men's hearts can get so steeled; but so it is--the same chance befals
the officer as the soldier, and one anecdote will illustrate both.
At the battle of Vittoria one of our officers was disabled by a shot
through the leg, but having contrived to drag himself to a road-side,
he laid himself down there, in the hope that, among the passing
thousands, some good Samaritan might be found with compassion enough to
bind up his wound, and convey him to a place of shelter.
The rear of a battle is generally a queer place--the day is won and
lost there a dozen times, unknown to the actual combatants--fellows who
have never seen an enemy in the field, are there to be seen flourishing
their drawn swords, and "cutting such fantastic tricks before high
heaven, as make angels weep," while others are flying as if pursued
by legions of demons; and, in short, while every thing is going on in
front with the order and precision of a field-day, in rear every thing
is confusion worse confounded.
When my wounded friend took post on the road-side, it was in the midst
of a panic amongst the followers of the army, caused by an imaginary
charge of cavalry--he tried in vain, for a length of time, to attract
the notice of somebody, when his eyes were at length regaled by a
staff surgeon of his acquaintance, who approached amid the crowd of
fugitives, and, having no doubt but he would at length receive the
requisite attention, he hailed him by name as soon as he came within
reach. The person hailed, pulled up, with "Ah! my dear fellow, how
do you do? I hope you are not badly hit?" "I can't answer for that,"
replied my friend, "all I know is, that my leg is bleeding profusely,
and until some good-natured person dresses it and assists me to remove,
here I must lie!" "Ah! that's right," returned the other, "keep
yourself quiet--this is only an affair of cavalry--so that you may make
yourself quite comfortable," and, clapping spurs to his horse, he was
out of sight in a moment!
The next known character who presented himself was a volunteer, at
that time attached to the regiment--an eccentric sort of a gentleman,
but one who had a great deal of method in his eccentricity--for, though
he always went into battle with us, I know not how it happened, but
no one ever saw him again until it was all over--he must have been an
especial favourite of the fickle goddess--for, by his own shewing,
his absence from our part of the battle was always occasioned by his
accidentally falling in with some other regiment which had lost all its
officers, and, after rallying and leading them on to the most brilliant
feat of the day, he, with the modesty becoming a hero, left them alone
in their glory--in ignorance of the person to whom they owed so much,
while he retired to his humble position as a volunteer!
On the occasion referred to, however, in place of being at the head
of a regiment and leading them on to the front, he was at the head
of half a dozen horses, which he had contrived to scrape together in
the field, and was leading them the other road. As soon as he had
descried my wounded friend he addressed him as did the doctor--was
remarkably glad to see him, and hoped he was not badly hit--and, having
received a similar reply, he declared that he was very sorry to hear
it--_very_--"but," added he, "as you are lying there, at all events,
perhaps you will be good enough to hold these horses for me until I
return, for I know where I can get about as many more!"
Patience had not then ceased to be a virtue--and, lest my readers
should think that I am drawing too largely on theirs, I shall resume
the thread of my narrative.
CHAP. IX.
A bishop's gathering.--Volunteers for a soldier's love, with
a portrait of the lover.--Burning a bivouac.--Old invented
thrashing machines and baking concerns.--A flying Padre taking
a shot flying.
Soon after the battle of Fuentes Lord Wellington was again called
to the south, leaving us with a burning desire to follow, which was
eventually gratified; for, after various coquettish movements between
us and the enemy, which carried us in retreat near to Sabugal, we, at
length, received an order for the south; and, leaving our adversaries
to do that which might seem best unto them, we were all at once helm up
for the other side of the Tagus.
On our way there we halted a night at Castello Branco, and hearing that
the Bishop's garden was open for inspection, and well worth the seeing,
I went with a brother-officer to reconnoitre it.
Throughout the country which we had been traversing for a season, the
ravages of the contending armies had swept the fruits, flowers, and
even the parent stems, from the face of the earth, as if such things
had never been; and it is, therefore, difficult to convey an idea of
the gratification we experienced in having our senses again regaled
with all that was delightful in either, and in admirable order.
