was a beautiful sheepdrove upon the Downs, between Everly and Amesbury. I
will call this my second campaign. As the several members of the corps
arrived upon the ground, I eagerly accosted them, to know their
determination; but most of them appeared shy, and gave evasive answers. I
could, however, discover that some of them had got their _cue_; and these
began boldly and manfully to inveigh against the want of good faith in the
government, in thus striving to draw the troop into a snare. Some of them
even swore that it was as bad as kidnapping; for that the terms upon which
the troop had been raised were, that its services should not be required
out of the county without the consent of the persons who composed it.
"Aye," said I, "that is very true, and we are now, I understand, called
together to be asked if we will consent, in case of an invasion, to go out
of the county." My speech was broken short by some of them espying our
gallant Cornet, moving majestically but slowly along, over the adjoining
hill. As he approached us, he was saluted by each of the members in their
turn; but, when he came up to me, I fixed my eye upon him with a
scrutinizing glance, and so intent was I in endeavouring to trace if
possible his thoughts, that I actually forgot to offer him the accustomed
salutation, till he reminded me of my inattention, by saying, "good
morning, Mr. Hunt." I apologised for my absence of mind, but the fact was,
that as I eyed our gallant commander, the _dressing-gown scene_ had
involuntarily crept across my brain, and for the moment had so absorbed
all my attention, that I was conscious of nothing but the ludicrous
appearance of the mighty hero on the morn of the battle of Salisbury.
The bugle now sounded, to announce the approach of the gallant captain
Astly, and the troop fell in and was passed through the various manoeuvres
by the cornet. This being over, the cornet, after a short conference with
the captain, formed us into a circle, within which, as far as I recollect,
sat on their chargers, the captain, the cornet, and the Rev. Mr. Polhill,
the chaplain to the troop, who held the principal farm at Everly, which he
rented of our captain. Having read to us the copy of the Secretary of
State's letter to Lord Pembroke, the lord-lieutenant of the county, which
stated that an invasion was meditated by our implacable enemy the French,
that the government anticipated almost daily an attempt to put it into
execution, and that his lordship requested to know whether, in case an
invasion actually occurred, the Everly troop would extend their services
to the military district of Hants, Wilts and Dorset, the cornet addressed
us in a long speech. In this speech the orator did not content himself
with leaving the decision to our unbiassed judgments, nor even with hints
of his dissatisfaction at the proposal; for he boldly expressed his
decided hostility to the measure, and strongly reprobated the idea of
farmers leaving their business by going out of the county. His very
luminous harangue appeared wonderfully successful in convincing a great
proportion of the troop that, by staying at home and looking after our
farms, and protecting our own wheat ricks, we should not only be serving
ourselves, but should also be supporting the government and opposing the
invasion, much more effectually than we should be by marching forty or
fifty miles to the coast, to meet the enemy. He proved to demonstration to
his willing hearers, that it was our duty to stay at home, and
consequently to send an answer to say that, as we had entered the troop
for the purpose of keeping in order the turbulent in our own district, we
did not feel ourselves justified in leaving the county under any
circumstances. He, however concluded in a most heroical strain, by
declaring that, in giving this advice to the troop, he was not actuated by
any fear, (oh no!) of meeting the enemy; on the contrary, he lustily
threatened that if ever they should dare to come into the county of Wilts,
at least near Everly or Syrencot[12], they should receive an exemplary
chastisement for their temerity, and all the world should know of what
sort of men the Everly troop was composed.
I listened to this address with considerable impatience; for such was the
effect of example, that I found several of those who, in the morning, had
expressed their determination, at all hazards, to vote for going; now drew
back; and when I looked at them during this speech I perceived that their
eyes dropped down upon their holster pipes. As soon as the Cornet had
concluded, I put spurs to my charger, and darted out of my place into the
centre of the circle, where, having doffed my helmet, for the first time
in my life I addressed myself publicly to a body of my fellow-countrymen.
