, which slabs were introduced iuto the piers of the gallows, and may yet, I dare say, be seen. I believe that the effect of this example was good; at all events, the burnings became more frequent after it had taken place than ever: and the heaps of ashes which were thus accumu- lated, as they lay in sheltered comers, chiefly in the ditches, have often been turned over since, in search of jewels and coins, and not always, as I ascertained, unsuccessfully. My tale of active life is told • and the residue of a personal history such as mine may be expressed within the compass qf a few words. I continued to do duty with the third garrison battalion till the year 1816, when my term of service having expired, I was ordered home for the purpose of getting my discharge. The board at Chelsea granted me a pension of sevenpence a day, which, together with my iourpence from Greenwich, brought me within a penny of the shil- ling: and as my wife was still alive, I betook me once more to the neighbourhood of Birmingham, where for some time we lived in tolerable comfort. But it was God's will to separate us in 1825, and I became after her decease a homeless man. Under these circum- stances, I applied for admission into the Hospital—and here I am. dumAlton's story. 31 DUMALTON'S STORY. CHAPTER I. Showing how a Man may become a Soldier unawares, and how Soldiers lived in London Half a Century ago. My name is Samuel Dumalton. I am a native of Beverley, in York- shire ; where I was born some time in the month of June, 1769,—a memorable year, which brought into the world not myself only, but the duke of Wellington, and Napoleon Bonaparte besides. My parentage is scarcely more dignified than my present position in society might lead the world to anticipate. I am the son of a labourer,—an honest man,—who, though he worked hard, was con- tented with his lot; who, after having lived some years as groom in the family of Sir John Brereton, set up housekeeping for himself, and, with the help of my mother, added me to the list of mankind. Both father and mother were very worthy persons. They punished me when I deserved it; gave me plenty of wholesome food to eat; put me to school when I was old enough to learn, and determined to make a tradesman of me. At the age of fourteen I was apprenticed to a whitesmith, and took to my situation very kindly. _ I was bound for seven years; six of which I completed, with occa- sional differences between my master and myself, but, on the whole, satisfactorily to both parties. At the end of that period, however, my master died, and then arose the question, what was to be done with me F—for the widow seemed disinclined to go on with the business; and if she adhered to her determination, it was evident that I could benefit neither her nor myself. She proposed to hand me over to another whitesmith in the town. I objected to the arrangement altogether, and the matter ended in her offering to give up the inden- tures,—a proposal to which I readily agreed. I took my release, packed up my clothes in a handkerchief, bade father and mother farewell, and set out on foot one bright, frosty morning, towards the end of 1787, for York. In 1787 work was much more abundant in every department than it is now; I found no difficulty, therefore, in recommending myself to an employer. I went into a coachmaker's yard, and for two months was as Dusy as need be; but there is a restlessness about youths of nineteen or twenty, which often induces them to change for the mere sake of change, and still more frequently hinders them from knowing when they are well off. I grew tired of the coach- maker's yard, of the coachmaker himself, and, finally, of the city of York. My bundle was therefore tied up once more, my stick grasped in my hand, and away I went, with a light heart, and a purse not much heavier, to Manchester 32 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. Though Manchester was not in 1788 the overgrown manufactory that it is now, amid its forty thousand inhabitants, it presented suf- ficient openings for a young man like me. I offered myself to a white- smith the day after my arrival, and was received as a journeyman on my own terms. It is probable, too, that, but for an accident, I should have continued to prosecute my peaceful calling, in which case society would have lacked the information which these my memoirs are designed to communicate. But within a fortnight of my arrival a proposal was made to me, which, having a great respect for the sum of ten guineas. I did not conceive that I should be justified in rejecting. A young gentleman, the son of a clergyman, in a fit of ill-humour or caprice, enlisted in the first Dragoon Guards, which at that time occupied the barracks ; and his friends having obtained permission to taKe him home again by providing a substitute, my master, with whom the family dealt, opened the business to me. " You are a strapping fellow, Sam," said he, " and a good scholar. There's no saying what you may not come to as a soldier; and the whitesmith's business is, you very well know, one of the poorest going. You may be with me, or anybody else, a dozen years at least, before you will have it in your power to boast that you are worth ten guineas." "Ten guineas!" replied I. "Will they give ten guineas for a substitute?" " To be sure they will, and a capital outfit into the bargain. Away with you to the barracks. No fear but you will be accepted, and then come back to me, and I will introduce you to the gentleman that's to fork out." Away, accordingly, I went, with an imagination inflamed, not by visions of martial glory, but of ten golden guineas • and, marching boldly towards the barrack gate, I propounded my business to the corporal of the guard. He desired me to go on to the orderly-room, ana I would have done so without pausing, had not a spectacle greeted me as soon as I entered the square, which threw a con- siderable damp over my military ardour. The regiinent was assembled at a foot-parade, and corporal punish- ment was going forward. Now I don't mean to say that in an army such as ours it is possible to do without corporal punishments; there are certain crimes which, as they are disgraceful in themselves, ought to bring upon such as commit them a discreditable chastisement; while the situations which require that discipline should be administered promptly and with effect, cannot fail, particularly in war, of constant recurrence. Tor such occasions the power of the lash must always be reserved. But the less frequently it is brought into operation the better, not only because the practice has a tendency to keep good men out of your ranks, but, because when repeated over and over again, it loses its effect. At all events, I am quite certain of this, that when I beheld a fellow-creature stripped and subjected to the operation of the cat, I never thought of inquiring into the nature of the offence which had brought the visitation upon him; but said to myself, "Am I going to do a wise thing in connecting myself with a society of persons among whom such usages are tolerated ?" I don't hesitate to say, that DUMALTON's STOfiY. 33 if the mere love of glory had brought me thus far, it would have utterly failed in carrying me further; but ten guineas had appeared to me in the light of a little fortune, and, after a brief controversy between opposite feelings, I made up my mind to possess them. Accordingly, I averted my eyes from the parade, and closed my ears against the outcry of the culprit; and hastening towards the orderly-room, was desired to wait there till the colonel should be disengaged, and able to see me. The colonel came as soon as the parade was over, and seemed to me to be in an exceedingly irritable humour. He asked me what I wanted, and I told him. "You a substitute!" cried he; "it's devilish hard that I should be forced to give up a smart fellow, because, forsooth! he has taken the rue, and Ins friends desire to buy him off; but, I'll be shot if he shall go tor such a chap as you!" I confess that this reception surprised me, for I stood five feet ten inches without my shoes; and, as may be guessed from the build of the old trunk at this hour, I was iu other respects as likely a young fellow as need be. But I did not say a word in reply. The fact, indeed, was, that I felt relieved, rather than otherwise, because the colonel's manner made me think more of the cat-and-nine-tails than of the ten guineas. So I made my bow and my scratch, and turned to go away. " Stop a bit, young man," cried the colonel. " I won't take you as a substitute. The recruit they want to buy off is worth two of you; but I don't mind listing you on your own account. What do you say ? Are you willing ?" " What bounty will your honour give ?" asked I. " Oh! the king's bounty, of course," was the answer. " His majesty gives two pounds a man, and that you shall have, after your kit, at least, has been supplied out of it." " Thank you kindly, sir," said I. " I'd rather notand so away I went home again. But matters were not in precisely the same state there as when I went out in the morning. My master, never sup- posing that I would be rejected, had hired a new hand, and, either because he was a better workman, or that the engagement could not be set aside, he told me plump that there was nothing for me to do. What children of circumstances we are! There was no great cause in anything that had happened why I should get out of humour; I had but to go elsewhere, and, without doubt, jobs enough were to be procured; but I would not. The fit was upon me, and, having once crossed a barrack threshold, I resolved to become a soldier. In this humour I went the very next day to a recruitingmarty for the Cold- stream Guards, of which Ensign Howard, nowLord Effingham Howard, was in command; and, offering myself to them, I was accepted imme- diately. I have always liked the service; I never, indeed, from the very outset, had cause to do otherwise, for Ensign Howard was exceed- ingly indulgent to his people; and, as he got recruits very fast, I felt myself as much at home among them, and, indeed, among the party in general, as I had done in the whitesmith's shop, or the coachmaker's yard. Still I had a natural desire to see the world, and to visit London D 31 THE VETERANS 01' CHELSEA HOSPITAL. in particular; so finding that three of the young hands were to be l'owarded on the morrow, 1 applied for leave to accompany them, which was granted. The evening of the same day, therefore, which saw me take the shilling, witnessed the ceremony of my attestation before the magistrate; and the following morning, with my bounty, and marching-money m my pocket, I set out under the command of a non-commissioned officer for the metropolis. England is a fair land to travel through; but when you travel, as I did, in the bloom of youth, on foot, ana amidst a little knot of com- panions, whose tastes, be they what they may, agree with your own, a very pleasant and profitable thing it is to perform this journey. I do not recollect how many days were spent on the road, but this I remember, that they were all spent pleasantly, for we did not over- work ourselves, and we halted for the most part at little village inns, —of all the quarters into which a soldier passes, the most agreeable. To me, likewise, it was marvellous to behold with what kindness the hosts and hostesses all along the road treated us. My impression is, that such is hardly the case now. In 1788 soldiers were decided favourites with the people; whether because there was less of disaf- fection abroad, or that our pay being small, they considered themselves bound to act generously towards us, I cannot tell. At all events, I am bound to speak well of that portion of English society with which my first march from Manchester to London brought me acquainted; and the Londoners themselves, it is fair to add, acted on every occa- sion so as to hinder the favourable impression from becoming faint. We were in much greater danger of being drawn into scrapes by the liberality of persons who insisted on treating us to liquor, than by any such necessity as in later times has driven our "successors to avenge a gross insult, or repel a positive wrong with the strong hand. How different in all its external features was the London of 1781 from the London of 1839! How widely different the constitution and manage- ment of the forces which then and in times more recent composed its garrison. Of the foot-guards, which then, as now, consisted of three regi- ments, with two battalions to each, I need say no more than that they were clothed, accoutred, and armed, pretty much as they had been since the days of the duke of Cumberland. We wore long-tailed coats, which, slanting off like those of livery-servants in front, exposed to view a considerable portion of our lapelled and capacious-pocketed white waistcoats. Our breeches of white cloth were made to fit so tight, that how we contrived to get them on and off without tearing has been to me a source of frequent wonderment; while our long white gaiters, composed of glazed linen, reached just above the bend of the knee, and were tied round the upper part of the calf of the leg with bands of black leather. As to our hats, they resembled in form the head-dresses which are still worn in Chelsea Hospital; and to dis- tinguish us, I presume, from regiments of the line, they were bound round the edges with silver lace. Our arms, again, were the musket and bayonet, not very different from those still in use; our accoutre- ments were of a class peculiar to times gone by. Instead of gathering up the load of ammunition so as to throw the strain as far as may be on the part of the body which is best able to endure it, the guardians dtjmAlton's stoiiv. 35 of the soldiers' comforts then seemed to regard sueh considerations as unworthy of their notice. Our belts were long and loose; the pouch came down to the skirts of our coats, and the bayonet, suspended at the left side, swung like a sword as the man moved. Neither must I forget to describe both the hairy knapsacks into which our kits were stowed, and the strange machine, which was given us as a convenient place of stowage for our field ammunition. The pouch contained in those days a wooden frame, which was bored both above and below, for thirty cartridges, and you were expected in the heat of battle, as soon as the upper tier was exhausted, to turn the block round, and So reach the tier below. I need scarcely add that the very first time we got under fire, the inconvenience of this arrangement made itself felt; and that the woods, as they were called, being taken out, the men carried their cartridges thenceforth loose in their pouches. If such was the style in which the king's government equipped and clothed the king's foot-guards, what shall I say of the sort of exercise to which we were trained. In handling the musket there were no fewer than fifty-two movements, the whole of which went on so soon as a single word of command was spoken. " Poise arms!" was that word; on the utterance of which a fugleman began to caper, and the entire line, watching his movements, tossed and brandished their arms into all manner of grotesque figures. When we stood with arms shouldered we were made to keep the butt of the firelock on the hip, and to stick out the elbow of the left arm, so that there should be between it and the side an interval of three inches. When we fixed bayonets it was by a motion similar to that which the swordsman makes when he draws,—and then our shoulder—it took, if I recollect right, three hitches to get the implement into its place. And, finally, our manoeuvres: they were complicated, unwieldly, per- formed always at slow time, and seemed to throw us into every imaginable shape, which could avail nothing in the hour of peril. One really cannot look back upon the military arrangements that prevailed at that time without a smile. There were no light companies attached to the regiments of foot- guards then; though the first had in each of its battalions two compa- nies of grenadiers. The companies, likewise, were much weaker than they afterwatds became. They mustered respectively not more than six- and-forty, rank and file; and as nine companies made up a battalion, it will be seen that thebattalions themselves were byno means too efficient; for the London duty, though not quite so hard as it is now, was in 1788 severe enough; and Kew, and even Windsor, came under the general head of outposts from the metropolis. Moreover, the force of cavalry kept in London was at once feeble in point of numbers, and, froin its composition, very little effective. The horse-grenadiers and old life- guards were then in existence; and a strange anomaly, or rather a curious relic of barbarous times, they presented. These household troops, like the ancient garde-du-corps of prance, were composed exclusively of gentlemen, who purchasing their nominations as men now purchase commissions, suffered little from the restraints of military discipline while they served, and retired after a given number of years on handsome annuities. They were not liable to be called 36 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. beyond the precincts of the court, except in cases of »reat emergency. They did the duty of the palace, and mounted guard, it is true ! but negligence on such occasions was punishable only by fine among themselves; and as to their horses and equipments—of these, they took no further charge than might be implied in the act of rating their grooms and body servants, should either horse or furniture seem to be out of order when the tour of duty came round. For they were allowed one groom for every ten horses, and one servant for every ten troopers, who, being paid and rationed at the public expense, were expected to perform all menial offices for the gentlemen of the body- guard both in the stable and the harness-room. Of these soldiers of fortune, in a sense different from what is gene- rally applied to the term, there were six troops, of which two were rated as horse-grenadiers, two as gentlemen of the life-guards. Of the rank which the individuals thus designated were presumed to hold, some idea maybe formed when I state that the cymbal-beater belong- ing to the band of the first-mentioned corps was treated as his equal by a captain of infantry, with whom he fought a duel soon after my arrival in London, and by whom he was severely wounded. But, though it may sound mighty fine to talk of the king of England's body-guard as consisting of gentlemen, every person conversant, even slightly, with the nature of a soldier's duties, knows that, of all the regiments that ever took the field, a regiment of gentlemen must be the most inefficient. To such a height, indeed, had the inconveniences attending the system risen, that about the period to which this stage in my narrative refers, these privileged troops were disbanded, and the country obtained in their room those magnificent corps which did so much excellent service at Waterloo, and are ready to do as much excellent service again whenever their country may require it. So much for the condition of our military establishments as these existed in London towards the close of the last century. A few words now in reference to the distribution and quarterings of the troops, and then I pass on to other and more interesting matters. When I reached the metropolis, the old barracks in the Savoy had recently been burned down. We were, therefore, indifferently provided with lodgings,—that is to say, except in the Tower, there were no bar- racks anywhere in or around London sufficiently capacious to contain in its integrity even one of our weak battalions. A few companies were, indeed, lodged beside the Birdcage Walk; while the Knightsbridge barracks, at the head of what is now called Wilton-place, contained a few more; but the remainder got billets on the public-houses that lay most conveniently for them, or hired lodgings, if. as not unfre- quently happened, the publican preferred commuting his liability for money; and a tolerably good room, such as a soldier, at least, is con- tent to inhabit, might be had in those days for eighteen-pence or two shillings a week. And, though the whole of our weekly pay amounted only to four shillings, few among us could not afford this outlay,—for guardsmen, if industrious, found no difficulty in procuring, as often as military duties would allow, employment at different trades, the profits of which were to them of much more importance than all the allow- ances which they received from the Crown. Thus collecting our. dumalton's stort. 37 supplies from various quarters, we managed to carry on the war much to our own satisfaction; and the more so, that go where we might, our countrymen were always disposed to treat us kindly. But it is time to get rid of these details; so here I turn a leaf in my narrative. CHAPTER II. Which speaks of Processions, Rumours of War, and Wars. I "was just one month at. drill, a pretty good proof that whatever my faults as a man or a soldier might be, inattention could not be num- bered among them. I then went, as it is called, to my duty,—that is, I attended parades and field-days when they occurred, and took my turn of guards, pickets, fatigues, and so forth. Among other things that befell me at this time may be enumerated a detachment to Kew, where, in the summer of 1788, the king, as may be remembered, suffered his first attack of illness. We saw nothing of his majesty, of course; nor were any of the secrets of the palace communicated to us; but we used to watch the countenances of those that went and came about him, trying, from the expressions which they bore, to draw some conclusions as to the state of the royal patient. This continued for about two months; during which our custom was to quarter at Richmond, and send the guard from day to day to Kew; but at the end of that period we were relieved and marched back, nothing loth, to London. There occurred in the progress of the following year only two events which made a deep impression on my mind at the moment, and concerning which I may therefore be permitted to speak. One was, the great procession to St. Paul's, when the king, attended by his family and officers of state, went to return thanks for the removal of the malady under which he had laboured; the other, the sort of rupture with Spain on the subject of Nootka Sound, which set us all on the alert for a brief space, and made us dream of war as impending. On the former of these occasions London appeared to go mad with joy. There was a ringing of bells and waving of flags from early dawn; and, when the hour of Divine service drew nigh, the entire population of this mighty city seemed to be afoot. For ourselves, we mustered on the grand parade about eight in the morning, and, marching to Temple Bar, there spread ourselves so as to line the course of the procession from that point down to the gates of Carlton-house. There another battalion took up the chain, while along the broad walk, and about the approaches to Buckingham-house, the life-guards took their stations, in readiness to fall in as soon as the carriages should pass, and escort them to and from their place of destination. I don't know why there should be any ebbing and flowing in the tide of loyalty among the English people. I am sure that under the kingly , government, as for many generations it has shown itself, they have enjoyed as much liberty and true happiness as can ever fall to the lot of masses of men; and I quite mistake the national character 38 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. if they he not, at heart, sincerely attached to the throne,—yet I am very sure that the feeling of reverence and affection which they used to display towards George the Third was a different thing altogether from the loyalty which is now in fashion. You would have thought that day, had' you looked round upon the thousands of happy faces, and heard the people congratulating one another on the king's recovery, that some unlooked-for piece of good fortune had befallen the individuals or their families,—not that their sovereign had been restored to his place, as the head of the commonwealth. And when the good king appeared,—her majesty and his children attending him, —men not only shouted with all the strength of their lungs, but many even with tears upon their cheeks. It was easy to see that there was no affectation of joy there! for not only was there no tumult, nor the slightest disposition manifested to create one, but the anxiety on all sides appeared to be, that all should be made equally happy by looking on the sovereign. A more gratifying spectacle never met the gaze of a patriot; a more pleasant duty never was performed by a soldier. Such was the manner in which the morning of the 23rd of April was spent. We continued at our posts till Divine service ended, when the king returned as he went, amid the same demonstrations of attach- ment; and then the files closed, the battalion marched back to the palace, and was dismissed. But after dark we all assembled again; and while bonfires and an illumination put the city in an uproar, we formed along line about St. James's palace, and fired a feu-de-joie. Finally, some hogsheads of porter being handed out to us, we drank the king's health amid vociferous cheering, and departed in the best possible humour, each man to his barrack-room or his billet. The second occurrence of which I proposed to speak was the little spirt, or by whatever name it may be called, which threw Great Britain for a week or two into an attitude of hostility towards Spain. It is no business of mine to speculate on the wisdom or folly ot the minister in threatening an appeal to the sword about a matter in itself so unimportant. I believe, indeed, that the country required a dis- play of vigour at his hands; and 1 am quite sure that the idea of active service on the Continent was very popular with the army; but these are points with which a man in my humble position can have no concern. I only know that, when the order came to augment the first battalion of our regiment by a draft from the second, the utmost eagerness was everywhere displayed to be admitted into the favoured band. For myself, though I had just been promoted to the rank of corporal, I applied for and obtained permission to resign; because only as a private could I be allowed to share in the fun which all around me anticipated. There is always a good spirit in the British army when the prospect of fighting is opened out; but I really do not recollect an occasion on which it showed itself more clearly than during these two or three weeks of active preparation. Proud men were we, the individuals selected for detachment, when we commenced our march from the parade in St. James's Park to.tlie Tower, amid the cheers of our comrades. That nothing might be wanting to complete our triumph, we were conducted across the front of the duke of York's apartments, who, as colonel of the regiment, bum Alton's story. 39 came out to look at us, and who, after commending our appearance, caused a pint of ale per man to be issued. This we drank, of course, and if many more did not follow, no blame is to be attached to the citjzens of London. Throughout the whole line of march the people eheered us, and not a public-house came in our way but the landlord stood at the door, mug in hand, pressing us to drink. Ours was a perfect ovation all the way to the Tower. It is well known that the quarrel with Spain came at this time to nothing. The satisfaction demanded by England was given; and the preparations for war, which seem always to delight the most peaceable, were laid aside as suddenly as they had been entered upon. We accordingly returned to our old battalions, and falling back into the routine of peaceable duty, mounted guard, went through evolutions, and showed ourselves on state occasions, as heretofore. Our move- ments, likewise, were all confined to the accomplishment of such changes of quarters as took us the circle of London in five years. Erom Knightsbridge we passed to Westminster, from Westminster to the Borough, from the Borough to the Tower, from the Tower to Portman-street, and last of all, from Portman-street back to Knights- bridge. Hence our acquaintance with the haunts of the metropolis became very perfect \ and, as to the rest of the world, it was as if it existed not. But things were not to continue thus for ever. With the rise and progress of the Erench Revolution,—with the causes which produced, and the atrocities that marked it in all its stages, I have in this place no concern. My purpose is sufficiently served when I state, that war having been declared, a resolution was, in 1793, entered into to support the continental sovereigns with a British army; and that, among other corps, the regiment of which I was a member received orders to prepare for immediate embarkation. This was somewhere about the middle of February; and on the 25th of the same month our battalion, increased to four hundred men, joined in brigade with two others from the first and third regiments, on the parade in St. James's Park. I cannot say that just at this time either the army or the sovereign was quite so popular as a few years pre- viously I remember both to have been. A dense crowd assembled, of course, to see us muster and march out of London; but there was little or no cheering among them, and the shouts of the few that did from time to time lift up their voices were almost immediately drowned by the half-uttered execrations of others who stood near them. This was particularly the case when the king came on the ground. Yet was his majesty fearless and self-possessed, as in the hour of danger he always was; and if the silence of the mob annoyed him in any degree, the cordial reception which he received from the troops must have effaced that impression in a moment. We cheered that day, not as a matter of duty or discipline, but with hearty goodwill, and at the extreme stretch of, our lungs. Then, having listened to his address, brief, and pithv, and full of confidence as to our bearing, we cheered again; after which the word was given to form the column of march, and away we went. We embarked at Greenwich, in the presence of the king and the royal family, and dropped down the same night as far as Long Beach. 40 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. Next day the whole fleet weighed anchor, and on the 30th of March, after a rough and uncomfortable passage, we reached Helvoetsluys, and immediately landed. I am not quite sure, by the bye, that in using this expression I escape the sort of figure of speech for which our countrymen of the sister isle are renowned. Our landing proved to be neither more nor less than a transference from one class of ves- sels into another: for we passed out of the king's ships into track- schuyts, and in tnem ascended the river as far as Dort. But here we certainly did establish ourselves on solid ground; and very kind and generous was the reception which greeted us. For a while we were disposed of in billets through the town, at each of which we found ample reason to be satisfied with the hospitalitv of the natives: but by-and-by the inconvenience of thus scattering us began to be felt, and our battalion drew together in the prince of Orange's riding- school. For though not, in one sense of the term, in the immediate presence of the enemy, we were yet near enough to call for an unceas- ing exercise of vigilance. Williamstadt lay, be it remembered, on the opposite bank of the river, and Dumourier's corps, which kept it in a state of siege, it was our business to observe. Accordingly we had our pickets planted by day and night, just as regularly as it a battle might have been from hour to hour expected; the orders to the sen- tries being these, that whenever two boats should seem to threaten a passage, they should fire upon them, turn out the guards, and offer every possible resistance to the landing of their crews. We suffered a good deal this winter from the absence of great- coats, articles with which in 1793 the British soldiers were not supplied. The weather was intensely cold, and to keep watch beside the broad Bhine, while sleet and snow swept over the surface of its waters, was to men unprovided with any extra clothing not a very agreeable pas- time. To be sure, our commandant, General Lake; did his best to remedy the evil by purchasing, and causing to be issued to us, the pilot-coats of the country. But these did not come down as far as the middle of the thigh, and therefore very imperfectly fulfilled the purpose for which they were given. In other respects our time passed agreeably enough. We were weak in point of numbers, it is true; that is to say, the brigade of guards, and no more, had been concen- trated. Indeed, my impression is, that in addition to our own, there was only one other British brigade at this time in the country. But we did not calculate on suffering molestation from the enemy; and our allies did all which their means would allow to render our situation comfortable. It was with a feeling, therefore, akin to regret that on the last day of March we received the route for the morrow; nor could the sense of novelty quite reconcile us to the movement, when, on the first of April, we arranged ourselves again in schuyts, and set eut, by a process peculiarly their own, for Bergem-op-zoom. Our sojourn in this place was not very protracted; I think that it fell short of a month • and at the termination of that period we again took boat, and passed through the canal to Antwerp. We found it crowded with French prisoners, who being permitted to go at large, picked frequent quarrels with our men, which in one or two instances ended fatally. One of our people was thrown by them over the ram- dumalton's story. 41 parts, and perished in the ditch; another lost an eye by a stab from some sharp instrument, which was dealt? as he assured us, by an unseen hand. As may be imagined, our situation was not a pleasant one 3 for we never could count on freedom from insults, which, for obvious reasons, we were disinclined to avenge. But an order to pass over to Bevelen promised to set us free from the annoyance, and thi- ther we accordingly went. Moreover, the change was not the less agreeable, as, instead of making all our movements in schuyts, we were given to understand that henceforth we should act entirely on shore. It may be that, in treating this announcement as a subject of congratulation, we were guilty of a grievous blunder; but at the mo- ment we never thought of long and toilsome marches, and scanty fare; we desired only a little novelty even in the mode of conducting the war, and to our heart's content we got it. "We made a halt at Bevelen, for what reason I do nc>t know,— unless, indeed, that some calamity had overtaken the military chest, under the pressure of which individuals sustained very serious incon- venience. There was no money among us; and as the system of a commissariat was then unknown in the British army, our sufferings, but for a certain device on which we fell, might have been great. Let it be borne in mind that rations, whether of meat or bread, were things of which we had never heard. We got our pay, when there was pay to be had, regularly enough; while the quarter-master of each bat- talion bought sheep, and oxen, and bread, which he served out at stated hours to the different messes, the sergeant of each mess giving in exchange a certain quantity of ready money. But it was with him as with the keeper of a chop-house,—no coin, no cooked victuals; and hence when our pay ceased, as it aid in Bevelen, we ran some risk of absolute destitution. In this emergency somebody thought of an expedient, which being found to answer very well, was universally adopted. We cut the bright buttons from our coats, and forcing off the eyes, passed them upon the simple boors as English shillings. Ear be it from me to vindicate the morality of this practice, which, when called by its right name, is not, I am afraid, much better than swindling. But some portion, at least, of the blame surely attached to the defective arrangements of those at head-quarters • and we were quite willing that they should have it all, so long as we derived benefit trom the proceeding. It was impossible, however, in the nature of things, that such a practice could long be continued. Colonel Pen- nington, our commanding officer, happening on one occasion to ask for change of a guinea in an eating-house where he had been dining, was astonished to find some six qr seven old buttons tendered to him as silver coins. An investigation took place, as was to be expected, and our newly-discovered mine of wealth became worked out on the instant. It was towards the end of April,—if my memory does not plav me false, about the twenty-first,—that we may be said to have fairly taken the field. We marched, too, amid what was then considered all the pomp and circumstance of war; that is to say, each battalion was accompanied by its bat-horses, its tents, and its artillery, while each company carried its own intrenching tools and implements of 42 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. cookery. Of the tents a sufficiently minute description will be given, when I say that they were so constructed as to be capableof containing five men a-piece, and that, when pitched, they resembled in shape two cards piled longtitudinally one against the other. Each was supported by three poles, of which one went across between the other two; and while the canvas was transported from position to position on horses, we ourselves carried the poles. Then again, being divided into messes, so that for every mess a tent should be supplied, we had the additional satisfaction of sharing among five, not only the burthen of these three poles, but a huge camp-kettle, a bill-hook, and a tomahawk into the bargain. Now, when it is borne in mind that we performed all our marches in tight breeches and gaiters, and that his musket, bayonet, pack, and ammunition, laid on each man's shoulders a good forty pounds weight at the least, it can scarcely be wondered at if the burthen of these poles and kettles, when superadded to that which seemed fairly and legitimately to belong to him, should have chafed the soldier's spirit in no trifling degree. I declare that there were many whom no other consideration than the dread of punishment hindered from casting these incumbrances to the dogs; so little did the shelter of the tent at night compensate for the labour and the annoyance of carrying the poles throughout the day. So moved the battalion,—while in its rear came first two pieces of cannon, then a string of bat-horses, and last of all, under a guard, the quarter-master's drove of bullocks and sheep. The guns, both in form and mounting, resembled in all essential points those still in use; but the train,—why, a modern artillery-man would laugh it to scorn. Each piece had its three horses, which being harnessed at length, like those which drag a country waggon in Somersetshire, never moved except at a foot-pace, and very often made that of the slowest; for the drivers walked beside the horses, each armed with a long whip, and very sure, if not very rapid, were all their evolutions. Of the bat-horses, again, why should I speak ? They were like bat-horses in general,—necessary, doubtless, but always unwieldy, and not unfrequently very much in the way; while with the cattle, not less than with the herdsmen, so long as all remained quiet in front, it proved well enough; but the slightest alarm sent all scampering, and the chances were as two to one that we should ever see them again. Certainly we were not in 1793 a military nation, if by that expression be meant a people whose tastes lead to war; for, though always brave, and now and then enter- prising, in the enemy's presence, in all that had reference tp the equipment of an army for the field we were deplorably ignorant. In this order we marched through Thielt and Courtray, towards Tournay. The Erench fell back as we drew on, and we entered Tournay without having as yet had an opportunity of exchanging shots with them. Here (a corps of Austrians joined us, and the whole, commanded by his Royal Highness the duke of York, took post at a village, of which I believe the proper name is Orcq, but which we, on account of the huge store-houses that belonged to it, called Oak Barns. And here I must be permitted to observe on the excellent feeling which subsisted between us and our allies the Austrians. We mixed very much together at all times, and on out-post duty we were not separated. dumAlton's stohy. 43 Indeed, tlie practice was to place double sentries along the chain, of whom one was invariably an Englishman, the other an Austrian. I suspect that the motive for this arrangement was a desire on the part of our officers that we should learn that most important part of a soldier's duty, how to conduct ourselves at the outposts; and if such were their design, they could not have fallen upon more certain means of securing its accomplishment; for of all the troops with which I have come in contact, the Austrians seem to me to be the most vigilant. They would never permit an attempt at conversation when on sentry. The slightest noise appeared to catch their ears, and then they were down with head, to the ground in a moment; while their powers of vision seemed to my inexperienced fancy to set the darkness of the darkest night at defiance. Better troops on picket I cannot well conceive; and their readiness to impart knowledge to us, who needed it, was remarkable. I should say that, in point of appearance, the Austrian infantry, which served at that time in the Low Countries, were more than respectable. Than the grenadiers, nothing can be imagined more superb ; and their dress—dark grey clothing—which was worn alike by grenadier and battalion companies, struck me as being in every point of view very becoming. The cavalry likewise was good: for the horses, though small, seemed to be abundantly hardy, and the men, like their dismounted comrades, were all up to their work. It was the fashion of that age to make every military movement in slow time. We, not less than they, marched, and wheeled, and shifted our ground with a deliberation which would now excite laughter; yet I should misstate the case were I not to acknowledge, that the tardi- ness of our friends' evolutions, when assembled on parade, surprised us exceedingly. Still we were taught to regard them as our masters in the art of war; and therefore tried to persuade ourselves, not that they manoeuvred too slow, but that we manoeuvred a great deal too rapidly. There was, however, one point in their military system, of which, as it entirely contradicted all our received opinions, we could not approve. Their discipline was stern and prompt to a degree; indeed punishment—which invariably followed on an offence, however trivial—came so sharply, and with such effect, that we turned away from the spectacle with abhorrence. A man who might fail in ever so minute a part of exercise, or brought a soiled belt or a stained knap- sack to parade, was taken out of the ranks and flogged on the spot; no form of trial having been gone through, but the corporal wielding his stick with all the zeal, and more than the severity of one who relished the operation. "We did duty in this manner with the Austrians, occupying all the while our position at Orcq, till the 17th of May, when orders reached us to pack, and be in readiness for moving at a moment's notice. We obeyed, of course; and of the results which followed, both to our- selves and the cause which we were under arms to suppprt, a con- nected account will be given in the next chapter. 44 the veterans op chelsea hospital. CHAPTER III. Speaks of Marches, a Battle, and a Siege. The Austrian corps, with which we were associated, though not very numerous, seemed to me to be singularly compact and well-arranged. I do not recollect the precise number of companies which composed a battalion,—-I think that in each there were not more than four; hut 1 remember that a company consisted of one hundred and eighty rank and file; so that, assuming my supposition to he a right one, thev had seven hundred and twenty men to a battalion. We, on the other hand, consisted of two brigades of infantry, the Guards,—and the 14th, 37th, and 53rd foot, of which General Eox was at the head. We had, besides, some cavalry detachments from the 11th, the 15th, and the 16th, with General, afterwards Lord, Harcourt, at their head ; while over all was the duke of York,—not, I believe, as commander-in-chief of the allied armies, but himself controlled by the prince of Cobourg; and, as the result proved, by the Prussian General Knobelsdorf also. These, however, were matters which very little concerned us, whose mere business it was to execute the orders that might be issued to us, and to live as well and as gaily as the state of the country would permit. Accordingly, when we received instructions early on the 7th to pack our baggage, and prepare for an immediate advance, we obeyed them without once pausing to inquire whither they might hurry us; and, long before sunset, were ready to move in any direction which the commander-in-chief might point out. It was close upon midnight when the march began. No intimation, of course, had reached us touching either the object of the movement, or the point to which it was directed, yet we guessed that now, at length, we were going to measure ourselves with the enemy, and the anticipation produced its natual effect on the spirits of the boldest. He who has never come under fire may rely upon it that the game for life or death is a very serious one; and that the most careless never addresses himself to play it without being conscious of sensations different from those which generally affect him. And if, as chanced to be the case with us that night, he make his advances towards the seat of danger under the influence of a glorious moonlight, his spirit must be dull and sombre, indeed, if it fail to be stirred within him. I plead guilty to the charge of having performed that night-march in a state of excitement, which, though abundantly comprehensible by him who may have experienced similar agitation, I should find it very difficult to describe; and, though weariness, ana the desire to sleep, would from time to time interfere with it, I cannot say that the feeling had entirely evaporated when we made our first halt, long after daybreak. The movement of which I am speaking was made for the purpose of dislodging the enemy from St. Amand, and driving them out of the woods which surround that place. It was to be a combined dumalton's story. 45 operation on tlie part of ourselves, of the Prussians and the Aus- trians; and, as the allies were understood to have concentrated more rapidly and in greater force than the French, little doubt was enter- tained of its success. We were not, therefore, surprised? an hour or two after dawn, to find ourselves approaching a considerable en- campment. It was formed with great regularity along the position of Maulde, and consisted of tents similar in their shape to our own, arranged, too, like ours, in regular streets, with cooking-places, at intervals, in the rear of each. As we drew near, the inhabitants of these tents crowded forth to look at us. They were Prussians; and the reception which they gave us was exceedingly kind; for we no sooner halted, which we did in communication with their line, than they set about lighting fires for us, and helped us to dress our pro- visions. I am not sure that in point of appearance they were equal to our friends, the Austrians, but they were smart fellows notwith- standing, bore themselves with a very soldier-like air, and appeared to possess, what is essential to the efficiency of an armed body, a full degree of confidence in themselves. We came to our ground about seven or eight o'clock in the morn- ing, and rested till noon; when, having eaten our meal in comfort, we were ordered to fall in. We formed accordingly, and the duke of York putting himself at our head, we moved, forward. St. Amand, we found, had already been carried, though not without a desperate resistance; for the houses were all perforated with cannon- shot, and the streets choked up with the bodies of the slain. Through these we picked our steps—not, as may well be imagined, gathering any accession to our valour from the spectacle, yet more inclined to lament the fall of our comrades than to calculate the chances of a similar fate befalling ourselves. We pushed on, leaving the town behind, and came by-and-by to a thick wood, through the middle of which a carriage-road appeared to have been cut, in its course too tortuous for the eye to trace it many yards beyond the outskirts. Here we halted, that a Prussian general, who had accompanied the duke of York on the march, might give to his Royal Highness his final instructions. Meanwhile, the forest rang to the sharp reports of some Austrian and Dutch skir- mishers, who were scattered through its recesses. They did not. indeed, appear to be making any progress, for the sound wavered very little; and, when it did, the French, not they, appeared to have the advantage; but that was a point which we had little leisure to investigate, inasmuch as our own turn for playing the game had arrived. The Prussian having ended his conference with the duke of York, lifted his hat, and went away; while his Royal Highness turned to us and said, " Now, Coldstreams, it is for you to show them what the king of England's guards are made of. There is a four-gun battery in that wood, which we have been desired to carry; and I give you, as my own regiment, the privilege of doing so. Forward, and win honour for vourselves and for me." We an- swered with a shout, and Colonel Pennington, putting himself in front, away we went, in column, and at double-quick, along the chmmee. 46 TILE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. For awhile we carried everything before us. The Trench endea- voured to stop us, but we beat them back at a rush, and a gun or two which they brought to bear upon the road did us no damage. In this manner we penetrated half through the wood, when all at once we found ourselves in an extensive open, or glade, the upper extremity of which was covered with field-wqrks, among which was the four-gun battery. There was a wide ditch likewise, or canal, between us and the enemy's lines, which was spanned by a single wooden bridge, and towards it the right wing, which led the attack, instantly hurried. They had not rightly weighed the sort of recep- tion which awaited them, otherwise the attack, if made at all, would have been less precipitate. Of the round and grape which fell among us we thought little, but the bridge was within point-blank range of musketry, and a long breastwork, well lined with French grena- diers, faced it. No sooner were our leading files across, than they threw upon us such a tempest of bullets, that the single ground of amazement is, how anybody escaped to speak of it. We could not face that leaden storm. We fairly recoiled, and, leaving a prodigious number of our comrades dead, or dying, where they fell, retreated, in little order, within the cover of the wood. Though our attack had failed, the diversion which we made enabled the Austrians and Prussians to carry their respective posts, and the French were worsted. We did not, however, follow them iinme- diately: for that night we slept on our arms- and next morning, by a different route, began our march back to the Oak Barns. I have already spoken of the absence of all system which characterized in those days our commissariat arrangements, and left us, on every change of position, to the mercy well nigh of chance for our daily food. Up to the present moment the evil had been one rather of theory than practice; now we were made to feel that the connection between practice and theory is, in such cases as this, exceedingly close. Not a morsel of food had been issued to us from the moment we quitted Maulde, and a bivouac was, in consequence, unsatisfactory enough. Yet the circumstance, if it produced no other and more fortunate result, had at least the effect of weaning us from some of our pre- judiceS; it caused us to accept thankfully the rations of black bread with which the Prussian commissaries next morning were prevailed upon to supply us. I need scarcely add, that the bread made use of by continental troops in general was, at the period of which I am speaking, composed altogether of rye; and rye, as everybody knows, however wholesome it may be, is not quite the sort of material out of which an Englishman would" choose to fabricate his rolls for break- fast. We returned to our quarters at Orque, where for some time we continued in a state of maction. The war, meanwhile, was carried on elsewhere with vigour; for Conde was blockaded by the prince of Cobourg; and the enemy, in order to cover Yalenciennes, intrenched themselves strongly on the hill of Famars. At the same time there arrived from England large reinforcements, so as to place our con- tingent, in point even of numbers, on a respectable footing towards its allies; and his "Royal Highness was, in consequence, intrusted DUMALTOX's STORY. 