Beauty, in whatever shape it comes before us, is almost irresistible,
and the worthy prelate's oranges proved quite so; for they looked so
brightly yellow--so plumply ripe--and the trees groaned with their
load, as if praying for relief, that with hearts framed as ours, so
sensitively alive to nature's kindlier feelings, it was impossible to
refuse the appeal.
Stolen kisses, they say, are the sweetest, and besides, as there
might have been some impropriety in pressing the oranges to our lips
so publicly, we were at some loss to provide for their transfer to a
suitable place, as our dress was pocketless, and fitted as tight as a
glove; but we contrived to stow away about a dozen each in our then
sugar-loaf-shaped regimental caps, and placing them carefully on the
head, we marched off as stiffly as a brace of grenadiers.
As the devil would have it, however, in traversing the palace-hall,
we encountered the Bishop himself, and as it was necessary that the
compliments of the season should pass between us, it was rather an
awkward meeting; I was myself alive to the consequences of having more
brains above the head than in it, and, therefore, confined myself to
the stiff soldier's salute; but my companion, unluckily, forgot his
load, and in politely returning the prelate's bow, sent his cap and
oranges rolling at his feet, while his face shone as a burnt offering
at the same shrine! The Bishop gave a benevolent smile, and after very
good naturedly assisting the youth to collect the scattered fruit, he
politely wished us a good morning, leaving us not a little ashamed of
ourselves, and deeply impressed with a sense of his gentleman-like
demeanour and amiable disposition.
Our third march from Castello Branco brought us to Portalegre, where we
halted for some days.
In a former chapter, I have given the Portuguese national character,
such as I found it generally,--but in nature there are few scenes
so blank as to have no sunny side, and throughout that kingdom, the
romantic little town of Portalegre still dwells the greenest spot on
memory's waste.
Unlike most other places in that devoted land, it had escaped the
vengeful visit of their ruthless foe, and having, therefore, no fatal
remembrance to cast its shade over the future, the inhabitants received
us as if we had been beings of a superior order, to whom they were
indebted for all the blessings they enjoyed, and showered their sweets
upon us accordingly.
In three out of four of my sojourns there, a friend and I had the good
fortune to be quartered in the same house. The family consisted of a
mother and two daughters, who were very good-looking and remarkably
kind. Our return was ever watched for with intense interest, and when
they could not command sufficient influence with the local authorities
to have the house reserved, they nevertheless contrived to squeeze us
in; for when people are in a humour to be pleased with each other,
small space suffices for their accommodation.
Such uniform kindness on their part, it is unnecessary to say, did
not fail to meet a suitable return on ours. We had few opportunities
of falling in with things that were rich and rare, (if I except such
_jewels_ as those just mentioned,) yet were we always stumbling over
something or other, which was carefully preserved for our next happy
meeting; and whether they were gems or gew-gaws, they were alike
valued for the sake of the donors.
The kindness shown by one family to two particular individuals goes, of
course, for nothing beyond its value; but the feeling there seemed to
be universal.
Our usual morning's amusement was to visit one or other of the
convents, and having ascertained the names of the different pretty
nuns, we had only to ring the bell, and request the pleasure of
half-an-hour's conversation with one of the prettiest amongst them, to
have it indulged; and it is curious enough that I never yet asked a
nun, or an attendant of a nunnery, if she would elope with me, that she
did not immediately consent,--and that, too, unconditionally.
My invitations to that effect were not general, but, on the contrary,
remarkably particular; and to show that in accepting it they meant no
joke, they invariably pointed out the means, by telling me that they
were strictly watched at that time, but if I returned privately, a
week or two after the army had passed, they could very easily arrange
the manner of their escape.
