Among the various painful duties, which then engaged me, there is not one on which I now look back with more unmixed abhorrence that the operation of still-hunting. There was no hour of the night or day at which we could consider ourselves free from the chance of being roused and sent forth, we knew not whither, under the guidance of an excise officer. Unless my memory mislead me, too, these demands upon our activity came with much greater frequency during the night than when the sun was shining; while winter seemed to be the season when the smuggler chiefly plied his trade, doubtless with the laudable desire of rendering our researches among the mountains as little agreeable to us as possible. How often have I been roused from my warm bed, required to saddle and mount my horse amid pitchy darkness, and sent forth, I could not tell in what direction, to achieve a conquest over an iron pot and tin worm! Ay, and what is more, the conquest, contemptible as in the ear of the civilian it may sound, was not always achieved. It is marvellous with what accuracy the distillers received information of our movements--often when we flattered ourselves that we were least open to the eye of scrutiny. Over and. over again, I have ridden long miles through the mountain passes, my horse floundering in the snow, or tripping over pits and holes, to the imminent risk both of my neck and his own; and after all, when we reached the spot where the seizure was to have been effected, we found nothing save the traces of an extinguished fire, and two or three peasants, who never omitted to laugh at us. In like manner, the duties of escorting the mail were by no means agreeable. Amid thickets, or in the ditches, parties of armed men would lie, who would sometimes kill both men and horses with their fire, while for us to search for them, except through the medium of our carbines, was impossible.

It is not, however, because of these annoyances alone that my recollection of service in Ireland is any thing but agreeable to myself, or creditable to the temper of the people. I admit that provisions were cheap, that whiskey was abundant, and that I never saw an individual Irishman of a temper, which may not deserve to be described as generous, and hospitable, and open. But as a people they were perfect savages, not merely in their mode of dealing with those against whom they entertained a feud, but against persons in whose society they set out with professing to take delight, and with whom they got drunk in all the glee imaginable. The case, for example, was not unfrequent of a party coming in to a public-house to drink, carousing together in perfect goodhumour till their senses became confused, and then quarrelling vehemently, they could not tell why. Forthwith came into play, poker, shovel, tongs, benches, and knives, till many a time the floor of the tap-room swam with blood, and of the persons frequenting it not a few were borne off grievously, sometimes mortally, wounded. Then their fairs and wakes were invariably of such a nature, that troops were sent to observe them, and to hinder the commission of all manner of violence. Yet even this precaution was not invariably found to avail. I remember, for example, that not far from the town in which we were quartered, an event befell, of which even now it is not easy to write without a shudder. There had been a funeral, which, coming from some remote corner in the country, was attended by a score or two of ragged peasants, all of whom followed the corpse, howling as is their wont, and nowise insensible to the stimulating influence of strong drink. The mourners having deposited their deceased friend in his grave, adjourned, as a matter of course, to the whiskey-shop, where they pledged his memory in as many draughts as the state of their finances would allow. Having exhausted these, and thoroughly inflamed themselves, they set out to return home; and well would it have been had they followed up this resolution, without looking either to the right hand or to the left.

The persons who carried the corpse to its grave, belonged to one or other of the rival factions, I cannot tell which. That, however, is a matter of no moment, for both were alike ferocious, and either would have been guilty in this particular instance of the horrible crimes of which I am about to make mention. Having drunk freely, as has been stated, the mourners set out to return home, and came, as they proceeded, upon the house of a respectable farmer, who owed allegiance to a party hostile to their own. Like madmen, they sprang within the inclosure, burst open his door, and meeting the servant girl in the passage, instantly put her to death. They then rushed into the kitchen, where the farmer and his wife were seated, an aged couple, from whom no molestation could be apprehended: them they pierced with many wounds; after which, they slew the cows in the stall, the horses in the stable, and the very dog and cat that wandered about the premises. In a word, a more atrocious massacre never was perpetrated, even in the county of Tipperary, though Tipperary has in all ages been renowned for the little value which its inhabitants put either upon their own lives, or on the lives of other people.

