CAMPAIGNS OF A CORNET.

NO. III.

THE Baron's wound, like Mercutio's, was neither "as deep as a well nor as wide as a church-door," but still it was serious enough to give him great pain and anxiety. An English surgeon belonging to another regiment declared that it was unnecessary to be under any apprehension; but the Baron, who found a new tie to existence in the possession of the four hundred crowns, for which he had paid so dear, and who thought it was better to bear the ills he had "than fly to others that he knew not of," betrayed considerable anxiety with regard to the consequences of the clerical admonition which he had received. We were compelled to leave our gallant commander, and proceed without him to our regiment, where in a few days afterwards he joined us. We found our corps stationed in the neighbourhood of the Ebro, within a few leagues of Saragossa. I was struck with admiration at the fine appearance and perfect appointment of the men, who, though they had been abroad many years, displayed the good discipline and martial air of veterans, with all the neatness and cleanliness which our troops are remarkable for at home. The town at which we were stationed was called Reomilines, and abounded in good provisions. Instead of the "spare fast," which oft with soldiers "doth diet," I found my brothers in arms indulging at this place in all sorts of luxuries-that is to say, feasting in great plenty on very tolerable joints of mutton. The great desideratum I soon found to be bottled London porter, which was considered very reasonable at a dollar a bottle, a price equivalent at that time to about six and fourpence. While all the infantry of the army, and some favoured regiments of cavalry, were passing the winter amid the snows of the Pyrenees, with no other hopes of glory than what a death by starvation could furnish, we were enjoying ourselves in this peaceable part of the country, performing the regular routine of our military duties, studying the Spanish character, and visiting whatever was worthy of observation in the neighbourhood. The only incident which occurred to enliven the tedium of our residence at Reomilines, which really partook of the character of country quarters, (with the exception of falling out with the Spanish men, and in love with the Spanish women, and out of humour with the amusements of a Spanish village); the only incident, I say, which can properly claim insertion in these military commentaries, was one of rather a serious nature to the parties concerned.

In consequence of the accumulation of offences, it was determined at this time to hold what I may call a species of martial assizes-sessions of oyer and terminer of all campaigning quarrels and breaches of punctilio, and a general gaol delivery of all plundering sergeants, licentious corporals, and poor petty-larceny privates. The court was held under the warrant of the Commander of the Forces, at the head-quarters of General Lord the president; and I, having been summoned to sit upon the court, was present at all the proceedings, although my services were not called for, in consequence of the requisite number of thirteen members having been already filled up. Many cases occurred which would have afforded a high relish, even to the

vitiated palates of an Old Bailey audience. The most common charge was that of plundering the peasantry, relieved occasionally by a complaint of the importunate gallantry of some Irish grenadier. The only case of which I have now any distinct recollection, was the trial of an officer, whose whole conduct appeared to be tinctured with something more than eccentricity. There were three distinct charges against him; 1st, For neglecting his duty while upon picquet, by which a portion of the baggage had been lost. 2dly, For using the troop horses for the purpose of dog-hunting, whilst at an hospital station; and 3dly, For being intoxicated while in quarters, disobeying the orders of his commanding officer, and calling him an ass. In the language of this military indictment all these offences were laid-as unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, highly subversive of all military discipline, and contrary to the articles of war and the act of parliament in that case made and provided. The judges of this august court, instead of the usual paraphernalia of wigs and gowns, were required to appear in full regimentals, with their swords, and a competent supply of ball-cartridge, in case of emergency. The court met in a spacious apartment in a neighbouring convent, which had, I believe, formerly been appropriated to similar purposes, by the holy fraternity of St. Dominick. The court only sate from eleven o'clock till three, and the trial lasted several days. I was particularly amused with the demeanour of some of the juvenile judges, who, whilst the witnesses were giving their evidence, were often busily employed in discussing the eternal and unchangeable principles of dress. The prosecutor was the commanding officer of the regiment to which the offender belonged, and was a principal witness upon all the three charges, although a great part of his evidence consisted merely of hearsay. The evidence in support of the first charge was, that the criminal on the morning when the loss took place, had been placed in a situation to prevent the enemy from intercepting our baggage, but that instead of keeping a diligent watch, he had snugly established himself under the lee of a house, and was expounding Anacreon, with a running commentary, to an admiring circle, consisting of the sergeant, corporal, trumpeter, and three of the most enlightened of his men. He was just finishing the sixth ode, IS CUμTOTI, to which his companions were adding a practical commentary, in their earnest attentions to their officer's flask of brandy, when one of the servants from the baggage came galloping in, followed by two French dragoons at the distance of about three hundred yards, and told the astonished philologist, with the woe-begone countenance of Priam's messenger, that "half his baggage was ta'en." There was no remedy for this evil, and the party was forced to make a hasty retreat. The second charge was founded on an offence which had long been committed with impunity, and which was now for the first time brought under martial cognizance. There being no fox-hunting in Spain, it was a common amusement with the officers of the army-an amusement originally introduced by a colonel of great sporting celebrity-to tie a kettle, or some other noisy appendage, to the tail of a dog, when the terrified animal scouring over the face of the country, afforded a chase which frequently led these military Nimrods a ride of twenty miles over hill and dale. It appeared that the accused had certainly partaken of the amusements which this novel style of hunting