I take no credit to myself for any preference shewn, for if there be
any truth in my looking-glass--and it was one of the most flattering
I could find--their discriminating powers would entitle them to small
credit for any partiality shewn to me individually; and while it was no
compliment, therefore, to me, or to the nunnery, it must necessarily
be due to nature, as showing that the good souls were overflowing with
the milk of human kindness, and could not say nay while they possessed
the powers of pleasing: for, as far as I have compared notes with my
companions, the feeling seemed to have been general.
On quitting Portalegre, we stopped, the next night, at Aronches, a
small miserable walled town, with scarcely a house in it that would
entitle the holder to vote on a ten shilling franchise; and on the
night following we went into bivouac, on Monte Reguingo, between Campo
Mayor and the Caya, where we remained a considerable time. We were
there, as our gallant historian (Napier) tells us, in as judicious
but, at the same time, in as desperate a position as any that Lord
Wellington had held during the war; yet, I am free to say, however,
that none of us knew any thing at all about the matter, and cared still
less. We there held, as we ever did, the most unbounded confidence in
our chief, and a confidence in ourselves, fed by continued success,
which was not to be shaken; so that we were at all times ready for
any thing, and reckless of every thing. The soldiers had become so
inured to toil and danger that they seemed to have set disease, the
elements, and the enemy alike at defiance. Head-aches and heart-aches
were unknown amongst them, and whether they slept under a roof, a tent,
or the open sky, or whether they amused themselves with a refreshing
bath in a stream, or amused the enemy with a shot, was all a matter of
indifference. I do not eulogize our own men at the expense of others,
for although the light division stood on that particular post alone,
our chief confidence originated in the hope and belief that every
division in the army was animated by the same spirit.
The day after our taking post at Reguingo, notwithstanding my boasted
daring, we were put to the rout by an unlooked-for enemy, namely, a
fire in the bivouac;--a scorching sun had dried up the herbage, and
some of the camp-fires communicated with the long grass on which we
were lodged; the fresh summer-breeze wafted the ground flame so rapidly
through the bivouac that before all the arms and accoutrements could
be removed, many of the men's pouches were blown-up, and caused some
accidents.
I believe it is not generally, and cannot be too well known to military
men, that this is a measure which is very often had recourse to by an
enemy, (when the wind favours,) to dislodge a post from a field of
standing corn or long grass; and the only way to counteract it is, for
the officer commanding the post to fire the grass immediately behind
him, so that by the time the enemy's fire has burnt up, his own will
have gone away in proportion, and left a secure place for him to stand
on, without losing much ground.
Our bivouac at Monte Reguingo abounded in various venomous reptiles,
and it is curious enough to think that amongst the thousands of human
beings sleeping in the same bed and at their mercy, one rarely or never
heard of an injury done by them.
A decayed tree full of holes, against which the officers of our company
had built their straw hut, was quite filled with snakes, and I have
often seen fellows three feet long winding their way through the
thatch, and voting themselves our companions at all hours, but the only
inconvenience we experienced was in a sort of feeling that we would
rather have had the hut to ourselves.
One morning in turning over a stone on which my head had rested all
night, I saw a scorpion with the tail curled over his back looking me
fiercely in the face; and though not of much use, I made it a rule
thereafter to take a look at the other side of my pillow before I went
to sleep, whenever I used a stone one.
An officer in putting on his shoe one morning, found that he had
squeezed a scorpion to death in the toe of it. That fellow must have
been caught napping, or he certainly would have resisted the intruder.
The only thing in the shape of an accident from reptiles that I
remember ever having occurred in our regiment was to a soldier who had
somehow swallowed a lizard. He knew not when or how, and the first hint
he had of the tenement being so occupied, was in being troubled with
internal pains and spitting of blood, which continued for many months,
in spite of all the remedies that were administered. But a powerful
emetic eventually caused him to be delivered of as ugly a child of the
kind as one would wish to look at, about three inches long. I believe
that Dr. Burke, late of the Rifles, has it still preserved.