47 with, the conduct of a separate and very important operation. He was directed to push with his own people, supported by two brigades of Hanoverians and Austrians, upon Famars—to drive the enemy from his intrenched camp, and forcing him back into Valenciennes, to lay siege to the place. Accordingly, on the 23rd of May, we moved once more from our quarters, and after a sharp skirmish, carried our point. The enemy retreating from Famars, left us in possession of their works, and tne investment was completed. Not then, however, nor for some days afterwards, was ground broken. On the contrary, we were satisfied to watch one another, while the prince of Cobourg executed certain movements, of which I know nothing more than that_ they had for their object the more effectual severance of the garrison from all such supplies as the open country might have afforded. Yet were we not without certain petty adventures, if such they deserve to be called, which hindered us from absolutely forget- ting that ours was something more than a mere game of war. Once or twice the French attacked our outposts, though never in such force as seriously to disturb them: while we in our turn would, from time to time, make a demonstration, as if we intended to confine them within the circle of their defences. All this, however, was mere pastime; and I am bound to add that, in carrying it forward, the best and most generous temper was exhibited on both sides. We lay all this while in the intrenched camp at Famars, the highest ridge of which in some degree commanded the town. It was sur- mounted by an obelisk, which the French had erected to the memory of General Dampierre—a brave officer, whose leg was shot away at St. Amand, and who died soon afterwards. Whatever our faults may be. it cannot be charged against us as a nation, that we ever seek to exhioit our hostility to the living by waging war against the tombs of the dead. To preserve this monument, therefore, from violence, became a point of honour with the British contingent; and their care was the more needed, that the Austrians appeared to harbour a design towards it diametrically the reverse. The very first day an Austrian picquet mounted there, the men began to chip and deface the pillar. It was to no purpose that the act was condemned as unmanly and barbarous in general orders; the same results followed on the next occasion, when the duke found it expedient to commit the post to the guardianship of his allies, till, in the end, the very existence of the monument seemed to be endangered. This was too much for the good-nature even of our good-natured commander-in- chief. He placed the obelisk under the protection of a British guard, and neither Austrians nor Hanoverians, nor the soldiers of any other nation, were permitted, except under surveillance, to ap- proaeh the hill. At length, on the 2nd of June, at ten o'clock at night, ground was formally broken. The operation was performed by a working party of about three hundred men, which a second party, accoutred and ready for action, covered; and as the men preserved a strict silence, and there was no moon in the heavens, considerable progress was made ere the enemy caught the alarm. No sooner, however, was our pur- 48 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. pose made manifest, than they opened a fire from every gun that bore upon the point, and night and day, till the parallel was finished,' were our men exposed to its fury • yet the casualties were much fewer than from such a cannonade might have been expected. I do not recol- lect that anybody belonging to our regiment was killed, except one man; and I am mistaken if the wounded comprised more than the earl of Cavan, whom the splinter of a shell struck on the head when he was standing in the trenches. It is not worth while to give a minute and particular account of the progress of the siege, which lasted from the 2nd of June to the 29th of July. In all essential points the details of one such operation will be found to resemble those of another: that is to say, working par- ties are out for ever; and the greatest precautions are used, sometimes to no purpose, to guard against the risk of sorties, or to repel them when nazarded. Into the mysteries of these matters we were fully initiated. We worked, we watched, we patrolled; we gave as well as received alarms, and became by degrees so accustomed to the whistle of shot and shells, as scarcely to regard it. Yet we had our little varieties too, of which the following may be received as spe- cimens. About a week after the siege had fairly begun, there came from the town an officer with a flag of truce, to report that an English lady was just then taken with the pains of labour, and to beg an armistice of six hours, that she might be removed to a place of safety. The request was acceded to, of course, and out the lady came; but I am sorry to be obliged to add, that the Erench totally forgot the nature of the engagement into which they had entered. Round the town, and in front of our lines, there were some magnificent gardens, the cherry- trees in which were at this season laden with fruit, and often had they been gazed at by us with longing eyes, such as men generally turn upon the good things which they may not even hope to possess. We were no sooner informed of the six hours' armistice than we resolved to turn it to account. In large numbers we flocked to the orchards, and happy men were we while branch after branch gave up its trea- sures. Rut we had counted, more than the event proved that we were justified in doing, on Erench honour as well as French generosity. The enemy no sooner oeheld us in this exposed state, than they opened a fire from the battery opposite, and slew in cold blood three or four individuals, who imagined that they were safe, because of the armis- tice scarce one hour had elapsed. There was much indignation both experienced and expressed at so wanton an outrage; but what could we do ? We made all the haste possible back to the lines, and our guns soon made answer to the guns of the enemy. Another circumstance occurred, somewhat later in the siege, which operated for a while a good deal to our hurt, but of which we soon contrived to elude the worst consequences. An Austrian officer of engineers deserted; and, as he carried with him a perfect knowledge of the situation of our mines, and of the routes which we followed in carrying relief to the trenches, we had every right to expect that in both the garrison would disturb us. We were not mistaken in this anticipation. Regularly as the hour of relief came round the enemy used to fir with extreme precision towards certain exposed points on dumalton's story. 49 the line which it was our custom to follow; while more than one of their shells lodged in the very mouth of the mine at the precise moment when our people had been appointed to charge it. Our obvious policy, of course, was to set aside the old arrangements, and we adopted it; yet a few casualties occurred, which, but for the double treachery of that individual, never would have happened. My third anecdote has reference to a battery, which Major Wright, of the British artillery, erected on Famars hill, and from which he inflicted a great deal of damage on the town. Among other things, he set fire to a church which the governor had filled with forage, and totally consumed it. In mere wantonness, too, he battered the steeple of the cathedral, till he had fairly knocked it out of the perpendicular; and it still, I am told, in its tottering and insecure position, bears witness to the accuracy with which his shots were directed. But this was not all. We had our sortie likewise, and a little storming; the former of which ended very much in the discomfiture of the assailants, while the latter was attended on our parts with the most complete success. I alluded just now to the siege of Conde, in which the prince of Cobourg was engaged. It went on slowly, for the means of attack were inadequate, and the garrison had been provided with every requisite for defence -yet it ended, after three months, in a capitula- tion, by which the allies became masters of the place. To mark our satisfaction, and that of our chiefs, at a result so earnestly desired, we received orders on a certain day to parade in rear of the lines, and fire a feu deioie. Now it so happened that the governor of Valenciennes was at this time in expectation of being relieved; and the firing which he heard naturally struck him as proceeding from the relieving army. Forth, therefore, he sallied at the head of a considerable column, m order to make a diversion in its favour; and between him and the guards of our trenches there was a smart encounter. But it did not last long. From our parade-ground we marched back, having no French army in our rear, and the mistake into which the garrison had fallen became immediately apparent. They retreated in great con- fusion, after sustaining a heavy loss, and never again, till the close of the siege, ventured to show themselves beyond the crest of the glacis. By this time our batteries were far advanced, and our approaches pushed to the utmost limits that were attainable, so long as certain outworks, which intervened between us and the body of the place, should remain in the enemy's possession. These it was accordingly determined to storm, and on the night of the 29th of July the assault took place. I was not myself personally engaged in this affair, which was intrusted to detachments from several regiments; but, like the rest of the amy, I was a spectator of it; and a very remarkable military show it was. We had run a mine under the ditch of one of the outworks, the explosion of which would, it was assumed, throw down both the scarp and the counter-scarp; and the directions given to the storming party were to wait till that should be effected, and then to rush on. No operation of the kind could have been executed more regularly, or with more perfect success. A little before mid- £ 50 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. night we beheld the mine explode; and then the columns of attack, which had already been formed in the trenches, sprang forward, ana bore down all opposition. A sharp firing there was for a time, with a hand-to-hand fight over the breach; but the enemy did not long main- tain it. They retreated into the town, and the very next day exhibited manifest symptoms of having had enough, or more than enough, of the siege. The fall of this outwork appeared to operate upon the courage of the French governor with an effect which greatly surprised us. He sent an aide-de-camp, without loss of time, to propose terms of capitulation, and was glad, when others more favourable were refused, to stipulate only for the honours of war as a salve to his own vanity and that of his troops. The request was, of course, granted readily, and the 29th was selected as the day on which the garrison should march out, and lay down their arms in a particular field that was set apart for the purpose. There was, however, another matter to be arranged ere we could give up our attention exclusively to this business. Several deserters had passed from our army into the town, and it was neces- sary for the sake of example that they should not escape punishment. Not, therefore, till the evening of the 28th, was the blockade in the slightest degree relaxed, and then the vigilance of our picquets seemed only to increase. It had been arranged between the chiefs that at daybreak on the morning of the 29th detachments from the allied army should occupy the several gates, and that one, and no more, should continue in charge of the garrison, through which, at the stipu- lated hour, they were to pass to the place of surrender. All this was done accordingly. As soon as the day broke, our people got under arms, and moved from their respective encampments to the posts that had been allotted to them. For ourselves, we lined the road from the Cambray gate to Briquet, the place where the [arms of the pri- soners were to be deposited; while between our ranks certain intel- ligent persons from each of the nations took post, for the purpose of examinmg the countenances of those who should pass, and otherwise providing that the deserters were not smuggled out in the confusion. Such was the order in which we stood till the clocks of the town struck six, when the word attention was given, and the Cambray gate being thrown open, multitudes of country people issued forth. They came with horses and waggons, and household stuff, as if about to emigrate to a distant country; and the lamentations of not a few of them were as loud and vehement as the mirth of others was unbe- coming. Not a group was permitted to pass, however, till the indi- viduals comprising it had been examined,—not a cart or vehicle of any description escaped the vigilance of the searchers. For a while all this care seemed to be applied in vain; and we began to suspect, in some sort even to hope, that the unhappy deserters might have fallen upon a better plan of escape; but the event showed that no such good fortune attended them. First one and then another was dragged from beneath a truss of straw, or seized in defiance of the change of cos- tume with which he had endeavoured to disguise himself; and a prevot from each nation being at hand, to him his own people were immediately delivered. I am sorry to say that there was one English- dumalton's story. 51 man of the name of Cogle in the list. He was taken out of a waggon more dead than alive, and placed in confinement; there to remain til a court-martial should assemble before which his case might be fully heard. The foreigners were not so nice in their proceedings. Eou Austrians, including the officer of engineers, one or two Hanoverians and as many Dutchmen, were all hung up to the nearest trees; the fact of their having been detected hi an endeavour to smuggle them- selves out of the place being regarded as proof enough that they were not carried into it as prisoners of war. Before I conclude my account of the siege of Yalenciennes, I may as well state that his lioyal Highness the Duke of Cambridge was present during the progress of the operation, and that both he and his regiment, a corps of Hanoverian grenadiers, were especial favourites with the British army. The grenadiers in question constituted nomi- nally the same battalion which had served under General Elliot in the defence of Gibraltar; and, though time had accomplished among them his customary operation of weeding them out, well nigh to extinction, several of the old hands still remained to speak of the exploits of other days. It was curious to see how they attached themselves to the Coldstreams, both officers and men so arranging matters that we should take all manner of duties together; and I am bound to add that the feeling was mutual. We were the best friends possible, and spent many a joyous hour in each others' company, even when our conversation was of necessity carried on by signs only. CHAPTER IY. Wherein further Military Operations are described. We marched into Yalenciennes the same day that the Erench marched out of it, and during four days more continued in occupation of the place. It was in this interval that Cogle, the wretched deserter, was Drought to trial, when, the evidence being decisive against him, he was condemned to suffer. I do not know that any good purpose would be served were I to describe the particulars of the execution at length; I therefore content myself with stating, that the whole of the British force paraded to see him die; that he was hanged to one of the branches of a tree which stood in front of the centre of our encampment; and that the tree received in consequence a designation which, if it survive, associates it to this hour with the name of the late excellent commander-in-chief of the British army. We called that living gallows The Duke of York's Tree, and the country people catching the sound, translated it into their own language, and re- tained it. Our next move was upon Cambray, before which the allied army made preparations to sit down; but whatever might be the nature of its operations, we took no part in them. On the 14th of August we got the route for Dunkirk; and accompanied by a corps of Hessians, some Prussians, Austrians, and Hanoverians, proceeded by Tournay, Lannay, and Ghelins, towards the proposed field of action. The 18th 52 THE VETEEANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. saw us pass through Menin, and encamp about ten in the mornrng in the fields beyond, where preparations were made to spend the remainder of the day, so as in some measure to recruit after four days' severe travel. But they who anticipated rest were quite in fault. The tents were just pitched, the fires lighted, the kettles put on, with a good stock of vegetables prepared ; a bullock was just killed, and the raw meat served out, when suddenly the drums beat to arms. There was much hurry and bustle everywhere, as may be imagined. Of the officers very many had returned to the town, where they were refreshing themselves in the different hotels, while the men were all stripped of their accoutrements, and not a few engaged in fatigue duties. But the drum and the bugle has each a voice which nobody thinks of misunderstanding; and in two minutes we were accoutred, and in our ranks waiting for orders. They soon came. Two men from each company were directed to remain as guards of the camp, and the wounded and the weak were of course selected for that duty; after which the rest of us, leaving the tents pitched, and all things in the same order as if we had gone out for an ordinary parade, formed the line of march right in front, and moved forward. _ The town or village of Lincelles is situated upon a plain, with some rising ground a mile or two in rear of it. Generally speaking the country round is open,—that is to say, it is not wooded, except on the side wnich looks towards Menin, but is a good deal intersected with marshes, canals, and sheets of water, which afford great facilities to those who, in a military point of view, may desire to render it secure. The French, having driven a corps of Dutch troops from the place, took possession, and intrenched themselves in it. They erected bat- teries at every point which seemed to be peculiarly assailable. These they connected one with another by means of breast-works, and leaving in the place a garrison of five thousand men, believed that it was secure. We learned, while on the march, that to our three weak battalions the business was committed of recovering that post; for the Dutch, we found, had retreated by a different road, and were not within reach, had we been directed to communicate with them. But the flight of our allies, whatever effect it might have on the officers in command, was treated by us in the ranks as a mere subject of raillery. What did we care for the Meinheers. We would show them that the English Guards were able to retrieve even their blun- ders; and I am bound to add that we kept our word. Yet we had a sharp brush for it too; and ought not, had the French done their duty, to have made any progress. The drums beat, and we fell in, and were in line of march, all within the space of five minutes. Many officers, therefore, and several sergeants' parties, who had gone to town on business public or private, were left behind; that is to say, they continued to overtake us singly or in groups during the whole of the first two or three miles which we accomphshed. Among the officers, Colonel Bosville, a remarkably fine fellow, an especial favourite with the troops, and a man of great stature, came up; and such had been his haste, that he appeared at the head of Lis company with a sword on to be sure, but haying no sash. One of the sergeants, noticing the circumstance, DUMALTOX's STOUY. 53 pointed it out, on which Colonel Bosville looked down and exclaimed, 'Ah! so I have. But I can do without that. It is better to leave a sash behind than a sword." Now there was nothing in all this, I freely grant, which seems to deserve that it should be noticed; yet I well remember that we remarked upon the circumstance at the moment as prognosticating no good to the colonel; and when we saw him fall dead within an hour afterwards, it seemed to us as if our foreboding had been just. In this manner we pushed on, till between twelve and one o'clock in the afternoon, when the enemy's batteries suddenly opened upon us, and we were saluted with some round shot. They did us little damage, and we never called a halt; but, throwing out a company to clear the wood, the column held its course as heretofore. Thus it was till the thickets were cleared, and then section after section, as we gained the open space, ran up into line, and delivered its fire in return for that which the Trench gave from behind the shelter of their breast-wOTks. A battle of volleys is not, however, suited to the temper of British troops under any circumstances, and, with men circumstanced as we were at that moment, it would have been ruinous. " Give them the steel, my lads," was Colonel Pennington's short address, to which we made answer with a hearty cheer; and one more fire having been thrown in, away we went against the intrench- ments at double-quick. A round or two of grape, with a single discharge of musketry, thinned our ranks a little, but did not arrest the progress of the survivors one moment. We sprang into the ditch, scrambled up the face of the parapet, leaped into the batteries, and chased the enemy, with considerable loss to them, fairly out of the cover. Never surely was success more complete, or more rapidly achieved; for I do not believe that between the firing of the first shot and our unceremonious entrance into the French lines more than an hour, if indeed so much, could have possibly elapsed. It was evident from everything that we saw around us that we had come upon the French by surprise. No preparations whatever were made for a retreat. The horses belonging to the artillery were not harnessed,—the guns were in battery, but. the limbers were out of their places, and on numerous fires which had been lighted beneath the parapet, camp-kettles filled with provisions were boiling. Of these we, as was natural, took possession; and it consoled us for the loss of our own breakfasts, when we found that we had been able to scare the enemy from their dinners. But the work of the day was not yet over. The French fled with precipitation through the town, our people hotly pursuing; but, when they got to the heights, a strong support met them, and they rallied, and again showed a front. Three companies of the Coldstreams, were immediately detached for the purpose of turning them on the right; while the remainder of the battalion, leaving the 3rd regiment in reserve, should assail their front: yet we could not, in spite of our best exertions, carry the plan into effect. After making a wide detour, so as to throw a farm-house with its offices between us and the enemy,, we found that their flank was secured by a large sheet of water; and that any attempt on our part to pass round it must be made in the face of all their fire. 54 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. Accordingly, after one or two feints, wliicli cost some valuable lives, Colonel Pennington saw that the tiling was not to be done; and the detached companies were directed, in consequence, to rejoin the main body. We did so without delay, and the brigade having once more eassembled, halted among some orchards till dark, and then marched back to a position just outside the intrenehments. In moving to our ground we passed for the second time through the town, and not having our thoughts engrossed now, as they were when we first entered it, with other matters, we found leisure to look about us. There was not a house in the place of which the doors and windows were not carefully closed. Some of the inhabitants appeared to have deserted it, the remainder kept close within their dwellings, and to the applications of us, their deliverers, for food, they paid no attention. It seemed, however, as if they had not adhered to this plan of seclusion all day long, tor the dead which lay in the streets were plundered, and in several instances stripped naked. One fair, delicate-looking youth, an officer, as I understood, of artillery, with light-brown hair, and a skin as white as alabaster, had been thus served; and a more piteous spectacle than he presented it would be difficult to conceive. Poor ooy! a musket-shot had passed quite through his head, and there he lay, his smooth and pure cheek stained with his own blood, instead of resting, as it ought to have done, on his mother's bosom. War is a fearful calamity at the best, which we cease to regard, except with horror, when we look upon its effects, as they show themselves on the mangled remains of full-grown men; but when such a child as this has become its victim, our horror deepens well nigh into agony. I declare that the vision of that slight fair corpse haunted me for many a day after; and that not unfrequently I have started from my sleep, so vivid was the impression ot its very presence near me. We marched through the town in good order, and halting just out- side the works, made arrangements to spend the night in the open air. Picquets were stationed, and guards planted, as well to observe the motions of the enemy, as to hinder our own people from return- ing after dark, into the place ; for General Lake was most commend- ably_ resolute that the inhabitants should not be molested, nor we tarnish our laurels with the crime of pillage. In the latter of these righteous determinations he entirely succeeded; in reference to the former he was not quite so fortunate. We got no booty, it is true; but, about eleven o'clock, there arrived a brigade of Austrians, whom General Clairfait had sent to relieve us, ana they, as we after- wards ascertained, were not quite so fastidious. The town was sacked ere dawn of next day as thoroughly as if it had been carried by assault. Meanwhile we were 011 our march back to the encampment near Menin, where we arrived about two in the morning: and in the tents which we had left standing previous to the advance, we slept for some hours very soundly. Our loss in the affair of Lincelles had been considerable; out of a battalion which took into the field little more than three hundred men, nine, including Colonel Eosvilie, were killed, and forty-five wounded. Among the latter was my comrade, who had given me his dumalton's story. 55 watch when he received his hurt; and to visit him, I got a pass, and Eroceeded into Menin. I believe that, in what were called the general ospitals, the sick and wounded of the army received every attention; neither had they a right to complain, even in such a situation as this, of any neglect on the part of the medical attendants; hut the comforts provided for them were very meagre, and their sufferings in consequence appeared to be great. I found my comrade lying, with, many others, in a barn, along the floor of which some straw had been spread; but without a mattress, or a blanket, or a sheet, or any other covering, except the soiled and bloody clothes in which he had fought. Like all the rest, however, he seemed resolved not to com- plain: and to my inquiries as to how he felt, he answered cheerfully. Poor fellow! he had already suffered amputation of his right arm, and looked pale and feeble, as was to be expected; but he soon recovered, and went home to England, where he was discharged, of course upon a pension. I returned him his watch ere he departed, but have not since heard what ultimately became of him. The dead that die in battle are, as everybody knows, dealt with summarily, and with very little parade. A few trenches, not oyer deep, for the most part contain them all • nor is much distinction made between the corpse of an officer and. that of a private: but if there chance to have fallen one of superior rank, or an individual who may have won in a marked degree the respect and affection of his brother soldiers, then it is customary to honour his insensible remains with the distinction, if such it deserve to be accounted, of a sepa- rate funeral. The body of Colonel Bosville, for example, we carried back with us from Lincelles to the camp in front of Menin, and we dug his grave in the very centre of the line, near the spot on which the colours were planted. This was in the morning; and about three in the afternoon the whole battalion stood to its arms to witness the interment of one whom we greatly esteemed when living, and now sincerely mourned when dead. They wrapped him in his cloak, and laid him to rest,—a noble specimen of manhood—for he did not measure less than six feet four inches in height; and the adjutant, having read the burial service with great solemnity, the firing-party were ordered to salute him where he lay. Eifty men, of whom I was one, discharged their pieces into his grave, and the parade broke up. "We returned to our tents, somewhat solemnized by the duty in which we had been engaged, and, after speculating a little on the probable results of our yesterday's battle, went early to bed; but we had scarcely begun to drop asleep, when the drums beat to arms. We sprang to our feet on the instant, and, a good deal to our annoy- ance, found that another night-march awaited us. I dare say these night-marches were necessary • I hope, at least, they were, for of all that a soldier is doomed to undergo, there is notliing which so much as this destruction of his natural rest, puts both health and temper in jeopardy. Indeed, it is certain that, except in the very last extremity, troops ought to be moved only by day, because you cannot get men to compose themselves to sleep under a bright summer's sun; and, if the case were otherwise, sleep so obtained is neither so sweet nor 56 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. so refreshing as when darkness has drawn her curtain over the sleeper. However, these are truths which either did not occur to our leaders, or which the pressure of some stern, though to us un- known necessity, kept them from regarding. Accordingly, at half- past ten o'clock, we stood to our arms, and at eleven the brigade was in march. # We anticipated, of course, a repetition of some such scene as that at Lincelles; but we were mistaken. On we trudged, meeting no enemy, hearing of no sound of alarm, nor being once put to our mettle; till, after passing through Ypres, we halted near Tournay, and enjoyed in our camp some hours 01 the rest which we sorely wanted. The fact indeed is, that the British and Hanoverian con- Ttingents were then separating themselves from the allied army, and proceeding to undertake the siege of Dunkirk, with means quite inadequate; and thus a campaign, opened with every prospect of success, had already been doomed by Him in whose hands the events 'of war are kept, to end unfortunately. We halted near Furnes till the 22nd; when a general advance took place, for the purpose of dislodging the enemy from a position which they were understood to have taken up, at a place called Ghievelde. ' They did not, however, abide our onslaught; but retreating as we drew near, left us free to reconnoitre their works, and to complete our arrangements for the siege which was to follow. Some little skir- mishing did indeed occur, between their rear and our advanced guard; which was not serious while it lasted, and led to nothing; but on the 24th, we were more warmly engaged. On that day dispositions were made to cut off the garrison from all communication with the open country; and driving them within their line of defence, to render the investment complete. Our regiment was little if at all engaged in this battle, of which the brunt fell on the light battalion, composed •of the flank companies; yet I am bound to state, that nothing could .have been done more effectually, or in better style. There were numerous hedges and ditches, behind which the enemy endeavoured to maintain themselves, but from all of these, one after another, they were driven, and the very same night saw us busy in the trenches. There are few events in my military career on which I look back with less satisfaction than on the siege of Dunkirk. In the first place, our numbers were never adequate to reduce a place which was not only held by a garrison little, if at all, inferior to the besieging force, but which the enemy were determined, at all hazards, to sue- cour. In the next place, the naval co-operation of which we had been assured, did not come; and, lastly, we were not then sufficiently masters of the art of engineering to undertake any such service as that for which we were set apart. Then, again, the nature of the country was all against us. It was a low, flat, marshy plain, which the enemy had it in their power to inundate at any moment, and which they did inundate to such a degree, that at last we could hardly find dry spots sufficiently capacious to hold our tents. I admit that as often as the garrison attempted a sortie, we beat them back. On the 3rd of September, for example, they came out in great force, two dumalton's story. 57 hours before daybreak, and succeeded at first in driving in our pickets and making themselves masters of one or two of our advanced re- doubts. But their triumph was of short duration, for no sooner were the troops in reserve formed and brought into play, than they recovered all the ground that had been lost, and made many pri- soners. Nevertheless, my recollection of this ill-fated siege is alto- gether a painful one, inasmuch as, from the very outset, it seems to me never to have given promise of any other result than that which actually occurred. Por example, we heard, from time to time, that the enemy were collecting a large army wherewith to attack us and that the Austrians and Prussians, instead of being in a condition to march to our support, were losing ground every day. At the same time the Prench, so far from sustaining a blockade from the sea, sent out gun-boats which enfiladed our lines, and by their fire occasioned us a serious loss in lives as well as in comfort. And over and above all this, the garrison, which amounted to not less than twenty thou- sand men, showed itself quite capable of giving us employment single-handed. An affair at the outposts was a thing of almost daily occurrence, and though these ended invariably in the repulse of the assailants, the annoyance and vexation occasioned to us were incal- culable. Things continued in this state till the 10th of September, when intelligence suddenly reached us that General Preytag, who com- manded an army of Hanoverians and in some degree covered the siege, had sustained a signal defeat. It appeared, also, that General Walmoden, in an endeavour to support him, had nearly shared the same fate; and that the enemy were in every respect so superior to anything which we could oppose to them, that an immediate retreat was become necessary. I need hardly stop to explain how move- ments of this kind are conducted. Pirst the sick ana wounded, then the moveable artillery, next the baggage, and as much of ammuni- tion as we had means to transport, were sent to the rear; and finally, after darkness had set in, the different regiments and brigades quitted their ground and marched off, without beat of drum, whither we knew not. The picquets, indeed, were left behind as a sort of mask upon the movement; and as they were always numerically strong, they proved a powerful rear-guard j but they also drew off long before dawn, ana our lines were entirely abandoned. 1 regret to be obliged to add, that in the batteries we left, for lack of means to transport them, fifty pieces of heavy ordnance, with a large supply of powder and shot, and other military stores: a very legitimate ground of triumph to an enemy with whom, up to the present moment, we had never come in contact without thrashing them soundly. The retreat lasted three or four days, and was not, I am sorry to say, conducted with much order. The corps, indeed, got so com- pletely mixed together, that we had attached to our battalion more than eighty men from some regiments of the line, not one of whom could rejoin his proper colours till the army halted. There was skirmishing, too, with the cavalry which covered the rear, in which, once, or twice, the light infantry took part; but no decisive blow 58 TIIE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. was struck, and we repassed Menin, without sustaining any serious loss. This was on the 15th, and as General Houchard did not seem inclined to press us, we there pitched our tents. But we had not oc- cupied them long ere fresh orders reached us, and we proceeded by way of Courtray to Pecke, a village not far from Tournay; and by-and- by through St. Amand, to the great plain between Quesnoy and Landrecy. It was while we lay here, that the 15th Light Dragoons, supported by the third regiment of Guards, performed one of the most dashing exploits which had been executed since the commence- ment of the war. Having ascertained that in the open town of Lannoy a superior body of the French were quartered, they suddenly marched against them, and taking them quite by surprise, defeated them with prodigious loss. I am really afraid to specify the exact number of prisoners whom they brought into the camp, though I am sure they could not fall short of fifteen hundred; and among them were many officers, from whom neither horses nor accoutrements nor private baggage were taken away; but I have the best reason in the world for recollecting, that they came in the very midst of a furious storm of rain. The truth indeed is, that I was one of the party to whose care they were then intrusted, and that I performed my journey back to Tournay and Oudenard in a state of such perfect discom- fort, as it would not be easy for even a fertile imagination to con- ceive. When I quitted the camp, the tents had ceased to afford any adequate shelter to their inmates against the violence of the weather. When I returned to the plain of Gascogne, on which they used to stand, I found that not a vestige of them remained. The army, indeea, had broken up on the 9th of November, that the troops might be put into quarters, and the Guards were, in consequence, marched first to Tournay and ultimately to Ghent. There, in St. Peter's barracks, well housed, well fed, and well cared for, we spent the winter of 1793-1 in peace. The garrison duty which we shared with some corps of Austrians, was very light; the inhabitants showed themselves disposed to treat us kindly: and we, in our turn, did our best to assimilate our habits to those of the people among whom we were thrown. And when to all this I add, that little or no sickness prevailed among_ us, the _ testimony which I bear to the pleasant routine of our existence will not, I dare say, be called in question. CHAPTER V. Which tells of sundry Changes in Equipments, Personal Adventures, Battles, Night-Marches, and other Matters. The campaign of 1793 had ended, if not triumphantly, at all events, not discreditably to the allied arms. Great preparations were, 1 believe, made for the purpose of opening the next with increased means; while, in our case, certain changes were effected, every one of which operated for good. In lieu of the small tents, the labour of transporting which had proved very serious, a number of iound, DUMALTOX'S STORY. 59 or bell-tents arrived from England, of which I need not pause to give a description, because they resembled in all essential points those which have ever since continued in use with the British army. At the same time, great-coats, of which, as I have elsewhere explained, we had often found cause to lament the absence, were served out. I cannot say, indeed, that they were of very superior quality: on the contrary, having been supplied, as usual, on contract, many of them proved, when brought to trial, quite worthless; indeed, that which was given to me went to pieces ere the first six weeks of active operations expired. Still, the motive which induced the Home authorities to supply them was good, and we were grateful for it: yet I question whether to us any of the changes gave greater satis- faction than the substitution of a new species of camp-kettle for that which we had heretofore been condemned to carry. When a man is loaded with his knapsack, his arms, ammunition, and provisions, the annoyance caused by requiring that he shall lug a great kettle too about with him, is indescribable. Erom this the new device freed us: inasmuch as the kettles now sent out were all so formed as to fit on to the pack-saddles of the bat-horse; and we were too happy in getting rid of them to inquire whether the consequences would not be, that we should sometimes go without the means of cooking altogether. On the 15th of April, 1794, we received orders to pack up our baggage; and on the 16th, at an early hour in the morning, quitted our comfortable barracks in Ghent. We marched to the plains of Gateau, where was exhibited one of the most magnificent military spectacles which in modern times has occurred in Europe. The whole of the allied army was there, including British, Hanoverians, Dutch, Hessians; and all, to the amount, as was computed, of one hundred and eighty thousand men, were passed in review by the emperor and his staff. Among others, the archduke Charles and the prince of Cobourg _ rode along our line, a brilliant retinue of mounted officers following them; while everywhere throughout the plain, as far as the eye could reach, masses both of horse and foot stood to be similarly inspected. There was no manoeuvring, to be sure—how, indeed, could there be ? for, prodigious as the extent of the heath was, it would not have sufficed for the handling of such a multitude, if the purpose had been, which it was not, a parade of manoeuvres. We had come together only that our chiefs might be satisfied of the general efficiency of our equipments : and to accom- plish that, including an inspection of the line and the bat-horses, occupied a large portion of the day. But the business, important as it was, came to an end at last, and then the several columns began to file off, each to the station in the enormous line which it was intended to occupy. Eor ourselves, we had assembled on our proper ground, and there we stood fast. The tents had followed us to Ghent; and now having pitched them, we received orders to pile our arms, lay aside our accoutrements, and make ourselves comfortable. I well remember that, in spite of the newly-issued great-coats, this was a night when the last of these orders could be very imperfectly obeyed. No straw was to be procured for the purposes of bedding- 60 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA UOSPITAL. and to lie upon the ground, even with a great-coat under you, during a sharp white frost, such as set in after nightfall, is not exactly the Wsition which he would assume who desired to be comfortable. e did not, however, mind a little pinching; and had the contrary been the case, no leisure was afforded to brood over it; for at dawn next day we were under arms, and at six o'clock began to move towards the front. What the object of the move might be, we, of course, neither knew nor inquired; though the mode in which it was conducted seemed to imply that active work would arise out of it: for we loitered over our ground, made frequent halts, and saw that a considerable force of heavy cavalry was in support of us. At last, however, the mystery was explained. From a star-fort which crowned an eminence, and over which the republican flag was waving, there opened upon us, about three in the afternoon, a heavy fire of cannon; the balls from which, striking among the cavalry in our rear, did them some damage, and galled them exceedingly. Mean- while we manoeuvred to turn the redoubt. We filed off to the left, got the hill between us and the enemy's guns, and then, closing gra- dually in upon them, won the ridge without having sustained any loss. There, however, their fire reached us again; upon which we were directed to throw off our knapsacks, and passing round at double-quick time to attack the battery in rear. All this we did, but in the honour of achieving that conquest we could claim no share. Before we reached our point of assault, the flank battalion had antici- pated us, and we found both the redoubt and the pieces with which it was crowned, in their possession. Having secured this advantage, we pushed on, and the enemy retreating from the village of Yaux, our people entered it. We did not, however, stop to ascertain whether it contained anything of which we might be in need, but pressed forward above a mile farther, and there halted. Fires were immediately lighted, and arms piled, tolerably sure indications that our quarters for the night were taken up: ana no tents having arrived, nor, as far as I ever knew, being sent for, it became a question how we might dispose of our- selves to the best advantage; for the clouds, which had been gathering all day, now broke, and such rain fell as would have rendered better coats than ours useless as a protection against its violence. Accord- ingly, seeing that the outer man bade fair to be but scurvily treated, we made up our minds to deal as generously as circumstances would allow with the inner man. Away to the rear, therefore, stole parties of twos and threes, which, penetrating into Yaux, soon came back, some laden with flour, others with bread, others with lumps of baeon, or lard, or butter, and one or two with excellent Scheiaam. Then followed a series of culinary operations, which few, except soldiers and gipsies, ever undertake, by which cakes are kneaded and baked without the aid either of kneading-trough or ovens, and bacon is broiled upon the coals, yet none of the gravy permitted to go to waste. 1 perfectly remember I was one of the cooks that night; and unless my vanity misled me at the moment, or my memory be in error now, the bread which I made was pronounced to be ad- mirable. dumalton's story. 61 Two officers of the company to which I belonged, Captain Ross and Mr. Millbank, were especial favourites in the corps. They were great friends too, and shared that night a bearskin between them; which, after desiring us to keep up a good fire, they stretched upon the ground and drew over them. I had laboured at my vocation till I became very sleepy, and espying, as I imagined, a fragment of the bearskin which was not in use, I ventured to creep under it. In this position I went soon as completely into the land of forgetfulness as ever was infant on its mother's breast. Not less sound, and deep, and unbroken, I make no doubt, was the sleep of my companions also; but when we were roused by the general stir among the people round us, a scene laughable enough, at least to me, presented itself. Whether it was I or my officers that had fidgeted too much in our sleep I cannot tell; but the bearskin had entirely departed from its destined uses. It covered me over from neck to heel, and left them quite exposed to the weather. They were both wet to the skin, of course: and Captain Ross, starting up in a considerable fury, seemed inclined at first to deal roughly by me. But ere his anger came to any head, he looked down on Mr. Millbank, and the attitude and drenched condition of his friend converted all his anger into mirth. He burst into a peal of laughter, which he could scarcely control so far as to bestow upon me a few words of good-humoured malediction. As may be imagined, I was no way disposed to quarrel with a reproof so bestowed; and a peace-offering of some of my cakes was on their parts accepted as ample compensation for the wrong I had done them. Captain Ross and Mr. Millbank were not, however, the only persons whom the events of that night had seriously incommoded. Tne duke of York, it appeared, after establishing his head-quarters in Vaux, was fairly burned out; for a corps of Austrians made their way into the town, and it almost immediately took fire. His royal highness was, in consequence, obliged to remove to a windmill which adjoined to the ground of our bivouac. But to him, as well as to us, the night wore away, and the morrow brought with it its own occupations. We were under arms, as usual, before break of day, and rejoiced not a little when we found that the storm was abated; yet we aid not form the line of march till eight o'clock, and it was nine ere the movement began. It turned out that the object of this move was to cover the siege of Landrecy, of which place the prince of Orange was directed to make himself master; and that while our allies should have so dis- posed of themselves as to keep the enemy in check in other quarters, to us was to be committed the charge of masking Cambray, and cutting off all communication between it and the beleaguered fortress. Our knapsacks having been all collected before the bivouac was formed, there needed only the presence of the tents to render us com- Slete, and these having been already sent for, our march was con- uctedwith perfect regularity. We passed through Cateau; com- pelled the enemy to withdraw from an advanced position which they had taken, and establishing ourselves on the great road, about a league from Cambray, began to throw up redoubts for our own security. For a day or two we seemed to have matters all our own way; but an 62 TIIE "VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. hour before dawn, on the morning of the 22nd, the picquets were fiercely attacked, and, after a short resistance, driven in. We, of course, got under arms immediately, and the cavalry, which lay for the convenience of forage a couple of miles in our rear, came hastily t9 the front; but no general action ensued. The French appeared either unwilling or unable to commit themselves, and we had nothing to gain by acting on the offensive. Still the cavalry on both sides came to blows, and the cannonade was warm. Towards evening, however, things resumed their old position. The enemy drew off; our horsemen returned to their quarters; the picquets took up the ground of which they had been dispossessed, ana we slept in our tents. I have heard that on this pccasion one of the most distinguished cavalry regiments in the British service was badly commanded, and therefore misconducted itself. The Blues, somehow or another; did not charge when they ought to have done so, and General Maiuard received a sharp reproof at head-quarters; but as I cannot speak except on the authority of public rumour, it would be unbecoming in me to enter more into particulars. One thing, however, is certain, that if the Blues did fall that day into the shade, they soon found an opportunity of escaping from it again; for the skirmishing on the 22nd was but the commencement of a series of operations, throughout the whole of which both the courage and the endurance of the British army were well tried. The 23rd was a day of rest. The enemy did not show so much as a patrol beyond their lines, and we were quiet; but on the 24th they renewed the attack upon our picquets, with a result similar in all essential points to that which had occurred the day previously. In like manner, on the 25th, there occurred nothing worthy of notice; but the 26th found work, especially for the cavalry and artillery, warmer, closer, and more effectual than had yet been «nVimif+pr] fr> tiipm a ornfn tiip onumv came on an hour before day- of the redoubts which we had Immediately pn the alarm being given, our horsemen came up, as on former occasions, from the rear. They passed us where we stood in column just as the grey dawn was coming in; and, in the obscure light which fell upon them, appeared to peculiar advantage; for the horses were in excellent condition, the men young and active, and their numbers greater by far than we had supposed them to be. Yet among the infantry no move was made. We continued, on the con- trary, in occupation of the high road, with arms piled, and our bat- talion guns beside us, waiting, no doubt, till things should take such a turn as might give to us and to our dismounted comrades an oppor- tunity of acting with effect. The morning of the 26th came in fair and bright, and the spectacle which it gradually opened out to us was very imposing. Over the enormous plain by which Cambray is surrounded innumerable columns of infantry and cavalry were scattered; the latter, both on our side and on that of the French, being to the rear • the former well advanced, so as to be in readiness for action; yet all in a state of quiescence. Meanwhile, an occasional discharge from the field-batteries on both established themselves in a dumalton's story. 