I began with these words: "Comrades, if not fellow-soldiers, at any rate
fellow-men, fellow countrymen." I then implored them to reflect upon the
consequences of sending such an answer as had been recommended by the
Cornet; and I warned them, that, if such an answer were sent, an eternal
stigma would be fixed upon the character of the troop. Our conduct upon
the Salisbury affair was, I told them, little known out of the county, and
we had now an opportunity of wiping off the stain from our character; but
if we publicly and deliberately refused to go out of our county to meet
the enemy, in case of invasion, we should justly deserve to be branded as
poltroons and cowards to the latest posterity. This language excited
considerable signs of disapprobation, some few laid their hands upon their
swords, and I recollect two of the troop, Gilbert and Workman, threatened
aloud. I was, however, not to be deterred. I proceeded in my address to
them, and explained the nature of the law in case of invasion; my father
having taken down Blackstone's Commentaries, and read to me an extract
respecting the _posse comitatus_. I pointed out to them, that the law
compelled every man to bear arms against invaders, and that the Yeomanry
Corps, who had been trained, would of course be among the first who would
be compelled to act whether they would or not; and that consequently, if
they did not feel a desire burning within their breasts either
successfully to resist the invader, or fall gloriously in the attempt, if
they did not possess any of the _amor patriæ_, yet sound policy ought to
induce them to offer voluntarily those services which the law had the
power of inforcing against their will.
Although this was my first attempt to speak in public, yet, as my
sentiments flowed from my heart, as they were the spontaneous effusions of
an ardent spirit, burning with impatience to evince by deeds, as well as
words, that I really loved my country, and was willing to lay down my life
in its defence, and as I felt indignant at the attempt that had been made
by the Cornet to seduce them, as I thought, from their duty, I did not
want words to express myself, and I believe that it was quite as eloquent
a maiden speech as is made by some Honourable Members in the Honourable
House. At any rate it was prompted by a conviction of public duty, and I
have never regretted it, though I believe that it made me some rancorous
enemies, who have never lost an opportunity, from that day to this, of
speaking ill of me behind my back, and doing me an ill turn when they had
it in their power.
The Cornet scowled, and many of my comrades looked black, and muttered
dissent; but no one seemed inclined to debate the question. At length,
after having in vain waited a short time, to see if any one would come
forward to second my proposition, our worthy Chaplain, the Rev. Mr.
Polhill, gracefully took off his hat, and stepped up between me and some
of those who, unable to refute me, and dreading the result of my appeal,
were almost disposed to draw their swords upon me for the lecture which I
had given them. I shall never forget the venerable air of this truly pious
man, who was upwards of seventy years of age. It commanded instant
attention, and as he fixed his eye steadily upon me, the most solemn
silence reigned around. All the angry passions that my speech had excited
were now calmed into the most serious and silent attention, in the
expectation that he was about to give me a severe reprimand for my
intemperate, and, as some considered it, not only indiscreet but audacious
speech. After some short pause he began. I was, at first, rather in doubt
what course he meant to pursue, though, from his well known honourable and
independent character, I was not in much dread. To the vexation and
astonishment of the troop, his first sentence was a warm eulogium upon
what he was pleased to call my eloquent appeal to their feelings as men,
and to their hearts as Englishmen; and this compliment to me he followed
up with a strain of impassioned eloquence, enough to have made the veriest
coward brave. He repeated all my arguments, but in a style of language far
superior; and, while the tears flowed down his furrowed cheeks, he
implored them to save their character from the disgrace which appeared to
be hovering over them. He said, that however galling had been the words
which had dropped from the lips of his young friend, yet, as he could not
find any others that were more appropriate, he himself must repeat them;
and must plainly tell them, that, if they returned such an answer as was
recommended by the Cornet, they would deserve to be handed down to
posterity as poltroons and cowards. He would, he said, go still further;