After this account of the duties which were imposed upon us, and the sort of life which we led while quartered at Clonmel, it will scarcely be wondered at when I say that the order which one day reached us, to march forthwith upon Dublin, was by me greeted with unqualified satisfaction. The 23rd light dragoons having been directed to proceed on foreign service, it became our business to supply their place; and this we did early in the spring of 1809, our respective squadrons meeting, on more than one occasion, as they moved,--we to the capital, they towards Cork harbour. We occupied Dublin for something more than a year; and had the satisfaction, such as it was, of witnessing there the celebration of the great Jubilee. I need scarcely add, that the Jubilee of which I speak commemorated the fiftieth year of the reign of George III, and was kept up with extraordinary spirit in all parts of his majesty's dominions. I greatly question, however, whether in any town throughout the empire, more of the external show of loyalty was exhibited than in Dublin. For three whole days men exhibited their gladness, first by a grand review of the troops in St. Stephen's Green; next by a general illumination; and last of all in a sort of carnival, where all manner of irregularities were freely perpetrated, no human being caring to find fault with them. For example, the streets were thronged both night and day with minstrels, maskers, and mummers; for whom every door was thrown freely open, and who were regaled wherever they came with vivres and a hearty welcome. Neither, as far as I know, was any advantage taken of such frankness to work evil to the persons or the property of the individuals who displayed it. Yet we had slender reason to congratulate ourselves that we happened to be present on so animating an occasion: from four o'clock in the afternoon of one day, till seven in the following morning, both we and the Scots Greys were employed to patrol the streets; one half of the town being intrusted to the care of the Greys, and the other committed to our especial keeping. We all did our duty, without doubt; yet we heartily rejoiced when the gaieties came to an end, and we were permitted to return to the ordinary occupation of our lives.

So passed the year 1809, of which my general recollections amount to this, and no more--that if not positively an era in my existence, it has left no stamp of extreme misery on my soul. Still there was very little mourning in the corps when the arrival of the 7th Hussars set us free, and we embarked, in the same transports which brought them into the Liffey, for Holyhead. There we landed in safety: a pleasant march of twenty-two days carried us to Weymouth, where the head-quarters of the regiment being established, detachments went abroad to various out-stations, of which Farnham and Porchester were two. At the latter of these posts I found myself, with twenty of my comrades, the charge being committed to us of keeping guard over French prisoners, who, to the number of 7000 at the least, were cooped up within the walls of the castle.

Whatever grounds of boasting may belong to us as a nation--and I am the last man in the world to think of diminishing their number, I am afraid that our mode of dealing with the prisoners taken from the French during the war scarcely deserves to be classed among them. Absolute cruelties were never, I believe, perpetrated on those unfortunate beings; neither, as far as I know, were they, on any pretence whatever, stinted, in the allowance of food awarded to them. But, in other respects they fared hardly enough. Their sleeping apartments, for instance, were very much crowded. Few paroles were extended to them, (it is past dispute, that when the parole was obtained, they were, without distinction of rank, apt to make a bad use of it,) while their pay was calculated on a scale as near to the line of starvation, as could in any measure correspond with our national renown for humanity. On the other hand, every possible encouragement was given to the exercise of ingenuity among the prisoners themselves, by the throwing open of the castle yard once or twice a week, when their wares were exhibited for sale, amid numerous groups of jugglers, tumblers, and musicians, all of whom followed their respective callings, if not invariably with skill, always with most praiseworthy perseverance. Moreover, the ingenuity of the captives taught them how, on these occasions, to set up stalls, on which all manner of trinkets were set forth, as well as puppet-shows, and Punch's opera,--in witnessing which, John Bull's good humour was sure to be called into play. Then followed numerous purchases, particularly on the part of the country people, of bone and ivory nicknacks, fabricated invariably with a common penknife, yet always neat and not unfrequently elegant. Nor must I forget to mention the daily market, which the peasantry, particularly the women, were in the habit of attending, and which usually gave scope for the exchange of Jean Crapaud's manufactures for Nancy's eggs, or Joan's milk, or home-baked loaf. This, though it took place at an early hour in the morning, was day after day an interesting spectacle to us, who, not seeking to pry beyond the mere surface of things, were apt to quit the castle-yard with a notion, that, after all, the prisoners had no great cause to be dissatisfied with their lot.

