Joined the Rifles. Walcheren Expedition. A young Soldier. A
Marine View. Campaign in South Beeveland. Retreat to Scotland.
I joined the second battalion rifle brigade, (then the ninety-fifth,)
at Hythe-Barracks, in the spring of 1809, and, in a month after, we
proceeded to form a part of the expedition to Holland, under the Earl
of Chatham.
With the usual Quixotic feelings of a youngster, I remember how very
desirous I was, on the march to Deal, to impress the minds of the
natives with a suitable notion of the magnitude of my importance, by
carrying a donkey-load of pistols in my belt, and screwing my
naturally placid countenance up to a pitch of ferocity beyond what it
was calculated to bear.
We embarked in the Downs, on board the Hussar frigate, and afterwards
removed to the Namur, a seventy-four, in which we were conveyed to our
destination.
I had never before been in a ship of war, and it appeared to me, the
first night, as if the sailors and marines did not pull well together,
excepting by the ears; for my hammock was slung over the descent into
the cockpit, and I had scarcely turned-in when an officer of marines
came and abused his sentry for not seeing the lights out below,
according to orders. The sentry proceeded to explain, that the
_middies_ would not put them out for him, when the naked shoulders and
the head of one of them, illuminated with a red nightcap, made its
appearance above the hatchway, and began to take a lively share in
the argument. The marine officer, looking down, with some
astonishment, demanded, "d--n you, sir, who are you?" to which the
head and shoulders immediately rejoined, "and d--n and b--t you, sir,
who are you?"
We landed on the island of South Beeveland, where we remained about
three weeks, playing at soldiers, smoking _mynheer's_ long clay pipes,
and drinking his _vrow's_ butter-milk, for which I paid liberally with
my precious blood to their infernal musquitos; not to mention that I
had all the extra valour shaken out of me by a horrible ague, which
commenced a campaign on my carcass, and compelled me to retire upon
Scotland, for the aid of my native air, by virtue of which it was
ultimately routed.
I shall not carry my first chapter beyond my first campaign, as I am
anxious that my reader should not expend more than his first breath
upon an event which cost too many their last.