"Any thing but preachers, sir Henry. Curse me if I care what you make of them, so as you do not make preachers of them. They get such a dry, withered, long, chop-fallen look, that d―n me if they are fit to frighten a mouse from a cat! Do you think if our brave fellows on the Continent were composed of psalm-singing gentry, would we perform the feats of valour we have done? never, sir Henry; and that is well known; they therefore think it better to leave the soldiers as they are, than run the risk, by making better men, to make them worse soldiers.-Don't you think so, sir Henry?" "I really think, captain, that if the morals of our soldiers are not much improved, to what it was some twenty years ago, they are in a most distressing state of vice and immorality; and chiefly because there is nothing more required from them than a kind of military morality; so that the soldier may be a de vil incarnate, no matter, so as he obeys the rules and regulations of the service: hence it is, that when once loosened from the discipline of the army, and discharged from the service, they violate all laws of social and religious order: but perhaps there is now some improvement in their morals." "Not a bit, sir Henry; they are just as bad now, with this only difference, that they are better soldiers than they were in your time." "Demme, captain," said George Burrows, "if I can see what right you had to plunder the town at all!" "Demme, sir," replied the captain immediately, "if you were there, you would know by what right it was plundered: but perhaps if you were, you would see no right even for storming the town: you would, no doubt, not only convince the duke that he had no right to enter the town in a hostile manner, but prevail on him to raise the siege al together. together. If you could do this, you would not only save the lives of many hundreds, but your own life also, however anxious you might be to distinguish yourself at the head of your company, seeking for the bubble reputation even in the cannon's mouth.'-Do you know, sir Henry, that ever since that night, I have been a great admirer of Shakespeare, for I really think that nothing short of inspiration could enable him to describe things with which he could not be acquainted from experience.-You must therefore, Mr. Burrows, if ever you have the honour of commanding a company in his majesty's service, always keep in view the propriety or impropriety of the orders you receive, and I promise you you will reap a great share of distinction, reputation, and glory, from your military exploits.-Don't you think he would, sir Henry ?" said the captain with a wink. 66 Demme, sir," replied George Bur rows, rows, " if I think much of your military reputation or distinction; for, in my opinion, the small share that falls to the lot of a supernumerary individual will never make amends for the hardships and slavery a person must undergo to acquire it, not to mention the danger attending it, which, to be sure, is beneath the consideration of a man of spirit. As for the honour of commanding a company in his majesty's service, I assure you, sir, I would not feel myself at all honoured by it; and I have often wondered how any man of distinction could enter the service, under the rank of a colonel, or field-officer at least, especially in the foot service, where a captain is obliged to tramp it, together with his men, for a month or six weeks, day and night, without intermission; hang such distinction, I say! it is sought after through a life of privations, fatigues, and a temporary banishment from an intercourse with fashionable life, and even then then it must be acquired by rapine, plunder, and massacre; and what does it all turn to in the end, demme, but to the same misery and wretchedness that was experienced in seeking after it? If you call that distinction and reputation, captain, from distinction and reputation Lord preserve me, demme! No, no, captain, let me be distinguished amidst the mazes of the dance, the glare of the opera, the intricacies of the masquerade, the hightoned ceremonial of court etiquette, and the dashing velocity of fashionable equipages; give me distinctions like these, captain, and a fig for your military reputation." "Give me the world at large then," replied the captain; "give me wars and rumours of wars for a glorious life, give me battles-campaigns—ambuscades— sieges-storms-rasing of citadels-levelling of castles-bursting of barriersescalading of garrisons-storming of breaches-retreating to-day-advancing to-morrow |