put a couple of changes of linen into a valise under charge of my servant, and sinking all military appearance in a suit of plain mufti, I set out on my pedestrian tour.

I was completely disappointed of all the pleasure I had promised myself by such a mode of travelling. Few, indeed, are the gratifications an ardent mind receives while traversing a line of country absolutely swarming with a redundant population, not possessing a single idea beyond those which enable them to perform the daily drudgery in which they pass their youth, their manhood, and their old age; spinning out the thread of existence like silk-worms for the advantage of the rich; and then at last getting leave to fill a pauper's grave. Here the poor weaver, rising before light, toils incessantly all day; his children, instead of pursuing those amusements natural to youth, share in his toils, not merely while day-light lasts, but pursuing that labour by the light of his taxed candle till midnight; lying down with his supperless wretched family, in an unblanketed bed, to rise unrefreshed, and again encounter the same wasting toil of unrequited, hopeless labour! Poor John Bull is taught to consider this INDUSTRY; to rejoice in his chains, and wear them with all the pride of a Lord Mayor. It does not require the second sight of a Scotchman to foretell that an awful reaction is not far distant.

CHAPTER VII.

· Dye all-Dye nobly."

On arriving at Harrowgate, I met in the reading-room an Irish acquaintance of the name of Mountgarrat, (of whom I shall have much to say hereafter,) from whom I derived a piece of intelligence which deeply interested me, although I careful ly suppressed my connexion with the parties who are the chief actors in the events recorded.

It seemed, that from some rude assault committed by the rum-tippling American loyalist on one of the operative dyers of the town of Leeds, he was surrounded by a host of these blueskinned brotherhood in an unguarded moment, and treated to a dip in the dye-tub.

To a man whose character was (according to his own showing) above all stain, and who, though fond of life, was ever ready to die with honour for his country, such an inglorious tinge as his person and the king's uniform received on this occasion required to be washed out with blood. He accordingly repaired in his dyeing state to the barracks of the company he commanded, and sallied forth at its head, vowing vengeance against every man who wore an apron and a blue face.

The affray happened late in the evening, when the complexion of the weavers of aprons could not be so exactly ascertained as to confine the infliction of vengeance to the parties for whom it was exclusively intended. The consequence was that, in order to avoid omissions, the Irish soldiers, inflamed by the recollection of the daily sneers and insults they had received, indiscriminately knocked down, kicked, and otherwise ill-used all who came within the scope of their arms

The remainder of the regiment was called out, with the stuttering captain at its head, to quell the riot; but the peace-makers shortly took part with the peace-breakers against the townspeople; and the captain was obliged to solicit the aid of the detachment of dragoon guards, then fortunately at Leeds, to overpower the mutineers.

The prudence of the officer commanding the cavalry, who, although a subaltern, refused to comply with the equally cowardly and insane orders of the captain, to cut down the poor VOL. II. 4

misled and half-savage infantry, right and left, saved his Majesty's service from much disgrace. By reasoning with the deluded men he induced them to fall into their ranks, and march to the barracks under the protection of his troop. Several were disfigured with wounds from sticks, stones, and other missiles; while those which they inflicted were of a still more serious character.

The civic authorities, who would have slunk into an augurhole while the fray was raging, after the danger was over paraded all the constables of the township, and perambulated the streets during the night. In the mean time an express was sent to the quarters of the general officer of the district, who, if I mistake not, was Prince William, now Duke of Gloucester, The riotous soldiers were strictly confined to their barracks for three days, when they were marched northward, under the escort of the dragoon guards as far as Ripon, where another troop took charge of them until they passed the border of Yorkshire.

This was the substance of my Irish friend's information as to the particulars of the fray; but he added that the regiment was proceeding to Newcastle" to be broke," as he termed it, but which I interpreted to be "drafted."

Having had my servant with me in coloured clothes, I sent him into Leeds to intercept the sergeant, and order him to march directly through that town without stopping a moment, halting about five miles beyond it at a small village, where I should join him. But the sergeant had already passed through unmolested, and was then on his way to Durham, where headquarters had been established for a few days. Such was the information with which my servant returned to me, having obtained it from the staff sergeant of the recruiting service at Leeds.

I set out the next day, and reached Darlington in time to overtake my party. Arriving at Durham late in the evening, I repaired to the inn where I understood our head-quarters had been established; but I was obliged to take to my bed immedidiately in consequence of an attack of pleurisy. The regiment (save the mark!) had marched for Newcastle-upon-Tyne a few days before; and there was I, a total stranger, the sick inmate of a public inn, without knowing or being known to one soul in the place!