63 sides indicated that this was no parade of mere show ; while the skirmishers lay—ours in and about the redoubt, with here and there a few files in the open field—those of the enemy near the village and among the gardens and little inclosures.that environed it. By degrees, however, the figures on this mighty chess-board began to move. The enemy's cavak-y gathered into larger masses, and advanced. Ours adopted formations so as to correspond with theirs, and the artillery on both sides fired smartly. Then followed a good deal of scampering hither and thither, with an occasional rattle of carabines and pistols; and once or twice a partial charge, out of which no important con- sequences resulted; till suddenly a wild yell burst from the village, and a heavy column of French infantry sprang forward. They bore down in a moment the trifling opposition which our skirmishers could offer. They received, but were not checked by the round shot which our gunners threw among them; and pressing on, took possession of the redoubt which covered the front of our position. Instantly the word was given to stand to our arms, and we were in momentary expectation of a brush, when suddenly some regiments of cavalry, among which the Blues were conspicuous, crossed us at a trot. They went straight for the redoubt; they swept round it, and, falling upon the enemy's column, of which the head only had got within the works, committed terrible havoc, and broke it into shreds. We were now hurried on, and in five minutes both redoubt and village were in our possession. From that time till late in the day the battle continued; not unin- terruptedly, like an action which is to decide the fate of a campaign, but by fits* and starts, as the enemy judged it expedient to come on again; and we found our energies taxed to meet and to repel them; for, as I have already stated, we had nothing to gain by advancing far beyond the line which we already occupied. Cambray was fully masked, and beyond this nothing was desired of us; whereas the enemy fought like men who would have been glad to steal a victory, had such been attainable, but who were not inclined to put everything to hazard for the purpose of insuring it. The consequence was, that after repeated charges of cavalry—after the village had been won and lost several times—after a good deal of ammunition had been expended on both sides, and by us, at least, a good many prisoners taken, the French retreated, and were followed up by the whole of our army a distance of nearly two miles. There the pursuit ended; after which the picquets were placed so as to secure the trenches, and we of the main body returned to our tents. As may be imagined, our sleep was sound and refreshing. . , Such was the posture of affairs with us for some time, till late one day a sudden order came out, and the same evening the tents were struck, and the line of march was formed. Of what nature the intel- licence might be which occasioned this change of attitude we of course could not tell. Some said one thing, some another; though the pre- valent notion was that General Clairfait had sustained a defeat, and that we had been called upon to support him. But, however this mi°-ht be, I know that we moved in extreme haste, and that the operation was conducted with very little regard to order. We quitted 64 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. our ground just as it began to grow dark, and inarched all night; and, as there had been a good deal of rain during that and the preceding days, the roads were terrible. Confusion ensued as a matter of course; for where men sink at every step to the ankles in mud, I defy you to keep them in their places; and as section after section broke off, in the hope of finding surer footing, all semblance to a column was lost. In lact, long before we had proceeded a dozen miles there was not a single sub-division in such a state as that it could be relied upon for prompt action in case of an attack. We floundered on all night, neither knowing nor caring whither we might be going, till absolute fatigue, and the assurance that half the people were in the rear, caused a halt to be ordered. Down we threw ourselves in the mud, and with accoutrements buckled on, and knap- sacks placed as pillows for our heads, we slept soundly. But the drums soon beat to arms again, and, without having had time to cook a morsel, we were once more hurried forward. No doubt the officers succeeded for awhile in restoring some semblance of order; that is to say, those in front were made to stand still till the rear should have partially closed up, and, though regiments continued to be strangely mixed, something like the appearance of a regular column was restored. This lasted only for a time, inasmuch as the return of darkness put an end to it; for we had another night-march to encounter: and if the first had tried us sorely, the second proved a thousand degrees more distressing. I really do not know how it fared with my comrades, further than that we all seemed to fall off one from another,—that no human being looked round to ascertain whether anybody was near him, but each picked his own steps as well as he could. Accordingly, about midnight it turned out that there were just twelve of us together, and that where the regiment was, nobody could tell. One of the standards was in our keeping- We held a sort of a council of war together, and observing a large house near the road-side, we determined to take shelter there, and wait till day- break. It was no sooner said than done. Away we went towards the house, knocked at the front door, told the people who we were and what we wanted, and were admitted. They were very civil, and gave us all we asked,—a little straw on which to lie down; so having spread it on the floor of one of the large rooms, we composed our- selves to sleep. We had not begun to forget ourselves, when a furious knocking at the gate roused us. We started up, and, hiding the standard under the straw, made ready to defend it and ourselves, at all events so long as our ammunition lasted. I cannot say, however, that there was any lamentation among us when the intruders proved to be not Trench- men, but Austrians, who, like ourselves, had straggled from their coros, and were come to seek shelter. They, too, were admitted; and truly they seem determined to deal with the Padron in a very different spirit from that which we had exhibited. What had he in the house that was eatable and drinkable ? Nothing. Oh, then they would look round the premises. And round they did look to such excellent purpose, that in a few minutes they returned with a number of fowls, which clamoured loudly enough when first surprised on their duhalton's story. 65 perches, but were very soon put to silence by the Austrians. Then followed a plucking of feathers, a lighting of fires, and a scene of universal cookery, which we did not enjoy the less that we were made sure of being partakers in its results. In a word, we had a capital supper that night, which we washed down right merrily with some of our Post's excellent beer, and a modicum of his gin; and the best of the joke was, that we not only never got into trouble through it, but that the Fleming failed not to compliment us for our moderation and good conduct, at the very time he brought a charge against our less scrupulous allies. Whether their officers paid any regard to the charge I never heard: from ours we got nothing but commendation. Supper ended, we all lay down again, and slept till daylight. I then rose and went out; but not a trace or vestige of the regiment could I discover. The road both to the front and rear was empty, and, except that there were many marks of feet upon its surface, it might have been mistaken for some by-way, in which little or no traffic ever occurred. Under these circumstances, I was about to return to my comrades, when all at once a solitary horseman showed himself in the distance, and as he approached I recognised the adjutant, Captain Wood. He made up to me, and asked, with a good deal of anxiety, whether I knew what had become of the regimental colour; for the other was safe with the battalion, but this had gone astray. I told him, and he expressed himself greatly relieved. "But you have got too far ahead," continued he. " The battalion is a great way in the rear, so you must wait till it comes up." We were not, as may be supposed, reluctant to obey these instructions, especially when the Austrians departed, and left us to reap the exclusive benefit of our host's kindness ; for it is no more than an act of justice to record that our original modesty had not been wasted upon him; and that, if the supper which we ate at his expense can scarce be reckoned among his acts of hospitality, our breakfast—and a very good one it was—came from his free and unfettered bounty. In about an hour after we had eaten our morning meal the battalion came up, and the order which it had recovered was in a great measure preserved throughout the remainder of the march. Our speed, indeed, was slackened, and a whisper went through the ranks that some change of plan had occurred; but I cannot answer for its accuracy. I only know that we entered St. Amand the same afternoon, and took possession of a large nunnery, where for several days we enjoyed a state of rest, of which we stood very much in need. I remember, too, that on other grounds than this we greatly relished our week's halt in St. Amand. It was here that we had first come into collision with the French, and, under circumstances of great disadvantage, showed ourselves at least their equals; and very pleasant it was to wander over the scene of our bygone glory, and trace out each spot which the memory of a comrade slain, or a narrow escape experienced by ourselves, might have consecrated. Of the relics of the battle, too, we picked up here and there specimens, some of them nowise ere- ditable to the humanity of our opponents; for we found balls sticking in trees into which fish-hooks had been introduced, for the purpose of rendering the operation of extracting them from the wounded next to r G6 -i-::e veterans op chelsea hospital. impossible. We lost in the battle of Lincelles our sergeant-major, a brave and good man, called Darley, and bis life fell a sacrifice to this rascally device; for the wound that slew him was in itself a trifle. A musket-ball lodged in the fleshy part of his arm; but the hook attached to it so cankered the hurt, and caused so wide an incision to be made for the purpose of removing it, that the poor fellow could not bear up, and sickened and died. It was a frequent practice with us, after the morning parade was ended, to wander awav in groups to the battlefield; and one of these excursions I am bound to notice, because it gives me an opportunity of recording one of the many acts of kindness which the duke of York was always doing to his soldiers. We were on the ground, a party of six or eight, when the duke with his staff rode up, and began to question us as to whether we had been present on the same ground a year ago. We told him that we had, on which he desired one of his attendants to give us a ducat to drink, and rode on. Now even a ducat was valuable to persons to whom, be it observed, no regular issues of liquor were made, who had no rations served out, as was the case in the Peninsular army, nor, indeed, anything to look to beyond each man's sixpence a day. We were, therefore, very much obliged to his royal highness. And, indeed, I may take this opportunity of recording, that though the duke had no authority for the practice, he never failed, as often as a plausible excuse could be discovered, of ordering spirits to be issued to the troops from the public stores. The duke of York might not possess the skill or the experience of other generals by whom the British armies have been commanded; but a better friend to the soldier never lived; and I verily believe there was not a man under his orders that would have hesitated a moment to give his fife for such a chief. We remained at St. Amand till the 3rd of May, when at an early hour in the morning we marched upon Tournay, and the same after- noon were warmly, though partially, engaged with the enemy. The Coldstreams did not, indeed, come under fire; but we witnessed the gallant exertions of our comrades, and to sharper fighting, so long as the struggle lasted, men are not often exposed. The cannonade, in particular, was tremendous, and the cavalry acquitted itself with its wonted spirit; but the affair was not very protracted. The French, finding that they could make no impression, retired; and for nearly a fortnight longer we occupied our encampment in peace. CHAPTER VI. Which describes sundry and manifold Changes in Triumph and Defeat. It is no business of mine to assign reasons for the various operations in which, as a humble non-commissioned officer, I bore apart • far less to deal scientifically with my subject by pretending to describe plans of campaigns of which I knew nothing. History has indeed informed me that about this time a great effort was made to drive the French entirely beyond the borders of Flanders; and from the same source I dumalton's story. 67 have learned that it entirely failed. _ But my purpose will be best served when I state that orders were issued in the evening of the 15th of May, to pack and be ready to move at dawn next morning, and that punctual to the hour appointed our march began. The day was clear and bright, and we were all in the best spirits, for we moved in con- siderable force, having five Austrian and two Russian battalions attached to us; and a well-appointed cavalry corps, of ten squadrons, in support. Moreover, all seemed for a while to go well with us. The enemy's picquets retired as we drew on; their skirmishers could make no head against us; and our artillery, as often as the guns could be brought to bear, fired with excellent effect. Thus we forced them back, without having been once called upon to deploy,—into Lannoy, and carried that place, likewise, at a rush. But there was sharper work in store for us; and to it we presently fell. A few miles beyond Lannoy is the village or town of Roubaix • a long straight street, with a sort of place or square in the midst, and one or two lesser streets or lanes that go off from it at right-angles. There the enemy had entrenched themselves, and there they seemed resolute to make a stand. Our guns were immediately hurried to the front, and a warm fire opened upon them ; but they returned it with great effect, and seemed rather to have the advantage, because they fired from behind a parapet. Accordingly, General Abercrombie, who with the brigade of Guards, and the 7tn and 15th light dragoons, led that day the advance, determined to storm. On we went, under a murderous fire from the works, ourselves never pausing to discharge a piece: and while the cavalry swept round on either flank of the village, we took it boldly in front. The enemy did not wait to give us an opportunity of crossing bayonets with them. They stood to deliver their fire till we were neat enough to recognise their features, and cheered in their own unharmonious manner, as if in defiance; but when we set up our shout, and broke into the double-quick, they could not sustain it. The parapet was abandoned in a moment, and over it we sprang. Then, after giving them a volley while they ran down the street,_ which was not altogether harmless, we left them to the tender mercies of the dragoons, who_ cut in upon them magnifi- cently. Still Abercrombie was not satisfied. He led us forward beyond the village, formed us into line as we cleared the houses, and marched us through some fields of stiff and strong rape, which greatly fatigued us. But we were not able to renew the battle: the enemy fell Back as we advanced, the evening began to close, and the strength even of the hardiest was failing. He therefore gave orders that we should sleep upon our arms; and we lay down in the rape-fields accordingly. We had had a sharp but brilliant day of it; and, as the more important events which characterised it were diversified by one or two occurrences of lighter moment, it may not be amiss if I make mention of some of them. In the first place, then, we found in Roubaix an order from the Trench Directory, which required that no quarter should be given either to the English or Hanoverian soldiers. It was a very disgraceful affair, and was noticed as it deserved to be in the duke of York's general orders: but I do not believe that in any instance it was 68 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. attended to; for the Trench, even in those days, were not cruel, except to one another. In the next place, a prodigious quantity of assignats —the paper-money of the Republic—fell into our hands, which was not to us worth anything, but which at a future period the French employed certain Jews to purchase back. I well remember, by the way, that this proceeding on the part of the Israelites cost them dear for it was suspected—and I believe, with justice,—that they played the spy; and two or three, after receiving a couple hundred lashes apiece, were hunted beyond the limits of the camp. But the prize when taken was by us so little esteemed, that we turned the notes to all manner of unworthy purposes. Lastly, we made a good many prisoners, of whose fate I should not consider it worth while to take notice but that it connects itself with a trifling adventure which hap- pened to myself. As we were advancing through the rape on the further side of the Roubaix, I came upon a young Frenchman,—a mere boy, not more than fifteen or sixteen years of age,—who, without arms, but dressed in the national uniform, lay in a ditch. He jumped up, and instantly attached himself to me, trying by signs to make me understand that he had deserted, and that ne would gladly take part with us in fighting against his countrymen. I don't know whence the feeling arose, but I took a deep interest in that boy, and suffered him to walk near me all the while we were advancing: but I could not persuade Captain Ross, the officer of my company, to view his case in similar light. He desired that I would give him up to an escort which happened to be passing at the time, in order that he might be dealt with as if he had been a prisoner. I own that I was very sorry, but what could I do ? I gave the lad in charge to the sergeant of the party, and saw him marched off. What became of him afterwards 1 never heard. We lay upon our arms that night, having sentries posted in front of us; but it cannot be said that we lay at our ease. All night long there seemed to be a commotion near us, and each relief as he came m con- firmed the tale which his predecessor had told, that the enemy were on the stir. Some, indeed, insisted that it was the march of Austrian columns which we overheard; for the Austrians ought to have been up early in the day, and we could not suppose that they would fail us altogether; yet was there a good deal of excitement everywhere; and General Abercrombie in particular, I have the best reason to know, felt that his situation was a critical one. We therefore stood to our arms at an hour even more early than is the custom, and waited in extreme anxiety till daylight should come in. It came at length, slowly, as it always does,—at least when men's nerves are braced up for any par- ticular purpose,—and showed us at first nothing more than the open plain, and our own outposts in occupation of it. Bv-and-by, however, the more distant of these began to fire; and, what was the most startling circumstance of the whole, it was towards our rear that the firing was the sharpest. General Abercrombie saw that there was not a moment to be wasted in deliberation. We were directed to fall back in good order, but rapidly, so as to re-unite ourselves with the reserve under the duke of York, and the picquets were strengthened so that they might form a competent rearguard, and cover the move- dumaltox's story. 69 ment. But all would not avail: the enemy were already in possession of our line of communication; the duke of York could neither join us, nor we return to him without fighting; and, as it was evident from that single circumstance that the whole plan of battle had miscarried, there remained nothing for it but that we should open out a passage for ourselves, and recover our place in the line at all hazards. We had seen, just as the dawn was breaking, one of our men, accompanied by his wife, steal away from the arms, and go to the front, doubtless on a marauding expedition. We watched them till they came under the enemy's fire, and both were struck down at the same moment. They hardly deserved that good men should risk their lives for such as they; yet our commanding-officer was unwilling to abandon them, so he desired two or three of us to run out, and fetch them back. We did so; but to move the man would have been useless. A grape-shot had ripped him open, and his bowels were hanging out; the woman, however, had only got a leg broken, so her we lifted up, and she was laid, with others of the wounded, in a wag- gon. This done, away we marched; but the enemy closed upon us so fast, and in such overwhelming numbers, that our picquets could not stop them, and, with some difficulty we reached lloubaix, in time to consider what was next to be done. Had our rear been open, there could have been no difficulty in the case. We were strong enough to maintain the town as long as it might be expedient to do so; but already the heads of the enemy's columns were approaching its further extremity, and we had a double risk to guard against—that which followed, and that which threatened to head us. Three companies under Colonel Gascoyne were, thereupon, directed to keep the entrance of the village to the latest possible moment, while the remainder of the battalion drew off, the first and third marching in parallel columns on its flanks. I am bound, in justice to the three companies, to state, that we executed our orders nobly. The enemy fired upon us from two pieces of cannon, while they advanced nearer and nearer after each discharge, and brought down tiles, bricks, and all manner of rubbish about us from the nouses, which they riddled;—but we would not budge a foot. All that Colonel Gascoyne did was to throw us as much as possible under cover, and to keep us in readiness to repel the attack, whenever it should begin. At last the guns were run up within forty yards of the village, and behind them a column of several thousand infantry was formed; when the colonel gave the word to separate into two lines, and to run as fast as we could under the cover of the houses to the opposite end of the town. "We did so; and in spite of their fire, brought off the whole of our numbers unhurt: after which we formed up again, and by a well-directed volley checked another column, which was just about to throw itself across our line of retreat. Away then we ran, as fast as our legs could carry us, till we regained the battalion, which, as well as the other two, had gained a good deal of ground, but upon which difficulties appeared to accumulate at every step which they took. It was the custom then for each battalion of infantry to have a couple of guns attached to it, which were worked by men belonging 70 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. to the regiment, but trained with great care to the artillery exercise. When we overtook the battalion we found that one of the horses belonging to one of the guns was killed, and that"with the remaining two there was extreme difficulty—marching, as they did, over ploughed fields,—to get the gun along. Neither officers nor men were, how- ever, willing to abandon it; and the battalion formed line for its protection, giving and receiving a volley or two, which caused some loss on both sides. The result was, however, that we were forced again to retire, and that the same difficulty which had perplexed us at the outset, remained in force—the gun could not be moved. It was to no purpose that the gunners put their shoulders to the wheel, —it was fast, and their strength availed nothing,—it was accordingly left to its fate. On then we trudged; our whole line facing round from time to time, as if to renew the battle, and then passing to the rear by alternate companies, not without firing. Meanwhile a waggon loaded with wounded—among whom the woman with the broken leg was numbered—plunged one of its wheels into a ditch, and upset. We could not stop to raise it, so they also were left to their fate; while we gained with indescribable difficulty the brow of an eminence, where we endeavoured to make our last stand. What could we do against such odds ? As far as the eye could reach, the whole face of the country was darkened bv columns of the enemy. Their artillery ploughed into us; their cavalry threat- ened us; their infantry made the greatest and most commendable efforts to close with us;—what could we do ? Nothing. In that unfortunate affair we lost our remaining gun, the grenadiers both of theirs, and the 3rd regiment one of their colours. Yet were we com- mended—not without having richly merited commendation,—because we saved our own persons. The enemy contmued to press us with great vigour till we arrived within three miles of Tournay. There, however, the ferocity of their attacks began to slacken; and by-and-by they confined themselves to a fire of skirmishers, which gave place in a while to a distant can- nonade. We accordingly pitched our tents outside the town, and received from the duke of York not only his best thanks for our gallantry, but what at the moment we valued nearly as much, a pint of liquor per man to restore our good humour. I have seen a good deal of hard fighting in my day, and have run some risks; but with a severer brush than that of the 17th my memory cannot supply me. From the very commencement of the affair it was evident that we were entirely overmatched. Our general, not less than we, had been misled; so that our brigade had to sustain the attacks of columns which, according to the plan of battle as arranged —I don't know where—ought to have been met by the larger portion of the Austrian army. Yet we lost no honour in the conflict,—ay, and what is more, we did not even sacrifice the good feeling that was natural to us. I have spoken elsewhere of Major Wright of the artillery, whose battery at the siege of Yalenciennes did the enemy more damage than all the rest of the allied train put together. That Sallant soldier was killed in the storm of Roubaix, and our men, not aving time to bury him, laid his body under some straw, and passed dumalton's story. 71 on. As we returned we found Mm lying there. We did not abandon him. We lifted him up, laid him on a blanket, and so carried him all the way to Tournay • where with military honours he found a grave in the very centre of the allied camp. There was great confusion, as may well be imagined, among the regiments that made their way back to Tournay. Knapsacks, haver- sacks, in many instances even arms and accoutrements, were missing to a large amount; and the state of disorganisation which prevailed in the ranks was excessive. By many, indeed, a notion was enter- tained that the destruction of the corps was inevitable; for it seemed doubtful whether the French had not thrown themselves round us,— in which case we must to a man have been made prisoners. But by degrees these gloomy impressions wore out, and the attention of the authorities was everywhere given to restore order and discipline to the regiments. In this they fortunately succeeded : for the enemy, as if inspirited by their secret successes, were everywhere on the move; and but a few days elapsed ere we were again brought into collision with them. We had got a fresh supply of necessaries, and were just beginning to feel in some degree comfortable, when on the evening of the 25th orders were issued to send the tents and all the heavy baggage to the rear. The orders were obeyed, of course, and we slept that night on our arms, after having executed a movement to the left, and taken possession of some rising ground, by which that flank of the position was covered. Neither did there occur anything of which it would be worth while to take notice till the morning of the 26th had begun to break. But then there arose all at once such a clamour of battle, such a continued and furious cannonade, as threw all remembrance of former artillery-practice into the back-ground. The noise was as if men had been firing volleys from a hundred batteries at once. Of musketry, on the other hand, we heard very little; neither throughout the entire day were we engaged ■ but the pounding-match I have no language to describe, and the havoc which it occasioned on both sides, was, I have reason to believe, prodigious. It is a wearisome as well as an anxious thing to stand all day listening to the noise of a strife in which you are not, for some reason to yourself unknown, permitted to take part. We had become heartily tired of our situation, when some time in the afternoon an aide-de-camp rode up, and spoke to Generals Lake and Fox, whose brigades imme- diately communicated, and who, as chance would have it, were then talking together. There went a rumour through the line in a moment, and I have never heard it contradicted, that the aide-de-camp was the bearer of instructions for one of these officers to keep the ground on which both stood, while the other advanced against the enemy. According to our version of the story, moreover, it was left to the generals themselves to arrange the execution of active or defensive operations on their own responsibility. Nay, we even went so far as to believe that they cast lots for the honour, and that General Fox won it. Be this, however, as it may, the aide-de-camp was scarcely gone when General Fox mounted his horse, and rode away, and we soon afterwards beheld his brigade, the 14th, with two other regiments of 72 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. the line, form into columns of subdivisions, and push forward^ We cheered them as they went, and away they marched in the highest possible spirits, along the narrow causeway called the Oudenarde Itoad. Poor fellows! they very soon came into the thick of it. We saw some of the enemy's guns, which commanded a long sweep of the road, fire upon them; we could perceive from the sort of involuntary wavering which from time to time occurred at the head of the column, that they were not served in vain; and though the onward progress of these brave men never ceased, they left melancholy traces behind them. Even to the naked eye frequent groups of scarlet uniforms, stretched along the road, indicated that when the living had swept by, they left many of their comrades dead behind them. I really do not know what the results of this day's operations were. As far as I myself can be said to have been affected by them, they amounted to nothing; for from the ground on which 1 was placed early in the morning, I never budged an inch till long after the sun had set. On General Fox's brigade, however, a very different effect was produced. The regiments came back at dusk, diminished to the merest skeletons. In the 14th, particularly, the slaughter had been such, that out of one of the companies only eleven rank and file returned to the ground; and, if the others did not suffer quite so much, it was not that they had been less exposed to destruction. We were great friends with this brigade. We had sailed from England together; and on all the service which the army had seen since its arrival we had gone side by side. Evil which befell them, therefore, was felt almost as if it had befallen ourselves, and we were naturally eager to ascertain its amount. Yet was it a painful and a melancholy visit which we paid that night to our friends' lines, where there were comparatively few to bid us welcome. We learned from the survivors that they had been headed by a battery which mowed them down by hundreds, and that not all their efforts sufficed to put themin possession of so much as one out of the four guns which had thus destroyed them. We slept during the night of the 26th, as we had done the night previously, on our arms; and were at our posts long before dawn; but the battle was not renewed. The enemy, it appeared, were shy of attacking again j so our heavy baggage came up, and we flattered ourselves with finding rest at last under canvass. But we were mis- taken: scarcely had the darkness closed when we were ordered to fall in; and for many hours the whole of the allied line was in motion. Yet was ours a movement of defence merely, for it did not carry us a rood to the front. We faced round in a direction different from that which we had heretofore maintained, turning our right to the ground where our left used to stand; and in this new position we continued in a state of watchfulness, till events, of which I can give no account, compelled us to change it. From this date, down to the close of the campaign, my recollection of the various movements that were made,—of the affairs in which we were engaged, and the reverses which we sustained,—are, I regret to say, exceedingly confused. The truth is, that subsequently to the battles of the 16th and 17th of May, everything appeared, at all points on the scene of action, to go wrong with us. The Austrian general, dumalton's story. 73 Clairfait, had. sustained a grievous defeat ere we were able to come to his support, and never afterwards were we in a condition to make effectual head against the enemy. It is true that, on the 3rd of July, strong reinforcements from England joined us; and that our battalion alone was increased by them to twelve companies. But they came not till after we had been compelled to retreat from Tournay, and had begun to play, in the worst sense of the expression, a losing game. Nay, nor were they able to reach us in our camp at Malines, except by dint of hard fighting; for even of the country round Ostend, where Lord Moira with his division landed, theErench were everywhere the masters. The consequence was that, instead of adding to our strength, they in point of fact contributed to our weakness; for they served but to increase the difficulties which were already pressing upon us of pro- curing adequate supplies from a well-nigh exhausted country. let I am bound to add my poor testimony to that of others, in favour of the patience and indomitable courage which our people on all occasions exhibited. Our marches and counter-marches were not to be numbered. On the 9th of July we were at Malines. A few days subsequently, after traversing I do not know what extent of ground, we found ourselves in position near Rosendale. I have the more cause to recollect this, that water proved to be so exceedingly scarce in our camp, that we were obliged to dig wells in the soil to procure it. We then passed by Breda to Osterhout, and on, eventually, to Berlicom, where an affair of posts took place along the line of the Dourmel, which did not ter- minate in our favour. We accordingly retired across the Maese to a new position at Wichen, and withstood and repelled two attempts on the part of the Erench to destroy us. I cannot pretend to describe these: we of the Guards had no share in the skirmishes, and the skirmishes themselves have made in consequence but an imperfect lodgement in my memory. But I remember that we all thought highly of the conduct of the troops engaged; and that the cavalry in particular, which bore the brunt of the action, greatly distinguished themselves. It is but just to add, that all the cavalry regiments were not alike remarkable either for conduct or courage: the 8th light dra- goons, for example, forgot themselves so cruelly, that their horses were taken from them, and the men sent home; indeed, their removal to India shortly afterwards was, if I mistake not, the consequence of their insubordination when attached to our army in Elanders. We moved about from place to place till both summer and autumn were expended, without coming to anything like a decisive action with the enemy. Besides the trifling affairs just recorded, there were, indeed, partial encounters at Nimeguen and Rhenen, of the former of which alone I can speak from personal observation, while of the latter I know nothing. It was somewhere towards the end of October when the weather had begun to break, and we were put into cantonments between Nimeguen and Till, that the enemy beat up our quarters. They made their principal attack at Nimeguen: in consequence of which we, who had our station at Till, marched all night for the pur- pose of supporting our comrades, ana had our energies braced from time to time as the distance narrowed, by watching the passage 74: THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. through the air of the shells they threw into the town. The most perfect success attended the movement. Yet during our absence the Trench marched against Till, and made themselves masters of our advanced redoubt called fort St. Andrew, of which it was necessary to deprive them. We were accordingly directed to retrace our steps. The fort was carried by assault. Yet the event showed that all this display of courage on our part was useless: we were again compelled to change our position,—we withdrew from the Maese altogether, took up a new line between Nimeguen and Arnheim, and endeavoured to put the Waal between us and our pursuers. Alas ! the very elements seemed to fight against us. An intense frost set in much earlier than usual, so that the Waal itself became passable in every direction; and we felt that our ground, as it was held on sufferance only, so must it, whenever they should think fit to advance, be abandoned. While the allied army lay here, several schuyts, laden with ammu- nition and clothing, were suddenly inclosed in the ice. This was the more vexatious that means of transporting the necessaries by land to the rear were wanting, and that even on the townspeople no reliance could be placed, inasmuch as they began to exhibit of late a disposition the reverse of friendly. Under these circumstances it was judged expedient that the schuyts should be put in charge of a guard; and my turn for duty happening to fall at that time, I was sent, as a non- commissioned officer, to take the command. I do not think that I had much cause to lament the circumstance. A sense of responsibility kept me, to be sure, on the watch, and as the brigade moved away to check the enemy in some other quarter, I was left ten days at my post; but no calamity befell, neither was any attempt made on the part either of the French or the people of the country to molest me. On the contrary, I had the satisfaction to see the greater part of the ammunition removed to Sudville, where, however, not long afterwards it fell into the enemy's hands; and if the fate of the clothing was not so satisfactory, no portion of the blame rested with me. It was all thrown into the river; to carry it off was found impossible; to leave it in the schuyts was to make a present of it to General Pichegru; so we were commanded to cut holes in the ice, and thrust it through them. This we did; and jackets, trowsers, flannel shirts, shoes, everything, in short, of which our troops stood in need, passed down the stream of the Waal to the ocean. I was on guard over the schuyts when the battle of Rhenen was fought, and cannot, therefore, give any account of it; neither can I describe the night-march to Yoorthuizen that followed; but of the disastrous and harassing retreat, of which that movement was the beginning, I shared in all the hardships. From the beginning of January, 1795, up to the 28th of March, we had no rest either night or day. We evacuated Flanders altogether, marched through Holland into Prussia, crossed that portion of it which separates Holland from Hanover, and never made a permanent halt till we reached Bremen. Of the miseries which we suffered during that terrible winter why should I speak ? The snow fell continually upon us; or else, pre- served by tlie intense frost, it covered the whole face of the country, so as to blot out all traces of the roads, and lure many a miserable PUHAXTOK'S STORY. 75 straggler to destruction. It was a season, too, remarkable for the cold and cutting storms of wind that prevailed; and to these, as well on the march as at night, when huddled all together under some crazy barn, we were exposed throughout. Moreover, if by chance there occurred a check at the head of the column, none but the desperate ventured, while halting, to sit down; for he who sat became imme- diately overpowered by drowsiness, and the sleep that came over him then will last till the day of judgment. Then we had women and children with us; to witness whose sufferings, we not having the power to relieve them, was horrible. Let others talk of what they went through in Spain or America, or in any other portion of the globe; it is my firm persuasion that British troops never sustained such hardships as those to which, throughout that retreat, we were subject; indeed, I cannot conceive how the human frame might be so hardened as to suffer more, yet come out of the trial otherwise than totally shivered. It would serve no good end were I trace this retreat, stage by stage, as it occurred. My memory, indeed, does not serve me for such a purpose; and if it did, where would be the benefits to me or to others ? Enough is done when I state that very many of our marches were forced; that often we were on our feet till midnight, and up and away again before dawn, and that we generally slept, when that ter- rible toil was over, in outhouses, through the dilapidated walls of which the storm came as through a thousand funnels. Of fighting there was not much, for who could fight in such a condition ? Indeed, what enemy, even though victorious, would care, for the sake of spill- ing a little hlood, to expose themselves to the same distresses which were operating upon the vanquished ? The Erench could not make, under that atmosphere, greater exertions than we; and therefore they very seldom closed upon us. But whenever they did, we showed them that, cold and famished, and foot-sore as we were, they need not hope to make any impression on us. We might yield to the imbecility of our allies, to the treachery of the nations whom we came to protect, to the overwhelming fury of the elements, but to the Erench troops— never. We never came to blows with them, either on foot or on horseback, but they got the worst of it. Many of our people died on that long march, some of fatigue, some by the bullet or the sword, some bowed down and crushed by the intensity of the cold. We could not even bury them; the ground was so hard that our picks and shovels broke in the effort to turn it up, and the dead bodies were in consequence left, chiefly in houses and sheds, where they soon became even more rigid than statues. In the fields, too, they lay, rolled up among the snow, which served as a sufficient covering till the sun gathered power enough to melt it. Amid such scenes as these, it was piteous to behold how the young soldiers drooped, withered, and died from day to day. Lord Moira had brought with him several regiments which were of such recent formation that time had not been afforded even to serve out to the men their proper uniforms. You accordingly saw here and there a column of men literally floundering on; while all that the eye could detect as distinguishing the men from ordinary rustics was the scariet 76 TUB VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. jackets and their arms. As to the rest of their habiliments—corduroys, fustians, and cloth hozen of every shape and texture, were there; while almost as many heads were covered with the common hats of the labourers as with the chapeau which belonged exclusively to the mili- tary classes. It was sad to witness the havoc which death made among these raw and unseasoned soldiers. For one of us who drooped, after the experience of two campaigns, four of these poor fellows lagged behind; and of him who once lost sight of the column on its march there was no chance of recovery. All these were evils inseparable from a state of warfare, during which a superior enemy pressed us sore, and the elements were against us; but they did not come alone; the inhabitants of the dis- tricts through which we passed no longer exhibited a disposition to befriend us; and with some of our allies, especially with the Hessians, we had one or two severe quarrels. Doubtless the latter of these accidents is to be attributed mainly to the operation of that selfish- ness which intense suffering never fails to generate. I think that by us no such selfishness was ever displayed: wherever we were we were always ready to share our forage, or shed, or billet—be it what it might—with such as might have fared worse, and threw themselves on our compassion; yet on more than one occasion our allies returned evil for good; or rather, would have so dealt with us had we been simple enough to permit it. I remember on one occasion, when we did not reach our halting-place till past eleven o'clock at night, that a corps of Hessians which had preceded us, and got possession of all the houses, positively refused to open the doors, or to admit one of us to the shelter of a roof. Of course, we did not stand this; indeed, such uncivil friends had good reason to be thankful that we abstained from turning them neck and crop into the streets, after by sheer force we had made good our entrance into their billets. Such was the order of a march, which, beginning at the Waal, carried us in two months and a half to Bremen, in Hanover. During the latter portion of it, indeed, we suffered less, because the weather had become more mild, and the enemy intermitted the pursuit1; but there was no friendly feeling exhibited towards us anywhere; and even into Bremen the civil authorities appeared unwilling to admit us. On this head, however, our commanding officer had made up his mind to be firm. He represented that to make a detour round the town would carry us very wide of the direct route, and greatly increase our suffer- ings, and he obtained, in consequence, permission to march through, which he did not fail to turn to account. We entered the town with drums beating and bayonets fixed, and, halting in the principal square, desired the bugomaster to serve us with billets. His worship was astonished; he had sanctioned our passage through the town, but never meant to do more. He could not possibly consent to our halt- ing there, nor, of course, supply the orders demanded. " Yery well," replied Colonel Pennington • "if you don't choose to billet my men, I will billet them for you." This was quite enough for the burgomaster. He saw that we were determined to manage mat- ters in our own way, so he yielded like a man of sense to necessity, and in Bremen we took up our quarters. DUMALTOJi's STORY. 77 Though there had seemed to be a reluctance to admit us to the rites of hospitality, I am bound to admit that these, so soon as we became legitimately entitled to them, were afforded with a free hand. I believe, indeed, that nothing except a well-grounded apprehension of French vengeance caused the authorities at Bremen to deal thus coldly by us at the outset; and now having been cheated—it may be, willingly cheated—into a different course of action, they did their best to assure us that we were welcome. For myself I can answer, that by the people in whose house I found a home, I was treated, during the fortnight of our sojourn here, as if 1 had been one of the family. Every morning about six o'clock, coffee and cakes were brought to me; then followed breakfast at nine, dinner at twelve, and coffee again at three or four in the afternoon; while in every other respect I was the object of attentions, such as I should be the most ungrateful of living men if I were ever to forget. And I believe that the condition of my comrades was in no degree less satisfactory than my own. The general remained in Bremen with the head-quarters of the army till all the rest of the brigades had marched through, and then we also took the road to Bremenlee. Not even then was I permitted to go empty-handed; for my kind hostess stuffed my haversack with all manner of cooked provisions, and we parted as if we had indeed been near relations. Our march was, however, a pleasant one. We passed through a friendly country by easy stages, and found a fleet waiting to receive us, in which we embarked, nowise grieving that for a while we were likely to find rest from the fatigues of war. As to the voyage itself, it differed in nothing from voyages in general which are performed on the North Sea, at the season of the year when changeable weather prevails. We had a very tedious passage of it, inasmuch as the first land we made was the Cheviot Hills in Scotland, and during our progress southward a variety of events occurred to render both wearisome and slow. Yet we got to Green- wich at last; and landing on the 9th of May, we were forthwith marched to our old quarters in the Tower of London. CHAPTER VII. Which shows how War is conducted at Home, and speaks of other Expeditions. The Helder and its Glories. Home-service, with a private or non-commissioned officer in the British army, is not generally prolific in memorable events; and it would be a foolish waste of time in me to detail such as are not deserving of record. We remained in England from May, 1775, till June, 1798, and were almost all the time on duty about the several stations in the metropolis. Once, indeed, our light company, to which by this time I was attached, joined an encampment near Brentwood, in Essex, during the continuance of which a slight spirit of dissatisfaction was called into play by the diminution of the allow- ance of bread that was served out to us. Hitherto each man had a 78 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. pound and a half; now the authorities reduced the ration to a pound, solely, I believe, because corn was very scarce that year, and the bread exorbitantly dear. But it is never a safe, nor indeed a politic thing, to reduce the allowances of men who are armed. We (lid not mutiny; we were not even insolent to our officers; but we refused to take the pound of bread, and the affair was compromised by our accepting in lieu of the half pound a farthing a day additional to our e were but a short time in that camp, for the commanding officer did not like to spare us ; and we were not sorry to return to him and our companions in London. We returned accordingly; and making the accustomed rounds, from the Tower to Portman Street, from Portman Street to Knightsbridge, from Knightsbridge to the Bird- cage Walk, and so round by the Borough to the Tower again, month after month, and year after year stole on. But we had not yet learned to forget that such things as sudden routes fall to the soldier's share; and a fresh specimen of the mode of affecting him was ex- hibited to us. One day early in June, an order came to us,—then lying in the Borough,—that we should proceed without loss of time to Ireland, where the rebellion had already broken out, and whither great exertions were making to pour in from all quarters reinforce- ments of troops such as might be fully relied upon. Our journey to Portsmouth was performed, not on foot,' but in carriages. Every van, stage-coach, and spring-wagon on which the government could lay hold was impressed to transport us: and such was the diligence exercised in getting forward, that having quitted the Borough early in the morning, we found ourselves a little after midnight in Hillsea barracks. That we might not go, moreover, unprepared for all the chances and accidents of war, new great-coats were served out to us on the march,—that is to say, we halted beside the Obelisk, and were supplied from ammunition vans, which met us there, with these necessary, though in some situations most cumber- some, articles. Then we went as fast forward as the drivers could get the cattle to move, and the very next day saw us on board the ships of war that lay in readiness to receive us. _ These were the Queen Charlotte and the Repulse ;.five companies being accommodated in the former, three being allotted to the latter; and the ships hoisting anchor immediately, we were once more at sea. But the passage was a rough one; and, had the case been otherwise, our departure from London was too long deferred to give us an oppor- tunity of coming into collision with the rebels. When we landed at Whitehouse the heart of the rebellion was broken. The battle of New Boss had been fought, and the king's cause was triumphant; so we were merely carried through Waterford to do garrison duty in the place, where a short time previously the principles of loyalty and disaffection had contended for supremacy. It was in a very curious state when we reached it, and it so continued throughout the whole of our stay. The marks of strife were everywhere, in houses dila- pidated, and doors and windows broken; while the very ropes yet dandled from two or three trees in the churchyard, which had sup- plied the place of gallows to the plunderers. Wnile we lay here, our DUMALTON'S STORY. 