In that neighbourhood I was amused in observing the primitive method
adopted by the farmers in thrashing their corn,--namely, in placing it
on a hard part of the public road and driving some bullocks backwards
and forwards through it; and for winnowing, they tossed it in a sieve
and trusted to the winds to do the needful. Notwithstanding the method,
however, they contrived to shew us good looking bread in that part of
the world--as white as a confectioner's seed cake--and though the devil
take such seeds as these sons of cows had contrived to grind up with
the flour, yet it was something like the cooking on board ship; we
ought to have been thankful for the good which the Gods provided and
asked no questions.
In July, the breaking up of the assembled armies which had so long
menaced us, sent our division again stretching off to the north in
pursuit of fresh game. The weather was so intensely hot, that it was
thought advisable to perform the greater part of our marches during
the night. I can imagine few cases, however, in which a night march
can prove in any way advantageous; for unless the roads are remarkably
good, it requires double time to perform them. The men go stumbling
along half asleep, and just begin to brighten up when their permitted
hour of repose arrives. The scorching sun, too, murders sleep, and of
our ten or twelve days' marching on that occasion, I scarcely ever
slept at all. I have always been of opinion that if men who are inured
to fatigue are suffered to have a decent allowance of repose during the
night, that you may do what you like with them during the day, let the
climate or the weather be what it may.
I remember having been at that time in possession of a small black
pony, and like the old man and his ass, it might have admitted of a
dispute among the spectators which of us ought to have carried the
other, but to do myself justice I rarely put him to the inconvenience
of carrying anything beyond my boat-cloak, blanket, &c.; but one
morning before day-light, in stumbling along through one of those
sleepy marches, my charger, following at the length of the bridle-rein,
all at once shot past me as if he had been fired out of a mortar, and
went heels over head, throwing a complete somerset and upsetting two of
the men in his headlong career. I looked at the fellow in the utmost
astonishment to see whether he was in joke or earnest, thinking that I
had by accident got hold of one of Astley's cast-off's, who was shewing
me some of his old stage tricks, but when he got up, he gave himself a
shake and went quietly on as usual, so that it must have been nothing
beyond a dreaming caper, seeing that he was not much given to the
exhibition of feats of agility in his waking moments.
On reaching our destination in the north, our division took up a more
advanced position than before, and placed the garrison of Ciudad
Rodrigo under blockade.
In the first village we occupied (Mortiago) the only character worthy
of note was a most active half-starved curate, whose duty it was to
marry and to bury every body within a wide range, besides performing
the usual services in sundry chapels in that and the adjoining
villages. He was so constantly at a gallop on horseback in pursuit
of his avocations that we dubbed him the _Padrè volante_ (the flying
parson.) We did there, as in all the Spanish villages the moment we
took possession, levelled the ground at the end of the church, and with
wooden bats cut out in the shape of rackets, got up something like an
apology for that active and delightful game.
Our greatest enjoyment there was to catch the Padrè in one of his
leisure moments and to get him to join in the amusement, of which he
was remarkably fond, and he was no sooner enlisted, than it became
the malicious aim of every one to send the ball against his lank
ribs. Whenever he saw that it was done intentionally, however, he
made no hesitation in shying his bat at the offender; but he was a
good-natured soul, as were also his tormentors, so that every thing
passed off as was intended.
The Padrè in addition to his other accomplishments was a sportsman,
and as he was possessed of a pointer dog (a companion which, as we had
more mouths than food, we were obliged to deny ourselves), his company
in the field on that account was in great request; whatever his feats
might have been there however, he generally came off but second best. I
remember that two of our gentlemen accompanied him the first day, and
when they sprung the first covey, the Padrè's bird, out of the three
shots, was the only one that came to the ground; but notwithstanding,
one of the officers immediately ran up and very coolly placed it in
his own bag. The Padrè ran up too, and stood gaping open-mouthed
thinking he had pocketed the bird in joke; however, the other went on
deliberately loading as if all had been right. Meanwhile, the other
officer coming up, said, "Why, S. that was not your bird, it is the
Padrè's!" "My dear sir," he replied, "I know it is not my bird, but do
you suppose that I would allow a fellow like that to think that he had
killed a bird? My good sir, I would not allow him to suppose for one
moment that he had even fired at it!"