A prisoner, however, is always dissatisfied with his lot--how indeed can he be otherwise? and we at Porchester, like others employed on a similar duty elsewhere, were in due time taught the truth of this axiom. It happened one night, that a sentry, whose post lay outside the walls of the old castle, was startled by a sound as of a hammer driven against the earth beneath his feet. The man stopped, listened, and was more and more convinced, that neither his fears nor his imagination had misled him; so he reported the circumstance to the serjeant, who next visited his post, and left him to take in the matter such steps as might be expedient. The serjeant, as in duty bound, having first ascertained that the man spoke truly, made his report to the captain on duty, who immediately doubled the sentry at the indicated spot, and gave strict orders, that should so much as one French prisoner be seen making his way beyond the castle walls, he should be shot without mercy. Then was the whole of the guard got under arms; then were beacons fired in various quarters, while far and near, from Portsmouth not less than from the cantonments, more close at hand, bodies of troops marched upon Porchester. Among others came the general of the district, bringing with him a detachment of sappers and miners; by whom all the floors of the several bed-rooms were tried, and who soon brought the matter home to those engaged in it. Indeed, one man at last was taken in the gallery which he was seeking to enlarge; his only instrument being a spike nail wherewith to labour.

The plot thus detected was a very extensive, and must, if carried through, have proved a desperate one to both parties. For weeks previous to the discovery the prisoners, it appeared, had been at work, and from not fewer than seven rooms, all of them on the ground-floor, they had sunk shafts twelve feet in depth, and caused them all to meet at one common centre, whence as many chambers went off. These were driven beyond the extremity of the outer wall; and one--that of which the sentry was thus unexpectedly made aware--the ingenious miners had carried forward with such skill, that in two days more it would have been in a condition to be opened. The rubbish, it appeared, which from these several covered ways they scooped out, was carried about by the prisoners in their pockets, till they found an opportunity of scattering it over the surface of the great square. Yet the desperate men had a great deal more to encounter than the mere obstacles which the excavation of the castle of Porchester presented. Their first proceeding, after emerging into upper air, must needs have been to surprise and overpower the troops that occupied the barracks immediately contiguous; an operation of doubtful issue at the best, and not to be accomplished without a terrible loss of life, certainly on one side--probably on both. Moreover, when this was done--and that it might, and probably would have been done, no thinking man will doubt--there remained for the fugitives the still more arduous task of making their way through the heart of the garrison town of Portsmouth, and seizing a flotilla of boats, should such be high and dry upon the beach. Yet worse even than this remained, for both the harbour and the roads were crowded with ships of war, the gauntlet of whose batteries the deserters must of necessity have run; and out of which no reasonable man among them could hope to escape with life, supposing him to hazard life, rather than give up all hope or chance of liberty. In all sincerity, then, I am inclined to believe that the detection of this plot was to both parties a merciful arrangement of Divine Providence, inasmuch as the struggle would have been desperate, the mortality very great, and in all probability the whole would have resulted in the recommittal of the survivors of those who began the fray, to a more rigid confinement than that from which they sought to escape.