79 duty, in addition to guard-mounting and ordinary parades, consisted in scouring tlie country round in search of rebels, who were reported to be in hiding there. Some we succeeded in taking, many more escaped us, and once or twice the fleetness of their feet saved them; but we met with no opposition, nor did there occur in all our ex- peditions a single adventure which savoured even slightly of the romantic. "We went forth in parties for the most part early in the morning, and always with a guide or informer to direct us; and we did our best to close round the houses that were denounced, ere to their inmates the alarm could be communicated. Then leaving an adequate guard at each of the doors, the rest of us would go in, and rummage from garret to cellar till we found the man of whom we were in pursuit. The duty was not a pleasant one, however necessary- and we were very glad when, being ordered back to Waterford, we took possession of the theatre, and converted it into a temporary barrack. So passed our time till the alarm of the Trench debarkation was given, when we were directed to proceed with all possible haste to Dublin. We marched on foot as far as Philipstown, and there took boat; yet the whole of our progress was not accomplished ere intel- ligence of the surrender of the invading force reached head-quarters. The consequence was, that being stopped within nine miles of the capital, we were ordered back into the country. We returned without loss of time to Philipstown, whence we passed in succession to Tullamore, Barra, and Mullingar, near the last of which places we encamped, and, last of all, went into Limerick for the winter. But why should I continue these details ? I can say, indeed, with truth, that I was in Ireland at the time of the rebellion; and that the Coldstream Guards did its duty there, as it has done, and will con- tinue to do, everywhere: but of the misguided rebels we saw no more than if we had been on the other side of the Channel, except, indeed, when we made an occasional prisoner by the process which has elsewhere been explained. Let me pass on, then, with a rapid stride, till other and more serious services require that I linger over them. We continued in Limerick till the beginning of August, 1799, when we received the route for Portsmouth, and marched to Cove for the purpose of embarkation. Our march was agreeable enough • for the weather was fine, and the country everywhere quiet; and though we did not linger by the way, I cannot say that we were at all knocked up when we reached our first grand stage, Geneva Bar- racks, near Cork. There, under strict surveillance, disarmed, yet kept together, we found the Westmeath regiment of militia, which had disgraced itself during the late disturbances by entering into a conspiracy at Mallow to murder a party of the artillery which lay near them, and seize the guns. I have heard, but I cannot answer for the truth of the report, that out of that very regiment the staff corps was formed. I know that when we saw them, they looked very much like men who had a chance of visiting foreign parts without having their wishes on the subject consulted. We embarked at Cove, according to orders, and proceeded to 80 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. Portsmouth, whence, as a matter of course, we expected that our next move would be upon London; but in this we were mistaken. After lying at anchor a few hours off Spithead, the ships put to sea again; and we were disembarked, a good deal to our surprise, at Southampton. From the town we proceeded to Shirley Common, where we found tents pitched to receive us; as well as the grena- diers and two battalions of the 3rd regiment to bid us welcome; and as each new day brought one or more regiments of the line to join us, the camp soon began to muster a respectable little army. There could not be a doubt anywhere as to the motive of this concentration. It was clear that we were again to be employed in active operations against the enemy, and the secret of our destination, though kept carefully from us and from the people, was not, I believe, even then a secret to the rulers of the French nation. We lay in the camp only three or four days, when the tents were struck all at once, and the whole corps began to march into the interior. We moved, moreover, by easy stages, and carrying all our camp equipage along with us, so arranged matters that the inhabi- tants of the districts through which we passed should be subject to as little annoyance as possible. The plan was this: early on each morning the quarter-masters of the several battalions, attended by a sergeant from each company, set out to prepare the ground of en- campment, and to provide cattle, or purchase meat and bread, and beer, at the town which might be nearest to the proposed place of halting. On the day following, the column moved, and as the tents kept close in our rear, no confusion occurred; nor was any disap- pomtment experienced in providing shelter when it rained, through- out the whole of the journey, which could not be less than a hundred and fifty miles. In this manner, avoiding as much as possible large towns, and passing through them when to do otherwise was impos- sible—we made our way to Barham Downs in Kent, and were imme- diately incorporated with a force equal in point of numbers to our own, of which Sir Ralph Abercrombie was at the head. But we did not come here to amuse ourselves. The Downs were already crowded with shipping, the harbours of Margate and Ramsgate were filled; so that the youngest among us could not fail to perceive that our sojourn in England would be brief. Yet we had some few grievances to complain of too : and I may as well state what they were. At the period of which I am now speaking, twopence per day were allowed to each guardsman while in England, for'the avowed purpose of supplying him with beer. I cannot tell whence it entered into the heads of the authorities to conceive that an allowance granted in England might in Ireland be refused • but it is very certain that as we had never received our twopences all the time we lay in the sister island, so now, to our petition that the arrears should be paid up, a peremptory refusal was returned. Once again I must, in justice to myself and my comrades, declare that we never dreamed of breaking into mutiny for such a cause, though I confess that we believed our- selves unfairly dealt by; and, as the result proved, we were right. But in another regiment, either the feeling had been more strong, or the commanding officer was less patient than ours: for on the very dumaltok's story. 81 day when we began our march to embark, we were surprised to see them paraded for punishment. We passed the square, and I asked one or two men who had fallen out, and were standing apart, what was the matter. " Oh, nothing at all," was the answer; " we are only getting our twopences, that's all." We laughed at the reply, and they laughed too when they made it; though both said that the practice was a little sharp. Nevertheless, no evil consequences arose. The government thought better both of our claims and our forbear- ance: and ultimately the arrears were paid to the last farthing. It was early in June (the precise day I have forgotten], when the camp at Barham Downs broke up, and the several regiments and brigades marched to the places along the coast where each had been instructed to embark. Our destination was Ramsgate, which we reached in sufficient time to pass, ere nightfall, from the pier to the shipping; and next day saw us at anchor in the Downs—the general rendezvous for the fleet. But I have an unpleasant remembrance of the extreme discomfort to which, throughout the succeeding fort- night, we were subjected. The weather, which had been unsettled when we quitted Barham Downs, became boisterous in the extreme. We made little or no progress, and suffered all the inconveniences attendant on crowded transports, and such a state of health as land- men under similar circumstances usually enjoy. But on the morn- ing of the 21st laud was discovered, and orders were issued to cook three days' provisions, and to tell off the detachments into sub- divisions and sections, so that all might be in readiness for landing. All these preparations might, however, have been saved, for no landing took place. The storm, which for a brief space had lulled, came on again with increased violence, and the ships drifting from their anchors, were compelled to scud before it. The fleet, in fact, was entirely dispersed, and throughout another week the elements were our masters. At length, towards evening on the 26th, the vessel in which I was embarked regained its station off Helder Point, where many of her consorts had already preceded her, and where many more continued, one after another, to arrive. The consequence was that the 27th saw us again in the attitude, and with the bearing of a formidable armament, and that renewed preparations were made tq get the troops ashore with as little delay as possible. Accordingly, the cooked provisions, which had been set aside under a guard, were served out; the arms were handed up, and put in order: and final instructions were issued as to the conduct of the men, as well while passing from the ships to the shore, as after the landing should be made; for it was quite clear that our debarkation would not be effected in peace. Over the tops of the waving sand-hills which shut out the sea, a line of white tents was discernible: which, though not very numerous, sufficed to make us aware that the coast was guarded. Accordingly, after boats from the admiral had passed from ship to ship, to ascertain the exact number of troops on board, and the means at hand for disembarking them, we were paraded on the quarter-deck, and told by the commanding officer of the expectations which were entertained concerning us, as well as of the line of con- G 82 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. duct which it' would be necessary to follow; We were going, he said, to carry assistance to a friendly power. The Dutch hated the French, and would probably join us; at all events, we were to treat them as we were accustomed to treat our countrymen at home—that is to say, protect their property, and take nothing from them without paying for it. Finally, we were desired to be perfectly cool, and keep our seats, should the enemy fire upon us while rowing towards the shore. Not a shot was to be returned; indeed, he who should discharge his piece would be cut down; because firing from boats did no hUrt! to an enemy, and created fatal confusion among such as fell into it. All this was intelligible enough, and we' bowed to it attentively. We then dispersed, ate our suppers, and lay down: not, perhaps, indifferent to what the morrow might bring forth; but little disposed to have our rest broken by anticipations of it. But about an hour after midnight our light slumbers were broken by the order, quietly passed, to rise and accoutre. We obeyed it promptly, and soon stood upon the deck, that we might listen in silence to the splash of oars, as boat after boat swept onwards to its appointed place of rendezvous, By-and-by, two or three from the ships of war came under our stern, and hailed to know whether we were ready. An answer was given in the affirmative; and our own ship's boats, three in number, being already along side, we began to descend. It is surprising how little of contusion attends even an operation of: this sort. In ten minutes We were all stowed away, so closely wedged, too, as to leave scant space for the rowers ; after which the wotd, " give way, men!" set the flotilla in motion, and forwards we swept. It was quite dark when the troops took their place in the boats; when the boats themselves began to move,—the day was dawning. Neither did any great while elapse ere convincing proof was afforded that the enemy were neither ignorant of our designs, nor disposed to treat them contemptuously. No sooner was the leading division Within range of cannon-shot, than three or four guns opened from the beach; the balls from which fell into the water, and dashed it up on every side of us. Meanwhile our gun-brigs, with one or two armed cntters, which had warped close in-shore under cover of night, answered the salute, and the gloom of early morning became suddenly lighted up with frequent flashes of artillery. Now everybody that has sat in an open boat,—as one of a crowd so dense as then filled our barges, knows that a feeling of absolute helplessness comes, in spite of himself, into a man's mind; and that if m such a situation he be exposed to a sharp cannonade, he is not disinclined to wish himself in almost any other situation under heaven. But the cannonade acted only as a sort of warning note to the concert that awaited us. The rowers exerted themselves gallantly, and their zeal was in dile time rewarded by a whole shower of musket-balls that whistled round and over them; for the enemy's infantry had come down to the very water's edgm and almost before it was possible for the best marksman to be sure of his aim, they began to fire. Around shot is an awkward customer when he takes effect. If he strike the boat well, he is sure to swamp her; but round shots are seldom thrown with the degree of dumalton's stoby. 83 accuracy with which the skilful rifleman or musketeer can ply his weapon. Our people soon began to drop by ones and twos,—some killed, others wounded in their stations; while the fire of the shipping, though well sustained and directed, seemed to produce no effect m our favour. Under these circumstances the commanding officer forgot his own caution • the men that sat in the bow were ordered to return the enemy's fusilade, and so we pushed on, firing and receiving their fire, which became more and more deadly the nearer we approached to the beach. At last the heads of our boats struck the land. There was a heavy surf running, and the firing was still sharp : so that, at the first blush of the morning, our prospects appeared gloomy enough; but we soon extricated ourselves from the difficulties of our situation, such as they were, and gave them fighting enough, on terms, to ourselves, less dis- advantageous. " Mind your ammunition, men!" was the single command uttered: and away we went, holding our cartouch-boxes on our heads, right over the boat's gunnel into the water, and so through the surf to the beach. As to the formalities and order of the parade, these were all forgotten. Each file and section of men, as it reached the land, threw itself in a sort of line on the flank of that which preceded it; and, firing and advancing, bore the enemy back,— first, from the flat shore, and then through the hollows, and up the face of the sand-hills. A strange scrambling sort of affair it was, in which not only companies but battalions got intermixed in every direction, the 79 th, as I well remember, attaching itself largely to us, and well sustaining the character which it already had in the army. Yet we carried everything before us. The enemy retired slowly at first, they then quickened their pace, and finally they fled over the sand-hills, to the top of which we pursued them, whereupon our gun-brigs ceased firing, and we too were directed to halt, in order that the battalions might collect round their proper colours, and the army become properly organised. In this scrambling fight, the enemy were not numerous; I question whether their whole force exceeded two or three thousand men; yet were they, even in this respect, at least equal to the troops that attacked them, for it was only a small division of our army that came into action. The process of landing, indeed, was never intermitted during the whole time of the battle. Each boat, as it discharged its cargo, pulled back again to receive another; so that from early dawn till dusk the seamen were at their oars. Yet not all their exertions, and they were as they ever are, beyond all praise, enabled more than the detachment which began the skirmish to share in the honour of the triumph. At one time, indeed, appearances seemed to promise more; for when we won the ridge, the enemy showed no disposition to abandon the field. On the contrary, they drew to a head in the enormous plain below, not like men who having been soundly beaten, are thinking only of the best and speediest means of escaping, but closing their ranks, and showing masses of horse and foot, formed rather with a view to resume the offensive than to retreat. But their disinclination to abide a second bout at closer quarters, was soon demonstrated. A few field-pieces had, in the course of the morn- 84 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. ing, been brought ashore, and two of them the seamen, by dint of marvellous exertion, ran up the face of the sand-hills. They were now brought to bear upon the enemy's masses, and the effect was won- derful. The first shot struck right in the centre of a column: the French did not wait for a second, but falling back with a rapid pace, were soon out of reach of further molestation. We watched them till they attained a large village or town on the distant verge of the arena that lay before us; and then being satisfied that they could not molest us more, we applied ourselves to the comfortable task of preparing- the bivouac. A wild and bleak and most uninteresting neck of land is that of which we then made ourselves masters. The sand-hills, which rise to the height of perhaps sixty feet above the level of the plain, are not like those below Sandwich, in Kent, of Nature's forming, but owe their existence to the patient industry of the Dutch, who have erected them as a defence against the encroachments of the sea. The manner in which the task has been accomplished struck us at the moment as curious. Whisps of straw are planted here and there, as a species of nucleus, round which the shifting sands may gather; while the inter- vals between are filled up by tufts of long grass, evidently not self- sown, nor even neglected after the seed has been put into the ground. Of the sort of landscape, again, of which from their summits you com- maud a view, how shall I attempt a description ? An enormous flat, over which frequent ditches are drawn, each covered, as it were, with its own parapet, or embankment, tells a tale of marshes recently drained, and at particular seasons of the year of deadly malaria • while a village here and there, or a farm-house, with its clipped poplars or willows gathered round it, give proof that there is no spot of earth too uninviting to be utterly deserted by human beings. Nearer at hand, again, nothing was to be seen except the alternate rise and fall of the sand-hills in miniature, amid the valleys that intersected which dead bodies lay here and there, at once the wrecks and the memorials of the drama which had just been enacted. One of these, a French officer, lay not far from our position, beside the body of his horse, a beautiful grey; and as there were no camp followers at hand skilful in their vocation, his very epaulettes adhered to his shoulders, and his pockets were unrifled. We had landed without knapsacks, and being destitute alike of tents and blankets, our bivouac that night proved to be more rough than such things usually are. Fire-wood, too, was wanting, for of this there was none within the limits of our position; and as yet there was no other store at our command out of which we might supply the deficiency. But a storm which began on the morrow, soon after our personal baggage had been brought ashore, came, in a very melancholy manner, between us and similar privations for the future. Many boats were swamped, several dashed to pieces, and their fragments were thenceforth served out to us in rations, with the same regularity as our rations of salt meat and biscuit. A footing was gained on the Dutch shore, and it soon became evident that not till the reinforcements should arrive, which were daily expected, was it our leader's purpose to aim at anything further. dumalton's stoky. 85 The enemy, indeed, by abandoning their post on the Helder Point, enabled us to take up a better position than that of the sand-hills; •while the fleet, forcing a passage up the Texel, made themselves masters of the Dutch squadron that lay at anchor near the Ylieter. But except that he moved us forward, so as to occupy the line of the Droot Sluys of the Zype, Sir Balph Abercrombie snowed no inclina- tion to improve his advantages. A man in my humble station has no right to hazard a criticism on the proceedings of superiors : neither do I wish to be understood as condemning where I am not competent to judge: but I well remember that the prisoners whom we took assured us that all was open on our front, and that there needed but an immediate advance on our part-s to put us in possession of Am- sterdam. No advance, however, was made. On the contrary, we took possession of the various hamlets and farm buildings which skirted the Zyper Sluys from the Zuider Zee to Petten, and, sleeping in the sheds and barns, gave the Dutchmen no reason to complain that any violence, however minute, was offered to their persons or their property. While the main body thus disposed of itself, a line of pickets was thrown across the Dyke and watched the different roads by which the enemy might be expected to come on. It was my fortune to be upon this duty on the 7th of September, throughout the whole of which there occurred nothing to excite our suspicion, far less to warn us of the proximity of danger. But scarcely had we given place at daybreak on the 8th, to a detachment of the grenadiers, who relieved us, ere they were made to feel that a picket at the Helder is somewhat less secure than a guard-mounting at St. James's. Throughout the whole of that day, the officers could perceive, through their glasses, the arrival of column after column in the vil- lages before them. Some countrymen likewise made their way within the sentries, communicating intelligence of hostile demonstra- tions in progress : while at night the reflection of many fires against the dusky horizon indicated that the force in our front was, in point of numbers, exceedingly formidable. And here I must be permitted to record a striking proof of the apathy of character which belongs, to a degree unparalleled elsewhere, to the Dutch peasant. We warned our landlords that a battle could not be far distant, and entreated them to drive in their stock from the fields oyer which it would certainly rage; but they paid no regard to our advice, and left their cattle to their fate. On the other hand, when the fighting fairly began, nothing could exceed their anxiety for the care of their beasts. They rushed from their houses, and would hardly be restrained from Tunning between the two armies, so anxious were they to hinder their •cattle from being cut down by the very fire which, in such a situation, would have fallen fatally upon themselves. Throughout the whole of the 8th, we were in a state of prepara- tion for battle. We piled our arms in the courtyard of the farm- house, and did not venture far beyond its precincts; while our accoutrements were not thrown aside for a moment and the knap- sacks lay packed and ready to be buckled on. The 8th passed, however, quietly enough, as did the earlier hours of the night: but 86 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. long,before dawn in the morning of the 9th, "a change came o'er the spirit of our dream." First, we were roused from our lairs by some straggling musket-shots, as if one or .two sentinels had been, disturbed on their, posts, and given their fire at random. By-and-by a sort of file-firing took place,—pop ! pop!, pop!. neither sufficiently rapid in its progress for a skirmish, nor continuous enough for the commencement of a volley. The drums beat to arms, of course, and we were not slow in obeying the summons. Yet the day dawned, wore on, and approached its height, without bringing to our front the assailants whom we expected. Neverthe- less, just at that time, the desultory fire which had for a while been intermitted, was resumed: and we saw our own pickets fall back slowly and in good order, before a cloud of skirmishers, to make, any head against which they were incapable. The pickets came in on the evening of the 9th, and the whole army lay on its arms. Not yet, however, were we called upon to act: but on the 10th, before it was light, a heavy tramp of feet was heard, and by-and-by the French were upon us. Where I happened to be posted, they never made the smallest progress. We received them with a fire so staggering and rapid, that they did not so much as make an effort to pass the ditch, but threw themselves in a large mass, behind some farm buildings which overlooked the right of the battalion, and in some degree incommoded it. The case seemed to be different on both flanks of us; for to the right, where,the sand- hills began, the firing was very heavy, and it seemed at one period to extend inwards, as if the French had gained an advantage. In like manner they threw themselves to our left, boldly across the .Sluys, and finding a windmill on its inner bank, in that they established themselves. But they were not permitted to enjoy the shelter for any length of time. Three pieces of our artillery opened upon the mill with such effect as to dislodge its inmates; ana the 17th regi- ment of foot instantly charged and drove them through, or into the water. Meanwhile from behind the stacks and farm buildings of which I have spoken as controlling our right, they kept up a sharp discharge of musketry, which we were not only unable to silence on account of the shelter which they had secured for themselves, but which our very cannon failed to answer effectually. "I wish that steadding were burned or otherwise got rid of," exclaimed the colonel. It was no sooner said than done. One of the men snatch- ing a blazing brand from the fire, dashed across the ditch, ,.and, regardless of the bullets which whistled in a perfect shower round his head, ran forward to the, nearest of the stacks. In a moment the stack was in a blaze; and the fire, spreading from point to point, the farm-house, with all the buildings and offices belonging to it, became a heap of ruins. Then came the artillery, with excellent effect, into play, while the French, finding the place too hot for them, soon with- drew from it, and retreated. The enemy were repulsed at every point, and about one o'clock in the day they withdrew, leaving a good many dead on both sides of the Sluys, and carrying with them a prodigious number of wounded. On our parts the casualties had been few, for in the Coldstreams dumalton's story. 87 they amounted to not more than one killed and eight wounded; while, throughout the entire army, they fell short, if I recollect right, of two hundred. Yet the defensive system was rigidly ad- hered to, and we returned to our previous state of inactivity. In one respect, however, we did contrive, during the interval that followed, to innovate somewhat upon ancient usages. Up to this date, we, in common with the rest of the army, wore queues. They were very inconvenient, under all circumstances, and at times positively mis- chievous; so we conspired together to get rid of them,, and acted upon the agreement with such perfect good faith, that one; morning the whole battalion showed itself on parade, delivered by the judi- cious application of scissors, from the deformity. An angry man was General Burrard, to whose brigade we were attached, when this act of insubordination and daring was reported to him. Had the offence been perpetrated by two or three individuals,, there is no telling to. what lengths his indignation might have carried him; but how to deal with a guilty regiment he did not know, and so in his harangue, he told us. Unless my memory be at fault, we had some extra pickets for our reward,; a mistake on the part of the general, who in so dealing with it, converted a duty of, honour into a punish- ment: but we never repented of the act which incurred his indigna- tion, nor were we ever afterwards required to repeat it. Queues, went out of fashion much about the period of which I am speaking, so we never wore them again. Erom the 10th to the 16th, I do not recollect that there oc- curred a single event of which it would be worth while to make particular mention. We were billetted during that interval round the same farm-house, and became excellent friends with its owner, whose hoard of cheeses I and my comrade accidentally discovered, and who was easily persuaded to sell us a portion of them. In this, however, as in other eases, the cost of the article purchased rose with the demand, till it became exorbitant; after which we found our- selves unable to purchase at all, and a system of pilfering, or, to use a milder term, of smuggling, followed. But our practice in this respect had as yet been limited when the opportunity of pushing it further was taken away: for the long-lookea-for reinforcements came at last, and with them an earnest desire to assume the offensive. To what results these inclinations led, it remains for me now to state. CHAPTER VIII. Which shows how Military Operations were carried on Forty Years ago. It is well known that the expedition of which I am describing the fortunes, was undertaken for the two-fold purpose of reinstating the stadtholaer in his position,at the head of the Dutch republic, and of operating as a diversion in favour of the allies both in Italy, and on the Rhine. Together with an English army of thirty thousand men, the emperor of Russia had stipulated to employ eighteen thousand,in the service; and means of transport had been despatched to bring over these auxiliaries long before we quitted our camp at Barham 88 THE VETEltANS OF CHELSEA. HOSPITAL. Downs. It was not, however, till the 16th, that of the British troops, more than fifteen thousand, came into play; and soon after the arrival of the duke of York with the last division, increased us to little more than twenty thousand. In like manner the Russian corps, when disembarked and formed for action, was found to fall short of thirteen thousand men • so that the combined army, instead of an array of forty-eight or fifty thousand combatants, could not, at the utmost, count upon the services of more than thirty-three thousand. Now, if these thirty-three thousand had all been Englishmen, com- manded by English officers, and acting on the English system, a very great deal might have been done with them. We had not, to be sure, in 1799, the experience in war which was acquired ten years after- wards; neither was there at our head such a chief as the duke of Wellington; but in physical strength we knew from past trials that none of the continental armies could compete with us, and we were hulling to believe that in the requisites of coolness, and courage, and intelligence, we were in no respect inferior to them. Moreover, of the Russians in particular 1 am bound to add that no very exalted opinions had then been formed, and the idea of acting in concert with them was, in consequence, the reverse of satisfactory. Still there they were; slow awkward-looking animals, with huge boots, great-coats lined with sheepskin, and countenances which, from the total absence of all expression, agreed well with their semi-barbarous costume; so we contented ourselves with laughing at their cumbrous gait, and at the still more cumbrous train of artillery that followed them, and nothing doubting that when brought under fire, they would at least fight, we made ready to give and receive as much of mutual support as our absolute ignorance of one another's language and tactics would permit. The 16th and 17th were two days of considerable excitement. We had noticed the arrival of the fresh fleets off the harbour, and now saw, without surprise, but not without great satisfaction, brigade after brigade march into our lines, and take up ground wherever their presence seemed to be needed. So also when the Russians came, our curiosity was greatly awakened, particularly by the appearance of the cavalry, whose small but active-looking horses seemed quite unequal to the burthens which the riders imposed upon them. Nor was it only in their outward bearing that these wild Tatars contrasted strongly with the well-ordered dragoons to which we were accustomed. Their habits were all those of the dwellers in the desert. When we slew our cattle, for example, they would come down and beg the offal, and carry it away as a positive luxury. So likewise when a horse was killed in battle, they opened him immediately, and took out his heart and fat • the first of winch they ate as a great delicacy, while out of the last they manufactured candles. Moreover, they seldom dressed their flesh as we did, either by boiling or roasting it; but they cut it into slices, and thrust it between their saddles and the horses' backs; and having, by the process of pressing, dried and prepared it to their minds, withdrew it from that strange larder by morsels as it was required. They were a very singular race, as well in their habits as in their personal appearance. DUMALTON'S STORY. 89 The 16th and 17th having been thus occupied, the 18th was probably devoted to the arrangement of the plan of operations; and on the 19th, at an early hour in the morning, our brigade began to move. The divisions on our right and left were indeed in motion long before: the latter in obedience to the instructions which had been issued, for there was a wide detour to be made, and they marched all night to effect it; the former, through some misunderstanding, which nas never, as far as I know, been explained. But we did not quit our ground till the first grey streaks of dawn were beginning to show themselves. We had not proceeded half a mile from the position, however, ere the sound of neavy firing was heard at a distance, and the commencement of that series of blunders which cost us so much, disclosed itself. The Russians, either not apprehending their instructions, or too eager to act upon them, had quitted their ground two full hours before the time. They were therefore across the plateau which divided them from the enemy, and in close and warm action almost at the moment when we were begin- ning to stand to our arms; thus exposing themselves unnecessarily to be cut off ere support could be brought to them, and utterly deranging the plan of operations, on which it was intended that they should act. It was to no purpose that we, and the corps in communication with us, pressed on at the top of our speed towards our several points of attack. Before we could traverse the neutral ground, the firing had begun to slacken, and the Russians, defeated by their own rashness, became throughout the remainder of the day an encumbrance rather than a help. We advanced in heavy columns, the day gradually breaking ovdfc us, till we arrived within cannon-shot of the enemy's outposts. Here some change of disposition took place, of which I can say no more than that the company to which I belonged was, with another, directed to support a couple of twelve-pounders on a road; and that we became almost immediately exposed to a terrible cannonade from a battery by which the road in question was commanded. So superior indeed was the enemy's weight of fire, that our artillery could make no impression upon it; and two or three gun-boats which co-operated with them from a creek, which covered us immediately on the left, were forced, after expendmg a good deal of ammunition, to withdraw. Meanwhile, over the ridges of the low sand-hills, which overlooked us both in front and on the right, swarms of skirmishers showed themselves, whose fire, sharp, effective, and wonderfully wide in its range, galled us exceed- ingly. In a word, we had not the best of it in that stationary game of long bowls. Of the artillerymen, several were cut down beside their guns, almost all the horses were killed or wounded, and of the two companies more than a fair proportion were disabled ; while the Trench, as far as I could discover, suffered nothing. Such was our condition and prospects till towards three or four o'clock in the afternoon, when the guns were ordered to be withdrawn; and we, taking ground to the right, united ourselves once more with the battalion. The army, it appeared, was in full retreat,—the blunder committed by the Russians proving irreparable; so that our business was to return in good order, and with as little delay as pos- 90 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. sible, to our old position^ We did not, however, march directive upon the dyke by the road which we followed when advancing. On the contrary, we were led_ beside a village, where crowds of Russians were.huddled together in a state of confusion,as helpless,and pitiable as the imagination of man can oonceive. They had not a single round of ammunition in their pouches. They retained no semblance what- ever to a disciplined body; ,and thougn threatened on two sides by masses of Trench cavalry, they were not so much as, making an effort to escape. Colonel West, who commanded our, battalion, seeing that their case was desperate, made an effort to save them. He formed us into line, led us right against the enemy, and by words , and gestures endeavoured to carry the Russians along with him; but in this he failed. They literally stood still to witness our brief contest at the extremity of the village; and when it ended in the repulse of the assailants, they could scarcely be prevailed upon to move even then. I never behela in any assemblage of human beings so,perfect,,a spe- cimen of stupid and unthinking stolidity. The Russians being thus saved,, almost in spite of themselves, we continued our retreat, without further difficulty; and, returning to the cantonments which we had quitted in the morning, sat down to digest, as we best might, the mortification incident on our failure. Of course we took no share of the blame to ourselves, nor do I think that we deserved it; though I cannot say that we were in the best possible humour, either with our allies, or our own commanders. But as we never doubted for a moment the ultimate success of the expedition, so when on the 3rd of October we found ourselves once more advancing to the attack, one feeling, that of extreme satisfaction, had weight with us. I have not much to say of the action of the 3rd of October, because the Coldstreams were kept for the most part in reserve; and I formed one of a party of twelve who acted as skirmishers merely. I remember, however, that we were a good deal struck by some of the objects which greeted us while we were traversing the space that divided us from the enemy. In the first place we saw, with deep horror, amid the ruins of some houses which had been burned,, fragments of human bodies: a hand and a foot here and there, as if the wounded whom we left behind,, because they were unable to keep up with us, had perished in the conflagration. Of sword-blades blackened, and the barrels and locks of muskets scattered about, we would have thought nothing; trophies like these are taken little account of on a great battle-field; nor would anybody loaded, with his own weapons care to encumber himself by meddling with them : but our blood froze as we contemplated the possible occurrence of a calamity which, for the honour of human nature, could not have taken place otherwise than by accident. In the next place, our mirth was excited when we .saw, here and there, some dozen of cocked hats set up upon poles, some of which we recognized as having been worn by those of our comrades whom we knew to be prisoners in the enemy's hands. Tor the hats were nailed to the poles, doubtless as curiosities, and had,;as we after- wards learned, afforded much sport to the light-hearted fellows who •finned them tnere. What strange contrasts the scenes of active war- dumalton's story. 91 fare bring before us ! There had been boisterous merriment,within the bearing of men that were dying in their agonies;, and now even we could not restrain our laughter, though the objects which called it forth were in close juxta-position with such things as human bodies mutilated, and human dwellings burned to the ground. I was out this day from dawn to dusk with the skirmishers. We had not much to do, for the enemy retired as we advanced,, and we found, on arriving at our former position in the. road, that the battery from which we had suffered so much on the nineteenth was empty. Not a gun remained either in it or among the sand-hills near; so we passed them, and entered Haarlem almost without firing a shot. From the roar of cannon and musketry which came to us on the wind, however, we gathered that the case was .different in other parts 9f the field, and once at least we had the satisfaction to witness a brilliant little affair of cavalry. Some of our squadrons, belonging, if I recollect right, to the 17th light dragoons, encountered pn a plain near the centre a somewhat superior force of French mounted voltigeurs. The French were fine men, and their horses seemed- to be in excellent condition, while their distinguishing badge, the skull and crossbones, embroidered on the front of their caps, made them more than commonly conspicuous: but they were no match at all for their adversaries; our people rode completely over them, and few indeed contrived to escape from the melee. We pushed through Haarlem merrily enough, approached Alkmaar, found that the gates were open, and entered. Not a Frenchman was there; indeed, General Brune had been beaten on all the points-at- tacked, and was in full retreat for his second and more formidable line. We followed his rear to some villages,, about five miles in front of Alkmaar, and there halted. I cannot tell whether we lin- gered there during a greater number of hours than might be necessary to complete our preparations for renewing the contest, but we were not put in motion again till the 6th; and then, as on the 31st, the share of fighting entrusted to us was not very heavy. All day long, indeed, we were giving and taking a sort of desultory fusjlade, while a heavy gun or two would, from time to time, salute us, the balls taking, as they are apt to do, the most eccentric courses, and occa- sioning surprise, as well as sorrow, by the effect which they , pro- duced. I remember one which struck into the middle of a group that day, while we were halted in a lane ; and which, after tearing off the skirt of Captain Mackinnon's coat, broke both the _ legs of a man who stood beside him, and, catching a dog as it was in the act of crossing the road, cut it quite into halves. Thqugh exposed thus far to danger, from an early hour in the morning, our columns, properly so called, made no great progress; indeed, the battle seemed to me to continue, where it was sharpest, completely stationary. We, on the contrary, whose duty it,was to drive in the skirmishers, penetrated to within a few miles -of Am- sterdam; and there were those who went so far as to, affirm, that between them and the horizon the towers of the city were discernible. I cannot say that to me any such revelation was made; I saw,,on the contrary, nothing more than a continuance of the same ,sort of •92 TIIE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. country as that over which, ever since the landing, we had gazed,— large fields intersected by ditches, and here and there a cottage, a farmhouse, and a hamlet. But even the sharp-sighted were not des- tined to have their vision confirmed; for towards evening a mounted officer came up, with directions that we should fall back and rejoin fhe battalion. We obeyed of course; and almost on the exact spot where at daybreak we first fell in, quarters were assigned to us in a harn. There was plenty of straw, which we spread for ourselves on f he floor; and the sleep that followed was sound and refreshing: but it could not have continued throughout half the night, when the voice of authority disturbed it. "Rise! rise!" was whispered quietly but steadily, "rise and fall in!" We did so, and, nothing doubting that our movement would be to the front, we formed in the barn-yard, and the march began. We were in the highest possible spirits, notwithstanding our broken rest, when that unlooked-for march began, and speculated largely on the sort of quarters which we might expect to find in Amsterdam. Nobody thought of asking his comrade a question: nobody doubted that the enemy were in full retreat: and even when some object came in the way, a close examination of which might have dispelled the illusion, we would not take the trouble to remark upon it. Houses were passed, and trees, and ditches, all of which ought to have been familiar to us, yet we either did not recognize fhem as acquaintances of former hours, or laughed down such as threw out a suggestion to that effect. Thus it was so long as the darkness continued. But when the dawn of day showed us Alkmaar in our front, and it was ascertained that our faces were turned towards the landing-place, the amazement, I had well nigh said, the indignation, which came upon us, from the highest to the lowest, I have no language to describe. We had sustained no defeat; on the contrary, whenever an effort was made, it had proved successful. In the name of fortune and our country's honour, why were we then retreating ? It was to no purpose that men asked this question one of another. Retreating we were, and that too before an enemy who seemed to have their agents on all sides of us; for Alkmaar, which •on the advance had admitted us so freely, now closed her gates, and would not give us so much as a safe passage through. Accordingly by along aetmirwewere obliged to turn it; nor did we halt till, weary, and disgusted, and out of spirits, we arrived late in the afternoon on the ground where the battle of the 19th had been fought. I have no great heart to dwell upon the remaining incidents of "that campaign, few of which were agreeable to our personal feelings at the moment, and none shed lustre upon the British arms. Erom "the Lange Dyke, we continued on the morrow our retreat to the position where Abercrombie's first battle was fought; and there, till the 18th, we remained inactive. Our women, to be sure, the whole •of whom had fallen into the enemy's hands, were sent back to us ; and it is an act of justice to record that they brought with them no complaints of harsn treatment. Alarmed they doubtless were, when, some hours after our departure, they found the farmyard thronged dumalton's story. 93- with Frenchmen, and saw that they were prisoners; but neither insult nor wrong was offered to them; indeed all, with the exception of one, who became a mother within two days of her capture, were, on the first opportunity, put on board of a boat, and sent down under the protection of a flag of truce to our outposts. In respect again to- other matters, what shall I say ? We were miserably off for every- thing. The water was so bad, that we could hardly drink it; fire- wood became scarce, the weather broke so as to distress us exceed- ingly, and the very provisions were not issued with regularity. In a word, we were not in a humour to take the favourable view of grievances which, had we been pushing on, would have scarcely been accounted such; and, as discontented men are apt to do, we all heartily wished ourselves at home again. In this last wish, fortu- nately for us, the commanders-in-chief seemed to participate. A convention was, as I need not describe, entered into between the duke of York and General Brune; and the British army, having purchased its escape by the restoration of eight thousand prisoners, went quietly on board ship, and set sail for England. CHAPTER IX. Service at Home: a Peep into Hanover, and a final Retreat to Chelsea Hospital. That portion of the fleet to which our transports were attached made direct for Yarmouth in Norfolk. There we landed; and marching next day to Norwich, were allowed a week for refreshment and re- organization, after which we set out in two divisions for London. Of the events which occurred there, or indeed anywhere else, during the next three or four years of my fife, I have no detailed account to give. I was all that time employed on home service ; and home service, even in those days, supplied comparatively few incidents, to recur to which, after an interval of forty years, would serve any good purpose. I may state, indeed, that then the fears of a French invasion were at their height; that prodigious camps were formed here and there, especially in the counties which lay most exposed to insult; and that I was, in the summer of 1800, one of not fewer than forty-eight thousand men who were assembled into an army on Swindly-common. In like manner, I can speak of myself as assisting at the erection of the lines above Chatham • and a still more extensive chain of works at Chelms- ford, of which I believe that the very remains would now be looked for in vain. But as I was not so fortunate as to be employed in the Egyptian campaign, the narrative of my military career would scarcely repay the labour of following it. Let me, then, pass over at once the tale of marches and counter-marches, all of them peaceful, and few even fatiguing? as well as the narrative of my transference to a light infantry battalion, out of which younger and more active men thrust me, while I come at once to a little affair, which, if in the eyes of no other living man, had then, and still continues to possess, a good deal of interest in my own. 94 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. It was in the year 1805, as far as my memory serves, about the 8th or'9th of1 October, that our battalion received orders to march from its cantonments at Deal, for the purpose'of embarking at Ramsgate, for foreign' service. We marched accordingly; and from the very harbbttr which had twice before seen us set out on expeditions that led 'to nothing; we1 now for the third time set sail, no one seemed to know WhithCr; It was evident, however, from the strength of the armament, that this was no mere predatory excursion1. An enormous flCet'convoyed not fewer than twenty-five thousand British1 troops; in all the requisites of discipline, and equipment, and even1 in point of numbers, as fine an army as ever left' the English shores; whale with us were trains adequate for every purpose, as well of active warfare in the field as for the prosecution of sieges : yet, strange to say, we did nothing. Has that abortive display of strength, which there lacked either the courage or the conduct to direct aright, been forgotten ? I could not be surprised if it had; and so I will with the less scruple relate, as far as I am able, both what the armament was intended to accomplish and what it did. In 1805 Germany and Russia declared war against France. The emperor would have gladly had the support of a British corps, and the British government expressed itself willing to lend such support; yet somehow or other the latter was not willing that any portion of its army should be committed in a campaign, of which the base should be at a distance from the sea. Accordingly, after well weighing the subject, a resolution was come to that it would be expedient to operate a diversion in favour of the Austrians in Italy and on the Rhine, by landing a British army in Hanover, and drawing the French troops out of the electorate. Hence Lord Cathcart's expedition, in which it was my'fortune to bear'a little' part; and of which I am induced to take even'this brief notice, simply because of a trifling incident that marked its progress. We had a tedious and unpleasant passage across the North Sea; for though we quitted the Downs on the 4th of November, it was the 18th' ere the low shores of Hanover were descried. On the 19th the fleet reached Cuxhaven; and in the course of that and the following day the troops were landed. Hearty and sincere was the welcome which' we received from the honest inhabitants of that district. What- ever might be the nature of their proceedings elsewhere, in Hanover the French appear to have behaved cruelly; at least the character which they left behind them was not such as any civilized people need envy. They never stood on the smallest ceremony with their hosts. Provisions, liquor, clothing, money—whatever they happened to stand in need of, the people were' obliged to furnish ; and blows, and worse violence, amounting here' and there to murder itself, was the only species of coin in which the donors were repaid. Under such circumstances our arrival did not fail to be regarded by them as a subject of great congratulation, and we received at their hands every kindness which their means would enable' them to show. But we had come too late; almost before our co-operation could begin, the fate of Europe had been determined on the field of Austerlitz; and a peaceful march as far as Bremen was all which we could boast of having DUMALTOil's STORY. 