General delight at the end of the war -- March to Bordeaux --
Kind reception of the troops by the inhabitants of the country on
the way -- Particular good fortune of Lawrence -- Great attention
on the part of his host -- A magnificent dinner -- Singular
effects of a campaign on Lawrence's taste for feather-beds -- He
tells of moving accidents, &c., &c., and excites the pity of his
hostess -- Two men sentenced to be flogged, but begged off by the
inhabitants of the town -- Arrival at Bordeaux -- Encampment on
the Garonne -- Fraternizing of the natives and the troops --
Good times in camp -- Sudden influx of skulkers, who, however,
receive but as poor a welcome as they deserve.
Things now seemed to assume an entirely different aspect, indeed to
take a new birth altogether. All were in a most joyous state, and none
more so than the Spaniards, who were always only too ready to give up
fighting. The Portuguese had always shown themselves the better race
in the field of action, but they likewise now enjoyed the thought of
returning to their own country, although it had been so pillaged. I
had many a long conversation with stragglers of both these nations
before we started on our long march, and so I had an opportunity of
studying their thoughts on the subject.
We did not seem to be in any hurry to quit the country before
everything was thoroughly arranged, and having no enemy pushing on our
rear, we were often billeted at towns and villages longer than we need
have been, which caused our march to take more time to accomplish, but
made it much more comfortable. We were generally billeted on the
inhabitants during our halts, the best billets being of course chosen
for the officers, then for the sergeants, and then for the corporals
and privates, the numbers being suited to the accommodation of the
places; but I very seldom had more than one with me besides myself.
The inhabitants could not have behaved better to us if they had been
our own countrymen; and I well remember how at the last stage where we
put up before coming to Bordeaux two of us, myself and a private of
the same company, were billeted at quite a gentleman's house, the
owners of which were unusually kind to us. We found we had completely
jumped into clover, and fortunately it happened to be Saturday night,
so that our halt was till Monday morning; not that Sunday in those
times had been used to make much difference to us, for two of our
bloodiest conflicts had happened on that day, but in this case, our
haste not being urgent, it gave us a kind of sweet repose.
As soon as we arrived at our house we were shown into our room, which
was a very nice one and beautifully furnished; and when we had taken
off our accoutrements, we went downstairs to a sort of bath-room,
where we had a good wash in tubs of water that were placed in
readiness for us. Then the gentleman had some clean stockings brought
up to us, and when we had made ourselves comfortable he sent up to our
room a loaf of bread and a large bottle of wine holding about three
pints, which we found most acceptable; and it not being long before
the family's dinner was ready, our hostess would insist on our dining
with them. For my own part, not being used to such pomp, and never
having before even seen it, being more accustomed to the kind of
dinners and suppers in which I have described our own colonel and
captain as taking part, I would sooner have crept out of the
invitation; but being pressed we consented, and having been shown into
the dining-room, we sat down to an excellent repast with nobody else
but the lady and gentleman.
The table was laid out most gorgeously with glittering silver, which
came very awkward to our clumsy hands, as we had been more accustomed
to using our fingers for some years; to set off which gorgeousness our
waiter, who was evidently the family footman, wore an out-of-the-way
fine and ugly dress, with his hair plastered up with white powder, of
which I had such an aversion during the first part of my stay in the
army. A most palatable dinner was served of which I freely partook,
though I had very little idea of what it consisted, and some good wine
was likewise often handed round with which our glasses were constantly
kept filled.
After dinner was over, the white-headed gentleman entered with coffee,
a fashion which then surprised us very much; but nevertheless, more
out of compliment than because we needed it, we took a cup each with
some sugar-candy which was also handed round to sweeten it. When that
was finished, just to keep us still going, the gentleman asked us if
we smoked, and on our saying we both did, the bell was rung, and the
footman entering with tobacco, we took a pipe with the gentleman, the
lady having previously retired into the drawing-room. Then getting
more used to the distinguished style, and the wine no doubt having
made us more chatty, we for a time thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with
our pipes, and began to feel new men with all our grandeur.
We were next invited to partake of tea in the drawing-room, but being
very tired, we begged to be excused; and this being granted, the
bed-candles being rung for, and having wished him good-night, we went
to our room and there had a hearty laugh over the evening's business;
though we had not been able to understand half what the gentleman had
said, not being used to the French so well as to the Spanish language.
We retired to rest in a fine feather bed, which being a luxury we had
not seen for years, was consequently too soft for our hard bones, and
we found we could not sleep owing to the change. My comrade soon
jumped out of bed, saying, "I'll be bothered, sergeant, I can't sleep
here!" "No," said I, "no more can I;" so we prepared our usual bed by
wrapping ourselves into a blanket, and then with a knapsack as a
pillow we lay on the floor and soon sank into a profound slumber.
