many French liveries behind. Zwaarten en ponjaarten! they had better look to it, or I shall imitate some of our discontented gallants, slip over to Frogland, ask the hook-nosed Prince for a commission, and enrol myself in the service of the Hoghan-moghans.”

Instead of reprehending him for this refractory mood, the manifest overflowing of his cups, Walter coaxed him into a compliance with his patron's orders, and at length had the pleasure of seeing him take his departure for Piccadilly, though not until he had blustered some little time longer, and eructed his whole store of polyglot oaths.

Our young soldier having received an intimation from the Premier, that his reception at the Levee would be more likely to be favourable if he had previously joined his troop, and were presented in a red-coat, set about the completion of his equipments with so much zeal and alacrity, that he was speedily enabled to make his appearance at the head-quarters of his regiment, then constituting a portion of the stand

ing army, which the King had assembled upon Hounslow Heath, that they might acquire confidence in themselves, and take it from others : -" a dangerous engine," as the historian justly observes," which generally subjects the people to the Prince, and the Prince to itself." Of his being reported fit for immediate duty, he did not entertain a doubt; for his father, who had always intended him for the army, the only profession which he thought worthy of a gentleman, had taken care to have him instructed in all military exercises. Even had he not been personally interested in the glory of the scene, it would have been impossible for him to contemplate, without emotion, the magnificent, picturesque, and spirit-stirring prospect of the encampment, suddenly presenting itself as he caught an open view of the Heath. Arms were flashing in all directions; the tents arranged in the form of a square, the formality of which was broken by clumps of intervening trees, shone radiant in a cloudless sun; their surmounting streamers played gaily in the air,

while pre-eminent, above all, upon an elevated staff, floated the royal flag of England, which the wind, as if proud to be its train-bearer, held proudly extended, so that its golden blazonry sparkled and bickered in the light. Some of the troops, both horse and foot, were performing military evolutions on the heath, and the air trembled with the martial clangor of trumpets and cymbals, mingled with the neighing of rejoicing steeds, and the indistinct rolling of the drums. Walter had previously caught the sound of musketry, with occasional salvos of cannon, while yet at a distance, and in the natural ardour and impatience of youth, had, with a beating heart and eager eyes, urged his steed forwards. He now increased its speed, as if fearful of losing any portion of the show, which to those who could forget the tyrannical object for which this army was assembled, offered a brilliant and animating spectacle. Although many persons of distinction had, from the most honourable and patriotic motives, withdrawn themselves from the ranks, the

troops thus assembled comprised the flower of the English youth and chivalry of the aristocratic class, as well as of the wealthy commoners. Viewing it as the surest engine for the enforcement of despotic power, both spiritual and political, the arbitrary James, himself a practised soldier, had always entertained a marked predilection for the army. With the exception, perhaps, of a conversion to Popery, there was no more certain passport to his favour than the military profession; hence all the aspirants for distinction or advancement hastened to enrol themselves, an example widely followed by those young and dashing possessors of wealth, who, looking upon this peace encampment as intended more for show than service, imagined they might cut a figure, display their taste or their opulence, and acquire a fashionable notoriety, without any personal risk. Many of these gentry, sparing no expense in the purchase of the most superb horses and appointments, had besides fitted up their tents with an incredible luxury and magnificence; and indeed

the whole camp, the baggage, servants, and followers of which, almost tripled the number of the combatants, might have been supposed, both from this circumstance and the gorgeousness of its equipment, to belong rather to an Asiatic than to an European army. For one of its peculiarities, however, it would not have been easy to find a prototype. Its stationary character, and its proximity to London, had occasioned it to be surrounded, although at some little distance, with an outer line of gipsylooking tents, booths, sheds, and stalls, picturesquély dispersed amid trees and bushes, belonging to suttlers, tavern-keepers, dealers, and chapmen, intermixed with conjurers, tumblers, rope-dancers, and mountebanks of every description; so that the tout ensemble presented the singular appearance of a gay glittering camp, encircled by a market and a fair. With the besotted infatuation that marked every step of James's latter career, he had ostentatiously set up a Roman Catholic Chapel in the centre of this armament, as if for the express purpose