Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp.
by John Shipp.
INTRODUCTION.
In reproducing the "Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp" as a volume of the Adventure Series, it may be well to say a few introductory words concerning the author and the book.
John Shipp was, he tells us, the second son of Thomas and Laet.i.tia Shipp, persons in humble circ.u.mstances in the little town of Saxmundham, in Suffolk, and he adds that in the registers of the parish church will be found a record of his birth on March 16, 1785. The latter statement is incorrect. The church register records baptisms, not births, and a careful search has shown that the only entry answering to the above is a record of the _baptism_ of John, the child of Thomas and Laet.i.tia Shipp, at a date twelve months earlier--March 16, 1784. The error probably explains the conflicting statements of the author"s age which occur in the course of the story.
Shipp"s father was a soldier (a marine?), and his mother dying when he was very young, he became an inmate of the parish poorhouse (there were no Union workhouses in those days), whence he pa.s.sed into the hands of a neighbouring farmer, one of those savage taskmasters only too common in the "good old times."[1] His deliverance came in unexpected fashion. In the early years of the French Revolutionary War the supply of recruits was far less certain than at a later stage. Partly as a recruiting experiment, partly to relieve parishes of the burthen of pauper boys between the ages of ten and sixteen who might be willing to enter for (_un_limited) service in the army, three regiments of foot were ordered to be completed to a thousand rank and file each by the enlisting of boys of this description. One of the regiments was the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment of Foot, which half a century later won much fame under the command of General Sir Charles Napier on the plains of Sind. The 22nd, on return from the West Indies in 1795, had been ordered to Colchester, to recruit; and a Muster Roll, now in the War Office, shows that John Shipp was duly enlisted into that regiment on January 17, 1797.
Shipp appears to have been a bright, plucky, intelligent boy. Regimental schools were not in those days; but through the kindness of his captain he picked up some education, and after serving in the Channel Islands, at the Cape, and in India, found himself, in the year 1804, a young sergeant in the Grenadier company, which was detached with the grand army under Lord Lake fighting against the Mahrattas. He was one of the stormers at the capture of Deig, on December 24, 1804, and led the "forlorn-hope" of the storming column in _three_ out of the four desperate, but unsuccessful, a.s.saults on Bhurtpore in January-February, 1805, receiving severe wounds upon each occasion. Lord Lake rewarded his daring with an ensigncy in the 65th Foot. A few weeks later he was promoted to lieutenant in the 76th Foot, both commissions being dated March 10, 1805. With the 76th Shipp returned home in 1807; but he speedily found himself in pecuniary difficulties, and sold out of the army on March 19, 1808. His commissions having been given "without purchase," he was only ent.i.tled to 100 for each twelve months of actual commissioned service abroad, and 50 for like periods at home, up to the full value--700. With the small sum so realized he paid his debts, and soon after found himself alone in London, without a shilling in the world.
Seeing, as he tells us, no reason why he should not rise again as he had done before, Shipp enlisted into the 24th light Dragoons, which he had known in Lake"s army; returned to India to join that regiment; and in the course of a few years rose to the position of regimental sergeant-major. In 1815 he was appointed by the Marquis of Hastings (Earl of Moira), then Governor-general and Commander-in-chief in India, to an ensigncy in the 87th Prince"s Own Irish, better known under its later name of the 87th Royal Irish Fusiliers, the first battalion of which landed at Calcutta from Mauritius in August that year. Shipp"s commission bore the original date of the vacancy, May 4, 1815; but by an omission, then not uncommon in the case of Indian appointments, he was not gazetted at home until some time later, and his name never appeared in the Army List until May, 1819. Shipp had thus twice won a commission from the ranks by the time he was little more than thirty years old--an achievement which may be regarded as unique in the annals of the British army.
Shipp served with the 87th in the second campaign of the Ghoorkha War, and distinguished himself by a single combat with one of the enemy"s sirdars in the action near Muckwanpore. He also served at the siege of Hattra.s.s, where he was the first to enter the fort, and was wounded in the hand. He was on the staff of the left division of the grand army under the Marquis of Hastings in the Mahratta and Pindaree War of 1817-18, during which he distinguished himself on several occasions. He became a lieutenant in the 87th on July 5, 1821.