About a month after the occurrence of this adventure I got a furlough to visit my friends, with whom I spent several weeks very agreeably. I then rejoined the regiment, which had received orders only the day before to prepare for foreign service, and no great while afterwards it began its march towards the point of embarkation. There occurred, during the progress of that journey, a circumstance which not only distressed me a good deal at the moment, but in some sort affected the whole of my subsequent career of life. In my troop there were two non-commissioned officers--a Serjeant Waldron and a Corporal Rents, as different in their tempers and habits one from another as if they did not belong to the same species. Corporal Rents was a very noble fellow--sober, steady, kind, generous, and open-hearted. Serjeant Waldron was a cross-grained, ill-conditioned creature, who delighted in nothing so much as to annoy the "Johnny Raws;" the elegant name which it was his pleasure to bestow upon all who might have recently joined the regiment. With Corporal Rents I had early formed an intimate friendship, and it was the great object of both that we should be placed on parade as comrades; but the matter, somehow or another, was not arranged when the order to proceed upon foreign service was promulgated. On the march, however, we made a point of being as much as possible together. There was, indeed; but one man between Rents and myself in the order of files, and him I easily persuaded to change places with me; so that all the while we were upon the road I enjoyed the advantage of my friend's conversation, as he enjoyed the advantage of mine. Nevertheless, we were not long permitted to proceed thus unmolested; Serjeant Waldron took little pleasure in our discussions, inasmuch as they partook in no respect of the ribald and loose converse which in those days, at least, was too much in fashion among soldiers; and he marked his disapprobation of our tone, by ordering me back to my proper place in the line of march. Like a young soldier as I was, I ventured to remonstrate, saying that I merely wanted to chat a little with the corporal, and would get into my place whenever a halt should be ordered. At this he became very savage, and repeating his order, desired that I would not presume to call the wisdom of it in question. Now, Serjeant," said I, very foolishly, "what difference can it make to you whether I or your own proper covering file ride next you?" "What!" said he in a rage, "do you still refuse to obey?" And so saying he clapped spurs to his horse, and rode off in search of the officer. In a moment a lieutenant of our troop--a very austere man, whose name it is not worth while to mention,--returned with the serjeant, and not waiting to hear a word that I might say, desired me to take my proper station in the column, and to be put down for the baggage-guard when the march should end. I was excessively indignant at this; but what could I do? At first I determined not to take this extra guard, to merit which I had done nothing; but a little calm reflection convinced me of the folly of such a resolution, and I made up my mind that it would be best for me to submit with patience to whatever load my superiors might impose.

I took my proper place in the line of march, and at the close of the movement received notice that at ten o'clock it would be my turn to mount sentry under the market-place. Meanwhile I adjourned with my comrades to the quarters which had been assigned us, and drinking freely with them, never thought of stirring till the clock had struck ten. Then, however, I jumped up, paid my reckoning, and ran off to the market-place, which, being close at hand, I must have reached within a minute or two of the time appointed for my appearance there. A corporal was in command, greatly resembling in his habits and temper my friend Serjeant Waldron. "Are you aware," said he, "how late it is? You are a full half hour behind your time, and I have put another man in your place as sentry. I shall confine you, and make a report of the circumstance to the captain in the morning. You are drunk, sir, as well as late."

It was to no purpose that I assured the corporal of my absolute innocence of the offence with which he last charged me; and protested that the clock had just struck ten in the quarter whither I had been sent. He would not listen to me for a moment, but, putting me under arrest, stated the case, doubtless in terms as strong as he could find, to the captain. I was at this time a very young soldier--neither, from the hour of my enlistment, had I ever been confined before; so the disgrace sat heavily upon me, and I fretted over it. But no important evil arose, at least directly, out of it. The following morning I took my place in the ranks, which I was permitted to retain all the way to Honiton, and from which, it is right to add, I was never, after all, removed. While we lay in this place, however, waiting for the transports to be fitted up, which were destined to carry us to the seat of war, the captain sent for me, and severely reprimanded me for the crimes of which I was charged with being guilty. He said that he was not only vexed but surprised to hear such things of me, whom he had taught himself to consider as one of the most sober men in the troop; and he charged me, as I hoped for encouragement, and desired not to incur its opposite, never to be found in so disgraceful a situation again. Hard, hard was the task of gulping all this down, while my own conscience told me that the charges were quite groundless; yet I felt at the moment that to deny them would be profitless--so I put the padlock on my soul, and remained silent. I earnestly advise all young soldiers first of all to win the good opinion of their captain, and then, at every sacrifice of immediate gratification, to preserve it. The captain has every thing in his power, both to promote and to retard the soldier's advancement; and if you once get into his black books, it will cost you many a day of anxiety, and a considerable display of luck in your favour, to get out of them again.