A doctor was called in by the man of the house (of whom and his excellent little daughter I shall make honourable mention in due time.) This gentleman prescribed nothing but bleeding-bleeding-bleeding. Six times in three days did I undergo this strength-subduing operation, until I was almost too weak to turn in my bed; yet the inflammatory symptoms

of the disease did not materially abate. On the fourth day the countenance of the doctor, and the very kindest of little nurses, my host's daughter, assured me that I was out of danger. My recovery was as rapid as my attack had been violent; and in a few days I found time, words, and every other demonstration of gratitude which my heart suggested, to express my thanks for the tender attention which this worthy girl bestowed on

me.

At the end of a week I was so far recovered as to be able to take my place in the arm chair, which my dear little nurse had, night after night, during my illness, occupied while watching my broken slumbers. Every nicety that could tempt the reviving appetite of the convalescent was prepared for me by her own hands; and her keen little sparkling eyes seemed to glow with delight as she observed the avidity with which I despatched these delicacies. She hung over me with too evident a sense of pleasure when I requested the aid of her kind

arm.

She had no mother, was manager of the establishment, and sole successor and heiress to her worthy father's house and wealth, who by gencral report was a score thousand man, besides his freehold farm near Lumley Castle, worth seven hundred pounds a year. His liking to me was almost as strong as that which the daughter made no sort of scruple of professing.

Here then was a temptation to an unportioned lieutenant in a marching regiment, which by that time had probably marched to the right about. Here I once more found myself lord of the heart of the lady of the Lion, for such was in fact the sign of the inn. (I must have been born under Leo!) This coincidence brought to my mind's eye in all her portly beauty the corpulent Venus of the county of Meath, whose parting smack I never could forget; and I bestowed on the memory of her charms a deep-fetched sigh. Little did I know at that time, when dreaming of past pleasures, that the sweet-lipped Mrs. Matty Malone was enjoying them in the full perfection of connubial bliss, having, while her heart was yet soft and tender, allowed love's citadel to be asailed and won by a bold sergeant of dragoons!

But there were other recollections of a more tender nature which never slept, on which fond memory loved to dwell, however hopeless the passion it cherished. Neither time, nor space, nor the ever-varying changes of my days, could banish from my dearest remembrance the amiable Maria, the early victim of one parent's folly, and of the mistaken policy of a kind and affectionate relative, who saw too late the error of one irrevocable step!

On a Sunday morning, when sitting at breakfast in the private parlour of the house, which opened on a small and verdant lawn over which the rustling leaves, obedient to the fitful breeze of a bright October day, played about in fantastic eddies, a visiter was announced; and while puzzling my brain to know who could possibly have found me out, I had only to remove Anna's chair from its too immediate proximity to my own, when in walked the ensign and acting paymaster, Chapman! He had heard from my sergeant of my being arrested by the hand of sickness on my route, and took the first opportunity which his late troublesome avocations afforded to visit me. He had, of course, a long story to tell me of the regiment, the summary of which was its disgrace! A few picked men having been lately drafted into the 115th, (Prince William's regiment,) was doomed to the same fate shortly after; and the main body was sent to London river in colliers, in order to be dropped at Gravesend on the route to Chatham.

A severe reckoning had taken place with respect to the accounts of the drafted men; and the acting paymaster found his situation, during the last fortnight, no sinecure. The precious remnant of the one hundred and heaven knows how many eth regiment had sailed three days before for the Thames; the ensign only waiting to close the balance-sheet at Newcastle with the paymaster of the 115th, and then to proceed for Chatham by land. This was all his news, excepting the appointment of my friend, the major, to the colonelcy of a northern fencible regiment, (having obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the line by purchase some weeks before,) and a message from that officer, desiring me to write to him at Wakefield as soon as I joined.

Although I had nearly twenty pounds balance in my hands of regimental money, Mr. Chapman declined then to receive it, considerately saying I might want money when he was not near me to answer my demands.

He was not a bad fellow, though vulgar, timid, and hesitating in his mode of expressing himself, as if conscious of his general inferiority; yet he loved good company and good living, was never obtrusive, and besides was an excellent listener and a liberal-handed friend.

Strange to say, this man, who had embraced the military profession so late in life, and under so many disadvantages of person and education, by dint of observation and imitation polished himself into a very respectable MAJOR in the course of five or six years; a rank which he reached by purchase, and held with a fair portion of credit and respect in an old and crack regiment of the twenties.

After passing part of the day with me he returned to New