OUR HERO DEPARTS FROM VIENNA, AND QUITS THE DOMAIN OF VENUS FOR THE ROUGH
FIELD OF MARS.
Luckily for our adventurer, before she adhered to this determination, the
young Count de Melvil was summoned to Presburg by his father, who desired
to see him, before he should take the field, in consequence of a rupture
between the Emperor and the French King; and Fathom of course quitted
Vienna, in order to attend his patron, after he and Renaldo had resided
two whole years in that capital, where the former had made himself
perfect in all the polite exercises, become master of the French tongue,
and learned to speak the Italian with great facility; over and above
those other accomplishments in which we have represented him as an
inimitable original.
As for the young Count, his exteriors were so much improved by the
company to which he had access, since his departure from his father's
house, that his parents were equally surprised and overjoyed at the
alteration. All that awkwardness and rusticity, which hung upon his
deportment, was, like the rough coat of a diamond, polished away; the
connexion and disposition of his limbs seemed to have been adjusted anew;
his carriage was become easy, his air perfectly genteel, and his
conversation gay and unrestrained. The merit of this reformation was in
a great measure ascribed to the care and example of Mr. Fathom, who was
received by the old Count and his lady with marks of singular friendship
and esteem; nor was he overlooked by Mademoiselle, who still remained in
a state of celibacy, and seemed to have resigned all hope of altering her
condition; she expressed uncommon satisfaction at the return of her old
favourite, and readmitted him into the same degree of familiarity with
which he had been honoured before his departure.
The joy of Teresa was so excessive at his arrival, that she could scarce
suppress her raptures, so as to conceal them from the notice of the
family; and our hero, upon this occasion, performed the part of an
exquisite actor, in dissembling those transports which his bosom never
knew. So well had this pupil retained the lessons of her instructor,
that, in the midst of those fraudulent appropriations, which she still
continued to make, she had found means to support her interest and
character with Mademoiselle, and even to acquire such influence in the
family, that no other servant, male or female, could pretend to live
under the same roof, without paying incessant homage to this artful
waiting-woman, and yielding the most abject submission to her will.
The young gentlemen having tarried at Presburg about six weeks, during
which a small field equipage was prepared for Renaldo, they repaired to
the camp at Heilbron, under the auspices of Count Melvil, in whose
regiment they carried arms as volunteers, with a view to merit promotion
in the service by their own personal behaviour. Our adventurer would
have willingly dispensed with this occasion of signalising himself, his
talents being much better adapted to another sphere of life;
nevertheless, he affected uncommon alacrity at the prospect of gathering
laurels in the field, and subscribed to his fortune with a good grace;
foreseeing, that even in a campaign, a man of his art and ingenuity might
find means to consult his corporal safety, without any danger to his
reputation. Accordingly, before he had lived full three weeks in camp,
the damp situation, and sudden change in his way of life, had such a
violent effect upon his constitution, that he was deprived of the use of
all his limbs, and mourned, without ceasing, his hard fate, by which he
found himself precluded from all opportunity of exerting his diligence,
courage, and activity, in the character of a soldier, to which he now
aspired.
Renaldo, who was actually enamoured of a martial life, and missed no
occasion of distinguishing himself, consoled his companion with great
cordiality, encouraged him with the hope of seeing his constitution
familiarised to the inconveniences of a camp, and accommodated him with
everything which he thought would alleviate the pain of his body, as well
as the anxiety of his mind. The old Count, who sincerely sympathised
with his affliction, would have persuaded him to retire into quarters,
where he could be carefully nursed, and provided with everything
necessary to a person in his condition; but such was his desire of glory,
that he resisted his patron's importunities with great constancy, till at
length, seeing the old gentleman obstinately determined to consult his
health by removing him from the field, he gradually suffered himself to
recover the use of his hands, made shift to sit up in his bed, and amuse
himself with cards or backgammon, and, notwithstanding the feeble
condition of his legs, ventured to ride out on horseback to visit the
lines, though the Count and his son would never yield to his
solicitations so far, as to let him accompany Renaldo in those excursions
and reconnoitring parties, by which a volunteer inures himself to toil
and peril, and acquires that knowledge in the operations of war, which
qualifies him for a command in the service.
Notwithstanding this exemption from all duty, our adventurer managed
matters so as to pass for a youth of infinite mettle, and even rendered
his backwardness and timidity subservient to the support of that
character, by expressing an impatience of lying inactive, and a desire of
signalising his prowess, which even the disabled condition of his body
could scarce restrain. He must be a man of very weak nerves and
excessive irresolution, who can live in the midst of actual service,
without imbibing some portion of military fortitude: danger becomes
habitual, and loses a great part of its terror; and as fear is often
caught by contagion, so is courage communicated among the individuals of
an army. The hope of fame, desire of honours and preferment, envy,
emulation, and the dread of disgrace, are motives which co-operate in
suppressing that aversion to death or mutilation, which nature hath
implanted in the human mind; and therefore it is not to be wondered at,
if Fathom, who was naturally chicken-hearted, gained some advantages over
his disposition before the end of the campaign, which happened to be
neither perilous nor severe.
During the winter, while both armies remained in quarters, our adventurer
attended his patron to Presburg, and, before the troops were in motion,
Renaldo obtained a commission, in consequence of which he went into
garrison at Philipsburg, whither he was followed by our hero, while the
old Count's duty called him to the field in a different place. Ferdinand
for some time had no reason to be dissatisfied with this disposition, by
which he was at once delivered from the fatigues of a campaign, and the
inspection of a severe censor, in the person of Count Melvil; and his
satisfaction was still increased by an accidental meeting with the
Tyrolese who had been his confederate at Vienna, and now chanced to serve
in garrison on the same footing with himself. These two knights-errant
renewed their former correspondence, and, as all soldiers are addicted to
gaming, levied contributions upon all those officers who had money to
lose, and temerity to play.
However, they had not long pursued this branch of traffic, when their
success was interrupted by a very serious occurrence, that for the
present entirely detached the gentlemen in the garrison from such
amusements. The French troops invested Fort Kehl, situated on the Rhine,
opposite to Strasburg; and the Imperialists, dreading that the next storm
would fall upon Philipsburg, employed themselves with great diligence to
put that important fortress in a proper posture of defence. If the
suspension of play was displeasing to our hero, the expectation of being
besieged was by no means more agreeable. He knew the excellence of the
French engineers, the power of their artillery, and the perseverance of
their general. He felt, by anticipation, the toils of hard duty upon the
works, the horrors of night-alarms, cannonading, bombardment, sallies,
and mines blown up; and deliberated with himself whether or not he should
privately withdraw, and take refuge among the besiegers; but, when he
reflected that such a step, besides the infamy that must attend it, would
be like that of running upon Scylla, seeking to avoid Charybdis, as he
would be exposed to more danger and inconvenience in the trenches than he
could possibly undergo in the town, and after all run the risk of being
taken and treated as a deserter; upon these considerations he resolved to
submit himself to his destiny, and endeavoured to mitigate the rigour of
his fate by those arts he had formerly practised with success. He
accordingly found means to enjoy a very bad state of health during the
whole siege, which lasted about six weeks after the trenches were opened;
and then the garrison marched out by capitulation, with all the honours
of war.