afforded; but there was no evidence to shew that he had ever ridden troop horses, a fact which only existed in the fertile imagination of his prosecutor. The accused seemed quite regardless of the evidence which was brought forward to substantiate the two first charges; but he applied himself with great earnestness to the last, vehemently denying the imputation of inebriety, and setting up the truth of the words he had spoken as a justification. To establish this part of his case, he cross-examined his prosecutor with considerable ingenuity, and at last ingenuously demanded from him, whether he did not himself think he was a fool. This was almost too much for the dignity of the court; and being considered in the light of a contempt, it certainly tended to aggravate his punishment. As the charges were not made out in the clearest manner, he was only sentenced to three months suspension, which I afterwards understood he dedicated to the Muses; and having now no baggage to lose, he gave himself up to the unrestrained delight of perusing his favourite Anacreon.

In the month of February 1813 we left our country quarters on the Ebro, and proceeded to join the army in France under the command of the Marquess of Wellington. We passed through the town of Pampeluna, and halted there on a Sunday, when a curious incident occurred. The officer of a dragoon regiment, related to a noble family, was so smitten with the charms of a pretty chambermaid at the Posada where he was staying, and so dazzled at the thought of twenty dollars, which it was understood she was possessed of, that he was determined at all events to become master of the prize. In England he might have purchased a licence, and tied the holy knot without farther trouble, but in Spain there was a preliminary ceremony to go through. The fair chambermaid was unwilling to endanger her soul by uniting herself to a heretic, so that our gallant countryman was constrained to embrace the Catholic faith, before the Catholic fair. This was done in the cathedral church of Pampeluna at an immense concourse of Spaniards, and the two ceremonies of renunciation and union were performed by the cardinal archbishop. As may be supposed, this match did not turn out very happily. A few weeks after their marriage the parties separated; the lady returned to her household gods, and the Neophyte to the faith of his forefathers.

The Pyrenees presented a very different aspect as we recrossed them. On every side of us the rocks were covered to their lofty summits with snow, which contrasted finely with the clear blue sky. The depth of the snow was such that we were frequently compelled to dismount, and lead our horses through it. Descending from the higher mountains, we found a comparative summer in the valleys, and we proceeded, at the usual day's march of fifteen or twenty miles, through the towns of Tolosa, Irun, and Fontarabia, where "Charlemagne with all his peerage fell." On the day of leaving St. Jean de Luz we passed Bayonne, which was at that time besieged by the first division of infantry under Sir John Hope. The regular road lies directly through the town, but in consequence of the siege we were forced to diverge to the left, and cross the Adige between Bayonne and the sea. Our march until we reached the river was through heavy sands. The pontoon-bridge, by which we crossed, was one of the most successful and ingenious contrivances which the engineer department had pro

duced during the war. The Adige is of considerable breadth, and judging at the moment, I should have said it was nearly as broad as the Thames at London-bridge. The passage of the river was effected in the following manner: several chasse-marées were brought up and anchored with double chain-cables, at regular distances across the river, and over these a double net-work of cables was thrown, the strength of which was sufficient to bear any weight, and at the same time afforded a firm and secure footing. Although exposed to the enemy's fire during the whole time of passing, we accomplished our transit without any accident whatsoever. On leaving Bayonne our route for several days lay through sandy forests, and here was the commencement of our privations and fatigues. The deep sandy roads knocked up our horses and baggage-animals, while the want of all fresh provisions compelled us to subsist entirely on the most execrable ration beef. The houses, or rather the hovels, in which we were lodged at night, were generally untenanted and despoiled of every convenience. In one respect we were fortunate enough we had plenty of clothing, in which some of the infantry regiments were miserably deficient. On our march we met some regiments proceeding to St. Jean de Luz to procure clothing for the most part they were entirely without shoes and stockings.