95 accomplished. Now, of Bremen I still entertained the most kindly recollection. I remembered my generous landlady, when, ten years previously. I formed one of an over-matched and sorely-harassed army; and, as may easily be imagined, I was not long in the place before I began to institute inquiries respecting her. She was still alive. She knew1 me'the moment I entered her parlour; and the meeting between us resembled that rather of near relations than of acquaintances formed by chance. Moreover, the good old soul had not forgotten any of those among my comrades whom she had been accustomed to see more frequently under her roof. She inquired after them all by name, and expressed herself particularly glad when I told her that one of their wives, who had come to Bremen in a state of great exhaustion, was now the mother of several children, and settled comfortably with her husband in the country. We remained in Bremen for about six or eight weeks, during which the season of the year rendered active operations impossible; and early in February, seeing that we had no longer an ally on the Con- tinent, instructions were given that we should withdraw. Another march to Cuxhaven, a re-embarkation there, a comfortless voyage, and a boisterous sea, brought us all back, safe and sound, to Ramsgate; whence we proceeded, as on former occasions, to resume our line of duty at the Tower of London, and over the palace of St. James's. My tale of military service is told; for of the remainder of mv career I have nothing to say, except that I completed it at home. I would have willingly accompanied the battalion when it was ordered to the Peninsula, and used my best endeavours to take part in the Walcheren expedition; but a soldier is an old man at forty years of age; and because I had attained to that period of life they rejected my applications. It was not worth while, under such circumstances, to continue in the service. In the year 1812 I passed the board, having earned a good character, as my discharge will show, and found myself my own master, with a pension of one shilling and twopence a day. I could not exactly starve upon this, even if I had been dependent upon it: but I was not; both then, and for several years afterwards, there was such demand for labour, that I found no difficulty in earning more than double the sum which had been awarded to me by the commissioners. But the return of peace, and the con- sequent influx into the market of multitudes of younger and more skilful artizans, soon pushed me, and such as I was, to the wall. It was then that the only difficulties with which through life I have had to struggle began. My habits were not those of an economist: _ I had no taste for life in the country, and very little acquaintance with it; I therefore hung on about London, picking up a job where I could, and was not unfrequently put a good deal to my shifts. Old age, too, overtook me by degrees; and though I have reason to be thankful for a state of health generally good, sickness would at times' knock at my door. " Why should I endure all these distresses," said I to myself one day, "when Chelsea Hospital is open to me ? I'll go and apply for admission." I did so, was received, and do not mean to shift my quarters any more, except to the grave-yard. 96 THE. VETEKAJIS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. HARGROVE'S STORY. CHAPTER I. Men do not always fulfil the Augury of their Birth. My name is John Hargrove. I was horn in the year 1783, at Moor- shedabad, in the East-Indies, where my father held the office of assistant-collector of a district; a situation, as I need hardly say, of great respectability, and, at that period at least, of large pecuniary value. My mother was a native of India, but a woman of rank in her tribe: she was the daughter of Ameer Khan, a Mahratta chief of some celebrity, and was married to my father according to the forms of the Mohamedan faith, of which she was a professor. I cannot say that I retain any recollection of her, for she died when I was young, and that too, as I shall take occasion presently to relate, in a very tragical manner. But I have seen a portrait of her, and of myself as an infant in her lap, which represented her to me as an exceedingly beautiful woman. Like other high-caste Hindoos, she is there delineated as of a fair and delicate complexion. Her eyes were large, full, and expressive; her features finely chiselled; ana her form per- feet, as the forms of Indian ladies usually are. I have been told, likewise, that she was a kind and gentle creature, and that my father was sincerely attached to her; but these are points of which I can speak only according to the reports of others. My own knowledge extends no further than this,—that she was the mother of four children, of whom one died in early life; another was killed in a duel; and the third, my sister, never attained to womanhood: I alone survive. Though I do not remember my mother, I retain the most distinct and vivid recollection of the place where I was born, and where the first eight years of my life were spent. It was a detached house, sur- rounded by a garden, well planted, and having a tank in the midst of it, beside which I have played many an evening after sunset, laughing in the enjoyment of the present hour, and quite regardless of the future. The buildings, though lightly constructed, were extensive: the ground-floor was set apart as warehouses, within which the goods intended for export were collected; and whenever opportunities served, my father was accustomed to forward them to Calcutta. Above were the apartments in which the family resided, a large and airy hall ot eating-room, with chambers which opened off from it in all directions, ana verandahs everywhere to shelter them from the rays of the sun. Then, again, there were chambers that branched off from the warehouse, some allotted to servants, others used by my father as his Cutcherry, or place for transacting business; while close at hand was a sort of barrack, in which a guard of sepoys was quar- Hargrove's story. 67 tered, under the command of a native officer. Moreover, everything in and about the station bore the impress of more than abundance. We had our horses and carriages, ana palanquins, with all the count- less hosts of people that attended to them. We had our hurcaxrahs, or messengers, and our peons, our gomostahs and others, whose duty it was to prevent our exertions in everything having reference to external affairs; while, for domestic purposes, slaves, both male and female, waited upon us, and did our bidding. How little could it have entered into the anticipations of any one who saw me then, that I should spend the best part of my days in the ranks of the British army, and come to end them within the walls of Chelsea Hospital ? I am not by any means a fatalist; I believe, on the contrary, that our fortunes are, generally speaking, such as we ourselves may make them; though I am sure that there have occurred in the lives of most men events, for which they found it hard to account, even while they may be able to trace back to them the beginning, of much good or much evil, iu their career. In my own case, for example, it seems to me, that the colour of my future destiny was given to it by a circum- stance over which I could not have the smallest control. The death of my mother, a very tragical event in itself, became of more fatal consequence to her children, because it opened the way to a new con- nection on my father's part, which was the reverse of favourable to us. I do not mean to say that from our stepmother we ever sustained any direct injury; on the contrary, she was, for a while at least, exceedingly kind to us, especially to me, whom she found little more than an infant: but when her own children began to grow up about her, her affection for those of another was diminished; and whether from this or from other causes, I cannot tell, home ceased to be to any of us the paradise which it once was. Let me not, however, get into a strain of uncalled-for and most unprofitable moralizing:—it will be more to the purpose if I tell my tale in the order whicli its various passages may dictate. We had a good many slaves in our family, several of whom, both men and women, belonged to my mother. Of these there were two, of different sexes, to whom she was greatly attached, whom, as they appeared to entertain a sincere regard for one another, she united in marriage. Moreover, that nothing might be wanting to complete their happiness, she gave to both their freedom; while at the same time she retained them in her service, the man as her peon, or armed attendant,—the woman as a handmaid, to wait continually upon her- self. The man, unfit for the boon which had been conferred upon him, soon began to abuse his liberty: he grew careless and insolent, and took to the practice of opium-eating, which corresponds among Asiatics to the habit of drinking among Europeans, for it both stupe- fies and brutalizes them. Perhaps I need hardly mention that there are three kinds of opium used in India, each more baneful in its effects than the other: there is affeim, which a man may chew a long while, provided he be moderate, without, in any marked degree, weakening nis intellects. There is madjum, of which the effects are more potent, and which, like the use of spirits among ourselves, creates a craving after some stimulus which snail be still more potent than itself. And, h 98 TIIE YEIEHA.NS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. last of all, there is bang, of which a single dose will render him who has swallowed it, to all intents and purposes, insane, because the slave of whatever impulse may happen to come upon him, either for good or evil. If the unhappy wretch chance to be in a, good humour when the excitement is on him, lie will laugh like an idiot at the holding up of your finger. If his worse passions be dominant, there is no land of outrage, which he will hesitate to perpetrate, because he is quite insensible to the restraints of reason, or even of fear. The bang is not therefore used as an article of common indulgence: it is only when some extravagancy has been long meditated, and the victim of his own folly lacks courage to attempt the execution of his project while in a state of nature, that this terrible poison, for such it may well be termed, is appealed to. Thus, when they desire their followers to storm a breach, the native princes often prepare them for the assault with doses of bang. By similar means fakirs, and self-tor- mentors of every sort, drown their senses ere they yield to the torture. Finally, the wretched widows whom the priests may have persuaded to bum, are invariably drugged with it to the sacrifice. My mother's peon had often been reproved by her for acts of insub- ordination or forgetfulness, and his wife, disgusted by the excess to which he carried his passion for opium, threatened to withdraw entirely from his society. She refused, indeed, once or twice, to see him when he came to the house; and he went away in a rage. One day, after sustaining a repulse of this sort, he went into the bazaar, pur- chased a dose of bang, and swallowed it. He then put on his sword, and, passing the guard ere the poison had time to work, he presented himself at the door of my mother's apartments. It is right that I should state, that had the bang begun to affect him, the guards would not have suffered him to pass, because a man, under its influence, is worse than a wild beast; but being bent upon Iris own devilish pur- pose, he took care to run from the bazaar to the outer gate while as yet the drug lay quiescent. When he reached my mother's apartment, however, it had already begun to work; and both she and her hand- maiden saw that he was not in a state to be contradicted. Unfor- tunately, however, the latter gave utterance to some angry expression ere the discovery was made; and the assurances, which the former made haste to give, that his wife should not be kept from him, failed in soothing him. He drew his sword. My mother fled, snatching me up in her arms, and took refuge in a bathing-room. She sprang into an empty bath, and covered me over with her person; where, as it was the life of the maid and not of the mistress that he sought, she might have been safe. But the madman's wife, as evil destiny would have it, took the same direction in her flight, and entered the bath- room also. Nor did she come alone. The slave followed her close, seized her by the long hair, and hewed her to pieces. Then seeing my mother m a crouching attitude, he made a stroke at her also, which proved fatal. The blow fell upon her delicate shoulder-blade, and cut through the spine. I was too young to be aware of what was going on. I do not even remember the circumstances at all; but I was frequently told of them afterwards, as well as of the issue to which.this strange and terrible adventure led. The screams of the HARGllOVE's STOltY. 99 women brought assistance ; but it came too late. My mother lingered, indeed, a few hours, but died at the end of them ; her handmaid was a mangled corpse, and the floor swam in her blood: yet more blood was shed. Brandishing his naked scimetar, the murderer made his way into the garden, < where the sepoys were obliged to shoot him, as if he had been a wild beast. Indeed, I was assured that after he fell, pierced by four balls, he continued to cut and slash at such as approached him; and, when pierced by half a dozen bayonets, that he bit at the steel like a dying tiger. Such was the fate of my poor mother, and such one of the earliest lessons which I learned in life; if, indeed, he can be said to have learned anything, who, though deeply affected by that which takes f lace in his presence, is at the moment unconscious of its occurrence, t seems to me, likewise, that the influence of that terrible tragedy extended to the whole of our family. As I have already said, my only sister never attained to womanhood. Having been sent home for education, she died at school, whether happily for herself, or not, it is not for me to determine. My brother, who was immediately my senior, some child's disease carried off ; while -the eldest of the whole, after attaining to the. rank of major in the Company's service, quar- relied with his friend, and fell in a duel. As to myself, I became what you now see me: and though the process by which I arrived at my present lowly condition may have been gradual, the issues were from the outset not the less sure. My father was greatly attached to my mother. I have been told that she well deserved it, for that her devotion to him was a prin- ciple of which the natives of a colder climate know nothing. How he first became acquainted with her, and by what process he wooed and won her, I never heard; and yet his career was by no means devoid of incidents which might have induced either myself or others to trace it up to its beginning carefully. I know, for example, _that he owed his rise in the Company's service to a man not less illus- trious than Warren Hastings. I have heard him say that, at the period when disputes in the council were at their highest, he was employed by the governor to play a somewhat curioos part; for that General Clavering's death being an event on which the whole policy of the government turned; it was his business to watch the gradual approach of dissolution, and to report so soon as the soul should have gone forth from the body. lor his alacrity in attending to this matter; for the care which'he took not to absent himself from the dying man's chamber, while the doors were closed, and messengers kept in readiness for a start, the party to whom the general's death was to give a majority in council, took him by the hand; and he was advanced from station to station, till, in 1783, he became what I have described him, assistant-collector at Moorshedabad. But I don't know why, he never spoke to us of the manner in which his con- nection with my mother was formed. Possibly, the subject may have been too tender for him ; I only know that he never alluded I retain no distinct recollection of anything that befell between the murder of my poor mother, and the arrival at Moorshedabad of h 2 100 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. the lady who succeeded her as my father's wife. I remember that as a child I greatly rejoiced at her coming; for she was very kind to us, and called me, in particular, her pet; but by-and-by an infant was born, and we ceased to be much in favour. My brother and sister, indeed, were sent away to receive in Europe the education which was not to be had in Asia: while I, handed over chiefly to the care of my nurse, became much more of a Hindoo than an Englishman. Our style of living, at the same time, underwent a change. My step- mother, an extravagant woman, encouraged my father in his taste for expense, which was sufficiently marked without such encouragement; and open house was kept to a degree which no official fortune could bear. It appeared, likewise, that they soon began to discover, that except in the love of expensive amusements, they had no ideas in common. I cannot pretend to say who was in fault, though pro- bably the fault may be shared between them; but they had not been married three years, ere they saw as little of each other as was possible. Then followed habits of which I do not choose to make mention, because it is not my business to cast reproach on the author of my being. The result, however, was, that more than one estab- lishment came by-and-by to be maintained, and that the effort to do so in a style of Oriental magnificence, brought on embarrassments from which there was no escaping. At the age of eight, I was sent to Europe. My father put me to school at Black-rock in Ireland, where, for about a year, under an able and a kind master, I had the prospect of doing some good; but somehow or other, the situation did not please my guardians, and I was removed. It seemed, moreover, as if they having once committed an error, were never to be in a condition to recover from it. They shifted me about from school to school continually. Erom Ireland they carried me over to England, from England to Ireland again: and so backwards and forwards, now here, now there, as if they had intended that my training should stop short always at its commencement. What the results were, may easily be anticipated. I contracted habits of idle and desultory trifling, which have more or less adhered to me all my days. Something, no doubt, I learned, but it was learned so imperfectly, as not to produce the smallest effect in fitting me for a life of exertion, and at the age of sixteen, I proposed to return to my father at Moorshedabad, very little the wiser for the sums which had been lavished on what was called my educa- tion. CHAPTER II. I enter Life as a Gentleman, and visit strange Lands. I had all along been given to understand that the army was to be my profession. It was not, however, determined whether I should enter the service of the king or of the Company; and, indeed, as my ideas of home were all connected with India, the point was one concerning which I was not inclined to be anxious; but Providence decided for me—that I should serve the king. I think now that Hargrove's story. 101 I should have fared better had I followed my brother's example, aud gone out as a cadet; at the moment my views were different. But this, again, only serves to confirm the opinion which I have else- where expressed, that he need not be accused of fatalism who be- lieves that there are matters in which some power superior to him- self decides for him. Had I joined a sepoy regiment, I dare say that I should have been at this day high in the service of the monarchs of Leadenhall-street; as it is, I am a poor pensioner, subsisting on the bounty of my country, which some may possibly assert that I have not earned. I quitted school, and a good school too —that of Chevely, in Sussex, soon after I had attained to my sixteenth year. I went, almost im- mediately, on board of an Indiaman, and early in May, 1801, found myself once more an inmate of my father's house. Things were much changed there since I had last seen them. There had been some peculation or errors in the accounts of my father's principal, in which, by means I cannot explain, he became involved; and he was forced, in consequence, to resign his collectovship, and retire to Serampoor, where, as a private person, he resided. The loss of a large official income was, to a man of his habits, a misfortune which admitted of no alleviation. He became deeply involved in his cir- cumstances; and my stepmother, who by this time had gone to Europe for the education of her children, was not the sort of person to aid in retrieving them. It was well for me that at this delicate juncture a vacancy in the 10th regiment of foot occurred. The ship, in which a detachment from the corps was embarked, having been attacked on its outward passage by a Erench cruiser, an ensign named Palmer was killed, and the governor-general, to whom in such emergency the right is conceded, lost no time in nominating me to fill the vacancy. As I had come out anticipating that some such result would follow, the business of equipping and sending me off was soon completed. My next step, therefore, was to join my regiment, which had pro- ceeded with several more to the mouth of the river, being destined to form part of an expedition of which General Wellesley was to take the command, for the reduction of the Isle of France, or Manilla, report had not determined which. Accordingly, I got into one of the small craft which ply on the Ganges, dropped down as far as Culpea, and then went on board the transport in which the company to which I was attached had embarked. Doubtless, it is not neces- sary for me to add that the general point of rendezvous for the whole armament was Trincomalee, in the island of Ceylon. I have nothing whatever to do with the causes which led to the transference of the chief command of that fine little army from General Wellesley to General Baird. There was a good deal of talk about it at the moment, but the discussions, such as they were, led to no satisfac- tory results, and I have no doubt whatever were begun, continued, and ended in the mere spirit of prejudice; my business, therefore, is simply to relate, that though the land-forces were excellent of their kind, a worse-matched fleet never came together; that nine of the ships could not sail at all, and that others were crank and crazy to a degree which 102 THE VETEHANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. was quite distressing. Nevertheless, after many delays, the expe- dition quitted its anchorage at Trincomalee, and touching at Point du Galle, where more valuable time was lost, held its course towards the Red Sea. Finally, in the roadstead of Kossier, the ships brought up at an anchorage, which, to say the least of it, was not too secure, and the troops, with as little delay as usually attends operations of the kind, were put on shore. It would be hard for the imagination of man to conjure up a scene more absolutely desolate than that of which Kossier may be described as constituting the principal feature. A long and dreary line of coast is before you, where neither shrub, nor tree, nor pasturage, nor bold rock, may be seen, but a wide extent of sand, stretching back you cannot tell how far, wearies the very eye as you seek to pass your vision beyond it. Of a town, again, the only trace discernible was where a rude serai, or caravanserai, had been built. There were no streets passing off from it,—no houses, nor even huts clustered about it, but a few tents only, at least when I beheld the spot, beneath which the people, who had come down to communicate with us on our arrival, found shelter from the rays of the sun. Yet Kossier was then, whatever it may be now, both in a commercial and in a political point of view, a place of considerable importance. The link of com- munication between Arabia and Egypt,—the mart at which the corn raised in the latter country is exchanged for the coffees of Mecca and the manufactures of India, it is, at certain seasons of the year, much visited by traders, as well by land as by water, none of whom, how- ever, have ever thought of making a permanent settlement in a dis- trict which promises no article by which life can be sustained. In- deed, so barren is the spot, that even for -water it depended, till the arrival of the Erench, on the overland communication with Ghennah; and the Erench, though they discovered some springs, can hardly be said to have essentially benefitted the place, inasmuch as the water was so bad, as to be used only in the last extremity. At this wild and melancholy spot the British army disembarked, not all at once, but by divisions, as the several portions of the fleet reached the place of general rendezvous. We, that is, the 10th regi- ment, arriving with the second detachment of ships, were placed, like our comrades, under canvass, where we remained till the necessary preparations were completed for the somewhat hazardous march that was before us. Of these, I need not say more than that they con- sisted in getting together camels, asses, sheep, water-bags, and, above all, Arabs to look after them: for on the Arabs we depended for the performance of offices to which, in such a climate, the constitution of a European is inadequate; and it is but justice to add, that we had little reason to complain of their fidelity. Of course, the employ- ment of these persons rendered the appointment of interpreters necessary. There was nobody with us, at least among the officers, who understood a word of Arabic; neither was a knowledge of Hin- dostanee so frequent as, perhaps, it might have been; and the conse- quence was, that, very much to my own surprise, I found myself a person of considerable importance. As I was then quite as familiar with the Hindoo dialects as with the tongue in which 1 now speak, to Hargrove's story. 103 me was committed the trust of holding converse with our Sepoy scholar, who, having heard the Arab, translated his communication to me, as I again re-translated it into English for the benefit of my seniors. At length the day arrived when, his dispositions being complete, General Baird began his march across the desert of Thebes. It would have been absolute madness to thrust the whole of our little army into that wilderness in a body; because the springs are few, and lie at intervals so wide as to render them quite useless towards the sup- port of a multitude; while the beasts of burden, even if they could have lived without water, were not sufficiently numerous to convey supplies -for half of us. The general, therefore, broke up his corps into divisions, and sending them off by five or six hundred at a time, took care that between the leading band and that which followed, one day's journey should always intervene. In consequence of this wise precaution, we (that is, the left wing of the 10th regiment) did not quit Kossier till the evening of the second day, our right wing, with its allotment of camels and some sepoys, having preceded us, and, like ourselves, performed the march by night. But what shall I say of the whole of that progress from Kossier to Ghennah P—that it resembled no other movement which has in modern times been made by troops in any quarter of the world. I do not mean that we suf- fered serious privations, either while in motion or at rest. The heat, to be sure, was intense, so long as the sun continued above the hori- zon, and we would have been often glad to rest and drink, had the opportunity been afforded; but heat and thirst are trials to which soldiers are everywhere exposed, and in our cases they came not in their extremity. It is of the strange and unearthly nature of the country, therefore, that I would make mention. There was no trace either of man or beast around us. There was neither grass nor foli- age, nor highway, nor cultivated field,—no, nor even a range of sterile rocks, to interrupt the absolute monotony of the desert: but near and far away the eye encountered only one wide plain of sand, over which a sky, which contained not a cloud, was brooding. Once or twice, indeed, I remember that we came upon the skeleton of a tree, a dried- up and "withered stump, the very emblem of desolation, which crum- bled into powder as often as a hand was put forth to touch it, and mixed its ashes with the sand on which we trod. . Thus in daylight, and amid the shadows of evening, and under the canopy of night, we moved over a tract, more barren and cheerless than poet has ever con- ceived, or painter striven to imitate,—taking care to reach the spot chosen for our encampment each morning, long before the first streaks of dawn became visible. The peculiar appearance which is presented by these oases in the desert has been described so often and so correctly, as to render a repetition of the task quite unnecessary from me. I may state, how- ever, in few words, that the springs, wherever they occur, rise at the base of some lonely crag, and flow for a narrow space amid something like vegetation. Our first march, for example, which carried us about sixteen English miles from Kossier, ended at a spot over which the shadow of a rock was thrown, and introduced us to an acquaint- 104 TI1E VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. ance with a few straggling and stunted shrubs, of which the circular leaves emitted a highly aromatic flavour, though their colour was almost grey, and their texture thick and spongy. There the tents were pitched; and there, so soon as our kettles could be boiled, we made t.ea, drank it, and fell asleep. Yet the place was not without its melancholy reminiscences, too: for not far from the well-head were four or five dead bodies, which the sun had dried and blackened, till they presented the appearance of mummies. We could not, of course, tell the nation to which they might have once belonged, though it is more than probable that they were Englishmen, because the English frigate, Fox, made an unsuccessful attack upon Kossier, and some of her marines were known to have fled into the desert. But, however this may be, we did not pass on without adding to their number. Several stragglers having fallen out from our rear-guard, did not rejoin the column till long after the sun had risen on them in its strength; and so exhausted were they, that one dropped down dead almost as soon as he entered the encampment. In this manner we continued our progress during a period of five days, travelling principally by night, throughout the whole of which the same dull and melancholy scene was around us. We passed, I believe, at no great distance, the ruins of the mighty Thebes, but we did not see them : indeed, the vision is limited, over such a plain as that, by a wonderfully narrow circuit. At last, however, a change in the external aspect of things became perceptible. When we were yet more than a day's march from Ghennah, objects be^an to show themselves between us and the horizon, which, as we drew on, took the shapes of trees, and convinced us, to our unspeakable delight, that we were approaching a cultivated country. Erom that moment, whatever of doubt or misgiving might have hung upon our minds, gave way. We not only entertained no apprehension of the enemv, ut our earnest wish was to encounter him; for it was of the possible failure of water, or the breaking down of our baggage animals, that alone we were afraid. And now, that cause of alarm being removed, we pushed on as men ought to do, who believe that they are going to reap a triumph. Unfortunately for us, however, the fate of the Egyptian campaign was already decided. The Erench, defeated in the battle of the 21st of March, had never afterwards acted with vigour; and long before our leading detachment came in sight of the Nile, had agreed to evacuate the country. All our hopes of gather- ing laurels were thus overthrown; and of the remainder of my sojourn in the land of the Pharaohs I must therefore speak as a mere journey of pleasure, not unattended by one or two remarkable occurrences. HAEGaOVE's STORY. 105 CHAPTER III. Egypt, and my Adventures there. It was at a comparatively early period of our eighth stage from Kossier that we reached the suburbs of Ghennah, a walled town upon the Nile, and remarkable for the extreme beauty of its situation, as well as the fertility of the district by which it is surrounded. The town itself has, indeed, seen its best days, as is the case with most towns in Egypt; but it still supports an extensive pottery, and the fields around are all cultivated with a degree both ot skill and taste which is very attractive. You wander, in fact, through a succession of gardens, where, besides oranges, dates, and other fruits of an Eastern clime, the vine grows with great luxuriance, and grapes are both excellent and plentiful. I need scarcely add, that to us such a scene presented very extraordinary attractions. Just escaped from the desolation of the wilderness, we found positive refreshment as well in the soft green foliage of these groves as in the delicious perfumes which they emitted- while with the fruit we made as free as in some instances to affect the health of the consumers. We remained in and around Ghennah several weeks, which were spent chiefly in the collecting of boats, and in making other necessary preparations for the descent of the river. In executing these pur- poses, our detachments were often compelled to resort to force for transports, which would have been otherwise withheld; but force is a sort of influence to which the Egyptians have been so long accus- tomed, that not one among them ever dreamed either of complaint or resistance. I am therefore bound to state that the best possible understanding prevailed between the natives and ourselves. They brought us, daily, ample supplies of provisions, for which they received payment well-nigh ou their own terms. They made us perfectly welcome to the light refections, which, as we wandered through their blooming orchards, we did not scruple to take, and never grumbled though their very houses were occupied. Towards the close of July, I think about the 26th, we embarked in the boats which had just been procured, and began our voyage down the lordly Nile. The waters were then very nearly at their height, and the face of the country presented, in consequence, the appearance of an enormous lake, over which numerous islands were scattered. My memory will not, however, serve me so far as to permit my enter- ing more into particulars. I recollect, indeed, that at a place called Girjee we halted for a few days, after which we proceeded on to the island of Rhonda, where, in mid-channel as it were, between Cairo and Ghizeh, the Indian army was concentrated. I am not going to describe either of these places, because I could not add to the infor- mation which other travellers have communicated; neither shall I say more of the Nilometer, which constitutes the principal curiosity in Rhonda, than that, by me as well as by my comrades, it was minutely 10G THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOsriTAL. inspected. It was then, and, I make no doubt, still continues to be, an instrument of the very simplest construction. In the centre of a round tower there is an apartment which contains a cistern lined witli marble, the bottom of which reaches to the bed of the river, and has a large opening through which the water may enter. Here stands a pillar thirty-six or thirty-seven feet in height, having lines drawn round it, each a cubit, or twenty-two inches from the other; and as the water climbs from mark to mark, intelligence is conveyed by signal to the inhabitants of the adjoining cities. When we were there the rise of the Nile happened to be great, and there was, in con- sequence, much rejoicing everywhere; but we had other matters to attend to than that. General Baird, as all the army knows, was a great man for field-days and parades, in conducting which he was sometimes apt to forget, that, by the criterion of his own powers of endurance, those of mankind in general were scarcely to be tried; and finding that the campaign was over, and that there was no chance of showing a list of killed and wounded, he took care, by working us under the broiling sun of Rhonda, that the hospitals at least should not go without tenants. There was not much in the nature of the service in which we were engaged to excite a very lively interest, or to make a lasting impres- sion on the memory. Somehow or other, we lacked either the oppor- tunity or the will to wander to any great distance from the camp; and hence, except by an occasional visit to Cairo or Ghizeh, the monotony of our lives was for a while but little interrupted. Moreover, both Cairo and Ghizeh being in a most melancholy state, neither tempted us by the prospect of immediate enjoyment, nor claimed our attention as mere antiquaries. We were not therefore displeased when, at the end of many days, an order arrived to close upon Alexandria, of which the possession had been rendered up by the French general, and of which it was understood that some of us would, for a time at least, form the garrison. It is scarcely necessary for me to state, that between the pay and allowances of troops which serve the East-India Company, and of the men and. officers who serve their country elsewhere than in Indiana very serious difference exists. Now we, though followers of Sir David Baird across the desert, had not ceased to be regarded as a portion of the army of India; nor, as a necessary consequence, were we deprived of our batta, or of the liberal remuneration which the Company affords. On the contrary, We were styled in general orders, "the Indian army," and taught ourselves to regard a return to Hin- dostan as the assured issue of the Egyptian expedition. The regi- ments, on the other hand, which Sir Ralph Abercrombie brought with him from Europe, were dealt with, in reference both to pay and allowances, as they would have been both in Gibraltar and Malta. The officers had their bat and forage, the men their rations, at the accustomed price; but the money-wages of neither class had been raised. There could not fail to arise in the minds of our chiefs some anxiety as to the results, should corps, belonging to the same state, yet dealt with after a fashion so incongruous, be brought together. It was felt that one party would have at least some ground for jea- HARGROVE'S STORY. 107 lousy in regard to the other; and jealousy, in whatever source origi- nating, is much to be deprecated among military bodies. Accordingly, after much discussion, and, I have reason to believe, some differences of opinion in high quarters, the resolution was taken, not to amalga- mate Sir David Baird's corps with that of General Hutchinson, but to keep the one just so near to the other as that, for all purposes of military service, they might be regarded as in communication. In pursuance of this arrangement, the Indian force moved down the river, and established itself in camp between Rosetta and Elhamet. Our business there was pretty much what it had been in the island of Rhonda; that is to say, the dawn of each day saw us under arms, and the meridian sun generally beat upon us long before our evolutions were ended. The consequence was, that sickness, as might have been expected, made large inroads into our ranks, and the ophthalmia afflicted us sorely: yet Sir David adhered to his own system per- tinaciously, and met every objection by asserting that he would rather be at the head of five hundred good men than of five thousand ineffec- tives. Neither were other practices, injurious at once to health and good feeling, unknown among us. At the period to which I refer, the crime of drunkenness was much more common in the British army than it is now. Not the privates only, but the officers likewise, were accustomed to indulge freely in a practice which has never yet failed of bringing ruin upon those over whom its supremacy is established; and more than once the results were fatal both to life and peace of mind. Eor a drunken soldier is not more master of his own proceed- ings than a drunken civilian; whilst acts which might subject the latter to fine or imprisonment, are accounted, if perpetrated by the former, capital crimes. There were several instances, while we lay at Rosetta, of men resisting the authority of their superiors, even to blows; out of which proceeded, as a matter of course, courts-martial and executions: and as I was myself within an ace of being involved in an affair of the kind, it may not be amiss if I describe both the circumstances in which it originated and those by which its worst consequences were averted. I was at that time a very young soldier, and the knowledge which I possessed of the rules of my profession was such as my very limited experience might be supposed to convey. I had not so much as com- pleted my drill; and to the habits of command I was an entire stranger; yet my brother-officers having determined to spend a day at Alexandria, departed in a body, leaving me in charge of the regiment. There was a standing order in camp that no man should be permitted to go beyond the sentries after roll-call _; nor any intoxicating liquors brought in, except such as might be issued as rations to the troops. I was not ignorant of the existence of that order; but when could a youth of sixteen or seventeen years of age, more especially if his acquaintance with the service was, like mine, a thing of a few months' standing, resist the importunities of his inferiors ? Some men, whom I believed that 1 could trust, came and besought me to grant them a pass. I acceded to the request, and, nothing doubting that all would be well, I went at my usual hour to bed. But I had scarcely lain down, when the noise of revelry and singing disturbed me, which merged by-and- 108 THE VETEBANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. by into wrangling and fighting. I jumped up, threw on part of my uniform, and calling for the sergeant of the day, ran out to ascertain the cause of the tumult. The camp was one wide scene of intoxica- tion. The very men on guard were drunk, and fighting and brawling mingled inharmoniously with shouts and wild laughter. I ran about among the lines, ordering and entreating the men to be quiet. I seized one of them, who seemed to be more riotous than the rest, and would have handed him over to the picket; but he struck me a blow with his fist, and escaped into one of the tents. It was marvellous to behold the effect of that rash act upon all who witnessed it. More than half intoxicated, as most of them were, it seemed to bring them to their senses in a moment; for one after another slunk away, and by midnight all was still. I returned to my own tent, not, as may be supposed, in the most tranquil state of mind. It was not so much of the danger to which 1 had exposed myself that I thought. I knew, indeed, that the outbreak could scarcely be kept secret from the commanding-officer; and that if my weakness, in consenting to a breach of a standing- order, should come out, my own position would be a critical one. Yet let me do justice to myself: my anxiety became a thousand times greater as I thought of the blow which I had received, than while I looked only to the probable consequences of my own folly. How should I act ? What should I do ? If I reported the circumstance, the man who struck me would certainly be tried, found guilty, and perhaps shot; if I concealed it, where was my regard to the discipline and order of the service ? I do not recollect that in the whole course of my life I ever spent so unhappy a night; for duty urged the adoption of one line of conduct, and a feeling stronger than mere compassion pressed upon me another. I could not put out of view, that for all the irregularities that had happened, I was myself in a great degree responsible. At last, I fell asleep, fairly worn out with my own anxieties, and just as little determined how to act as when I first lay down. My sleep was broken and confused, and I rose early. My toilet was soon made, and then I sat down on a stool, to ruminate once more over the horrible situation into which I had brought myself. I was thus employed, paying no regard to external matters, and scarcely noticing that the dawn was beginning to break, when the tent door was slowly unclosed, and a soldier presented himself. He was dressed and accoutred for parade, and nis musket was in his hand, in spite of which, as well as of the twilight that was around us, 1 instantly recognized him. "I have come, Mr. Hargrove," said he, "to put my life in your hands. I know what I have done, and am aware of the punishment that awaits me. I shall not make any effort either to escape or deny the charge. It was I that struck you last night; and you may confine and report me if you will. I did not know you, sir, at the moment, so help me God! I was in' liquor, and very much excited; but that makes no difference. I am ready to go to the guard-tent, if you desire it." I looked at the poor fellow while he was speaking, and saw that. Hargrove's story. 109 though very pale, he was quite collected and firm. Was I to blame because 1 had no heart to become his destroyer? I hope not. Many an unworthy deed I have done in my time, otherwise I should not now have been filling the station which 1 do fill; but with the pardon of that military criminal my conscience has not reproached me. " Go to your duty," was my answer. " I will not have your blood shed for any offence against myselfonly be more cautions for the future." Till the hour of my quitting the regiment, Jem Blake never forgot that act of clemency. He was not a confirmed sot, though, like the generality of soldiers of his standing, he had been accustomed to drink freely when liquor came in his way; but he never, as far as I know, suffered himself to be surprised again,—and to me his devotion was marvellous. Oh! would that I had attended to the suggestions which, in the days of my moral degradation, he ventured to make! How different might my fate have been this day! from how many evils should I have been delivered, of which, from first to last, I was myself the author! Though perfectly convinced that the course which I had adopted was the right one, I confess that a retrospect upon the events of that memorable night never gave me the smallest degree of pleasure. I always felt that in sparing one man I had exposed myself to the probable risk of contempt among his comrades ; for there is no cha- racter which soldiers more thoroughly despise than that of an officer whose good-nature degenerates into weakness. This galled and fretted me not a little; so that I determined, should any grave military offence be again committed in my presence, that, let its cou- sequences be what they might, 1 would prosecute the offender to the utmost. It so happened, that no great while elapsed ere an oppor- tunity of putting the strength of this decision to the test was afforded me. On one occasion I had the charge of the quarter-guard- and going my rounds, some time after nightfall, I found a sentry drunk upon his post. 1 had him returned, of course ; put in confinement; and inserted in my report next morning a memorandum of the cir- cumstances which led to his arrest. Of that report it was necessary that two copies should be made out,—one for the officer commanding the regiment, the other for the general of brigade; and the former, according to the custom of the service, was sent in at once. I was in the act of making out my second report for the general, when the adjutant came with a message, to the effect that the colonel desired to see me. I followed him, of course, to the colonel's tent, and found my report upon the table. "You have reported one of your men as drunk upon sentry, Mr. Hargrove," said the colonel: " are you aware of the very grave nature of such an offence ? " " Certainly, sir," was my reply. " I am quite aware that there is none more heavy in the calendar,—but what could I do ? The man was drunk; all the guard saw the state he was in. How could I avoid the step which I have taken ?" " You are a very young man, Hargrove," said the colonel, " and it will not be a pleasant thing for you to begin your career in the 110 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. service with such a load upon your shoulders as this matter may produce. If you think that it is absolutely necessary to persist in this report, I can have nothing to say against it. The man will be tried, —not by a regimental, but a general court-martial; and after the repeated notice of this crime in general orders, you may depend upon it that he will be shot. Mind, I don't advise one way or another; but, perhaps, if you were to take other ground, and report liim as confined for neglect or breach of orders, discipline would be quite as well preserved, and the poor fellow's life spared. In this latter case, a regimental court will deal with him; and there can be no doubt but it is contrary to orders to come drunk for duty." " Very well, sir," answered I, heartily glad that the suggestion to mercy had come this time from so good a source. "I have not yet sent in my report to the general ; so, if you please to give me this again, I will take it back, and make the one correspond with the other." "Do so, by all means," replied the colonel: "and, by-the-by, send it to the major, for I am off, forthwith, to Alexandria." I knew the major well, and had a shrewd suspicion that he would not take the same view of the case as the colonel; for, without meaning to charge him with cruelty or even harshness, I had reason to believe that he was- absurdly jealous of his superior officer. There was therefore a risk, at all events, that he, knowing how the case really stood, would, for the mere purpose of thwarting the colonel, insist on the graver charge being brought forward. Under these circumstances, I took care to despatch a messenger, with my amended report, to the brigadier, ere I proceeded in person to deliver to the major what, had the colonel been in camp, would have been given to him. It made me smile to observe, how completely my anticipations were realized. "What sort of charge is this, Mr. Hargrove ?" demanded he. "Disobedience of orders is a very vague expression;—what has the man done?" I could neither equivocate nor tell a false story, so I stated the case as it stood. "And do you call drunkenness on sentry mere disobedience of orders? Take back your report, sir, and make out another more strictly in agreement with facts as they stand." " By all means, major," answered I, "if you desire it; but, in this case, you must send to the general for his report, that it may be amended also; otherwise there will be one statement at the head- quarters of the regiment, and another at the head-quarters of the brigade." The major was exceedingly angry. I am quite sure that he as little desired to take away the culprit's life as I did; but he would have been glad to have caught his commandant tripping; and as he knew quite well how the matter had been arranged between us, he was vexed that by forwarding my amended report to the general, I had hindered him from giving his rival a rap over the knuckles. No good end was, however, to be served by dwelling on the subject. He stormed a little, admitted that it would not do to go in the face of a IIARGUOVE's story. Ill statement of which the general was in possession, and sent me about my business. The conclusion of the affair was, the man was tried for disobedience of orders, received a moderate punishment, and thus my character for firmness was sufficiently vindicated in the eyes of the regiment. These things passed in the camp, near Elhamet; but the time came when, being marched towards Alexandria, we were there put into gar- rison. I don't suppose that I shall be expected to give an account of the circumstances which led to that change. Everybody knows that the Erench, after much delay, were shipped off for their own country; and that of our European army, properly so called, a large portion returned to the Mediterranean. The consequence was, that on us, soldiers from the far East, the preservation of the peace of Egypt devolved: and once, at least, that object was not attained without the display or a good deal of vigour. The circumstances of the case were- these:— It is a matter of history, how the vizier, after availing himself of the assistance of the Mamelukes to expel the Erench, broke faith with their chiefs, and endeavoured to destroy the whole body. It is equally well known that the Mamelukes, having rendered good service to the cause, were taken in an especial manner under the protection of the English; and though not reinstated in their ancient privileges, found a door of escape into Upper Egypt opened to them. Erom that moment the good feeling which used to exist in reality between our people and the Turks, died wholly away. They feared us,—they respected us: they knew that it would be prudent to keep on terms with us; and, as a body, they abstained from insulting, if they took no pains to oblige us. But cases of individual outrage began to occur so frequently, that our people were at last prohibited from passing into their camp, as they were forbidden to approach our cantonments nearer than a specified line. Accordingly, our sentinels received instructions to stop every Turkish soldier who should attempt to penetrate beyond their posts; and for a while they acted up to such instructions without the occurrence of any accident. In the end, however, a little tragedy was enacted, which had well nigh brought about a national rupture. It happened, once upon a time, that a woman came running from, the direction of the Turkish camp, and approached a sentry which the 10th regiment had furnished, at a point between the sea and one of the outworks of Alexandria. She was closely followed by three Turkish soldiers, two of them, as their dress and appointments indi- cated, men of some rank,—and she cried aloud, as if in terror of her life, which, indeed, her pursuers appeared to threaten. There was no order to stop women, so the sentry allowed her to pass, but he waved the men back; and seeing that they hesitated, he brought his musket to the port, and confronted them. They abused him in their own language, which he did not understand, and then walked away. So far all was well; for the man remained at his post till the relief came, and no more was thought of it. In coming to a conclusion, however, that the thing was at an end, both the sentinel and his comrades had deceived themselves. He resumed his ground by the seaside after 112 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. nightfall; and when the corporal came to relieve him, he was gone. The corporal and his party looked anxiously round, and at last found him, dragged perhaps a hundred yards from his post, with the head severed from his body. There was a great stir, as may be imagined, within the British lines, when the occurrence became known. The general demanded the sur- render of the murderers, whom, with the assistance of the woman, he found it easy to identify; and the Turk, appearing to act as if he meant to evade the demand, we were all ordered under amis. This was enough: the Turk saved his honour, by stating that he could not, consistently with the laws of his religion, give up a servant of the Prophet to be tried by Christian judges, or put to death by a Christian executioner; but he promised, in case a British officer were sent to his camp, that the chief culprit should die in his presence. A proof of our power to punish outrage was all that the general desired. On the day set apart for the execution, a number of us, myself included, went in our regimentals to the great square, or market-place, of the Turkish camp, whither a Turk was brought out, whom the woman declared to be her pursuer, and who was therefore adjudged to have had a principal share in the murder. He neither confessed nor denied the crime; lie seemed quite indifferent to his fate; and when the executioner seized him, he neither complained nor resisted. He was planted upright on his feet, with his back to a pole or stake; and his turban having been lowered so as to cover his iace, two men passed a cord round his neck, which, on a given signal, they twisted about the post, and drew with all their might. There was a convulsive struggle or two, with a quivering of the limbs ; after which, the knees sank under him, and in a few minutes he was a corpse. CHAPTER IY. Change of Scene, and Change of Habits. I am not going to trench upon the province of the historian, by describing either the order in which the army of Egypt broke up, or the fate of its several divisions, while proceeding to their respective points of destination. Enough is done when I state that the regiment to which 1 belonged was the last to quit the country; and that the wardrobe of the officers in general, and of myself in particular, had fallen, during our sojourn in the land of the Pharaohs, into a very dilapidated state. When we went on board ship, I had scarcely a shirt to my back or a coat to cover me; and there were few of my comrades who could boast of being in a better plight. But that would have mattered little, had we not, at so unfortunate a juncture, been suddenly reduced from the comparative wealth of Indian pay, to the scanty, and, I must be permitted to add, very inadequate sub- sistence afforded by the crown. Upon me this sudden diminution of revenue operated like the breaking down of a sea-dyke, by which some fertile plain is defended. I fell into difficulties, out of which I never was able to escape; and the results are such as you behold. Hargrove's story. 