I remember that about this time I received a very acceptable present from home, in the shape of various articles that would be useful during the voyage, as well as some money and tobacco, which I freely divided with my comrades, and for which they were very grateful. This was hardly done, when we proceeded to Plymouth, where the ships were fitted up and lying to receive us; but of their state of preparation we could very little avail ourselves, inasmuch as the wind was, and long continued to be, adverse. Under these circumstances, it was a sort of privilege to me, that, having for my comrade a young man intimately acquainted with the mysteries of boatmanship, I was joined to him, and had it in charge to execute the officers' commissions, as well as to purchase vegetables daily for the men in the same transport. I recollect, too, that the doctor having taken his passage on board of our ship, was, by my comrade and myself, pulled, day after day, round the different vessels among which our people were distributed; and that our excursions were not always unfruitful, at least in the accession of creature comforts. But this order of things was happily not destined to last for ever. The wind shifted in due time, and an enormous fleet, amounting, on a moderate computation, to not less than one hundred sail of all sizes and descriptions, hauled in their anchors at a given signal, and, under a very slender convoy, put to sea.

Generally speaking, there is not much in the voyage from England to the seat of war, which, in the life of a soldier, deserves to be recorded. In my own particular case, however, the rule can scarce be said to have held good; for, first, having on a certain occasion towed a dead horse ashore, I was one of a boat's crew that with difficulty regained the ship again; and next, my old enemy, Serjeant Waldron, put me to a very great strait. It happened one day that he saw me playing with my comrades on the forecastle, and that, being in a singularly bad humour, he ordered me below to look after the horses. I told him that I had done that duty the day previously; yet he would take no refusal, and affecting once more to regard me as a mutineer, he desired that I would remain below till he should give me leave to show myself upon deck. As a matter of course I obeyed, though the old hands pitied me much, and protested that had the dispute occurred with one of them, they would have carried it through very differently. Still I went to the stables, and abode there three whole days, and emerged again into upper air only when it became manifest, both to myself and others, that my health would suffer from longer confinement. A very angry man was Serjeant Waldron, when his eye encountered mine near the mainmast. He swore vehemently against my outrageous behaviour, would have forced me below again, had not the rest of the men openly withstood him, and ended by hurrying off to the officer in command, and making a highly-coloured report of the whole proceeding. It is not to be wondered at if the officer should have adopted the serjeant's view of the case, he being an old man and I a young one; or that, being assured of my turbulent and mutinous disposition, be should have consented to punish me next day by the infliction of a picketing. But, though Serjeant Waldron got all things ready, my comrades sustained me with the assurance that they would not permit the slightest wrong to be put upon me; and their good will, fortunately attained its object, without bringing any individual of the number into jeopardy. It chanced that a smart gale came on that night, so that in the morning, when the parade was formed, the ship rolled heavily, and the serjeant going to call the officer, found him deadly sick. With the utmost difficulty he was persuaded to rise, but he never got to the place where the instruments of punishment were arranged. A heavy sea struck the vessel--the officer reeled and fell, and both he and Serjeant Waldron were in an instant covered with an ointment less odoriferous by far than that of which Arabia is the source. Poor fellow! our commandant was very much ashamed of himself, as well as extremely wroth with the person who had drawn him into the scrape. He accused Serjeant Waldron of having occasioned his disgrace, desired in a pet that the prisoner should be set at liberty, and diving once more into his own cabin, permitted both the crime with which I stood charged, and the punishment that had been threatened, to be forgotten.