We now diverged to the right, and passing the town of Dax, celebrated for its hot-wells, we again inclined toward the Pyrenees, and recrossed the Adige. We had been for some days close upon the heels of the army, and we were highly chagrined to find how many laurels had been reaped without our assistance. The victory of Orthes had been succeeded by several gallant charges, in which both the cavalry and infantry had been engaged. We frequently fell in with waggon loads of sick and wounded, and large bodies of prisoners going to the rear. On the day on which we recrossed the Adige we met the fifth and seventh divisions of the army, under the command of Lieut.-Gen. the Earl of Dalhousie, not—

Dalhousie the great god of war,

Lieutenant-Colonel to the Earl of Mar,

but a worthy descendant of his. The day before we joined the army, we had halted about two o'clock in the afternoon, in the expectation of taking up our quarters for the night in a neighbouring town, when we received orders to push forward to the front, and, marching at a sharp trot till two o'clock in the morning, we arrived at our station. For miles before we reached the army the country before us was one blaze of light, and as we passed through the camps of the different regiments on the road-side, we were received with loud cheers. The night of my arrival was, I think, the most miserable I ever spent. The rain had been falling in torrents, and as our baggage was left far behind us, we had neither tents nor provisions, except what our holster-pipes could contain. Into one of mine I had crammed a Bologna sausage, which seemed made for the purpose, and a little bread and cheese, while in the other I had contrived to deposit a comfortable bottle of brandy. As soon as I arrived I threw myself from my horse, and applying my mouth to the mouth of the flask, (a proceeding technically termed sucking the monkey), I soon fell into a sound sleep, which I enjoyed for

about three hours and a half, when I was roused for the purpose of commanding a foraging party. I soon found that our yesternight's exertions had taken effect on both horses and men all around me I saw nothing but

Troops of pains and regimental woes.

We seemed just to have forestalled a party of the enemy, who appeared to be advancing with views similar to our own; however, as I pushed forward as vigorously as our tired horses would allow me, I gained the place in view, and we suffered no disturbance. We found plenty of straw in the town, and I was fortunate enough to secure, on my own account, a good supply of wholesome provender, consisting of bread, ham, and a little very pleasant brandy. We returned to the camp in about two hours, and found our baggage had arrived, which enabled me to make a comfortable cup of tea, to which a slice of the captured ham afforded an excellent relish. I was startled out of a gratifying doze, into which I had just fallen, by the bugles sounding to horse, and in less than ten minutes we were all of us mounted and in order. A large body of the army, of which we formed a part, moved upon the town of Tarbes, a large and populous place. The scene, in passing through this town, was one of the most brilliant I had yet beheld. We saw the enemy, stationed at the top of the hills which overlooked the town, engaged with several bodies of our troops, which were attempting to turn their position. As we marched through the principal streets of Tarbes, the inhabitants flocked out of their houses to gaze at us as we passed; and certainly a gallant sight it was, our colours being all displayed, and our bands striking up a variety of gay and martial tunes. We were greeted on every hand with cries of Vivent les Anglais! Vivent les Portugueses! although the French were yet contesting the outskirts of the town. The moment we made our appearance in the suburbs, the enemy commenced a brisk fire upon us. The troop of artillery attached to our brigade was immediately sent forward to return the compliment. It fell to the lot of the squadron to which I was attached to perform the duty of covering the guns, that is to say, of ranging ourselves in line close behind them. I now began to think the matter rather serious, and certainly it seemed high time to prepare our testamentary documents. This friendly salutation between us and the enemy continued for the space of three or four hours, when the position being nearly turned, we were ordered forward to charge a body of dragoons which yet kept their station. Nothing struck me more forcibly on this occasion than the contrast between my own horse and the steeds of the old campaigners, which had been used to the service. While my own charger snorted, pranced, and plunged under me, and like the war-horse in Scripture seemed to cry Ha! ha! the horses which had been accustomed to the sound of the firing and had seen their fellows drop around them, stood trembling excessively as if in terror of a similar fate. This fact furnishes an illustration of the distinction between physical and moral courage. A young soldier when he first goes into battle, however hot and impatient he is, has still a little throbbing at his heart, and a little trembling in his limbs; while a veteran, on the contrary, loses all these symptoms of rash and youthful valour, and becomes more collected and calm in proportion