113 Our destination, after evacuating Alexandria, was Gibraltar. At Malta we touched, indeed, in passing; but our point was the Rock, and to it we proceeded with as little delay as possible. We found the garrison still agitated by a remembrance of the mutiny which had occurred not many months before; and to the stories which were in circulation there was no end; but I do not know that any good pur- pose would be served, were I to repeat them. The mutiny at Gibraltar, like that of the Portsmouth fleet, was an event which redounded little to the credit of anybody: and the less it is referred to, both by the journalist and the general writer, the better. We landed at Gibraltar in a state of such absolute dilapidation, that the commanding officer expressed himself reluctant to expose our poverty by exhibiting us on an ordinary parade. A broad nint was accordingly given, that officers were expected to use as little delay as possible in supplying themselves with fresh uniforms; and my ex- chequer, at least, being empty, I was compelled to purchase upon credit; and having uo private revenues to fall back upon, nor any knowledge of the great virtue of economy, I found, from that day forth, that there was a millstone about my neck. Moreover, the first step in debt, like a similar movement in vice, is almost always fatal. Once driven to his shifts, a man becomes by degrees indifferent to the nice sense of honour which shrinks from a perpetual consciousness of difficulty ; and when it comes to this, all is over. The ingenuity may be sharpened,—for it requires some cleverness to keep up appearances, where all is rotten at the core; but self-respect dies out, ana a regard to truth expires with it; and the embarrassed man, if he sink not into an absolute swindler, can hardly claim to be regarded as rigidly honest. Prom the day I ordered my new outfit, without having in my pocket the means of paying for it, 1 was a ruined man. Young and thoughtless, and surrounded by persons quite as thoughtless as myself, I lived from hand to mouth, as if the hour of reckoning would never come, and gradually became the slave of vices which are fatal alike to the body and the mind. I am sorry to say, that the habits of my corps were, in many respects, such as it would little gratify myself to describe. Drinking was then a more common practice in regiments than it is now; and to gaming not a few of us were addicted; and when gaming and drinking prevail to any extent, there is an end to all correctness of feeling. Nor was this all: the regiment was torn by the spirit of party. The colonel was at enmity with the first major; —the major held the colonel in abhorrence: and the officer on whom the one was disposed to look favourably, became, as a matter of course, an object of abhorrence to the other. I found myself, in some measure by compulsion, one of the colonel's clique, for which the anecdote that 1 have related, touching a certain transaction in Egypt, may sufficiently account. By the major I was, in an equally decided manner, detested; and no great while elapsed ere I was made to feel that mine was the weaker faction of the two. Colonel 's name appeared in the Gazette as major-general, about six months after our arrival at Gibraltar; and Major became, in I 114 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. his turn, lieutenant-colonel and commandant. He was not slow in making a portion of his officers feel that times were changed with them. While the irregularities of his own personal friends were overlooked, or lightly dealt with, the adherents of his predecessor found themselves harassed by a system of perpetual espionnage ; and I, among others, not having been at any period of my life famous for prudence, narrowly escaped destruction. . I confess, with shame and confusion of face, that I had by this time fallen into the very depths of dissipation. Night after night, it was my practice to meet others whose tastes were similar to my own, and in large potations, or in the baneful exercise of dice, to waste the hours that ought to have been given to sleep. With these proceed- ings the commanding-officer did not interfere. He said, I am sure unwisely, that his situation required of him only to see that those under his command did their duty as soldiers. But he watched us narrowly, both at parade and at guard-mounting, and seemed ready, in the event of any irregularity appearing there, to crush the unhappy wretch that might be guilty of it. I know that more than once my destiny hung in the balance. The fumes of an over-night's debauch have repeatedly operated upon me, so as to render my powers of apprehension exceedingly languid. Yet, somehow or another, I was never absolutely caught, though, over and over again, I deserved it. I mentioned, a short time ago, Jem Blake, and spoke of the extent of his gratitude to me; let me explain myself. Jem Blake, though belonging originally to a different company, applied to be removed into mine, and succeeded. For a while he con- tented himself with showing towards me more than common respect; but by-and-by, my servant having been, for some cause or another, sent back to his duty, Jem asked me to give him the situation, and I consented. He was an exceedingly careful and attentive valet, though at first he was nothing morethat is to say, he took care to keep my apartments in the very best order, and did his best that I should never appear otherwise than creditably. But by-and-by, as my affairs began to grow more entangled, his personal devotion became conspi- cuous; and at last, with tears in his eyes, he ventured to expostulate with me. I stared, felt every word that he had spoken, affected to treat the matter lightly, and laughed at him. "Don't laugh, your honour," said Jem, "for it's no laughing matter. What's the use of running wild altogether ? Who will care for you after the break-up comes ?—and is it not sure to come, sooner or later ? " " What break-up, you fool ?" demanded I, trying to look as indignant as possible. "Why, your honour's, to be sure," was Jem's answer. "Do you think I'm blind ? You saved my life, sir. Oh ! let me do more for you by saving your character." It is strange the effect which the well-timed remonstrance of an inferior will sometimes produce upon the most depraved. Had any of my brother-officers said as much to me as Jem, my pride would have hindered me from regarding it; but Jem spoke like one who had no right to interfere, and his interference melted me quite. He saw Hargrove's story". 115 that lie had at least touched the right chord, and he hastened to draw from it a fuller and a better strain. "You are in debt, sir," he continued, "and you are desperate. These games at hazard, night after night, are all in the hope that for- tune may yet favour you; but the remedy is worse than the disease, and you are only getting deeper into the slough." " And if it be so, Jem," replied I, " how can I help myself ? It is too late to reflect now; reflection may bring pain, but it serves no good purpose." " Don't say so, my dear master," rejoined the honest fellow • " there may be help at hand where you least expect it. Just before I applied to be taken into your service, I had seventy-five pounds left me by an old aunt. It would have purchased my discharge, and set me up in business, either here or at home; but I all along meant it for you, and if your honour will but take it, you can pay me again whenever it is convenient. Mayhap it will set you clear of the world, and I will be the happiest fellow in his majesty's service." I was not at all prepared for this. I gazed upon the speaker, whose honest countenance flushed with the excess of feeling; and, grasping his hand, I burst into tears. Jem joined me in the fit of crying heartily. " Pray, sir. pray don't take on so, but accept the money; it is much more yours than mine. Remember that if you had not had pity upon me, I should have been long ago where no money could reach me; and what right have I to call anything my own, so long as you seem to be in want. Take the money; pay your debts with it, and disap- point all your enemies. And never fear, the time will come when I shall ask some favour from you, and you will be happy in granting it." Alas! alas! it is a true, though a stale saying, that "The empty purse never yet stood upright." My debts far exceeded the sum which Jem offered, and would have done so had his seventy-five founds been quadrupled. But what of that: "Who knows," thought ; "fortune may favour me for once, and this gift, or rather loan, of the kind-hearted fellow be the making of me. Oh ! if it were, how proud, how happy should I be to restore him his own with usury, and convince him that I was not ungrateful! What right had I to give encouragement to such dreams ? I had none whatever: yet let me do justice even to myself; it was under the influence of this extravagant vision that I permitted the warm-hearted creature to run to his quarters, whence in a few minutes he returned with a bag of doubloons in his hand. I seized it with a firm grasp. " Jem," said I, " I never thought it would have come to this. But if I have luck " " Oh, never mind about luck, your honour," interrupted he. " Take it, and God prosper it in your hands. I am better pleased to give it to you, in the hope that it will set you free, than I ever was in my life before, the morning on which you delivered me from the fear of death not excepted." It was late in the evening when the scene which I have been describing passed; and Jem not unnaturally concluded that I would lie down, with my newly-acquired treasure beside me, and dispose of i 2 116 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. it in the morning as he meant it to be applied. His countenance therefore fell to an expression of the deepest agony, when 1 desired him to hand me my cloak and cap. " Are you going anywhere to-night, sir ? " asked he. " Don't you think, as there is an early parade to-morrow, that, it would be best to get a good night's rest, which, to my knowledge, you have not had for this fortnight past." " I shall not be late, Jem," replied I; " but I made an engagement which must be kept. But don't fret, my good fellowI know what I am about. I have hardly tasted wine or spirits to-day, and the money shall be taken care of." " Perhaps your honour would just leave it behind," said Jem. " By all means, Jem," answered I haughtily. " The money is yours, not mine; so take it back again, pray." Jem coloured over the very forehead as he heard this, and started back when I held out to him the bag of gold. " I didn't think your honour would have spoken to me so," said he bitterly. " I thought you knew me better than to suppose it was for the money I cared." " Nay, nor do I, Jem," answered I, thrusting the bag once more into my pocket. " No, my good fellow, I am sure that your motives are and were the best. Only trust me this once. I cannot help myself to-night, for my word of honour is passed; but you may rely upon my bringing the whole matter to a speedy close; and fear not, I am both able and willing to take care of myseli." " May the Lord grant it!" muttered Jem, as he gave me my hat and cloak. " Shall I sit up for your honour ? " "No, I think not," answered I, passing at the same moment across the threshold. "Just put the key under the sill, and I will let my- self in without disturbing you." I could observe by the glare which fell upon him from the moon, that Jem shrugged his shoulders as I hurried away, and there was a still small voice within, that told me the nature of the feelings which produced the movement; but I stifled it with all the haste which I millrl cnmmanr] " Pnnh nnnh I " said I to myself ; "what business 11 not my triumph be inexpressible ? and if I lose—ah!—what then ? I am utterly ruined as it isI cannot be more than ruined when all is over." While these thoughts were passing through my mind, I had de- scended into the barrack square; and in five minutes afterwards I was at the foot of a staircase, which I had often before ascended full of hope and energy, but from which I had rarely come away except in a condition which the condemned criminal need scarcely envy. It led to the apartment of an officer in one of the civil departments of the army, a man of low birth and lower station, who, not content to make money of the necessities of young men, by cashing their bills at an exorbitant premium, encouraged them to stake the dis- counts which he gave them, on a card, and rarely failed of fleecing them. There was not one among all his dupes who was ignorant of his real character, or so much as pretended to be in ignorance of it—■ Am I not justified in making this hargrove's story. 117 we spoke of him among ourselves as a sharper and a blackleg; yet such was the infatuation under which we laboured,—so potent was the spell in which he contrived to involve us, that night after night we made our appearance at his quarters. Loo and vingt-un, as I well remember, where among the games which with cards he chiefly practised. Hazard he commended with all his might, and he was generally a gainer by it; but blind hookey was his favourite pastime • and somehow or another he always contrived to wind up with it, and on almost every occasion reaped an abundant harvest from it. It is the most stupid of all stupid games, for it consists in little else than cutting the cards; which, if fairly done, would, one would think, give to all engaged in the operation an equal chance of win- ning. But our worthy host, whether by chicanery or long acquaint- ance with the size of the pack, came off, on almost every occasion, victorious. So blinded were we, however, or rather so desperate, that I do not recollect an instance of our refusing his challenge; aud it accordingly came to pass that Fortune, however she might have gone in the early part of the day, declared for him towards the close of the sitting, as surely as the day succeeded the night. I had, for many previous weeks, been a regular attendant at this respectable individual's evening parties. My ready money soon went, and bills to a considerable amount were in circulation, most of which, as I well knew, would make their way to England, only that in due time they might be returned protested; for I drew upon an uncle, who, though he was known to be in good circumstances, had certainly not given me the smallest authority so to deal with him, and from whom, as he was a merchant and one of three partners, I had no right to expect more than common civility. Nay, let me not stop here; my first bill for five-and-twenty pounds my uncle paid, warning me, however, that he could not undertake to pay any more. My second, for a similar sum, was in like manner accepted, though a Jiositive assurance arrived by return of post that the next which came le would refuse: and as three more had followed within a verv moderate space of time, I was already counting the hours which stood between me and the total overthrow of my credit. My foot was hardly beyond the threshold of the room, when the true state of the case became known to me. " So, Mr. Hargrove," said the host in a whisper, as he advanced to meet me, "this is a nice trick you have played me,—a very nice trick indeed. I had the honour of a communication from your uncle by the packet which arrived this morning, which contains, besides your bill of the fifth of last month, an announcement that lie will not in future be answerable for your debts, nor accept any of your drafts. Of course, you are provided with means of taking up these bills as they become due. Of course, it is all a mis- take on your part, or a joke, though a tolerably awkward one, I must say." "Quite prepared, my good friend," repeated I, coolly,—"quite prepared to take them up one by one, as they return. In fact, the trick is not mine, but the old curmudgeon's himself. He fancies that he shall thus keep what he is pleased to call my extravagances in 118 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. check, and frighten the merchants here out of giving me credit; yet the blockhead knows that my allowance will more than coyer all my expenses, and sends money to me by different channels, instead of keeping long accounts with me. Where is the bill?—let me see it." I ought, perhaps, to have stated, that though a numerous party was expected, very few of the guests were as yet arrived. Mr. was thus enabled, without committing either me or himself, to inform me of the plight in which I stood, while I, quietly shaking my bag of doubloons, satisfied him that all was right. " I see, I see," said he, eagerly. " That will do, that will do. I am heartily glad to see you. I was afraid that things had really gone wrong, and that we should have lost in future the pleasure of your society. But I perceive that I was mistaken. Never mind the bill tp-night. We can arrange about it, and other matters, in the morning: take you your seat in the meanwhile, and let us to business." I took my seat as he desired, and, attaching myself for a while to the hazard table, I came off considerably a gainer. Mr. saw this, and smiled, while at the same time he challenged me to cut into the fresh loo party which he was just then forming. I did so; and here the luck went against me. The trifle which I had won at hazard soon melted away; my own, or rather poor Jem's doubloons followed, and so steadily flowed the tide, so unvarying was my evil fortune, that, in the course of a few hours, the seventy-five pounds were reduced to seven. " Try blind hookey, Hargrove," exclaimed Mr. , " and wet your whistle at the same time. No wonder you don't succeed to- night, for the deuce a drop of grog has passed your lips, and it's poor work shelling out, and never taking in even the liquor of life." I cannot say that I was cool; for my pulse beat furiously, and every nerve in my body seemed to vibrate. I was, however, quite sober; and the extent of the evil that lay before me did not for a moment escape my notice. Yet I went on, hoping that the luck would yet change, till Mr. 's suggestion roused me. "Blind hookey be it," exclaimed I, " and a good stiff glass of grog into the bargain. There, let me drain it off; and now here goes." I staked two doubloons the first cut, and won. I repeated the stake, and won again. I was delighted. "More grog," said I; " it's the grog that does it all: give me another north-wester." The grog was administered accordingly, and it told. " Gome now," ex- claimed Mr. . " Here goes ; double or quits." Once again the card turned up in my favour, and I was enraptured. " You've lost your knack," exclaimed I, triumphantly, while I told him at the same time to replenish my tumbler. " So it would appear," was the reply; "but let us try again once more. Double or quits." " What! for all ? " cried I. "Yes, for all," answered Mr. , hurriedly: " or stay, let us cut for a definite stake. Here's twenty doubloons on the card; will you back it ? " • I pulled out my money to do so, but stopped, fancying that I could perceive some change in what was before me. hakghove's STOItY. 119 " Why, this is not the same pack," said I; " the cards we played with were " " Were what ? " said the host, sharply; " I lay my money on this card: are yon afraid to back it ? " "No, to be sure not," shouted I, on whom the.liquor which I had taken was beginning to tell. " What care I about packs—there's my money." We cut, and the result need scarcely be stated. In a moment, not my own winnings only, but the wreck of Jem's legacy, went from me, and I found myself a penniless and ruined man, with the comfortable reflection to brood over, that I had suffered myself to be duped in the most palpable manner possible. " It is a foul cut!" cried I, foaming with rage. " You changed the cards when my back was turned, and I charge you before this company with cheating." Instantly there was a rush towards our corner from all parts of the room. Mr. swore that I was a liar and a scoundrel. I endea- voured to seize the cards; but by a sudden jerk of his knee, he upset the table, and three or four packs became so mixed upon the floor, that it was impossible to tell one from another. Then followed such a scene as I should find it a hard matter to describe. From angry words we proceeded to blows; we swore, we fought, we struggled, till by-and-by the tumult became such, that the very guard heard it. "Away! away'."cried some one aloud, "the picquet is coming, I hear them on the stairs." As if some magical power had been called into operation, the lights were instantly and simultaneously extin- guished. I felt myself seized by both arms, and hurried along a dark passage, from which, by another stair, I was half-dragged, half- conducted, into the barrack square. " IJpw home to your quarters," whispered the voice of one of my comrades, himself a victim to the sharper from whose assistant we had escaped. "Make haste to get yourself out of the way; for I can. tell you that the eolonel is seeking for such an opportunity to smash both you and me." I felt that what he said was true. Mad I was, partly from a recoh lection of the loss which I had just sustained, partly from the effects of the strong drink, which had first blinded, and then inflamed me; yet I was not so insane as to be ignorant of the fate which would await me were I caught in my present bruised and excited condition. Accordingly, I stole off, keeping under the shadow of the buildings, towards my own staircase, which I reached unnoticed, or at all events, unchallenged; and letting myself in by the process on which Jem and I had previously agreed, I threw myself on my bed, and, strange to say, soon fell asleep. 120 the veterans op chelsea hospital. CHAPTER V. My Circumstances do not improve. The day had fully dawned when I lay down; and my slumbers were, as may be imagined, both feverish and unrefreshing. I went through again, in my dreams, all the horrors which had been enacted while I was awake; and saw strange phantoms which, somehow or another, appeared to be connected with them. I fancied that from the sharper's room I had escaped to the Bungalow, on the Hoogley, and sought my mother from one apartment to another till I found her. She was very pale, and her raven hair hung in confused masses over her shoulders; while across them a bandage seemed to have been drawn, of the cause of which I was not ignorant. I knew, in fact, that she was dead; yet I spoke to her as if she had been a living woman. What shall I say? She told me, more in sorrow than in anger, that my career would end fatally. She entreated me to have pity, not so much upon myself as upon her; and wrung her hands with a gesture so piteous, that to this hour I have never forgotten it. I started from my pillow, awoke with a cold sweat upon my Drow, and saw that I was not alone. I ruhbed my eyes; and, after an involuntary sob or two, ascertained that the individual that hung over me was Jem. "Jem," said I, " what means this ? Why do you disturb me thus early ? I have only just lain down, and must have some sleep." " So I suppose, your honour," replied Jem, dejectedly. " The state of your dress, and the disorder in which I find you, proclaim as much; and yet it is within half an hour of morning parade." I sprang out of bed: and, running towards the mirror, beheld reflected there a spectacle which quite unmanned me. My coat was torn from the collar to the skirt; my epaulet was gone; there was blood upon my face, which had run down so as to stain my very small- clothes, and a large black weal blocked up one of my eyes. Whatever indistinctness of memory might have heretofore attached to me, was dispelled in an instant. I recollected all that had taken place over night j and, in an agony of remorse, which amounted well-nigh to despair, I threw myself down upon the bed again, and groaned aloud. It's no use desponding now, sir," said Jem. " I need not ask what has happened: but if you wish to save your commission—if you hope to escape absolute ruin, rise and put yourself to rights a bit, and be in readiness to turn out when the drum beats. The colonel is on the prowl; and should you be absent, or even late, there's no telling what may happen." " I don't care what happens, Jem," replied I; "lama lost man in every sense of the word. They may take my commission from me, if they will; for I cannot fall lower than I am." Don't say so, my dear master," answered the kind and faithful fellow. The money's all gone, I dare say; I was prepared for that, as soon as 1 saw that you were bent on keeping your last night's Hargrove's story. 121 engagement. But it can't be helped. It was all your own, and you hail a right to do with it what you liked. So, pray, pray get up and dress; and we can talk things over, if you are so condescending as to open your mind to me, when the morning parade is ended. At all events, you are no worse than you were this time yesterday." I would have fain resisted the affectionate creature's appeals, but he would take no denial: so I rose, threw off my soiled and tattered garments, and dressed for parade. 1 washed my face, too, carefully, and had the satisfaction to perceive that, except in the matter of the black eye, no serious traces of an affray adhered to me; but that was terrible. " How can I show myself on parade, with such a stamp as this on my forehead?" demanded 1. "Pooh, pooh! never mind that," answered Jem. "Put on your cocked hat a little askew, and draw it down over the left side of your face; and nobody will notice, I'll undertake to say, whether there be a mark there or not." I acted upon Jem's suggestion, and flattered myself, when all was done, that a pretty close examination of my features would be neces- sary to trace out the bruise; and, as I had no reason to suppose that we were going to be more narrowly inspected than usual, 1 counted on passing muster. But I was mistaken: whether the colonel had received intimation of the fracas over-night, or that his hawk's-eye perceived at once that my bearing was somewhat different from what it used to be, I cannot tell; but I had scarcely taken my place in the ranks, when he called aloud to me,— " Mr. Hargrove, why do you wear your hat in that slovenly and unsoldier-like fashion ? Don't you know that his majesty's regulations require it to be worn athwart ships ? Put it to rights, sir, imme- diately, and don't let the point of it come over the line of your eye- brows." I could not refuse to obey, of course; and the consequence was, that, no sooner was the position of the hat shifted, than the swollen and blackened cheek became visible. The colonel did not permit it to pass unnoticed. " Halloo, sir!" cried he; " what's the meaning of such a mark upon your face ? Have you been boxing over-night, and setting an example to the men of riot and insubordination ?" " I met with an accident, sir," replied I, lowering my sword; " and would have asked leave to absent myself from parade, had there been time; but there was not." " And so you have come to disgrace yourself to the whole corps ? Very well, sir; I have heard of some pretty doings in this part of the garrison; and, take my word for it, the truth shall be brought out. Mr. Jack, order a court of inquiry to assemble after parade, at the mess-room, to investigate certain matters affecting the credit of the regiment, and to report to me accordingly." So saying, the colonel turned his attention to somebody else; and, by-and-by, his ill-humour having fully vented itself, the business of the parade went on. I need not add that to me it was an affair more than ordinarily irksome, or that when it came to a close, I was somewhat 122 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. puzzled to determine whether I should not have been thankful to have had it indefinitely prolonged. As soon as the word " dismiss" was given, I hurried back to my quarters. Jem was there, as I expected; and so completely had the kind-hearted fellow won my confidence, that I proceeded at once to unburthen my sorrows to him, as if we had been on a footing of the most perfect equality. He bore the announcement of the loss of his money with the calmness of a stoic: he heard what I had to say concerning the brawl with patience, and did not seem alarmed at the prospect of the court of inquiry, though he had no more doubt than myself that it would have some reference to the affair in question. "Nobody saw your honour," was his reply, "except they as won't bear witness against you. The colonel may suspect what he will; but where evidence is wanting, what are his suspicions worth ?" Jem's view of the case was at least a consolatory one; and, as the event proved, it was a just one. The court met; I was called upon to answer certain questions, which I did as vaguely and generally as I could. Other persons were in like manner examined, and with a like result; so that the report given in neither confirmed nor removed the suspicions with which the colonel professed to have been haunted. But he seemed determined to get ria of some of his officers, at all events; and with me, at least, he succeeded. He sent for me to his quarters; and told me that though he might not be able just at that mom rait to bring any charge home, he had the best reasons to believe that I had been conducting myself in a very improper manner. " As to your debts," continued he, "they are notorious to all the garrison; and it is very unpleasant to me to be told that duns are for ever haunting the barracks where my regiment lies. Besides, there will be writs out against you immediately, if none be already issued,—and what is to become of you ?" I answered that I really did not know. " Well, then," replied he, " I will tell you what to do. Take your- self off to the south side of the town, and I will give you leave from parades and guards for a time. If in that interval you have any friend that will come forward and clear you, good and well; you shall return to your duty, and we may get an exchange for you into some other corps : but if not, you must take the consequences." 1 could not conceal from myself that in what the colonel said there was a great deal of reason. Prom morning to night my room-door had of late been beset by duns, and the language of some of them made me aware that they were not going to deal leniently with me any longer. I was, therefore, fain to accept his proposal, and prompt to tell him so. Perhaps it may be necessary to state what the south side of Gibraltar is. A sort of suburb, which lies beyond the inner line of works, yet is covered by the more advanced entrenchments, and subject to the English government, the south side, as it is called, enjoys so much of the character of an asylum, that no warrant, except that of the governor, may there be executed. Accordingly, when men become so completely involved that there is not only no peace for them elsewhere, but the constant danger of arrest, they remove into that suburb, where, if they can pay exorbitantly for a bad apartment, they Hargrove's story. 123 have at least the assurance that no bailiff will break in upon it. As may be imagined, the party on the south side was far from being composed of the elite of the garrison. A sort of Alsatia on a small scale, it exhibits, on the contrary, features just as revolting as those which may be seen within the rules of the Bench, where men, grown reckless and hopeless, seem to take leave of all decency; and having no characters of their own, affect to despise the maintenance of character in another. In a word, the south side is to Gibraltar what Holyrood or the Abbey is to Edinburgh—a place of refuge, by keeping within the limits of which the unfortunate debtor is saved from the restraint of a narrower prison. I really do hot know why I should have entered so freely into the colonel's scheme; I knew perfectly well that there was no chance whatever of getting my debts paid—that I had no friend in the world who would so much as trouble himself to inquire after me; and hence that the smash, which my flight to the south side might defer, must come at last; yet, as men are always willing to put off the evil day let it threaten what it will, so I lost not a moment m transferring myself and my kit to the quarters which he had recommended. What a place it was! Even I, dissolute as I had already become, found some diffi- culty at first in reconciling myself to the manners of its inhabitants, whose most exalted ideas of happiness went no further than a free and uninterrupted indulgence in the lowest debauchery. I never entertained the faintest hope that I should escape from the snare which had gathered round me. I felt that I was a ruined man; and the feeling produced in me the same results which it produces everywhere,—I became indifferent to everything. Even J em's devoted affection, which continued to show itself in a variety of ways, ceased by degrees to move me. When he came to see me, I received him indeed, often in such a plight as made the poor fellow's heart ache. Nay, I confess with shame, that the little savings out of his pay, which from time to time he offered, I had not the manliness to refuse. But I lost all regard for him, for myself, and for the world, seeking only to steep my senses as much and as deeply as possible in forgetful- ness. Let me not continue these details. The term of grace which the colonel had made out came to an end, without bringing with it any change in my circumstances. I was told that further indulgence could not be granted, and had the choice submitted to me either of resigning my commission or being brought to a court-martial. There was no room for deliberation: I sent in my resignation, got a passage in a transport which was under orders to return home; and escaping by night from the sanctuary and my creditors, found myself next morning a considerable space out at sea. The ship put in at Portsmouth harbour, whence I proceeded with- out delay to London, that I might throw myself on the compassion of my relatives, and make, with their assistance, one effort more to retrieve my lallen fortunes. I do not blame them for looking coldly upon me, 1 deserved no favour at their hands; but I think that if I had been differently dealt with, my fate would have been different. Perhaps this is a mere delusion—perhaps I was sunk so low in tem- per, in principle and habits, that to restore me to a becoming place in 124 TIIE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. society would have been impossible: yet I well remember that my resolutions were all of the right sort; and that if to experience remorse be the first step towards amendment, by me it had been taken. Still I have no right to charge my uncle with cruelty because he received me sternly; while from my mother-in-law, who was likewise in town at the time, I never expected kindness. " You have brought disgrace, not only on yourself, but on all belonging to you," was my uncle's salutation, after I had succeeded in forcing my way into his presence. " You have cast behind you the only opening for which your education fitted you; and now you come, with a brand against your name, to ask that I shall do something for you. I tell you that I will have nothing to say to you. Go and shift for yourself; and if you cannot find honest employment, starve in the kennel—for I dis- own yon." From my uncle's, I went to the house of my mother-in-law, who did not award me a more favourable reception. She spoke, indeed, less harshly, because she was a woman; but she, too, declared that she neither could nor would stir hand or foot to help me. I fired up at the announcement, and withdrew. But where could I go, or what was I to do with myself ? My purse was literally empty; I was an entire stranger in the great living desert of London; I had not broken bread for the last four-and-twenty hours; and I knew not where to seek shelter. Unconsciously, I wandered back in the direction of my uncle's; and, not having any object in view, lingered upon the pave- ment in front of it. A window was opened in one of the upper stories; and the head of a pretty girl, apparently about fifteen or sixteen years of age, was thrust out. "You must not loiter near the house, Cousin John," said she. " My father is so angry with you at present, that if he were to see you beside his door, I believe he would get you sent to prison. I know all your story, and blame you very much, but I pity you too; and if you will only keep quiet for a while, and try to conduct yourself better, I will use my best efforts to reconcile you to your uncle. Go away, and don't let him meet you again to-day." "Whither can X go?" answered I, in great bitterness. "lam destitute—absolutely destitute. I have not the means to purchase so much as a meal, far less to hire a lodging. What would he have me do ? Go and rob on the highway ? " " No, no; not that," replied my cousin. " He wishes you no evil; he will yet relent if you be prudent. There—take that, and live on it as long as you can; and when it is nearly expended, let me receive a note from you, and I will either send you a supply, or get my father to do so." She threw a purse from the window as she spoke, which I caught; Fut I had no opportunity of thanking her; for when I looked up again, she was gone, and the blind had been drawn down, in token that she would hold no further conversation with me. Nevertheless, I bade God bless her, though she heard it not; and, finding that the purse contained a two-pound note, with seven shillings in silver, I went away to appease the cravings of hunger, which were by this time sufficiently violent. Yet, let me do justice to myself: I formed a IIARGMOVE'S STOllY. 123 solemn determination that, come what might, I should never again be guilty of one act out of which sorrow or shame could arise to any- body; but that, devoting myself to the single purpose of making amends for the past, I should strive to deserve, as well as to win back, the esteem and confidence of my kindred. My uncle lived in Street. It was by far too gay a quarter of the town for me; so I sought out an obscure lodging, in the very heart of the city, and there established my head-quarters. To my juvenile cousin I wrote, long before her bounty was expended, in order that both she and her father might watch, if they chose, the manner in which I conducted myself; and for nearly three weeks, over which I made my little pittance extend, no man's behaviour could be more correct. I stinted myself even in my food, living at the cheapest eating-houses ; and as to drink, nothing stronger than water passed my lips. I do not deny that my sufferings all the while were terrible. Let not the moralist condemn too harshly or too soon the relapses of one who has at any period of his life been a drunkard. However earnest his desire may be to conquer the vice—however satisfied he is of its ruinous influence on mind, body, and estate, there is a craving within, which, as it amounts to disease, will not always be controlled; and if he once indulge it, no matter to how trivial an extent, then is all power of self-government taken from him. I know that had my very life hung in the balance, I could not have held out longer; and therefore, were my joy and gratitude without bounds, when, just as the reins were dropping out of my hand—just as I had begun to debate with myself whether or not I should treat resolution to a dram, I received a letter from my uncle, desiring to see me. I went immediately. He was still cold, but not quite so stern as he had been at a former interview. He said that throughout the last three weeks I had in all my movements been watched: and that he was willing to believe, from the reports which were brought to him, that I had begun a course of amendment. " And now, John," continued he, "though I will make no promises —though I must have a much more extended experience of your reformation ere I use the slightest exertion to put you in a way of doing for yourself, 1 wish to show you that even your follies, gross and detestable as they are, have not cut you off from all sympathy on the part of your relations. Here is a supply of money for your imme- diate wants. Go and get yourself equipped like a gentleman, and when that is done, come ana dine with me. We shall be ail alone to- day; and if you conduct yourself properly, it may not be the last dinner I shall give you. But, mind; everything depends upon your- self." I had no right whatever to take offence at this address—I had no business with pride; yet my flesh seemed to creep as I accepted my relative's money, and I turned away from him without speaking. I suspect that he either did not observe the movement, or mistook the nature of the feeling which caused it; for he said nothing. I there- fore left him, carrying with me the invitation, but without entertain- ing the most remote idea of acting upon it. 126 the veterans op chelsea hospital. CHAPTER VI. Deeper and deeper still. When I quitted my uncle's house I was like an insane person. All the follies of which I had myself been guilty were forgotten, while I thought only, in a spirit of unmitigated bitterness, of the insult which he had just put upon me. " Bine with him, because he is all alone; and perhaps, if I conduct myself to his satisfaction, I may be permitted to repeat the visit." I foamed at the mouth as the words passed my lips, and gnashed my teeth in agony. Every evil passion in my nature seemed, indeed, to set itself in motion; and I swore, with a violent oath, that I would not go near him. Can it be doubted to what excess this unfortunate adventure led? Instead of seeking out a tailor and providing myself with respectable apparel, of which, to confess the truth, I stood very much in need, I hastened to a well- known tavern, where, for four days and nights, I gave unrestrained licence to the craving which had so long tormented me, and would not any further be suppressed. Of all the species of bondage under which an unfortunate man can be brought, that which now exercised dominion over me is at once the most relentless and most degrading. During these tour days, I was as little master of myself as if I had been born an idiot. The past and the future were equally blanks to me. I cared only for the degraded present; and, so long as my stock of bank-notes lasted, the people in whose hands I had placed myself continued to treat me well. Whatever I chose to order was produced; and every night they carried me, in a state of stupor, to bed. But by-and-by my uncle's present came to an end, ana with my means of paying for it the civility of my hosts ended likewise. At last I was tola point blank, that as they knew nothing about me, they could not serve me except for ready money. I stormed, of course, swore at and even struck the waiter, and was forthwith, in the most unceremonious manner possible, thrust to the door. I resisted with all my might, and a scuffle ensued, which, as the hour was late, soon drew the watchman to the spot. Against me, as might have been expected, the charge was made; and I was dragged off to the watch-house. WTiat language would be adequate to describe the shame, remorse, and self-upbraiding, to which, on the return of my senses, I became the prey. Even under ordinary circumstances, it would have griev- ously distressed me to find that I had incurred the disgrace of imprisonment • for, profligate as I was, all sense of self-respect had not abandoned me: but just at the moment, when character and station both hung in the balance, to be hurried into such a scrape, a scrape that could not be concealed—it was the act of a mere madman. I was not quite sober when, in company with a whole troopof street- walkers and pickpockets, I was conducted to the Mansion-House, for the purpose of having my case heard. I knew that my brain still reeled, Hargrove's story. 127 and that my bearing and manner were such as attend only upon him who has sat long over his cups. But even that haze was dispersed immediately on my arrival in the justice-room. From the dock into which I had been thrust, I looked up towards the magistrate's bench, and saw that two gentlemen were seated there. One was an entire stranger; the other—my God! my God!—it was my uncle. Let me draw a veil over the scene that followed. The space of time which sufficed to make him known to me, revealed me in like manner to him; and the expression of his countenance when our eyes met can never fade from my remembrance. I do not know what passed between him and the Lord Mayor—for the Lord Mayor it was who sat beside him; but to me no questions were put. The officers received directions to remove me from the dock; and I was conducted into a private room, as if some important examination had been anti- cipatect. But no examination at all took place. After waiting here some time, a javelin-man came to inform me that I was at liberty to go; and, in a state of mind which beggars all attempt at delineation, I hurried into the street. I had been furious against my uncle when he presented me with the fatal gift • I was now furious with myself for having so abused it. How thankful would I have been at that moment for leave to approach him on any terms, and to profess my bitter regret for the past! But between him and me I now felt that a gulf was indeed fixed, and that no efforts of mine would ever enable me to pass it. "What was to become of me ? whither should I go? "I could not dig, to beg I was ashamed-" and yet without one or other of these resources, how should I be able to exist ? I have often wondered that on that occa- sion, above all others, I was not tempted to make away with myself. I never experienced so acutely the sense of absolute desperation either before or afterwards. I wandered through the streets like one who walks in a dream. Thronged as they were with my fellow-creatures, some walking in haste as if full of business, some sauntering on with a careless tread —all passed me by unsaluted, unrecognised, and unnoticed. How terrible is the sense of loneliness in the midst of a crowd! I felt that day as he may be supposed to do whom society has forcibly ejected from its bosom. I was alone in the world—a being whom no one would own—of whom, living or dead, no note whatever would be taken • and the consciousness that I deserved to be so cast aside unmanned me quite. I wept like a child; and my tears, as they always do, brought me relief. "I will go home to my lodgings," said I; "the poor people used to behave civilly; perhaps they may continue their civility still; and if not, there are a few articles in the lodging, by the sale or pawning of which a trifle may be raised wherewith to sustain nature." So saying, I turned my face in the direction of my old quarters, and reached them without meeting with any adventure. I was received as one might expect to be of whose decease some rumour had gone abroad. My landlady stared, screamed, flew from me, and gave other symptoms of alarm, which, not without difficulty, I succeeded in appeasing. Finally, when I assured her that all was right, and that I was come for no other purpose than to 128 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. resume my former station in her family, she tossed her head, turned up her nose, and looked unutterable things. " Now then, just let me pass to my own room, will you ?" said I. " Your own room!" repeated she; "pray, sir, where is that?" " Why, the room that I hired of you, and have occupied for the last three weeks." " I know nothing about it," was her answer. "We let lodgings only to gentlemen; we don't have nothing to say to chaps as come out of spunging-houses." "What do you mean, woman?" demanded I. "Is it your in- tention to refuse me admittance to my own apartment ? Do you mean to keep my very clothes from me?" "Your clothes, indeed!" exclaimed she, disdainfully. "A nice stock of clothes you had, surely! Three rags of shirts, with as many stockings, full of holes, and an old pair of shoes not worth a groat. Why, the whole concern wouldn't pay for the washing." " Have you presumed to sell my effects ?" said I, in a passion. "Have you paid your rent for the last fortnight?" replied she; "and weren't you trying to do us out of it? Be pleased to take yourself off, unless you want a night's lodging in the watch-house; for you can't come in here, I tell you, and you shan't." " Give me my effects, then," demanded I. " Give me my rent, and you shall have them," was the answer. There was a wrangle, as might be expected. The landlady stuck to her assertion, that I was her debtor; I swore that I owed her nothing and that she had robbed me; but my assertions carried no weight with them. Her husband, with one or two lodgers, came to her assistance, and I was fairly turned into the street. "Well, then," said I to myself, growing hardened by the very accumulation of evil, "I may go where I will, and do what I please now. The world is literally before me; let's see what will come of it." It was scarcely noon when I encountered the last rebuff, and I wandered about from street to street till dusk, not only not knowing what was to become of me, but in some sort indifferent to the matter. I knew that my appearance was altogether as disreputable as filth and squalor could make it; feeble too, I was, rather from the effects of previous dissipation, than because my fast had not been broken throughout the day; and what was more, I was destitute of all means wherewith to procure so much as shelter for the night: yet, strange to say, I did not feel like one whom destiny has forsaken. On tue contrary, there was upon my spirits a tendency to make light of the whole affair, for which I could not account; and once, when in pass- ing a large mirror I saw my own image reflected there, I laughed aloud. But there were other and stranger adventures in store for me. It was winter, and the day, which had been gusty and cold through- out, began, towards evening, to settle into rain. A heavy shower, indeed, fell; and I, obeying an impulse which was certainly not the result of reflection, took shelter under a covered passage that led out of Eleet-street. I was standing with my back to the wall, just Hargrove's story. 129 within the influence of the rays of a lamp, when two men came from the interior of the court, and made for the mouth of the aperture. They paused there, apparently unwilling to face the storm; while one, in a country accent, demanded of the other, whether he thought it would last. I started, as the sound of the voice caught my ear. I turned hastily towards the speaker, who, as if the movement had excited his curiosity, looked me full in the face, and in a moment the recognition was mutual. " Jem! my kind and faithful Jem! "—" Mr. Hargrove, is it you ?