subaltern in the invitation to her house; but unfortunately för the fame of Ireland he preferred his bed to the banquet, and left us to efface, as well as we could, that impression of barbarism which our early exploits in the theatre had left.

Harrington, although a perfectly raw Irishman, had within him the seeds of all that is honourable, kind, and noble in our nature. These qualities were amply developed during his arduous service in that distant climate to which his fortune had led him, and of which, after a life of honour, fame, and good fortune, he took his leave in the year 1825; returning to end his days in the loved land of his birth. Notwithstanding the naivete of his remarks, and the half-wildness of expression, with which he ushered them on the ear, there was, in his actions, a winning candour, which captivated by its inoffensive novelty.

There was no bustle amongst the party to reach their carriages-for, instead of Mrs. Charles William Spencer's chariot stopping the way, a steady servant, furnished with a capacious lantern, and with cloaks and clogs for the ladies, intercepted us in the lobby. Having assisted the fair ones to robe, we set out, one on each arm, with the exception of our captain, who had the felicity of being honoured with the " "lovely young Lavinia's" arm, alone. Whether the charms of this fine girl gave fluency to his tongue, I know not; but, certainly, he was more endurable that night than I had ever before heard him. Mr. Charles William, the junior partner of the house of Spencer, Son, and Co., received us in the parlour with no small share of that independent, and, at the samd time, kind manner, which a man of opulence can so well assume, when exercising the rights of hospitality towards strangers. Had the invitation been premeditated, the preparation could not have been more perfect. Our friend of the lantern officiated as butler; and there was an air of ease and wealth in the whole menage, that rendered it easy to perceive that the good family "fared sumptuously every day." This was the more worthy of remark, as it was, by no means, the foible of men of business, in those days, to run into profuse expenditure in their domestic arrangements. But our host, we discovered, was also a banker, and chief manager of the house; his aged father, who had given over the toils of business, residing at his splendid seat, built by himself, a short distance from the town, with the earnings of a life of industry.

Besides being rich, Mr. Č. W. Spencer was a shrewd, and, indeed, well-informed man; by which, I mean, possessed of general information on all subjects connected with the commercial policy, laws, institutions, and government of his native country; an extent of knowledge quite sufficient to constitute

him an intelligent and useful member of the society in which he classed-A MASTER MANUFACTURER. If I could find out a fault in him, it was, as I fancied, neglect of his pretty little wife; but I forgot, in the ardour of my own boyish admiration, that she was his wife, and that they had quite opportunities enough of rendering themselves agreeable to each other, when depending on their own society, without making any parade of their cordialities before company.

Ere our party broke up, I felt more satisfied on this point, and left the house with an impression that they were a very happy English couple, although not one endearing expression, not one tender look was exchanged, during the two hours we passed under his friendly roof.

There cannot be a more philosophic lover than an English husband; and, whether John Bull perpetrates a marriage, or performs a funeral, he is equally the slave of propriety! We passed these two hours very cheerfully. Two of the ladies were rather elderly; three were young. The captain had devoted the whole of his compliments to Miss Lavinia, while the elder sister seemed quite absorbed in the pleasure she received in the conversation of the unsophisticated Harrington. Placed between the lady of the house and one of her senior friends, I distributed my attentions without distinction; and to my captain's commands, rather than requests, attempted to sing many more songs than, I would answer for it, were agreeable to the company. Having found me a willing deputy, he did not indulge the party with the music of his own voice beyond one verse, on the breaking up of the party, of "Rule Britannia." That which he selected was the one in which the following

occurs:

"Bless'd isle, with beauty,

With matchless beauty crown'd,

And MANLY HEARTS to guard the fair."

Suiting the "action to the word," he most gallantly pointed to the ladies, on singing the first and second lines; and knocked a cloud of pipe-clay dust out of his sword-belt, by the enthusi astic thump which he bestowed on his own "manly" breast, when claiming the latter honour. A general bravo rewarded his enthusiasm, which I trembled to think might lead to an encore. But we escaped, and took a last leave of this agreeable little group. Guided by the dangling luminary of the butler, we found our way to the Eagle and Child Inn; for which es cort and civility, he received half-a-crown; namely, from the captain six-pence, (who would have given him less, had there been any smaller denomination of silver coin,) and from the young Irish subs one shilling, each, The butler drew his own

conclusions; and, I dare say, on his report at the large house, reduced the captain to the ranks, as a shabby fellow!

CHAPTER V.

"I hate profane rascals."

As our route lay through Halifax, the captain, next morning most gallantly offered his escort to the ladies to deliver them safe, at their father's residence, a service which they at once declined.

It was evident to all but himself, that his company, although through politeness endured, was, in fact, any thing but pleasing to them; indeed, his unkind, authoritative way of addressing us, his obedient subs, must have struck these observant girls as very unamiable.

He fancied, however, that he was deeply smitten with Miss Lavinia, and flattered himself that he had made a favourable impression on the heart of the young lady. It was as much as Harrington and myself could do to restrain our risible muscles, when we heard him pour forth his ecstasies on her charms, and anticipations of his happiness, when they were all resigned to him. I believe he would have done any thing, which did not cost money, to afford a proof of his devotion; for after dinner next day, when the statute pint was expended, we proposed to give the fair Lavinia a bumper, at his individual cost. He declined the honour, but agreed to the other bottle, on the condition that it should be a joint-stock concern.