Late in the morning, for we had overslept ourselves, the servant
knocked at the door and said breakfast was waiting; and in a very
short time the master himself came up and knocked, and on our calling
to him to come in he opened the door, and looking in, found we had
been sleeping on the floor. On his wanting to know if there were fleas
in the bed, or what was the cause of our lying on the floor, we made
him understand as well as we could, but it must have been very
imperfectly at the best. He then went down again, and we soon
following him, found an excellent breakfast ready, of which we made a
first-rate meal, and after they had left us, for they had finished
long before us, my comrade and I agreed that we had fallen on luck
now, and no mistake.
Very soon after we had finished our breakfast, the servant entered to
conduct us to the drawing-room, which was splendidly furnished, though
for my own part I would rather have been down in the kitchen. We went
in, however, and our hostess took down a book describing the French
and English languages, so that they might understand some of our words
better, and again asked us the reason why we did not sleep on our bed.
I told her we had not slept on a feather bed for six years, and
answered her other questions, giving her a slight description of the
trials of a soldier in the time of war. She was very much touched, and
could not forbear from crying, more especially when I added that two
privates were to be whipped that very morning for having got drunk
overnight and making a disturbance in the town, to serve as an example
to the regiment. They had been tried by court-martial and sentenced to
a hundred lashes, to be administered in the town and witnessed by the
inhabitants.
Although it was Sunday, the drums beat for the regiment to assemble,
and the men were brought into our square; and their sentence having
been read in the presence of all, the first man was led to the
halberds, and the drummers got ready to begin. But five or six
gentlemen of the town made their way into our square and begged the
colonel so hard to let them off, as that was the general wish of the
inhabitants, that at last he dismissed the victims with a reprimand.
The two then thanked the colonel, but he told them not to do so, for
had it not been for the timely interference of the gentlemen, he would
have given them every lash. All were then ordered to disperse, and I
returned to my excellent quarters, where we again received for the
rest of the day no end of kindnesses in the way of luxurious meals,
luncheons, dinner, and coffee, together with plenty of wine, and
before we went to bed, brandy was introduced as a finish: and having
taken a hot glass of that with water, we retired and slept in a
similar way to the night before.
On the following morning we had to assemble by seven o'clock, so no
time was allowed us for breakfast; but our host had ordered our
canteens to be filled with their best wine, and a parcel of sandwiches
to be made up for each of us. We shook hands with the gentleman, duly
thanking him for his kindness, and, rejoining our regiment, were soon
on the march again for Bordeaux, which being not more than a day's
march distant we reached the same night. We encamped at a place two
miles off the city on the banks of the River Garonne, to which even
large ships were able to ascend. Here we lay for five or six weeks,
during which time the inhabitants made many excursions from the city
especially on Sundays, to inspect our army, swarms of costermongers
likewise visiting us every day with wine, spirits, bread, meat, fish,
and fruit of every description for sale. Every Sunday afternoon the
bands of all the regiments played, while the French amused themselves
with dancing, many of them, both male and female, on stilts, which
entertained us more than anything, and besides this there were all
kinds of other jollities in which our soldiers freely joined.
And now I will take the opportunity of saying a few more words as
regards the skulkers. As soon as the peace was declared no less than
seven sergeants of my own company alone had either at this place or on
the march thither made their appearance from the snug dens where they
had been lying, most of whom had been occupying themselves with some
trivial employment in the pay of the Spaniards or Portuguese, but had
now at this crisis abandoned whatever they had been doing, for fear of
being left in the country, or perhaps because they thought that they
might still come in for a share of the praise and pay. Before they
appeared I was the only sergeant in our company, while if the proper
number had been there, there would have been six. I do not mean to
say that there had been no cause at first for their staying behind,
for there were some laid up like myself at Elvas and Estremoz, but it
was their duty to follow up the regiment when they were able, as I had
done myself.
The captain of my company, who had been like myself through the whole
campaign excepting when actually in hospital, pretended not to know
them when he saw them, and asked them, "Where on earth do you come
from? you certainly don't belong to my company, by your appearance."
He then called me to say if I knew them. I remarked, "They seem to
have been in luck's way about their clothes, at any rate;" and so they
did, for whilst ours were as ragged as sheep and as black as rooks,
theirs were as red and new as if they had never been on, and their
shoes were to match, whilst ours were completely worn out by our
continual marches, the captain's being quite as bad as any private's.
We found that two of these men had left the regiment for hospital on
our retreat from Talavera, and had never shown themselves since, the
others having been away in like manner for rather shorter periods. Now
the whole had returned we were overstocked with sergeants, having two
more than our complement, so our captain sent the two who had been
longest absent to the colonel with a written request that they should
be transferred somewhere else; the other five he allowed to remain,
but only for as short a time as possible till he could get rid of them
also, as he told them his company should not be disgraced by them
longer than he could help. He likewise told them that many of his
privates deserved the stripes more than they did; and indeed it was
not long before he got them transferred, and their places filled up by
some of the braver heroes from among such of the privates as had at
all distinguished themselves in any conflict.