—is it indeed you yourself ?" Why should I con- ceal anything ? We rushed into each other's arms, and wept—I, at least, bitterly; Jem's was pure joy. " Oh! where has your honour been hiding yourself this fortnight past ? " demanded Jem. " Haven't I been after seeking for you, from the Tower all the way to Westminster, and back again. What have you been doing wid yourself ? and how is it that I see you in this trim, now that I have found you ? " "And you, Jem, whence come you? What are you seeking in London ? Why are you not with the regiment ?" "Eaikes, thin, your honour, and I just gave them the slip. When I found that you was fairly gone, and no chance of seeing you no more, the thought of home in my own dear country just came over me like a dream; and I fretted, and I fretted, till one day I axed a sailor chap, whether he wouldn't stow me away in the hould of his ship, and keep me there till I got to England. And by the same token, ne's a bit of a relation; because he's married to my sister Judy, and is the father of two of my nevies. And so, just as they were gettin' up the anchor, I comes on board, never a soul in the garrison the wiser. My brother, here, took care of me, and gave me this sailor's rig, and him- self came up to London with me, after we landed; and the devil another thing have we been doin' these few days past, than walkin' the streets, hopin' to fall in wid your honour. And now, how has the world behaved to you, sir, and what are you doing? " "The world has behaved better to me, Jem, than I to the world," answered I. "It's the old thing over again. I might have got on pretty well, but for the thing you wot of. Drink, Jem, drink has been and will ever be my ruin." " Oh, then, the curse of Crumwell on that same dhrink! " replied Jem. "Isn't it I that have been praching to your honour these two years back, that the divil a good ever came to any man out o' that same dhrink ? " "Well, Jem, all that you say is true; but what then? The evil's done now, and there's an end of the matter." " And where may your honour be hanging out just at this moment ?" " Nowhere, Jem," replied I, with a laugh ; " or rather everywhere —anywhere. I have positively not a home in the world. I know no more where I am to lay my head to-night, than e'er a houseless vagabond in this great city." " Blood and 'ounds! is it truth that you're spaking ? Have you no quarters of your own at all, at all ? " "None, Jem, as I am a man. I had a lodging, but the people thrust me out of it; and, just as you see me, without even a k 130 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. spare shirt or shoe, I am upon the world, cold, and fasting and weary." " Now, then, by the piper that played before Moses, I'm heartily sorry for your honour. W e've a bit of build, in a rookery down the alley: ana sure, if ye'll condescend to share it with us, my brother Grady and me will be but too happy, and make room for you; though we can't promise that it will be much to your mind, that are used to better." By me, circumstanced as I was at that time, such an offer, coming from such a quarter, was not to be rejected. I thanked my old servant gratefully for his proposal, and was forthwith conducted, by him and his companion down the court from which they had just emerged, towards a door at the lower extremity, which stood open. "We're not afraid of thieves, you see," observed Jem, as lie led the way through the aperture. "There's mighty little within these four walls for anybody to carry off; yet there's a good deal brought in too —now and then at least—isn't there, Grady ? " " Can't you keep a quiet tongue in your head ? " answered Jem's companion, sulkily. " Xou're the blunaerinest blockhead that ever I saw. A body had best have nothin' to do with the likes of you, where there's business to be done as needs secrecy." I could not distinguish the speaker's face, for by this time the night had closed in; but there was something in the tone of his voice that did not please me, and his accent, I discovered at once, was not Irish. I made no remark, however, but continued to follow my leader, who conducted me up first one night of steps, and then another, till we reached the garrets. "Give us the key, Grady," said Jem, as he halted before a low door. " This is my quid officer of whom you've heard me spake; I'll be answerable for him wid my life—so give us the key, and send sulkin' to the devil." " Sulkin' or not sulkin'," answered the individual thus addressed, "I say it's a d d piece of folly to bring a stranger into the very nest; and by the same token, I'm blowed if I'll stand it. I won't give you the key, that's flat; I'll see you d d first!" "Phew ! " whistled Jem, "hand out the key, Joe, and have done with it. This gentleman won't go and tell the police that we carry on a little bit of business in the line; will you, Mr. Hargrove ? " " I know nothing about your proceedings, and don't want to know," answered I; "neither have I any desire to force myself on any man's confidence—so I'll wish you good night, Jem, and find a lodging elsewhere for myself." "No, no ! hang it! you shan't do that neither," replied Jem's com- panion. "I'm sure, if you're the gentleman as saved Jem's life, we've nothing to apprehend from you; so open the door, messmate, and let's try whether we can't make your officer comfortable for one night anyhow." So saying, he handed the key to my faithful friend, who, applying it to the lock, soon threw open the door. Let me describe the apartment into which I was ushered. By the dull light of a turf fire, which smouldered rather than HARGROVE'S STORY. 131 burned in the grate, I could just perceive that I had crossed the threshold of a chamber, long, low, and very imperfectly ventilated. The roof lay—except for about five or six feet m the centre—on a slope of perhaps forty degrees. The light of day, when admitted at all, came through a solitary sky-light; and as this when we entered was tightly fastened down, the pressure _ of the atmosphere was extreme. In consequence partly of this circumstance and partly of the deep gloom in which all around me was enshrouded, I could not at first distinguish more; but I was not long kept in the dark. Grady, as Jem called him, made fast the door on the inside; Jem himself lighted a lamp, under the rays of which all that had hitherto preserved an air of mystery, became manifest. I observed, that if there was little furniture in the place, tools of various kinds were abundant. On a rickety table lay scattered about a variety of files, crucibles, clippers, and several dies. A large assortment of quart pots, some of them whole, others broken or bent together, were huddled into a corner: while lumps of clay, doubtless applied to the purpose of making moulds, were tossed about hither and thither with a very free hand. In other respects I noticed but a solitary bedstead, uncurtained, and feeble in the extreme. There were also a couple of stools, and a chair —the latter with its back broken; while a portion of a mirror, sus- pended over the chimney-piece, proved that the coiners were not quite neglectful of the duties of the toilet. " Your honour's surprised at the sort of habitation I've got into," said Jem, observing that I looked about me like one who was be- wildered; " and, mayhap, you think we've brought you here to starve you; but vou're mistaken; there's both mate and dhrink in the house, and the manes of dressing it too; and sure your honour knows I can fry a collop with the best on 'em." As he said this, Jem drew a frying-pan from beneath the bed ; and, opening a little closet, produced some slices of pork, which, together with a cold potato or two, he proceeded at once to make ready. I confess that the odours which the process of cooking sent forth, acted upon my olfactory nerves in the most satisfactory manner. My appetite, which the consciousness, perhaps, that I was without the means of appeasing, had kept dormant throughout the day, revived to an extent which was quite surprising: and to Jem's viands, as soon as they were spread out before me, I did ample justice. Neither did I regret the modicum of gin with which, not less than with more substantial vivres, the place was supplied. In a word, I made a capital supper: and my two hosts, apparently gratified by the sort of testimony which was thus borne to their benevolence, expressed no other regret than that I left off eating at all. Then followed a carouse, over which we became the best friends possible; and finally, a surrender of the bedstead to me; while the confederates, spreading a blanket on the floor, lay down and slept soundly. & 2 132 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA IIOSHTAL. CHAPTER YIL Things don't go so Smoothly; but I have another Chance. The situation in which I now found myself was to me quite novel; and, as there is a certain charm in novelty, whatever be the form which it assumes, I cannot say that for a time, at least, I much disliked it. Jem and his associate were, as may have been surmised already, professional imitators of the coin of the realm. To the former, indeed, the business was new, for he had but just been drawn into it by his hopeful relative, whose career, from early child- hood, presented one unbroken series of offences against the law; but the latter was a practised hand at it. It was not the first nor the second time that he had carried on the trade, subject to unpleasant interruptions, to be sure, but still successfully; and now, after a year's absence from town, which he had spent on board ship, as a convenient place of concealment, he was returned to his original vocation, Jem heedlessly acting as his assistant. I am not, how- ever, going to describe the process by which the business was carried on. The operation of coining took place only at intervals, and then immediately after dark; while, on the following day, Grady, as I remarked, took his goods abroad, and disposed of them in the lump. I am bound to declare that never, either directly or indirectly, was I aiding and abetting in the fraud upon the public. I made a point either of going abroad while the partners pursued their vocation, or I lay down ere they began, and slept, or pretended to sleep: but I never so much as asked a question: and as to working with them, that I carefully avoided. At last I began to grow anxious, not only on my own account, but on Jem's also, and I determined to speak to him. " Why, you foolish fellow," said I, one day when Grady chanced to be from home, and Jem and I were left together, "are you aware of the consequences, should the police happen to catch you at your tricks ? " "Och, then, and the divil a consequence," was Jem's reply. " Hasn't Grady tould me that there's no harm in the thing, bating only that it's best done quietly ? Eor why ? sure we sell our shil- lings for twopence apiece, and them as comes from the Mint costs twelve." "Take you care, nevertheless," replied I, "that the gentlemen from the Mint don't get you into their clutches. I would not give much for your chance of abiding on this side the herring-pond if they once nab you." Jem stared, as if he scarcely comprehended my meaning; nor was an opportunity afforded of explanation at the moment; for Grady entered just as I was preparing to discuss the point, ana I had only time to put my finger on my lip as a signal of silence. I suspect, however, that either the motion was noticed, or that Grady observed Hargrove's story. 133 in our general manner something that startled him ; for he scowled, as he took his seat, first upon the one, and then upon the other. " It's no use trying to live idle, Jem," said he, after a pause; "and it won't serve our purpose to row in different boats. Your ould master must take a share in the labour as well as the profit, if he bide here: for we must knock off a fresh batch of shiners this very night. There's one wants 'em in the morning as 'ill take no denial." "So be it," answered Jem, "I'm your man; and your honour'11 hould the gluepot, anyhow, till the metal runs, won't you ? " " I can nave nothing to do with such a proceeding," answered I. " Betray you I will not; but I can't put my neck in the noose on sucli a venture; and I advise you, Jem, to wash your hands of it as soon as possible." "What's that he says?" exclaimed Grady. "He wont row in our boat, won't he ? Very well; it's time for one of us to take care of himself." Grady rose and left the room, without speaking another word. " That fellow will betray you, Jem," cried I. " Take my word for it, he'll sell us both. Let's quit this place at once, or evil will come of it." Jem seemed just as much at a loss to understand me this time, as he was when I first spoke to him of the true nature of his employ- ment. He began by asserting that there was nothing to betray; and ended by swearing that he would trust his brother-in-law, Phil Grady, for life and salvation. Still, as I persisted in my arguments, Jem's obstinacy gave way to them; not, as he assured me, out of any disrespect for his relative, but because there was nothing he would not do to serve my honour. Accordingly, he gathered together the few articles of wearing apparel that belonged to him, tied them up in a handkerchief, and, grasping a stout stick in his hand, declared his willingness to accompany me over the world. Por me, I had nothing to pack. Except the soiled and threadbare suit which I wore, I was absolutely destitute of baggage; and as to mpney, I believe that, between us, we were able to muster three shillings and six- pence. " We are a bold pair of fellows, Jem, truly," said I, "to face the world's scorn, shirtless, coatless, penniless; and yet it's better to be outside a prison wall than in." "A thousand-fold, your honour," answered Jem. "Eor why? haven't we hands and feet ? " I did not quite see the logic of Jem's conclusion, though I made no pause to dispute it; so forth we sallied, an hour or two after noon, on a clear frosty day in December, to dare as we best could whatever rubs and crosses fortune might judge it expedient to try us withal. . I really cannot pretend to account for the fact of our having lived at all throughout the ten or twelve days which immediately followed this migration. Jem's money, though carefully hoarded, was spent at last; and then Jem and his little kit went to the pawnbroker's; but the produce of these proved the reverse of exhaustless and we were by-and-by as near the starving point as ever. At length, excess 134f - THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. of misery began to produce in us the same effects which it produces elsewhere; we lost our temper one with the other, and angry words passed between us. " I can't stand this any more," cried I, when after a day's fast, we had crept beneath the shelter of a ruined house in the Minories. " I'll go list, Jem; and if you take my advice, you'll come with me." " Oh, yes, and be given up as a deserter to the regiment. I'd rather drown myself in the Tower ditch." " Drown and be d d," said I, like a savage as I was. " You hear my determination. I go in the morning to St. Jtmes's-park, and the very first sergeant that speaks to me, I take on with him." "And leave me to my fate," said Jem. " Well, I didn't think you would have deserted me after all, Mr. Hargrove." To the hour of my death I shall never cease to look back upon what followed with remorse and self-upbraiding. I was cold, hungry, ill, desperate. I could not endure what sounded like the language of remonstrance, and I swore at poor Jem as if he had done me wrong. He, too, was made irritable by excess of suffering, and he answered me in my own tone. Oh, shame, shame, shame! I struck him, and we fought like wild beasts. But here I had entirely mis- calculated the chances. Jem was by far the more robust of the two: and all that I got for my violence and folly was a sound drubbing. I escaped from Jem's Herculean grasp not without difficulty; and, mad with rage and passion, fled from the spot. Had an opportunity offered—and I sought it, God forgive me, with eagerness—I would have denounced him on the instant as a deserter. But the Tower gates were shut, the drawbridge was up, and nobody would listen to me._ I tprned away, therefore, in a state not far removed from in- sanity, and walked on, and on, and on, as if I had been flying for my life. Street after street was left behind; the interminable laby- rinths of vast London were threaded; and, without in the least degree desiring to accomplish such a purpose, I felt that the free air of the country was blowing around me. But my frame, enfeebled by recent suffering, and shaken to pieces in the struggle with Jem, would not sustain the spirit's excitation beyond a certain point. My brain reeled, a thick mist came over my eyes; I was conscious that I staggered in my gait, and my thoughts wandered. I fell down by the roadside, and became insensible. I do not know how long I may have lain in that plight; but when I recovered, I found myself in bed, at an inn in Romford, with a number of persons surrounding me, and. as it appeared, a good deal of excitement among them. One of them I soon discovered to be a medical man; for, scarcely were my eyes opened, ere he seized my wrist, and, feeling my pulse, asked in a particularly gentle tone of voice, how I felt. I was going to answer, but he stopped me. " Your constitution has sustained a terrible shock. You must keep quiet; it is as much as your life is worth to make the smallest exertion now. You will tell us all about it by-and-by, when you are better." Hargrove's story. 135 As I had nothing to tell, of which there would be cause to be proud, I was very happy to receive such instructions; so, closing my eyes again, I leant back upon the pillow, and pretended to sleep. Meanwhile, a good deal of conversation went on around me, in a subdued tone. "Do you think he will recover, doctor?" demanded a soft and gentle voice, which, though I had heard it only once in my life before, I instantly recognized. " 0, yes," was the reply; " I have no doubt of it. _ He appears to have suffered a good deal, and is very feeble and emaciated; but with good nursing, all this will be got over. I'll answer for his recovery." " Thank God!" replied the female voice; " it would be terrible to see a fellow-creature die under such circumstances." " Did you see anything of the ruffians, ma'am ? " demanded a third speaker—a woman also. "No," interposed a fourth voice, which I knew to be my uncle's. "We found the poor fellow lying in a ditch by the roadside, and there were traces of blood near him; but it was broad day when we passed, and the robbers would scarcely linger about their victim long enough to expose themselves to detection." A sudden light broke in upon my brain, though there was still something of shade over it, too. It was clear that the parties to whom I stood indebted for my removal hither, were my uncle and cousin. It was equally certain that they wished to impress the people at the inn with a persuasion that I had fallen among thieves. In this they had succeeded; but whether the story was invented by them- selves, ay, and whether they were as yet aware of the identity of him to whom their bounty had been extended—these were points which could not be determined till after I should have had with them some conversation. Meanwhile, one fact was evident enough— another chance of recovery from my fallen estate was afforded me: and in the bitterness of remorse, I prayed to God that I might find strength and temper to take advantage of it. I kept perfectly quiet for a couple of hours, some warm jelly having been administered; and then, unable any longer to restrain the nervous anxiety which preyed upon me, I begged that my benefactor would give me a few minutes' private conversation. The doctor, to whom I made the request, and from whom I had been informed of the manner of my arrival at Romford, seemed at first unwilling to indulge me; but 1 urged the point with so much vehemence, that he finally consented. He withdrew, accordingly, carrying the nurse along with him; and the next moment my uncle was at the bedside. Not for an instant did he either pretend ignorance of my person, or affect to be in doubt as to the probable cause of the evil which had befallen me. "I see exactly how it is, and I have no wish," he continued, "to inquire into particulars. Your dress, and the situation in which I found you, alike assure me that you have been associating with the lowest and most depraved of mankind. Will this ever have an end ?" " I cannot deny it, sir," was my answer. "Poverty, and the absence of all means whereby to better my condition, have reduced me to what 136 TIIE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. you see. It is all my own fault, to be sure; but—but there is nothing m such a reflection to render the tooth of remorse less sharp. It would have been well had you left me to perish where you found me." " Perhaps it might, John," answered he; " but that was impossible. And now, having got you in hand once more, quite unintentionally, I assure you—quite contrary to the resolution which I had formed, I won't desert you altogether. What can you do ? Are you a man of business ? Do you profess to be master of any mechanical art ? " "Neither one nor the other, sir. I am not fit to live; I can do nothing at all for myself." " This comes of the sort of education you have received, and the example that was before you. Well, I suppose if one were to put a red coat upon your back again, you would try to keep it there, like a gentleman ? " " If I did not, even upon your compassion, sir, I should have no further claim." " Well, we'll see what can be done. In the mean while, here is a five-pound note for you. Your doctor's bill I will settle, as well as the expense:;—the necessary expenses mark you—of your keep in this house. You will get back to London as fast as you can, ana fix yourself in some cheap lodging till you hear from me; of course you will send me your address by the twopenny post." I thanked my uncle, promised to attend to his directions, and saw him no more. He quitted the room without so much as saying, God bless you, and we never met afterwards. Was I satisfied with all this ? Quite the reverse. It has been the one great fault in my disposition, that I could never endure to be treated as an inferior; that even acts of kindness have been gall and wormwood to me, as often as I seemed to be indebted for them to the condescension of a superior. In such a case as mine, the feeling is not only bad, but it is ridiculous. What had I to do with pride ? Yet I acknowledge that when my uncle left me, there remained in my memory only the impression of his haughty bearing and disdainful tone of voice. The substantial favours which he both conferred and promised were forgotten. So keen, indeed, was the sense of raortifi- cation that, had I not been prevented from taking the step by physical weakness, I believe that I should have quitted Romford forthwith, and taken my chance, single-handed, against the world. Two or three days of severe indisposition came, however, to the aid of my better genius. 1 had time to cool, and, in my cooler moments, to consider the inevitable consequences of the step; and the result was, that I made up my mind to make use of my relative's interest, while, at the same time, I took care not to throw myself, if I could avoid it, into his society. Good nursing, and a judicious supply of wholesome victuals, soon brought me round • and at the end of a week I was fit to travel. I repaired immediately to London, where, in an obscure, though not disreputable lodging, I fixed my head-quarters. Meanwhile, my uncle had not been iorgetful of his promise. He expressed no wish to see me; he never wrote to me with his own hand, nor took any Hargrove's story. 137 other notice of me; but once he caused his chief clerk to inclose a bank-note for my outfit• and, not long afterwards, the same authority informed me that I had been appointed to an ensigncy in the militia. The Gazette of the following day confirmed this intelligence; and so, for the second time, I found myself in the station and employ- ment of a gentleman. The London militia regiments—the successors of the train bands— differed so entirely from all other like bodies in the kingdom, in their composition and the order of their duties, that it may not be out of place if I give some account of them. Raised, maintained, and dis- ciplined at the exclusive expense of the city, their proper rank was that of a municipal guard rather than a portion of the military force of the empire. The privates, recruited from amon^ the industrious classes of citizens, such as porters, warehousemen, draymen, and the like, dwelt in their own homes, or occupied billets in public-houses, where they followed, day by day, their ordinal callings, with but few 1 ' 1 i - - ™ach battalion furnished, indeed, its There were occasional parades likewise, at which everybody attended in uniform ; but except on these occasions, the members of the corps were not distinguished from their fellow-citizens even by their dress. In like manner the officers took a much deeper and more lasting interest in the concerns of their civil business, which they respectively followed, than in the performance of their military duties. They were all shopkeepers—most of them at the head of establishments—some, principal clerks, and others of a humbler degree; and I must do them the justice to add, that a body more unmilitary in appearance, manner, and train of thought, never came together. Like the men whom they commanded, they dwelt at home; and girded on their swords only when some emergency required. If the officers of the regiment had, as a body, very little of the esprit militaire among them, there were not wanting individuals who did their best to acquire it; and these, finding that in other respects the lesson was hard to learn, betook themselves to the study of what they were pleased to consider—military vices! It was quite edifying to hear these gentlemen swear; their zeal in getting drunk as often as the opportunity of doing so in harness occurred, was very com- mendable; and for the rest, cards and grog at their quarters found numerous admirers, especially among the younger members of the .corps. In the regiment of the line I had seen a good deal of this latter amusement, where some pretension to gentlemanlike diver- sion threw a veil over its grossness ; but in the militia we had all the vice, without one jot or tittle of refinement to hide or disguise it. I was an idle man; I had no resources within myself. My tastes were not such as they ought to have been, and the habits of the sporting members of the corps suited me. Woe, woe is me!—why should I go on ? I retained my commission in the militia about twelve months. With my uncle all that while I held no communication, neither did my mother-in-law notice me. I thought that they were to blame for thus casting me off. I fancy that if they had noticed me—not con- men came to it in military attire. 138 the veterans op chelsea hospital. temptuously as had hitherto been the case, but kindly and freely—1 might have been reclaimed, and I ecome a respectable member of society; but this is uncertain. At all events, they pursued an oppo- site course, and I soon ceased to think of them except with loathing. But why continue details which, without serving any good end, must sink me continually lower in the estimation of the right-minded. ? Embarrassments overtook me again. I was guilty of the grossest irregularities; and one day on parade the colonel found fault with me in a tone which my proud and irritable temper could not brook. I answered him warmly, and bade him recollect that I wore a sword as well as he. This was not to be endured, even in a regiment of city militia. I was placed in close arrest; and, to save a court-martial the trouble of breaking me, 1 resigned my commission. Now then, at length it was impossible to hide from myself that fate had done her worst. Erom the station and rank of a gentleman I was shut out for ever; there could be no more chance of my passing the magic threshold again. 1 felt this; yet, strange to say, the conviction very little affected me. On the contrary, 1 was much more master of myself ; much more awake to the necessity for exertion than I had been either at the period of my expulsion from the —thj or afterwards, when the vision of my uncle on the seat of justice seemed to wither me. " I'll go and enlist as a private soldier," said I; " what's the use of starvmg about the streets of London, or doing worse ? I'll go and enlist." The walls were at that time covered with placards, which invited young men to enter the king's service. I read them one after another, and passed on, till I found myself, with a bundle over my arm, and a few shillings in my pocket, at Croydon, in Surrey. There a different sort of invitation met me; for a ballot had recently taken place, several young gentlemen had been drawn for the militia, and large bounties were offered to such as would take service in their room. I closed with a proposal of the sort immediately. I offered myself as a substitute, was accepted, passed the surgeon's examination, and took the oath. Eifteen pounds were then handed over to me ; and I marched off, with other recruits, to join the head-quarters of the regiment.. CHAPTER VIII. A total Change of Condition. The home career of a private soldier, whether he be attached to a militia corps or a regiment of the line, presents few features which it is worth any man's while to describe in detail. A barrack-room, such as it used to be at least in 1806, is not the nursery of many pure or generous feelings; neither, I lament to say, were the most judicious methods adopted to create them. Everything was then done with the strong hand. Punishment, perpetual punishment, was the sole im- pulse to obedience; and as the officer bullied the sergeant, the ser- geant bullied the corporal, the corporal the private, ana the old soldier the recruit. Moreover, nothing delighted the mass so much as to get iiaeguove's stort. 139 among them an unfortunate individual who might have seen better days. " The gentleman," as such a person was termed, became a mark for all manner of insult and wrong; and, what was worse, it was next to impossible to find redress anywhere. The life of a dog that is driven in a costermonger's cart deserves to be accounted a life of ease when compared with that which I had in the East-Surrey militia. I had no rest night or day* so that, in sheer despair, I embraced the earliest opportunity of volunteering, and passed into the ranks of the regiment of foot. The depot of the regiment lay at that time in the Isle of Wight, whither 1, in common with other volunteers, was sent to learn my duty. I found both that, and the general treatment awarded to me, widely different from anything with which my experience as a militia- man had rendered me familiar. There was no bullying within doors: there was very little unnecessary severity without; and drill and parades, and the routine of guard-mounting and sentry, all became by degrees familiar. 1 began, indeed, to experience something like a sense of rest; that is to say, I would have done so had there not been a little worm within whose gnawing ceased not; but the more I was relieved from external grounds of annoyance, the more continually my own thoughts became my tormentors. "I have done wrong," said I, "utterly wrong. I have abused the advantages I possessed, and cast every chance behind me. No wonder that these distant relatives should have thrown me off. But my father, if I could only return to him; surely, surely, he would take pity upon me even yet." I have no power of language in which to describe the tenacity with which this idea fixed itself in my mind. I brooded over it perpetually; I dreamed about it when I slept; I had no peace for it day and night. At last the thought struck me, that an exchange into one of the regiments which were on service in India might be accomplished, in which case my father's will to befriend me could be tested ; and, in a fit of enthusiasm, I went to the commandant of our depot, and told him the truth. He shook his head, and assured me that he had little hope that good would arise from the arrangement to me. " But you will assist me, sir, in effecting the exchange," ex- claimed I. "Surely," was his answer: "there can be no difficulty about that. Any soldier volunteering for service in India is allowed to join the depot of an Indian regiment. I advise you, however, to consider the point well; for the step once taken, cannot be recalled." I had already considered the matter well. I had but one vision in my brain. I did volunteer the same day, and was transferred to the depot of the . In about six weeks afterwards I went on board ship, and, to my exceeding delight, found myself on my passage to Calcutta. We had a tedious and uncomfortable voyage. The vessel was crowded; and the accommodations allotted to such as I are never on board ship too commodious; besides all which, the winds, till we got into "the trades," were baffling, and our progress was slow. We put in, moreover, at Ceylon, where the troops landed; and there, very much to my own chagrin, I did for some months garrison duty. I cannot express the extent to which this delay in the accomplishment 140 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. of my plans distressed me. I was sure tliat from my father I should meet with the reception which I desired ; and this conviction not only cheered me while contemplating the future, but produced the best effect upon my disposition in tne present. I committed no single irregularity; indeed, I believe, that among the whole batcli of recruits that came on shore I was noted for the steadiness and propriety of my bearing. But the knowledge of all this furnished no consolation under the misery of hope deferred; and while listening to the com- mendations of those that were in authority over me, I thought only of the hour which should set me free from the restraints under which I laboured. It came at last. A ship bound for Calcutta happening to put in, the drafts for the several regiments on the Bengal establish- ment were sent on board; and in due time I found myself—how changed in tastes, hopes, and situation!—again a sojourner in the capital of the British empire in India. v When troops land at either of the presidencies from Europe, they are mustered, as a matter of course, and have quarters assigned them till the proper season shall arrive for sending them to the stations where it is designed permanently to keep them. The draft for the regiment underwent the usual examination; and it struck me that when my name was called over, the inspecting officer looked hard at me, as if I had been to him an object of some curiosity. I could not at the moment tell why, but my heart misgave me. I suspected that all was not right; and a little while sufficed to confirm that suspicion. It had been my intention from the outset not to give my father warn- ing, but to make my way to him with as little delay aspossible, and throw myself on his natural affection for forgiveness. With this view I went to the officer in command, and telling him as much of my story as I judged expedient, requested leave to proceed on furlough to Hugle.v. To my unspeakable amazement, not only was the furlough refused, but I was told that I must consider myself a prisoner in tne barracks. I demanded an explanation, but received none. The officer nad orders to send me, under an escort, up the country; and I was not to quit his sight, or, at all events, to pass beyond the garrison till the route should arrive. What could I do? I hung my head in despair; and going back to my quarters, ceased from that moment to take the slightest thought of what to-morrow might bring forth. I have little to tell respecting my thirteen years' service in India which could render my narrative different from that of private soldiers in general. Though there was war in the country, that with the Nepaulese in particular, I took no part in it; for the regiment to which 1 belonged was never engaged with the enemy. My military life, therefore, is, to all intents and purposes, a blank. _ But to myself individually sundry accidents befell, which contributed in their several degrees to confirm my character, and make me what I am, a poor pen- sioner of Chelsea Hospital. I was not slow in discovering that my movements, as well as the motives which produced them, had all been communicated to my father. On his part, again, there existed no other feeling than the determination neither to see nor acknowledge me. It was tlirough his interest that I made my journey up the country, not with my own depot, but under a guard 01 royal artillery, which had JIARGIlOYJi's STOllY. 141 strict charges to treat me well, but never to let me pass out of their sight. In like manner, when I joined the head-quarters of my corps at Burhampoor, a proposition was made that I should return without delay to England; nay, it was announced to me by the adjutant that I should be ordered back, and conveyed, if necessary, by force on board ship. Against these schemes I vehemently protested- and, making my way to the quarters of the general in command, I laid such a statement of facts before him, as caused the project, if it had ever been entertained with seriousness, to be laid aside. Next came an offer directly from my father that he would give me three hundred rupees provided 1 would volunteer for Java. Now, Java happened at that time to be particularly unhealthy, and the troops in garrison were dying very fast. I therefore spurned the proposal, and desired the individual who made it to say that my life was little worth, but that I would not barter it for so poor a price. But why go on ? I soon ascertained, beyond the possibility of doubt, that my father's feelings towards me were as bitter and stern as possible; and the last rock on which I had ventured to lean being shivered beneath me, l became utterly reckless. If there was no pity in the breast of the author of my being,_ from the officers of my corps I received every indulgence. Several of them employed me in teaching their children to read and write ; and, on the plea that I was occupied in these matters, they exempted me from guards, and other more unpleasant duties. I found, also, that there were, among the servants of the company, several who compassionated my state, and were not indisposed to befriend me as far as circum- stances would allow. I got at various stations breakfasts, dinners, luncheons, and trifling presents of money, from men who either were acquainted with my father, or knew that I was the son of a gentleman • ana by-and-by, through the influence of one of these, I was appointed to a permanent situation. The governor-general of India has, at some little distance from Calcutta, a menagerie or receptacle for wild beasts, somewhat on the plan of our own Zoological-gardens. It was judged expedient to appoint a European to the general superintendence of that establishment, with a salary more than adequate to the main- tenance of a man not in the position of a gentleman. On the ground that I was more master of the native languages than any other person of my rank in the place, the office of superintendent was conferred upon me ; and in the year 1822 I received a discharge from the governor- general, and proceeded to my post. I have never been able to resist the temptations to which prosperity exposed me. Had I possessed ever so small a share of self-control, I might have done well in the menagerie; for the duties were few and simple, the pay was abundant, and all my wants were supplied, even to gratuitous attendance on my person. But the loneliness of my situation told against me; and thought, finding leisure to work, wrought so violently, that I resolved, let the cost be what it might, to stifle it. Oh shame! oh sin! oh sorrow! 1 returned to the habit from which for some years I had escaped, and became, ere long, a fixed and incurable sot. The consequence need hardly be stated. Finding that I ceased by degrees to look after them, the native keepers 142 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. neglected their duty. Several of the most rare and valuable animals in the collection died; and the results of an inquiry were, that I was sent about my business. By this time my father had paid the debt of nature. He died at Hugley, in 1822. I have no reason to believe, that had he lived to be informed of my disgrace, he would have made any effort to replace me in a situation of respectability. If he took part at all in obtaining for me that which was now forfeited, and I believe that he did,—the secret was faithfully kept from me • but however this might have been, to look for more at his hands, after all that had occurred since my arrival in India, would have convicted me of madness. Yet, strange to say, I felt on entering Calcutta, that I had never before been so entirely alone in the world. I had little courage to make applications to strangers, and those which I did make were rejected, as they deserved. Men would not listen to the protestations of one who had shown himself so little trustworthy; and, except by a trifling alms, doled out with niggardly hands, they one and all refused to aid me. I really do not know how, throughout an interval of many months, I contrived to keep soul and body together. One of my devices was, I recollect, to offer myself as a teacher of English to the grandsons of Tippoo Saib; but the father, though he admitted me into his house, soon got tired of me, and, under the pretext that I was not sufficiently master of the Bengalee, dismissed me at the close of a week. Then back I came to the town, more helpless, as well as hopeless, than before, rising often and often profoundly ignorant how food might be provided for the day, and going to sleep again, wherever I could find shelter, without daring to ask myself what the morrow might bring forth. I was thus a friendless and destitute vagabond in my native country (for I had been discharged without a pension), when the Burmese war broke out. As a soldier the Company would have scarcely received me; nor, to confess the truth, was 1 at all desirous of enlisting in their service : but I found a berth on board of one of their armed cruisers, and sailed in her to Rangoon. There, while the troops occupied their first and most unfortunate position, we lay at anchor in the river, and there I received a hurt which rendered me unfit for further ser- vice. I was helping to land some military stores, when my foot slipped upon the deck; and I fell with such violence that, being heavily laden at the moment, my back sustained an injury from which it lias never wholly recovered. I was sent back to Calcutta, invalided, and paid off; and so thrown, once more, upon my own resources. Up to this date, my history has described little else than a series of follies and vices, and misfortunes arising, by the natural course Of things, out of these follies and vices. While lying on the bed of sick- ness, 1 had both leisure and inclination to reflect, and I thank God that my reflections were not absolutely wasted. I saw the error of my ways; and, in deep humility and contrition, I prayed to be for- given. I believe that the prayer was heard: as strength returned, my vicious inclinations did not return with it; and I became, for the first time in my life, a religious man. I joined myself to the company of those whose delight it was to go with the multitude to the house of Hargrove's story. 143 God, among such as keep lioly the day; and I am sure that a blessing attended my proceedings. Not that the clouds were as yet with- drawn from either my moral or my physical horizon: I had my moments of terrible weakness still; and as far as my worldly prospects were concerned, there was no appearance of dawn—no prospect of better things to come, in any quarter; but, at least, I was conscious of a large increase of energy. "Why should I remain in India? " said I. " There is nobody here to care for me; the opportunities of providing for myself are scanty. I will return to England while yet there are a few rupees in my pocket, and it may be that Providence will there find an opening for me." The idea no sooner occurred, than it was acted upon. I applied for and got leave to work my passage home, in a ship which was preparing to weigh anchor; ana the very next day, was in full career down the Hoogley. If the great heart of London were laid open, to how many strange and contradictory revelations would the looker-on be admitted! I allude not now to the moral and physical state of the mighty mass which, for good or for evil, is there congregated. They have their mysteries and concealments too; but if there were anywhere the power to make known the true condition even of the smaller stream of human beings, which day by day passes into the regal city and passes out again, how would our ordinary notions of men and things, yea, even of human nature itself, and of the influence which controls ana orders its working, be outraged and set at nought! All is for the best, doubtless. This is the language not of Scripture only, but of sound philosophy also, because individuals are but mites in the sum of created bemgs; and joy and sorrow terms which, however uni- versally in use, admit, in the abstract, of no interpretation. Still, I am inclined to suspect, that were the veil which covers us as a body, withdrawn, the wisest and most trusting would discover things, for which their faith itself had not prepared them. It is not, indeed, a new sight to behold the beggar happy in his penury, and the wealthy miserable amid his luxuries. Many a bright eye appears to beam with joy when the gentle heart is bursting, and the loudest laugh not unfrequently seeks to hide a broken spirit. But who, even if he had courage to investigate these points and probe them to the bottom, would dare to go further ? The schemes and devices which fill men's minds—their hopes, their fears, and the grounds of both,—what a hideous picture would these present, were they made manifest in their deformity! Ay, and more than this. The amount of suffering, which springeth not of evil, the placidity and self-assurance with which the villain goes forward with his villany, the success which attends upon schemes formed for the purposes of ill, and the constant and inexplica- ble failures of their opposites,—truly it is best, that over all these a Covering should be spread, beneath which no eye, save that of the Omnipotent, can pass. I fear, that were it otherwise, there would need all our religion, and more than all our reason, to convince us, that the ways of Providence are equal. Like many hundreds beside myself, I entered London one gloomy night in November, not only having no definite object before me. but totally incapacitated by circumstances, which I could not control, for 144 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. forming any. I did not so much as know where I should find a roof to cover me; nor, when the pittance that still remained of wa«;es should have been expended, how the commonest necessaries of life were to be procured. _ I haa, be it observed, no parish; for, born in India, I had never resided long enough in any one place to establish my right to a settlement; and, had the contrary been the case, my gorge still rose at the idea of finding my home in a workhouse. Yet, I landed at the docks, took my bundle ashore, and trudged on through Blackwall towards the Minories, as if a knot of kind relatives or friends were there expecting me. My resort, as may be imagined, was to one of the poorest of the lodging-houses in that district; where to spin out my little hoard, and make it last, constituted, for a time, the single occupation of my life. I must be pardoned if I refuse to enter into any minute detail of the mode in which I lived throughout the six months that immediately succeeded my return to London. My career was not such as wiil bear a recital, for it brought me acquainted with strange company; yet, this much I am bound to say, that I was not tempted, no not in a single instance, to commit an act of dishonesty! I have held horses. I have gone errands*, I have swept a crossing and craved an alms; but I never stole, nor swindled, nor defrauded, nor otherwise brought myself under the lash of the law, or of my own conscience. To my relatives I never applied: it would have been useless to do so; and my own pride, still, perhaps, misplaced, revolted at the chances of a refusal. But sheer suffering drove me at last to solicit the assistance of a gentleman high in office, to whom the particulars of my history were not unknown. Through him I was enabled to bring my claim for a pension before the commissioners of Chelsea Hospital. At first, they seemed inclined to reject it, on the ground that my discharge had been applied for as a matter of private convenience; but by-and-by, they saw the case in another light; and ninepence a-day was secured to me. Neither did my excellent patron's good offices end there. The Board of Ordnance gave me employment in Tooley Street, with pay at the rate of fifteen shillings per week; and so long as that establish- ment was kept up, I had nothing whereof to complain; but economy became by degrees the order of the day, and I, with many other labourers, was discharged. Ninepence a-day is, doubtless, better than nothing; yet ninepence will not go far to provide a man with food, clothing, and a house. My sufferings after the loss of the situation in Tooley Street were great, and I bore them as long as a constitution, delicate from the outset, and now utterly enfeebled, would permit; II '' 1 ' J e to the weather, at last broke ^ _ ) be taken as an in-pensionerinto the house, was desired to provide myself with a character, obtained one from an officer to whom I had been known in India, and was admitted. I hope that I am neither ungrateful for the asylum which is afforded me, nor indisposed to make what amends I can for the errors of my past life. For even this narrative will not be without its uses if it serve to impress the conviction upon young men, that he who becomes the slave of any one vice is sure to be destroyed by it. In this extremity I bethought sturrey s story. 145 THOMAS STURREY'S STORY. CHAPTER I. My Birth and Education, and my first Acquaintance with the Service. My name is Thomas Sturrey. I am the son of a poor but honest man, who worked for his daily bread as a farm-servant, and lived with the same master, faithfully and creditably, a tanger period than I can at this moment specify. I was born at Wisbeach, in Essex, some time in the year 1774, and went to school at Thaxted for six years and a half. They said that I was a sharp fellow then, and took to my book kindly. I believe that they were right; for what I learned in boyhood I never afterwards forgot,—a pretty good proof that, be it much or little, it was at least learned accurately. My father had a fancy that I should be educated to a trade; and as I happened to prefer that of a carpenter to all others, into a car- penter's yard he sent me. I was bound apprentice too, for a sort of indefinite period; that is to say, an agreement was entered into between my master and my father, that I should continue with the former till I was twenty-one, not as an inmate of his house, but doing his work at a fixed rate of weekly wages, and living where I chose. Eor three years I stuck to the arrangement; but I could not be per- suaded to do more. My master and I differed in opinion as to the value of my earnings ; so, by way of settling the dispute, I threatened to leave him. On which he told me, I was a saucy jackanapes, and bade me go to the devil, or anywhere else, if I liked it better. I took him at his word; and, removing to Maulding, in Surrey, found employment there with a sawyer, who treated me very well. But I grew tired of Maulding also, and came back to South Minster, in Essex, where, for about a fortnight, I lived on my savings, at the sign of the Rose and Crown, along with two or three other youths, who, like myself, preferred play to work. We little thought that this vagary of ours, which seemed to us a mere chance-arrangement, was to lead to our taking the most important step which through life we were ever likely to take; yet that such was the case we soon bad reason to know, and you shall know also when I go on with my story. . The war of the Erench Revolution had arrived, m the year 1794, at its height, and the greatest exertions were made everywhere to enrol young men both for the fleet and the army. All the militias, too, were embodied, and there was a general stir to increase their efficiency. Among other corps, the East Essex was beating up for volunteers; and it so chanced, that while my friends ana I were L 146 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSHTAi. smoking our pipes in the tap of the Rose and Crown, a recruiting party came in. As may be supposed, the conversation turned imme- diately upon the business in which they were engaged, and the sergeant spoke in glowing terms of the pleasures of a soldier's life. Money likewise seemed to be abundant among them; for they ordered their liquor in a tone and with a manner which showed that they were accustomed to jolly living, and had the means of commanding the respect of all publicans. All this was enticing enough to a young man like myself, whose habits, if the truth must be spoken, were not then very industrious; yet, somehow or other, I would not take the bait on the instant. I thought it more dignified to give myself a few airs ; and I said that I would not go with them. "Why so?" was the answer. "Don't you see how merrily we live ? Where do you expect to find a better chance ?" " May be nowhere : but I won't go with you." "Your reason? young fellow; your reason?" demanded the ser- geant. "You seem to address yourself particularly to me. Is there anything about my cut that displeases you?" " Yes, there is," replied I. ' You are a great deal too swarthy for me; the first master I served, told me to go to the devil; and I woidd not march after a chap of your complexion, lest people should think I had taken his advice." The sergeant, whose name was Eisher, took the joke very good- humouredly, and many times reminded me of it in after-years. But he did not therefore lose sight of his man; he went away almost immediately; and had not been gone half an hour, ere another party from the same regiment made their appearance. At the head of the latter was a sergeant whom nature had blessed with a complexion diametrically the opposite to that of Sergeant Eisher. He was a singularly fair man, whose long locks resembled the finest flax after it has been well combed and carded. There was no resisting his entreaties. So I, and one of my companions, took the shilling. Why should I describe the sort of jollification that followed ? It seemed to our inexperienced gaze that the wealth of empires was in the keeping of our comrades; and the generosity with which they flung it about, absolutely astonished us. Sergeant Lawrence, for example, whose recruits we now were, lugged silver coins out of his pocket by handfuls; and the quantities of ale and spirits which he encouraged us to swallow, are not to be estimated by ordinary measure; nay, the very privates tossed their shillings and halfcrowns about as if they valued them not; and even we caught the infection. Among other pranks—and they were both numerous and diversified—we put a crown-piece on the head of the drum, and made the drummer jump over it, very much to his discomfort and our edification, because to the imminent hazard of the king's parchment, for which he was responsible^ We remained at the Rose and Crown till the greater part of our listing money was spent, when we removed to another house to sleep, the people of the Rose not being able to accommodate so mauy. My companion and I slept in the same bed, though how we got there I confess that I never could make out; for, after a certain sturrey's story. 