CHAP. X.
Shewing how a volunteer may not be what Doctor Johnson made
him.--A mayor's nest.--Cupping.--The Author's reasons for
punishing the world with a book.--And some volunteers of the
right sort.
When we next changed our quarter we found the new one peopled
exclusively by old wives and their husbands, and, as the enemy were at
a distance, we should certainly have gone defunct through sheer ennui,
had not fortune sent us a fresh volunteer--a regular "broth of a boy,"
from the Emerald Isle, who afforded ample scope for the exercise of our
mischievous propensities during our hours of idleness.
A volunteer--be it known to all who know it not--is generally a young
man with some pretensions to gentility--and while, with some, those
pretensions are so admirably disguised as to be scarcely visible to
the naked eye, in others they are conspicuous; but, in either case,
they are persons who, being without the necessary influence to obtain
a commission at home, get a letter of introduction to the commander
of the forces in the field, who, if he approves, attaches them to
regiments, and, while they are treated as gentlemen out of the field,
they receive the pay, and do the duty of private soldiers in it. In
every storming party or service of danger, in which any portion of a
regiment is engaged, if a volunteer is attached to it, he is expected
to make one of the number, and, if a bullet does not provide for him in
the meantime, he eventually succeeds to the commission of some officer
who has fallen in action.
Tommy Dangerfield, the hero of my tale, was, no doubt, (as we all
are,) the hero of his mother--in stature he was middle sized--rather
bull shouldered, and walked with bent knees--his face was a fresh
good-natured one, but with the usual sinister cast in the eye worn
by common Irish country countenances--in short, Tommy was rather a
good-looking, and, in reality, not a bad, fellow, and the only mistake
which he seemed to have made, was in the choice of his profession, for
which his general appearance and his ideas altogether disqualified
him--nevertherless, had he fallen into other hands it is possible that
he might have passed muster with tolerable repute until the termination
of the war; but I don't know how it was, nor do I know whether we
differed from other regiments in the same respect, but our first and
most uncharitable aim was to discover the weak points of every fresh
arrival, and to attack him through them. If he had redeeming qualities,
he, of course, came out scatheless, but, if not, he was dealt with most
unmercifully. Poor Tommy had none such--he was weak on all sides, and
therefore went to the wall.
At the time he joined, we were unusually situated with regard to the
enemy, for, on ordinary occasions, we had their sentries opposite
to ours within a few hundred yards; but, at that period, we had the
French garrison of Ciudad Rodrigo behind us, with the 52d regiment
between; while the nearest enemy in our front was distant some ten or
twelve miles--nevertheless, our first essay was to impress Tommy with a
notion that our village was a fortified place, and that we were closely
blockaded on all sides--and it became our daily amusement to form a
reconnoitring party to endeavour to penetrate beyond the posts--which
posts, be it remarked, were held by a few of our own men, disguised for
the purpose, and posted at the out-skirts of the village wood.
Tommy, though not a desperate character, shewed no want of
pluck--wherever we went he followed, and wherever we fled he led the
way!
On the first occasion of the kind we got him on horseback, and
conducting him through the wood until we received the expected volley,
we took to our heels in the hope that he would get unseated in the
flight, but he held on like grim death, and arrived in the village
with the loss of his cap only. It was, however, brought to him in due
time by an old rifleman of the name of Brotherwood, who had commanded
the enemy on that occasion, but who claimed peculiar merit in its
recovery; and, having taken the opportunity of cutting a hole in it as
if a ball had passed through, he got a dollar for the cut!
Poor Tommy, from that time, led the life of the devil--he could not
shew his nose outside his own house that he was not fired at--and
whenever we made up a larger party to shew him more of the world it was
only to lead him into further mischief.
I was some time after this removed into the left wing of our regiment,
which belonged to a different brigade, so that I ceased to be a daily
witness of his torments, though aware that they went on as theretofore.