they would not only deserve to be thus branded with infamy, but they would
actually be so; and their pusillanimity would be a taint in the blood of
their children's children. He begged, he prayed, he intreated, he implored
that they would not disgrace the name of man by conduct at once so
cowardly and so foolish. But he begged, prayed, intreated and implored in
vain--his venerable character protected him from the boisterous
disapprobation that they had shown towards me, but they heard him unmoved,
or rather as hogs would have listened to the harmonious notes of Orpheus,
with a _grunt_. Still persisting, however, in his efforts to wake a spark
of courage in their cloddish bosoms, he declared that, when the day
arrived that a foreign foe set foot upon British ground, if he could
procure no other conveyance, he would crawl upon his hands and knees to
the coast to meet them, and there, old and feeble as he was, he would make
a bulwark of his shattered frame, to check in the first onset their daring
attempt to destroy our rights and liberties. In fact, he did every thing
that man could do, to persuade them to perform their duty, and to save
their character from such foul irretrievable disgrace. It was, however,
all in vain; for with the exception of myself and the venerable chaplain,
they all held up their hands against going out of the county, and it was
decided that they should send an answer to that effect to the Lord
Lieutenant. I made one more effort, in a short but spirited appeal to
their honour as men, to their character as Englishmen; but all
remonstrance was thrown away. With one accord they stamped the degrading
name of coward upon the colours of the Everly troop of Yeomanry, and I
immediately handed over my sword and pistols, or rather indignantly threw
them upon the ground, declaring that from that hour I no longer belonged
to them, and adding that I would, the next morning, enroll my name in any
corps which had extended its services to the military district, unless
there was one that had volunteered for unlimited service, in which case I
would enroll my name in that corps. I then shook bands with the worthy
chaplain, who warmly applauded my conduct, saying that he never would
attend them again upon any occasion, and that he would much rather have
sacrificed his life than have lived to see so fine a body of his
fellow-countrymen desert, at such a moment their duty to themselves and
their country. I felt so ashamed of their conduct that I put spurs to my
horse and galloped from the field in disgust, lest, by my remaining even
for a short time, I should become contaminated by some portion of their
vile spirit. Thus ended my military career in the Everly troop of
Yeomanry, among the members of which were many private friends, for whom I
entertained a very sincere regard, and who would never have disgraced
themselves in such a way had it not been for the unworthy recommendation
and advice of their officers.
As my father's house lay in my way home, I called on him, to inform him of
the result of the meeting. As I rode into the yard he met, me, and seeing
I had left my sword behind, "Ah!" he exclaimed, "I see that it is just as
I predicted." When I had related to him all that had passed, "Well!" said
he, "this is really too bad to laugh at. The expedition against the old
women at Salisbury was truly ludicrous; but this deliberate act of
cowardice they never can get over; it must and will be blazoned throughout
the whole country. You have done rightly, you had no choice; the man who
after this decision remains a moment in that troop must expect to be
laughed at and despised as long as he lives. But mark my words: prepare
yourself for all sorts of ill nature and slander. They who have not had
the spirit to follow your example will never forgive you, and to gloss
over their own baseness, they will load you with all possible calumny, and
will miss no opportunity to do you an injury. As by your resignation you
have exposed Astley and Dyke to great odium, be careful how you get into
their clutches, or they will squeeze you, rely upon it." I demanded how
they could injure me? "Oh!" said my father, "you know but very little of
mankind; they that seek an opportunity will seldom want an occasion to do
a malicious act. You have been a great sporting crony of Astley's, and
have frequently hunted with him; he keeps a pack of hounds, and has hunted
over my property, and my farms, for many years, and we have sometimes,
though sparingly, sported in return over his. Depend upon it, this will
all be put a stop to now."
I replied that upon an average Astley had hunted ten times over my
father's farms, where we had sported upon his estate once; that Mr.