117 hour in the evening, all was a blank to me. But with the early dawn consciousness came back, and I was aware that something or other had carried me beyond the beaten path of life. The bed in which we lay faced the window; that is to say, the window faced me, when, lifting my head from the pillow, I looked straight before me, and I saw that a number of stout iron bars rendered ingress or egress through the aperture impossible. The door, again, which stood on my right hand, was locked; in a word, we were prisoners. I rubbed my eyes, so did my companion; when, lo! the mystery received its solution; for, from a couple of nails in the wall our hats were dang- ling, both of them gaudily decorated with ribbons. In an instant the occurrences of the preceding day rose into our minds, and the conviction that we had fairly enlisted operated upon each in a manner sufficiently illustrative of his temper and disposition. My companion began to cry bitterly. I laughed at his weakness, and told him that a good mug of ale would deliver me from my sorrows, which were all included under one head, namely, that I was suffering terribly from thirst. I had by far the better of the argument; for a rap against the wall brought Sergeant Lawrence to our assistance, who, promptly relieving my distress, joined me in turning into ridicule the profitless, and, sooth to say, uncalled-for tribulation of my comrade. We were carried that day to Colchester and sworn in, where four or five lads, in a similar plight with ourselves, met us. I perfectly recollect, that these youths were somewhat unfairly dealt by; and that, had I not been more determined than they, I should have suf- fered wrong also. The bounty given for recruits in those days was twelve guineas; and they were promised, over and above, a complete fit-out, such as shirts, stockings, shoes, brushes, and, indeed, all the articles which are usually comprehended under the head of a soldier's necessaries. This might, or might not, have been too much; but a bargain is a bargain all the world over, and it is no time to draw back from terms after they have been offered and accepted. Ac- cordingly, when it was proposed to stop two guineas out of my twelve, as a fund for the purchase of a kit, I stoutly objected to the arrangement, and was nowise moved to yield the point because the rest of the greenhorns had yielded it. They accepted each his ten guineas, and afterwards complained that they had been cheated. I refused to take less than twelve, and I got them. Though we had been sworn in at Colchester, we saw nothing of the regiment itself, till we joined it where, with several others, it lay under canvas, among the heights above Eolkstone. It was a mag- nificent corps, which mustered a thousand bayonets; and was made up of the very pith and sinew of the youth of Essex. Moreover, the sort of life which we led in that peaceable camp proved, at least to me, an exceedingly pleasant one. The tents, quite different in shape from those whicn were in use with the Peninsular army, contained each twelve men. They were furnished with arm-racks, stools, and hammocks; the last of which, suspended from the sort of scantling which sustained the roof, supplied the place of beds to the inmates. Then, again, our streets were arranged with perfect regularity; we had our cooking-places and sutlers' booths attached; and, except 148 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. that drill went on with unceasing activity, the amount of duty to be performed was very trifling. I confess, therefore, that the wearing away of summer, and the approach of the season which would render a continuance of this out-of-doors existence impossible, was not re- garded by me with an eye of approbation; and that, on the third of November, when the order was given to break up, I obeyed it with positive reluctance. The East Essex were distributed, during the winter of 1794-5, in billets, through Sittingbourne, Faversham, Ospringe, and Milton. Head-quarters were established in the first-mentioned of these places, and things went very smoothly; but the return of spring called us once more into the field, and we again pitched our camp above Hythe. It will be borne in mind that, at the period of which I speak, an invasion from the opposite coast was from day to day ex- pected. The harbours of Boulogne, of Brest, and indeed of the whole of that sea-coast, swarmed with vessels for the transport of an army which covered the heights far and near with its tents, and could, on a clear day, be seen, with the aid of a good telescope, practising manoeuvres. Of course, there was extreme watchfulness on our part; patrols passed to and fro along the beach continually, and a signal- station was erected on every hill-top; yet the enemy stirred not throughout the whole period of our service there, nor once were we required to be at our rallying-posts. But we did not play thus at soldiers even throughout the summer. Early in May, we received our route for the Isle of Wight, which we reached in due time, without the occurrence of any casualty; and there, in the town of Newport, we spent six-and-thirty weeks, not a little to our own satisfaction. I do not recollect that there befell, in all that space of time, a single event of which it would be worth while to take notice. The island, indeed, was a scene of continual bustle; for a large fleet lay then in the roads; and many regiments went and came, not a little to the benefit of publicans and shopkeepers. Among others, there was a battalion of Erench emigrants quartered there, the appearance of which interested us much; and whose ultimate fate was, as I need hardly stop to record, a sad one. As far as my memory serves, the battalion in question mustered about three hundred men. An orderly and well-disciplined set of fellows they appeared to be, and their behaviour was in every particular correct; out it was their dress and style of doing duty that, more than other points in their bearing, distinguished them as well from ourselves as from other regiments in the garrison. They wore green jackets, with scarlet facings, each jacket being lined with fur; and it was their practice when on sentry, or otherwise exposed to the night air, to turn their jackets inside out. Poor fellows! we made slender acquaintance with them, because they did not understand one word of our lan- guage, nor we one word of theirs; but we could not but be sensible of a pang of genuine commiseration when the results of the expe- dition to Quiberon Bay, to them so fatal, to our own arms so little creditable, came, only a few months afterwards, to be communicated to us. stuerey's story. 149 We remained in the Isle of Wight till the spring of 1796, when we crossed the narrow channel that divides it from the main, and took up our quarters at a town, of which I have forgotten the name, in Hampshire. From thence we proceeded to Exeter, where we con- tinued a full twelvemonth; and where, for aught I know to the con- trary, we might have remained much longer, but for the alarm of a threatened invasion in Wales. Three French frigates, it appeared, had anchored somewhere on that coast, and put on shore a consider- able body of troops; and we, in common with other regiments nearest at hand, were commanded to concentrate with all possible speed, for the purpose of opposing them. It was late in the afternoon when the order reached us; yet the same evening ball-cartridges were issued out, and by five on the following morning we were in rapid movement towards the scene of action. The first day's march carried us to Chumleigh, the second to Barnstable, and the third to Launceston, our unexpected arrival in which created no little stir among the inhabitants. It was on a Sunday that we entered the town, when the shops were all closed, the streets deserted, and the people assembled at Divine worship—a holy exercise, on which the crash of our drums broke in with an effect which both surprised and alarmed; for the minds of men were filled throughout the kingdom with anticipations of war brought home to their own doors: and every rumour of military movements that went by a hair's breadth beyond the customary routine, was sure to create a belief that these anticipations were about to be realized. Accord- ingly, when the commanding officer, after halting just outside the town, that the column might close, and the men rest for a minute, ere getting into their places, directed the band to strike up, and the drums added their sharp rattle to the music of clarionet and French horn, the effect produced upon the pious people of Launceston was wonderful. Forth poured the throng from the house of God, with consternation on every countenance, which the sight even of British uniforms, and British flags unfurled, hardly sufficed for a while to disperse; but when at length they became assured that we were neither Frenchmen nor enemies, their kinder feelings soon began to display themselves in a very unequivocal manner. We had no need to inquire minutely after our billets in Launceston. The inhabitants carried us to their homes, as if we had been relatives from whom they had long been separated; and the remainder of the day was spent in a manner which no class of persons know better how to appreciate than soldiers on the march. We never got further than Launceston in our progress towards Wales. The enemy's ships, it appeared, after landing about twelve hundred men, had, for some reason which has never been satisfactorily explained, quitted the coast; and the troops, finding themselves deserted by their countrymen, made no attempt at a military move- ment. They kept together with arms in their hands, till a respectable force of militia and volunteers came to arrest them; and then, without firing a shot, surrendered. Of course, there was no further occasion to pour troops into the principality; and we, and other corps which were marching from various quarters on the same point, all received ICO THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. instructions to halt. We did so for one week in Launceston, and for the remainder of the season in the borough of Liscard and the small towns and villages near. For myself, I was quartered during the winter of 1796, with the staff and hand of the corps, at Loo ; but my memory retains no impression of any event which gave to that portion of my career a marked interest; and I therefore conclude that the winter passed on without any such event having befallen. The case is different when I come to speak of the occurrences of 1797—a year of no ordinary anxiety to Englishmen in general, and to me, and to others who led the same sort of life, productive of a good deal of excitement. It was much the practice, at the period of which I speak, to encamp a large portion of the army during the summer months, partly because it was judged expedient to inure the men to the habits which a camp engenders, and partly because the troops were considered more dis- posable for purposes of defence against invasion, while kept together m brigades and divisions, with all their equipment at hand, than if separated, as must necessarily be the case in quarters, into single battalions, and even companies. Agreeably to this practice, the spring of 1797 no sooner fairly set in, than we were directed to take the field, and to march to the high grounds which overlook Lord Mount Edgecombe's demesne, where a large encampment was formed. Our position was an exceedingly interesting one; for it immediately confronted Plymouth, and gave us a commanding view of the harbour then swarming with vessels, and of the Channel far and near. More- over, there were other sources of interest besides these, of which, when we first took possession of our ground, we were ignorant. A spirit of disaffection then prevailed among the crews of the men-of-war; and it was our business to take care that the mutineers should not succeed in doing any serious damage to the town or the dockyard. I do not know that the seamen ever meditated any atrocity of the sort. I believe, on the contrary, that their sole object was to obtain a redress of certain grievances which pressed them sore; indeed, the behaviour of the Portsmouth squadron, so soon as their wishes were complied with, proves that, by the great mass at least, justice, and not power, was aimed at. But there are turbulent spirits in every crowd, which love discord for the sake of the evils which it produces; and, seeking only their own aggrandizement, care little for the amount of misery, which, in the furtherance of their ends, they may bring upon others. Some such there were among both the seamen and marines who manned the fleet and occupied the citadel of Plymouth. And of the results to which the machinations of a portion of them led, I am now going to give an account. There had been a good deal of talk about a conspiracy in the citadel; and a general court-martial was known to have sat some time; but of the true merits of the case we were in profound ignorance; when, one afternoon, there appeared, in the orderly book, a memorandum to this effect:—" The East Essex regiment will parade to-morrow morning, at seven o'clock, in light marching order, with forty rounds of ball- cartridge in each man's pouch, in order to witness the carrying into sttjr,rey's story. 151 execution of the sentence of a general court-martial." It is not a pleasant thing to lie down at night with the conviction on your mind that next day you will be required to be present when one or more of your fellow-creatures are put to death. _ Par be it from me to question either the necessity of investing those in authority with this power, or the wisdom, indeed the humanity, when serious causes arise, of exercising it. I know, on the contrary, that without discipline, bodies of armed men become worse than useless to the country, and that there is no carrying on discipline except with the strong hand, tern- pered, no doubt, and restrained continually by kindness as a general rule of action. But, in spite of this persuasion, even if there accom- panied it an assurance that the particular parties about to suffer have richly deserved their fate, he must be a strangely constituted being who can look forward with indifference to such a drama as that in which, on the morrow, we knew that we should be actors. We did not murmur or complain; we were too much alive to our own duty, and too well prepared to discharge it, to think of such behaviour as that; but we became conscious of a pressure on the spirit which affected each of us very painfully; and the sports and gambols which used, on ordinary occasions, to close in the day, were inter- mitted. Tattoo found most of us in our hammocks; and, within an hour after the drums had ceased to beat, every light in the camp, except those beside the guard-tent, and about the officers' quarters, was extinguished. My sleep that night was broken; and the dreams which accom- panied it were both vivid and uneasy. I cannot therefore say, that even the consideration of what a few hours must necessarily bring about, caused me to watch the gradual approach of daylight with regret. It seems to me, likewise, that the same temper prevailed among the party with whom I was associated in the tent; for we all leaped from our hammocks at the first note of the reveille, as if they had failed that night of bringing to us the refreshment of which they were usually the organs. But, though prompt enough to quit our beds, and exceedingly on the alert in getting ready for parade, there was not much of the gaiety in our bearing which on common occasions characterized it. The detestable system of powdering, and frizzing, and clubbing the hair, was then in operation; and our clothes were made to fit so closely to the shape, that to get them on and off, without suffering a fracture, required at least as much of ingenuity as of patience. All this, though it called forth many a growl, was at other seasons a fruitful source of merriment also; for, the contortions of countenance which one after another we exhibited, as one by one we submitted to have our locks dragged into all manner of unnatural positions, would have tested the gravity of graver men than we; while the despairing efforts, especially of recruits, to insinuate themselves into integuments, which by no common exertions could be drawn on, or when drawn on, be brought to unite,—I doubt whether the dullest of mere martinets could have witnessed these without laughter. But to-day they produced upon us no effect whatever; we dressed, accoutred, gave the last polish to our muskets, and repaired, at the tap of the drum, to our respective private parades, without, one joke, 152 TI1E VKTEltANS 0E CHELSEA HOSPITAL. ractical or otherwise, having passed among us, or any allusion having ecu made, strange as it may appear, to the solemn business in which we were going to become actors. CHAPTER II. A Military Execution; with Details of another Kind. In the camp on Edgecombe Heights there were four regiments of infantry; all of them, if I recollect right, militia regiments, and each a thousand strong. Some artillery lay. near us, but with an interval between their tents and ours, while a detachment of cavalry occupied the village beneath the hill, sufficient to furnish the necessary patrols and orderlies, and no more. The whole of this force got under arms about half-past six, on a bright summer's morning, and marched down to a plain, not far from Kingston, and within view of Drake's Island, in the harbour. We found, when we reached the place of assembly, that not for us exclusively had the painful duty been reserved; all the disposable strength of Plymouth garrison was there, including a division of marines, which could not muster less than twelve hundred men; and there was a striking peculiarity in the equipment of these latter. They were all, with the exception of two detachments, one of forty, the other of sixty men, unarmed. The officers, to be sure, wore their swords; but neither sergeants nor privates carried either musket or bayonet; and their very accoutrements had been left behind. There was something calculated at once to humble and to alarm, in such a spectacle. It seemed to imply that of the fidelity of the entire division doubts were entertained; and whether these were, or were not, well founded, the disgrace put upon the corps was palpable. Happily for themselves, the marines have fouud frequent opportunities siuce of proving that their good faith is like their courage, equal to that of any other portion of England's armedforce; but in 1797 this important truth was doubted; and the events of this day, as well as the transactions out of which they sprang, had no tendency to create a different assurance. I do not believe that there were fewer than four or five thousand men in the plain that day, including, of course, the division of un- armed marines, the general and staff, and a squadron of horse artil- lery. We were formed along three sides of a square; the fourth side, which looked towards the sea, being open: that is to say, it presented to our gaze only three graves, with three coffins, which lay side by side, upon the mound of earth that had been cast up from the centre one. Our division, with some regiments of the line that were brought I know not whence, occupied parallel fronts of the square. The marines were placed so as immediately to face the graves, of which we were in some sort on the flank. In front of the unarmed mass, again, were two or three parties of armed men, all marines, in tliis order:—Forty stood with ordered arms, about fifteen yards apart from the coffins; and on their right flank, though a pace or two removed from them, was a single sergeant, carrying a fusee. He wore neither pouch, nor side-arms, nor belts, hut seemed to be sturrey's story. 153 equipped in every respect like one from whom some sudden display of activity was to be expected. About fifteen yards to the rear of these forty stood sixty more, all, like the foremost detachment, armed, and all marines. Next came two field-pieces, which the ar- tillery-men loaded in our sight with grape; and beside which they kept post, with lighted fusees in their hands. While, last of all, was a troop of horse, mounted, with swords drawn, and ready, as it seemed, on a given signal, to bear down the first movement towards mutiny. Moreover, I observed, that as a single sergeant flanked the more advanced of the armed parties, so he in his turn was supported by other sergeants, two standing on a level with the flank of the second line; and six more succeeding them. The whole of these, be it observed, were equipped like the first, each haying merely his fusee, while all were disencumbered of everything which might affect the rapidity of their movements. The purpose for which we were so placed puzzled us, of course, a good deal, when we first beheld them • but the event proved that the disposition was a wise one. We had teen upon the ground, perhaps^ half an hour, when the shrill notes of the fife, and the low roll of muffled drums, caused us to turn our eyes in the direction of the citadel. There, winding slowly down the road, we beheld an armed party on the march, in the midst of which moved three marines, with their wrists manacled together. The culprits, for such they were, appeared to be men in the very prime and vigour of their days; talk stout fellows, with no palpable mark of the traitor about them; ana their countenances, though pale, exhibited, as they approached our ranks, few traces of despondency, or even unmanly terror. Their dress was, of course, the ordinary fatigue dress of their corps, and on their heads were foraging-caps; but they appeared to have taken considerable pains with themselves, for it was impossible for men to be more clean, or to carry about them an air more decidedly pro- fessional. They were conducted towards the coffins, where a corporal struck off their irons; and the guard falling back, left them to hold con- verse with a priest, who had accompanied them from their cells. It was a long, and apparently an interesting one; while the mode in which it was carried on affected us greatly. Two out of the three soon knelt down upon their coffins, as if their confessions were made, and their souls shrived. The third continued for some time in an erect position, the priest's hand being all the while clasped in his. Poor fellow!—there was a surmise prevalent in the camp to the last, that he protested his innocence of the crime with which he had been charged, and that his conference with the priest had for its object the vindication of his character after his fate should have been sealed. I cannot tell how much of truth was in the rumour: nor is it for me to cast the shadow of reproach on the finding and sen- f ence of the court which tried him; but I perfectly recollect that the interval of his conversation with the clergyman was to all of us exceedingly distressing; and that, though it could not have lasted more than five minutes at the utmost, we began by degrees to fear that it would never terminate. At last, however, the General's im- 151 THE VETERANS OP CHELSEA HOSPITAL. patience broke forth into words. I believe that he was quite as much affected as any of us. Who, indeed, can be otherwise than affected while watching the conduct of a fellow-creature who, in perfect health, is preparing for immediate death. But he felt, I presume, that it was his duty to shorten this trying scene as much as possible. Accordingly, he called aloud to the priest to withdraw, and threatened, in case he did not attend to this warning, that the party should fire upon him also. The priest had fulfilled his part as Became him; and having once more pressed the culprit's hand, and committed him to God's keeping, he retired behind our lines. Then knelt the unhappy man down in his place, with a cheek that blenched not, and an eye that never lost its brightness; and the signal being given, the forty marines who composed the execution-party came to the " present," and fired. There was something more than commonly startling in the result. The companions of the object of our intense interest dropped on the instant; they never moved a limb, but died upon the spot. He who seemed so reluctant to part with life, escaped without a wound: yet he rose not from his kneeling position, nor was a moment granted him for rising. The sergeant, who stood alone on the flank of the party, saw that their volley had failed; and in obedience to the instructions which placed him where he was, he hastened to atone for the failure. He sprang towards the condemned man, clapped the muzzle of the fusee to his head, and in an instant he was a corpse. The wretched men who thus brought their days to an untimely end had been implicated in a plot for the destruction, not only of the barracks of their division, but of every man, woman, and child that dwelt within the walls. It was the design of the conspirators to set fire to one of the powder-magazines, which stood at no great distance from that portion of the citadel which they occupied; and the dia- bolical scheme had been brought near to its accomplishment, ere one of their confederates lost heart, and revealed the whole matter to the officer commanding. All this I believe is historically true; but to the tales that went along with it—to the whispers which tended to implicate men of rank and station and respectability in the plot, there was, in the camp, no end. I never heard that they were in any instance brought home to individuals, and even among us they gradually ceased to create an interest. A military execution is invariably followed by a march of the troops who may have witnessed it, in review order, past the spot where the bodies of the culprits lie. We did not intermit this prac- tice on the present occasion; but, wheeling back into columns of companies, we executed the manoeuvre so that each company, as it approached the graves, broke, at the word of command, into single files. I am not quite convinced that any good arises from thus com- pelling each individual to familiarize himself with the image of death m its most revolting form. The effect, when the discharge takes place, and the condemned men fall, is electrical. You hold your breath while the preliminary words are given, and when all is over, the heart ceases for an instant to beat; but when you are told to look deliberately on those relics of humanity, I suspect that the sttjrrey's story. 155 uppermost feeling is one of mingled loathing and compassion. At all events, I am very sure that, for the remainder of that day, we talked a great deal more of the gallant conduct of the men who died, than of the crime for which they suffered. I am not sure but that the punishment of death operates best as an example and a warning when there is thrown over it a veil of mystery, which none but the executioner is permitted to raise. We returned to the camp full, as may he imagined, of the harrow- ing little drama in which we had been actors; and, as if it had been intended to hinder the excitement from dying too suddenly away, we then heard that, on the morrow, further executions were to take place. There was not, however, any compulsion upon us to witness these executions even from a distance; for the men appointed to die were sailors, and they were to be hung at the yard-arm of one of the ships in harbour. Yet I know not whence it comes about, people seem to be, in such cases, under the influence of a spell, which they utterly repudiate, but against which they find it impossible to struggle. Prom the brow of the hill, along which our tents were pitched, we could command a full view of the scene of action; ana I suspect that there were very few among us who omitted to take advantage of his position. But why should I speak more of such matters ? Those seamen, to whom the charge of mutiny had been brought home, having been tried by a general court-martial, and found guilty, were led forth, at eight o'clock in the morning, to suffer; and they died, as sailors similarly circumstanced always do, by a process which, however clumsy in appearance,*is said to be expeditious, and therefore merciful. It was not so with a convicted partner in their crime, whom the court sentenced only to be flogged round the fleet; and when we beheld him tied to a gun, in the bow of a man-of-war's launch, and then rowed from ship to ship, that beneath each he might receive a portion of his punishment, I must, in all candour, declare that it was a horrid sight, the remembrance of which is not such as tempts me to linger over it in recital longer than may be absolutely necessary to make a record of the fact. We remained in and around Plymouth during the summer months in camp, being provided throughout the winter with more substan- tial quarters, till 1799, when the regiment marched to Ipswich, in Suffolk, and there took possession of the barracks. To me this move was pregnant with serious and important consequences. We had previously been informed of the passing of the Act of Parlia- ment, which encouraged men to volunteer from the militia into the regular army; and among ourselves a good deal of discussion had taken place, as to the wisdom of acting upon it; but not till we reachea Ipswich were such temptations thrown in my way, as induced me seriously to think of yielding to them. In the beginning of November, however, there came among us a sergeant from the Coldstream Guards, whose description of the advantages enjoyed by his corps was clothed in that species of eloquence which I found it impossible to resist. I made a tender of my services in so dis- tinguished a regiment, and was immediately accepted. Nor? to say the°truth, had my friend greatly overrated the value of the privileges 156 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. which, in those days, a soldier of the Guards possessed above aL others. So long, indeed, as the Coldstream did duty in camp or country quarters, it fared with us pretty much as with the rank and file of other regiments; and during the first two years in which I had the honour of belonging to it, we rarely passed except from one country quarter to another. Thus, throughout the summer of 1800, we were under canvass near Windsor, whence we moved in succes- sion to Colchester, Chelmsford, Chatham, and Windsor again. But this state of things could not last for ever; in 1802 we found our- selves, to our exceeding joy, doing duty over the palace of St. James's, and mounting guard at the Horse Guards; nor from that period, up to our embarkation in 1809, were we, for many months at a time, absent from the metropolis. When I speak of a march into London as having been, at that period, a matter of congratulation among the Guards, 1 must be cautious, lest the inference should, by great mischance, be drawn that, either then or now, the duties of the capital bore less severely upon the troops than the duties of an out-station. The very reverse is the fact. I have had as much experience in such matters as most men, and I can testify that there is no town or fortress within the limits of the four seas, of which the duties take so much out of the men as London. In the first place, there is in London a much greater number of ordinary guards, even in proportion to the strength of the garrison, than anywhere else throughout the kingdom ; in the next place, the demands for extra guards are unceasing; and, as each of the great theatres, the Opera-nouse being included among them, requires one, the exposure to night air becomes more frequent in exact proportion as the seasons become inclement. Then the sentries in London are multi- tudinous to a degree: there never occurs a riot, nor the threatening of a riot, which brings not the entire brigade under arms; and reviews, field-days, drills, and inspections, are unceasing. Let me not, there- fore, be understood as representing the military situation of the house- hold troops as a sinecure; yet there were advantages of a different kind attending this sort of duty in London, which led them, very naturally, to regard it as a thing greatly to be desired. So soon as the early parade of each day came to an end, leave was given to all such of the men as might not be wanted for duty, to go and work. Now, when it is borne in mind that labour was then abundant, and labourers few; that mere bodily strength sufficed to earn good wages for such as would expend it; and skill, however moderate, in any handicraft, could command a remuneration which is now beyond the reach of the most adroit; the real cause of our rejoicing when the route for Londqn reached us need not be a subject of puzzle to the most obtuse-minded^ For myself, I declare that my acquaintance with the sawyer's business stood me in the stead of a little fortune. I have repeatedly earned by it as much as two pounds in a week, and have more than once bribed a comrade with seven shillings, to take my guard, so that I might not be interrupted in a job. Such were the advantages which, till the peace, and, indeed,—till four years after it, the Guards undeniably possessed over the regi- ments of the line. The men had opportunities of making themselves sturrey's story. 157 known to artificers, and persons who stood in need of workmen, about town; and, as they had a double motive for conducting themselves pro- perly while employed, they were, for the most part, decided favourites with their employers. Yet even when this state of things prevailed, London, with its innumerable temptations, and the facilities which it gave to crime, proved a wretched nursery as well to the moral as to the physical health of such as frequented it. I believe, indeed, that the experience of Chelsea Hospital can testify, that from the Guards more men die young of exhaustion or pulmonary complaints, or of diseases brought on by exposure or vicious habits, than from almost all the rest of the army put together—I mean from that portion of the army which is employed m doing the duty of all the garrison towns of England and Scotland.; and if this be the case now, much more must the rule have held good at a time when a Guardsman would have been accounted poor indeed, who could not afford to pay four or five shillings at the least, for the purpose of screening himself from any piece of military duty which threatened to interfere with his civil avocation, or even with his personal amusement. I am not sure that I should add much either to my own reputation, or the edification of others, if I were to dwell at length upon that period of my military career which is comprised between the autumn of 1802 and the spring of 1809: it was spent chiefly in the capital, with an occasional sojourn at Windsor or Chatham, or some other of the Guards' stations • and it passed from me as time is apt to do from him who has not learned to value it as he ought. Of money I could always command as much as my necessities, real or imaginary, required; and, with the thoughtlessness of my age and profession, I never dreamed of saving, against the day when it would be otherwise. My health, likewise, continued good; and I may venture, without boasting, to add that I did my duty as became me—a circumstance which earned for me the good opinion of my superiors, and lost me no favour among my comrades. But of other matters why should I speak ? From the follies into which those about me ran, I was not restrained; and if I escaped still darker and more fatal errors, I have to thank the Power who watched over me much more than my own prudence. But I must not get into a strain of moralizing where, in good sooth, it would be out of place; let me rather turn, as it were, to a new leaf in the book of my own history, and show how it fared with me amid scenes at once more perilous and more stirring than any which I have yet described. CHAPTER III. Cadiz.—The Battle of Barossa. The first battalion of the Coldstream Guards had, almost since the commencement of the struggle, been employed in the Peninsula, first under Sir John Moore, and afterwards with Sir Arthur Wellesley. In the beginning of 1810, it was determined by those in power to send out a separate expedition, under the command of General Graham, 158 THE VETERANS OE CHELSEA HOSPITAL. which should assist the Spaniards in the defence of Cadiz, and other- wise contribute, as far as might be, to the ultimate success of the war. The battalion to which I was attached, received orders early in March to form part of that expedition; and, after a brief delay, marched to Greenwich, where we were put on board ship. We were not very numerous—I think that we could scarcely muster six hundred bayonets, while a large majority of us were either mere lads, or men who had seen the best of their days; yet we embarked as British soldiers always do, in the highest possible spirits, and gave three hearty cheers when the transports slipped from their moorings. There was a prodigi- ous crowd of people on the river's banks, by whom our cheers were cordially returned; and so, amid the waving of hats and handkerchiefs, the booming of our band, a clamour of human voices, which would have drowned even the noise of artillery, and a few natural tears, we bade adieu to our native land, many of us for ever. Our voyage was agreeable enough, that is to say, we encountered no storms, and had nothing to complain of in the shape of privations, except that in point of room we were grievously straitened. To that, however, our minds were made up; and, as the vessels held their way with breezes for the most part not unfavourable, we counted, not without reason, on bringing the grievance, such as it was, to a speedy termination. But there was no steam in fashion then, and convoys are proverbial for their tedious rate of moving, so that April came ere we obtained our first glance of the coast towards which our course was directed. At last, however, Cape St. Yincent, with its bold bluff and sharp promontory, rose, like a fortress, out of the waters; and, wind and tide being alike in our favour, was soon left behind. Then stretched we across the noble gulf into which fall the waters of the Guadianaand the Guadalquiver, till by-and-by the Bay of Cadiz itself opened upon us, and we steered towards it. Erom their bat- teries at Santa Maria, as well as from Porto Heal and Checalino, the Prench fired upon us as we passed, but we sustained no injury from the shot; and on the morning of Sunday, the 6th of April, the ships having drawn close to the quay, we landed amid the hearty vivas of the inhabitants. At the period of which I now speak, Cadiz was closely invested by Marshal victor. His lines, which extended from sea to sea, covered a semicircle of at least five-and-twenty English miles, and embraced all the redoubts which girdle in and cover the city from Santa Maria on the right, to a fortified post, of which I have forgotten the name, opposite to the Isle of Leon, on the left. Of the number of his troops I cannot speak accurately; though, judging from the display which they made, I should say that it was very great; and their activity and zeal, as well in working as in firing, was indefatigable. In many instances, indeed, their ammunition was utterly wasted, for the shot fell short, and even shells barely reached the town; yet they did not appear to take much heed of these failures, but continued the practice unremittingly. On the part of the Spaniards, again, I am bound to state that the very best spirit seemed to prevail among them. A.rms, indeed, nobody except the regular garrison carried; but the citizens »ntributed clothes and necessaries for the troops; and the women, sturrey's story. 159 as is invariably the case wherever the spirit of a nation is good, con- siaered no sacrifices too great in the cause of their country and its independence. I am not quite sure that the temper which prevailed among the members of Government and other heads of departments was quite so praiseworthy. We had been but a short time at our post, ere whispers began to circulate of a jealousy having arisen between the Spanish authorities and General Graham; and I think that the behaviour of the latter on an occasion to which I shall pre- sently refer, goes far to prove that they were not absolutely ground- less. The British troops were not permitted to take up their quarters in the city itself, neither did they join the Spanish garrison in any of the duties of the place; they removed, on the contrary, in a body, to Leon, a large town in the island of the same name, of which they kept possession during a space of ten months. Not, however, in idleness, far less in tranquillity, was this extended period passed: there were working-parties sent out every day, some 9f which found employment in throwing up batteries, others in repairing the fortifi- cations which already existed, while the remainder busied themselves in the dockyard, of which the wealth, when we first entered it, seemed to be immense. The magazines of blocks, ropes, sails, and other gear necessary for the equipment of a fleet, were crammed to the very ceiling. The quantities of masts and spars likewise, of timber in the log, and trees not yet stripped of their bark, were prodigious; while copper and iron bolts seemed, to my unpractised eyes, to set all attempts at measurement, far more reckoning, at defiance. Yet it was marvellous to behold now, under our ruthless hands, these heaps of national wealth melted away. The trees, logs, masts, and spars were all cut up into planks ; and used by the engineers as platforms, ladders, or materials for the construction of bridges; the sails, ropes, blocks, and such-like, all went on board of the British fleet; nay, the very brass ordnance, with which the ramparts of Cadiz were exclu- sively armed, gave place to cast-iron guns, and disappeared. Let me not, however, be understood as insinuating that the slightest wrong was put by their allies on the Spanish nation: the brass guns, for example, only went in exchange for a species of artillery which was far more enduring; the naval stores may have been accepted in part payment of the loans which England made to Spain • and the appli- cation of the timber to such uses as those just specified was, under the existing state of affairs, unavoidable. Whatever our faults may be, the nations which have entered with us into treaties of mutual support cannot charge us with any undue regard to our own pecu- niary interests; for poor John Bull has always been proverbially a spendthrift of his gold, for which he is apt to demand only that species of security which is, of all others, the least available, namely, the honour and fidelity of the powers which he subsidises. My acquaintance with the sawyer's and carpenter's business availed me, at the Isle of Leon, almost as much as it had done in London. I was employed in the dockyard at piece-work, by which means I was able to earn not less than from half a dollar to a dollar per day. It is true that we worked under the fire of the enemy's cannon, which 160 THE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. day and night plied us with red-hot shot; yet we soon got accus- tomedto their music, and the more readily that the mischief occasioned both to life and property was very trifling. During the whole of our sojourn in the Isle of Leon, I do not think that we lost three men by the cannonade; and if from time to time a bundle of chips or a pile of canvas caught fire, the flames were invariably extinguished ere they spread beyond the portion ignited. While the artificers belonging to the little army were thus occupied, our comrades busied themselves in covering with embankments the entire face of that neck of land which interposes itself between Cadiz and Leon. Upwards of a hundred pieces of cannon were placed in position along that line; while around the island itself battery after battery sprang up, till it might well nigh be pronounced impregnable to any ordinary means of attack. Moreover, that the risk of surprise might be effectually guarded against, things like harrows—that is to say, strong, heavy wooden frames, set full of iron spikes, sharp and long, and carrying their points uppermost, were laid along the bottom of the sea at low-water mark! while row-boats ceased not, from sun- set till clear dawn, to ply backwards and forwards, between us and the enemy's posts. Yet were we not without the means of passing beyond the estuary at our pleasure, and of receiving such supplies as the country people might find it convenient or practicable to brim? in. Across the river, on the Checalino road, there was a bridge, of which we kept possession, but of which the centre arch had heen broken down. This we reunited by means of planks, which were so con- structed as to be capable of conveying either footmen or carriages across, but which the slightest exertion of strength, even the arm of an individual, could unship, and drag at pleasure clear of the ruined arch. Meanwhile, the situation and employments of individuals differed but little from those with which all who have done duty in a belea- guered town are familiar. We found quarters, some in one place, some in another,—I and my comrades occupying a large convent, where we were perfectly safe from molestation by the enemy, inasmuch as neither cannon nor mortar could reach us. We took our turns, like- wise, of main-guard, quarter-guard, and piquet: we patrolled from rime to time across the isthmus, and disposed our sentries so as to keep the bank of the river secure. But we had no encounter with the Besiegers: they never hazarded an attack—we had no object to gain by a sortie; and thus on both sides the only acts of hostility committed were those of which the gunners were the perpetrators. But" it was not our destiny to lead this sort of half-peaceable, half- warlike life for ever: towards the end of the year, both General Graham and the Spanish officers expressed themselves heartily tired of a state of inaction, and eager to get rid of the blockade; ana early in the spring of 1811, a movement to accomplish the latter object was determined upon. I think it was the 21st of February when the Guards,—ourselves and the Third, both very weak, and for that purpose united into one, with a battalion of the First regiment,—embarked on board of two or three men-of-war, and sailed, as was given out, for Gibraltar. We sturrey's story. 161 did not, however, pass beyond the neutral ground; for there the vessels put us ashore at Algesiras; and, leaving us, with three days' provisions cooked and stowed away in our haversacks, proceeded on their voyage. As we were in high glee at the prospect of opening a campaign in real earnest, so the departure of our maritime comrades in no respect distressed us. We formed on the beach right in front, marched a little way towards the interior, passed through the suburb which is called Little Gibraltar; and, winning a range of heights just as the dusk closed in, lighted our fires, and made dispositions for a bivouac. It would be idle in me to give, at this time of day, any description of a scene which is now familiar to the imaginations of all the world. We piled our arms according to recognised usages, established a guard or in line piquet, threw out sentinels to protect the camp against surprise, and took off our knapsacks; then, after consuming a larger portion of our prog than after the experience of a campaign or two we would have been tempted at one meal, and that the first, to send the way of all eatables, we dranked our grog, smoked our pipes, and lay down. There are not many situations in which a man's sleep comes over him more sweetly than by the side of a bivouac fire: and I can answer for myself, that mine proved to be that night both sound and refreshing. We were roused m the morning long before dawn; and buckling on our knapsacks, stood in our ranks equipped and ready for moving. But no immediate movement took place: other regiments which were to join us from Gibraltar had not yet come up; ana guides to conduct us through the wild woodland country which lies between Gibraltar and Tarifa were wanting. But the delay was not of long continuance: scarcely had our morning parade been dismissed when the expected reinforcements made their appearance; and a dozen mountaineers having likewise offered their services, the advance began. Without presuming in any degree to trench upon the province of the historian, I must be permitted, at this stage in my narrative, shortly to explain the object which our chiefs had in view, as well as to enumerate the means at their disposal for its accomplishment. As I have already hinted, then, the object of the expedition was to re-open the communication between Leon and the main land; to harass Victor in the extensive lines which he inadequately occupied; and finally, should success attend our efforts to a certain point, to force him into an abandonment of the siege. With this view, there sailed from Leon and from Cadiz such a number of British troops as, when joined to the reinforcements from Gibraltar, made up a division of five thousand men. All these, be it observed, were not Englishmen; for a good many of the German legion served with us, and we had a battalion or two of Portuguese, which, because they received British pay, took rank as British soldiers. But Germans and Portuguese were Doth excellent in their way; and their numbers, when counted with ours, carried us up, as has been stated, to little, if at all, short of five thousand men. To co-operate with us in this endeavour seven thousand Spaniards embarked at the same time, under the immediate command of their own general, Don Manuel de Lapina. I believe that he was accounted among them a good officer; I am sure that he was at least a cautious m 162 TIIE VETERANS OF CHELSEA HOSPITAL. one; and I know that, ere the expedition came to an end, we very much lamented that he had not stayed at home; for, either because he was senior in rank to General Graham, or that Spanish pride would not yet submit to British guidance, to him the chief command of the combined forces was intrusted; and, as the sequel will prove, he took exceedingly good care that on our portion of it only the burthen of fighting should devolve. I believe that the original intention was to land all, British, Portu- guese, and Spaniards, at the same point: adverse winds, however, came in the way, so that, while we took the shore at Algesiras, the Spaniards made for Tarifa; and, for a brief space, we were without the means of communicating with one another. But our first move- ment, of which I have already spoken, restored them; and the guns and carriages being all brought round by water, on the 27th the' little army maybe said to have concentrated itself. Then followed a dis- tribution of the whole into commands, by which means about a thousand Spaniards were added to us, of whom, strange to say, one battalion was dressed in red, and behaved itself, when the hour of trial came, very gallantly. I return now to my own personal story; for of the exact time and manner in which a second division of Spaniards from St. Roque joined us it is not within my province to speak. Let me be content to say, that the first day's march from Tarifa was both tedious and slow; that we were obliged literally to cut a road for the artillery through the w