At the latter end of this year a series of unfortunate occurrences began, which brought Shipp"s military career to an untimely close. He appears to have entered into a racing partnership with Lieut.-Colonel Browne, of the same regiment, to run horses at Cawnpore races. Shipp, who was supposed to be a good judge of horseflesh, was to make certain purchases, for the purpose, at Calcutta. Colonel Browne, who died in command of the regiment in Burmah a few years afterwards, was then one of the regimental majors. He was a brave officer and, it is said, much liked in the regiment; but it does not seem to have occurred to him or any one else that to encourage a junior officer in Shipp"s position--a moneyless man, with family ties--to embark in turf speculations was a most unfriendly action. The partners speedily fell out, each accusing the other of "throwing him over." Browne claimed 2,000 rupees from Shipp, which the latter admitted he had not the means to pay; and Shipp then accused Browne of prejudicing the minds of the other officers against him. This state of things continued until Shipp had a misunderstanding with a civilian at Calcutta, in consequence of which his brother officers treated him with marked coolness. Whether there were sufficient grounds for so doing does not appear; but when Shipp asked that his conduct in the matter might be investigated by court-martial--the only course open to an officer without the means to go to the civil courts--he was told that the Judge Advocate-General considered it unnecessary. Worried by pecuniary difficulties, and smarting under what he considered undeserved treatment by his former a.s.sociates, which he attributed to the hostile influence of Colonel Browne, Shipp wrote some intemperate letters reflecting on the conduct of Colonel Browne and of the regimental commanding officer. These he stubbornly refused to withdraw; although in after years he admitted that they were unjust and written under a misapprehension of facts. The inevitable result followed. Shipp was brought before an European General Court Martial on specific charges of unofficer-like conduct. The court, of which Colonel Baldock, 29th Bengal Native Infantry, was president, a.s.sembled at Fort William on July 14, 1823, and after thirteen days" sitting found Shipp guilty of both the charges of unofficer-like conduct preferred against him, and sentenced him to be "discharged" from the service; but, at the same time, strongly recommended him to mercy in consideration of his past services and wounds, and the high character as an officer and a gentleman that he had previously borne. The proceedings of the court were sent home for confirmation, and eighteen months later were returned with the notification that Shipp was to be permitted to retire from the service.
He accordingly returned home, and sold out of the regiment on November 3, 1825, about a month after his arrival in England. With their customary generosity, the Court of Directors of the late East India Company settled upon him a life pension of 50 a year, in consideration of his Indian services.
Disappointed again and again in his hopes of obtaining civil employment, Shipp tried his hand at authorship, and wrote a work ent.i.tled the "Military Bijou," and other things. In 1829 he published "Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp." The book was brought out by the late Mr. Hurst, of Great Marlborough Street, and proved a literary success. As a military critic observed at the time, "that a friendless farmer"s boy, ignorant, by his own admission, of the simplest rudiments of education, and following the engrossing profession of a soldier from an age scarcely beyond the pale of childhood, should have qualified himself to be at once the hero and the author of so remarkable a work argues no ordinary qualities in the individual." A no less creditable feature, we may be permitted to add, is the fine, soldierly sense of duty, which led Shipp to bow to his fate (p. 317), and to abstain from making his autobiography a vehicle for either self-exculpation or recrimination in regard of the matters that proved the ruin of his professional life. Two years after the publication of his memoirs, Shipp wrote a pamphlet ent.i.tled, "Flogging and its Subst.i.tutes--A Voice from the Ranks." It was in the form of a letter to the late Sir Francis Burdett, Bart., M.P., who in return sent the author a douceur of 60. Shipp"s views did not find general acceptance in military circles at the time; but the subst.i.tutes for corporal punishment which he advocated, including a system of pecuniary fines for various military offences, have all been since adopted in the army, and are now in force. About the same time the late Sir Charles Rowan, K.C.B., then Colonel Rowan, one of the Commissioners of the new Metropolitan Police, offered Shipp an inspectorship in the Stepney division, which was gladly accepted. Subsequently he received the appointment of Superintendent of the Night Watch at Liverpool. There he proved himself a most capable and efficient officer. So highly, indeed, was he esteemed in the borough, that when he offered himself for the mastership of the Liverpool Workhouse, early in the year 1833, he was elected to the post by an overwhelming majority of votes. The comfortable competency thus a.s.sured to him he did not live long to enjoy. An attack of pleurisy, after a few days of acute suffering, carried him off on February 27, 1834, at the age of fifty-two.
His "Memoirs," as already stated, first appeared in 1829. A reprint, by the same publisher, appeared in 1840. Subsequently another edition, in which the summary of the court-martial proceedings and some other matter contained in the original edition were omitted, and a supplementary chapter added, bringing down the narrative to the date of Shipp"s death, was issued by the late Mr. Tegg, publisher, 73, Cheapside, London, in 1843. The present volume is a reprint of the latter work, the text of which has been reproduced in full, and, save as regards the correction of some obvious typographical errors, without alteration. A very few explanatory footnotes have been added, and some ill.u.s.trations, from authentic contemporary sources, have been introduced, which it is hoped will lend additional interest to the story of the "Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp."
H. MANNERS CHICHESTER.
LONDON, 1890.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See the picture of East Anglian rural life given by the Rev. Dr.
Jessopp in _Nineteenth Century_ for May, 1882, under the t.i.tle, "The Arcady of our Grandfathers."
PREFACE.
In laying before the public a familiar and unreserved detail of the incidents and adventures of my past life, I trust it will not for a moment be supposed that I am actuated by vanity, or by a desire to make an ostentatious display of my military services. That, in the course of those services, I have exercised some degree of daring, to the merit (if any) attached to which I may justly lay claim, I do not affect to deny; but it is far, very far, from my thoughts, to a.s.sume the possession of uncommon fort.i.tude, or to arrogate to myself any degree of heroism superior to that which would be displayed, on occasions which required it, by every brave officer in his Majesty"s service.