Astley's hounds met once a week all the season at Littlecot Furze, and
that he could not start a hare upon his own estate, or any part of it,
without a great chance of her running over some part of my father's
property. "That is all very true," said my father, "but, if he cannot be
revenged of you in any other way, he will give up his own hounds, in order
that he may prevent you from coming over any part of his estate." I had
often heard of a man cutting off his own nose to spite his neighbour, but
I did not think that, in this instance, it was very likely to happen.
"Trust me," said he, "within one month he will forbid you from going over
his lands; therefore be on your guard; for be assured that I know the
littleness of his soul better than you do, and he will spare no pains to
be revenged upon you."
I dined with my father, and returned home in the evening, whither I found
the news of the disgrace of the Everly troop had flown before me. My wife
heartily approved of my conduct; for she came from the wrong stock to
approve of any thing dishonourable. I was received with open arms, as I
always had been; but if I had returned and told my wife that I was one of
the number that had refused, in case of invasion, to go out of the county
to oppose the enemy, I sincerely believe, that I should, for the first
time, have met with a very different reception. At all events I should
have deserved it.
On the following morning, before I was quite dressed, a messenger came
with a letter from Lord Bruce, the colonel of the regiment of Wiltshire
yeomanry. I broke the seal and read a very flattering eulogium from his
Lordship, on my gallant conduct in resigning my situation in the Everly
troop, in consequence of the troop having, as his lordship expressed
himself, disgraced itself in such a way as rendered it impossible for an
honourable man to remain in it. After paying me many very high
compliments, he solicited the honour of enrolling in his troop, (the
Marlborough troop,) the name of a gentleman who had acted such a gallant
part. After I had breakfasted, I sat down to write an answer; but before I
had finished it, another messenger arrived, from an officer of the Devizes
troop, to request that I would honour that corps with my name. As,
however, Lord Bruce had applied first, and as in that troop I happened to
have a particular friend, Mr. Thomas Hancock, the banker of Marlborough, I
complied with his lordship's pressing invitation, and enrolled my name in
the Marlborough troop the next day.
How true the prediction of my father was, will be seen hereafter, and it
soon began to be verified. Before the week was out, I was honoured with a
visit from old John Sainsbury, the Everly keeper, who served me with
notices from Mr. Astley and all his vassals, not to trespass upon any part
of his estates; or from henceforth I should be treated as a wilful
trespasser. At the same time he informed me, that his master was grown
exceedingly fond of seeing the hares very plenty upon his manors, and that
he had _disposed of his hounds_. This was so precisely what my father had
anticipated, that I almost began to think that he possessed some
extraordinary means of becoming acquainted with the intentions of men,
more than those furnished by common observation. I sent my compliments to
the gallant Capt. and desired him to mark his hares, by burning them in
the horns, and to teach his keepers to persuade them to stay at home; for
if I caught any of them straying upon my father's property, I should
certainly make them pay forfeit, and would, if I could, prevent a single
one of them from returning to tell the fate of their companions. The
reader will understand that the property at Everly belonging to Mr.
Astley, joined my father's, without any other division than a mere furrow
struck with the plough, between the arable lands; and that the division
between the down lands consisted of old bound balls, which were merely
small heaps of the sod thrown up together, perhaps some hundred years
before; so that those who were not aware of this circumstance, might pass
over the plain twenty times, without ever observing that there was any
thing to mark the separation; so slight and imperceptible are the
landmarks that divide all the estates that are situated upon Salisbury
plain.