The aged, and obsequious ensign immediately assented by his usual "iss-iss," and gave "Miss Lav-eeny-yagh's health," with a regular counter cringe at the captain. I began to grow heartily tired of my march, and, with the exception of the lively Harrington, of my companions also; it was therefore with no small pleasure I found the circle of my society enlarged in a few days, by arriving at Pontefract, our then headquarters.

The only field-officer present with what was called the regiment, was a major lately arrived from India, a mild, gentlemanly character, extremely dull of hearing; whose voice was never raised beyond its natural soft murmur, and who with all

the indolence acquired during a service of twenty-two years in Bengal, troubled himself very little with what was passing in the regiment.

The remainder of the mess consisted of one captain, three lieutenants, one ensign-a spoiled child, and the adjutant, late sergeant-major of Irish militia. There were four weak companies, and part of a fifth assembled; the remainder of the regiment was- Heaven knows where! A mysterious story was afloat about the passing of the regiment one day, its instant embarkation, and its dispersion and partial capture by a privateer on the next but one following, which was never properly cleared up.

I heard it afterwards stated, that when an intimate friend of the colonel-commandant met the latter in the streets of Dublin, and told him his regiment had been captured by a French privateer, the reply of the temporary "gallant" colonel was, "Ah! I'm afraid it's too good news to be true!" The report went that there was a heavy arrear of bounty money due to the men, the settlement of which had been deferred until the arrival of the regiment on English ground; an honour which not above one-third of the poor, half-civilized Irish serfs, who formed it, were ever destined to enjoy.

With the exception of the major, I never beheld a more objectionable group than the officers at head-quarters. The captain was a fat, sulky sot, who always filled a bumper, and never spoke a word. Of the lieutenants, one was a crazed old yankee loyalist, perpetually boring the mess with stories of "Staten Island,” “Bunker's Hill," and, (infra dig.!) smuggling rum-grog into the mess-room to drink at his meal, under the pretence that beer gave him the heartburn.

The other lieutenants were quiet kind of men, who evidently had not been accustomed to the style of living which the usage of the army very properly established.

I shall surprise some of my readers, and make them deplore the "good old times," when I assert that we sat down every day to two courses, with a plentiful dessert of the best fruits of the season, at the humble charge of half a guinea per week each, table beer of superior quality included! Our wine was but three shillings and sixpence the bottle; but the poor subaltern's pay in those days was miserable-the ensign's, three shillings net per day, and the lieutenant's four.

The young ensign, from his constant exhibition of monkeytrieks, and his mimicking of the old Yankee, was a source of amusement to the usually silent and supine major, although to the rest of us a great annoyance. The adjutant, as I before observed, had been a non-commissioned officer, and had risen probably from the dregs of society, He was a vulgar repro

bate, an eternal trumpeter of his own low adventures and intrigues, interlarding his discourse with the horrid expression, "Well, I wish I may be d-d if-c." In the midst of one of his stories at the mess-table, I happened to catch the eye of the major, and, in respect to his deafness, held up my glass as an invitation to drink wine with him. At this moment the adjutant, who was in conversation with his next neighbour, bawled out, "Well sir, I wish I may be d―d!"

"With ALL MY HEART," said the unconscious major aloud; filling his glass, and nodding to me, which instantly set the table in a roar.

The junction of our captain and his three recruits increased the mess to ten members, to which we shortly added an acting surgeon, taken from a volunteer corps in the neighbourhood.

The sottish captain being junior in rank to the stammerer, lost his local consequence by the joining of the latter; and in a few days obtained leave to return to Ireland in search of his baggage, the loss, or mislay of which, he had pleaded ever since he joined, as his excuse for appearing more shabbily apparelled than any sergeant in the regiment.

The actual command of the now five full companies fell to our captain, for the major seldom showed his face on parade; in fact, he had got the step for which he had been a ready money candidate for upwards of fifteen years in India, without success, and now only waited for that of lieutenant-colonel, which he expected to obtain, every gazette; all that was needful-the purchase-money-having been lodged. This accounted for his total indifference to the corps, which he only made the stepping-stone for the moment to superior rank.

Captain Alexander issued out a whole page of regimental orders every day, to which he easily obtained the acquiescent major's authority, and had just as many field-days as his fancy led him to order, without the slightest interruption from his superior officer; whose face not one man in ten of the ranks knew, and whose uncommon name not one in fifty could pronounce. My captain, to do him justice, was more attentive to me and to Harrington than to any others of the corps; we were more to his liking, and would hear him prose about his Lavinia, when maudlin-tipsy, with less impatience than those who knew nothing of him or her. We each got the command and payment of a company, which added two shillings per diem to our pittance. I was allowed from home one guinea per week; so that all things put together, I was as well provided then as half the captains in the service.

Having purchased from a Scotch drover, on his return from the south, a well-grown galloway, one of the completest animals of his size I ever beheld, for the moderate sum of two