The first field day of the Marlborough troop came and I joined their
ranks. I was fully equipped; the whole of the regiment being dressed in
the same uniform as that which was worn by the Everly troop, no alteration
was necessary; and as each person supplied himself, at his own expence,
with uniform and accoutrements, the arms alone being given by the
government, I required nothing but a sword and a brace of pistols, with
which I was instantly provided. My new comrades had all volunteered to
extend their services, which was my inducement for joining them; but they
cut a very sorry figure in the field, both as to their accoutrements and
regimentals, and they were not half so well mounted as my late comrades. I
could have selected half a score of horses out of the Everly troop that
were worth the whole of those of the Marlborough; and as for their
discipline, if they had been drilled every day for a year, they would not
have been equal to the troop which I had left. Lord Bruce, the colonel,
was a complete novice, and he suffered himself to be led by the nose by a
serjeant of the 15th, of the name of Walker, who knew little more about
the matter than himself. I, however, attended from day to day, without any
one attempting to teach me any thing. There were certain fines levied for
particular faults, in all these troops, such as for absence without
sufficient cause, talking in the ranks, coming to the field too late, not
being dressed in uniform, &c. &c.; but I was never reprimanded, fined, or
sent to drill, while I was in the troop. We had a dinner at the Castle, at
Marlborough, his Lordship in the chair; but as most of the troop were
composed of his father's, Lord Aylesbury's tenants, and his dependants,
and tradesmen, or belonged to the corporation of the rottenest of rotten
boroughs, Marlborough and Great Bedwin, there were very few, except myself
and my friends, Hancock and Hitchcock, who dared to say their souls were
their own. His lordship was always very polite to me, but he did not
appear to relish my delivering my sentiments, which I did with great
freedom, upon these occasions. In the field, in the ranks, I knew how to
conduct myself, and never failed to pay implicit attention to my duty, nor
ever deviated from the strictest discipline; but, when I was at his
lordship's table; or at a mess with the troop, I knew of no distinction; I
never felt any other controul than that which was dictated by politeness
and good manners. Perhaps, young as I was, I might have been thought to
have delivered myself upon some occasions, and upon some subjects, with
too much freedom; and being always bred up with the idea that nothing was
so base and degrading as a slavish disposition, I might, in my endeavour
to avoid this, have erred by falling too much into the opposite extreme;
but the natural bent of my disposition always led me to avoid giving
offence to any one intentionally. My maxim was, never to offer an insult
to any one, and to be particularly careful not to say any thing to hurt
the feelings of any person in an inferior station of life to my own; never
to take umbrage lightly; but if anyone, be he who he might, gentle or
simple, offered me a premeditated insult, always to resent it upon the
spot, whatever might be the consequence of my so doing.
I now contracted a very intimate acquaintance with Mr. Thomas Hancock the
Banker, and always made his house my home when I went to Marlborough,
though my wife's elder brother kept the Castle Inn, where I was always
welcome. This brother and myself were, however, never particularly
intimate, for we were of very different dispositions. He had been, as I
have often heard his father say, and himself acknowledge, a very wild,
dissipated youth; but as the "wildest colts make the tamest horses," so
had this gentleman put on a very sober sedate demeanour, while he was yet
but a young man; and the loss of his wife, who left him with a large young
family, increased rather than diminished the grave turn of his mind. His
acquaintance lay mostly among the dependents and tenants of his landlord,
Lord Aylesbury, and as his chief pursuit appeared to me to be directed
towards amassing a fortune, and as our tastes were cast in a very
different mould, our friendship, though we were upon very good terms, was
not of the inseparable kind. He was very much respected among the persons
whom I have before described, with whom he associated; and as he knew well
on which side his bread was buttered, he took good care to pay particular
attention to the steward of Lord Aylesbury. Nor, as the "grey mare was
always the better horse" in that family, did he forget to pay due court to
the steward's lady, who, to my taste, was one of the most disgusting of
disgusting women, both in person and manners. When he first lost his wife,
who was a pretty, amiable, fascinating woman, he seemed as if he would
sink under the loss, and we at one time feared that he would never recover
from his dejected state. We were, however, agreeably disappointed, as we
found that "time wore off the deepest afflictions;" but I own that I
imbibed rather a prejudice against him, when I soon after discovered that
he was upon the point of marrying another lady, a buxom widow, the very
reverse sort of woman to his deceased wife. This lady was the widow of a
grocer, who had left her some little property, and she was therefore too
much of a lady to marry an Innkeeper, and she had sufficient influence
over him to make him quit the Inn, and commence gentleman coach master
before she gave him her hand.