Having thus, first, disclaimed all intention of boasting of my performances, or of holding myself up as a prodigy of valour, it becomes me next to declare that I do not pretend to afford the reader any important intelligence respecting our Indian possessions, either as regards statistics or politics. Information on these subjects must be sought in the works of writers of far higher pretensions than the humble author of these Memoirs.
My design has been to present the public with a simple and unadorned narration of my own life, from the period of my infancy to the date of my having been, unfortunately, compelled to quit his Majesty"s service.
If, among the anecdotes which I have introduced, the eye of criticism may detect many which may be deemed of too trivial a nature, and devoid of that piquancy which can alone confer a value on such light and unimportant materials, I can only plead that I may have been led to over-estimate their merit, from the hearty laughter which they created when they were first noted by me; and I trust it will be recollected that it is a rough soldier who has ventured to think them worthy of publicity. So, also, if in my account of the battles and sieges in which I have had the honour to partic.i.p.ate, my details shall appear flimsy or meagre, more especially as concerns the objects of the government of India in the various campaigns in which I have been engaged, be it remembered that I do not profess to know their designs; that my constant occupation in my professional duties afforded me no time to study them; and that it is the subaltern"s duty to act, and not to reason.
My Memoirs, such as they are, I leave to the indulgent consideration of a liberal public.
JOHN SHIPP.
BHURTPORE COTTAGE, ALPHA ROAD, REGENT"S PARK, _January, 1829_.
MEMOIRS OF JOHN SHIPP.
CHAPTER I.
In the ponderous mouldy register of the little market-town of Saxmundham, in the county of Suffolk--covered with the red remnants of the old worn-out velvet pulpit-cushion of the said village church, into which the Christian religion had been beaten and enforced, both with clenched fist and pointed elbow, and which now plainly told the congregation that it had at last yielded only to Parson Brown"s impressive manner and arguments--in this prodigious volume, protected by huge bra.s.s clasps, which naught but the rough hand of the man of skulls[2] could force to obedience, after the oft-wetted thumb had aroused some hundreds of gigantic leaves from their peaceful slumber, and the book had opened wide its time-worn pages, there was, and, I doubt not, is still to be discovered, a plainly-written record, setting forth, in most intelligible terms, that I, John Shipp, the humble author of these Memoirs, came into this wicked and untoward generation on the 16th day of March, A.D. 1785. If this register be an authentic enrolment, which I have neither reason nor inclination to doubt, I was the second son of Thomas and Laet.i.tia Shipp--persons of honest fame, but in indigent circ.u.mstances, who had both "drank deep" of the cup of sorrow. Of the latter of those dear parents I was bereft in my infancy; and, as my father was a soldier in a foreign clime, thus was I thrown on the world"s tempestuous ocean, to buffet with the waves of care, and to encounter the breakers of want.
At the death of my poor mother I was left, with my elder brother, in utter dest.i.tution. The advantage which other children derive from the support and good counsel of an affectionate father, we had never known; and we were now suddenly bereft of a fond mother"s fostering care, and with it, of our humble parental home. Where, under such circ.u.mstances, could we look for protection? Friends we had few, if any; and those who might have been generously disposed to a.s.sist us were, unfortunately, incapacitated, by their own distressed circ.u.mstances, from extending a helping hand towards us. Need I feel shame, then, in avowing that there was one place of refuge, and one place only, in which two helpless orphans could obtain, at once, food, clothes, and shelter; and that that one asylum was the village poorhouse!
At the age of nine I was deprived of my brother, who was pressed on board a man-of-war. He was a remarkably fine youth of about fourteen; and, being of a wild spirited disposition, I have every reason to believe that but little _pressing_ was required to induce him to go to sea; but rather, that being, like myself, homeless and dependent, he gladly availed himself of the opportunity which offered of setting his youthful heart free from bondage, by becoming a volunteer in the service of his country. Since that period--now upwards of thirty years--I have never heard of him!
To return to my own Memoirs: now that my brother had left me, I was desolate indeed! His departure afflicted me most sincerely, and I felt myself alone in the wide world, a friendless isolated being. But the spirits of childhood, buoyant and elastic, though they may be depressed for a time, readily accommodate themselves to all exigencies, and rise superior to the greatest calamities. Grief, however poignant at first, will not dwell long with youth; and the ingenuity and curiosity of a boy ever on the alert to discover some new expedient with which to amuse his mind and to gratify his fickle fancy, effectually prevent him from indulging in unavailing despondency. I was naturally a wild dog, of an active unconquerable spirit; and although the miseries peculiar to my friendless situation could not but at first severely affect me, yet, after a short time, I found that, in spite of them all, I had so contrived it as to have established in the village a character for mischief infinitely superior to that possessed by any other boy of my own age. This character, however reverenced by boys of the same genius, was not, it must be acknowledged, very likely to increase the number of my real friends; and I therefore cannot speak in very rapturous terms of the comforts I enjoyed at this period of my youth. I have a recollection of sundry tricks and misdemeanours in which I was very actively concerned, and for which I was frequently as deservedly punished; and, as far as my memory serves me, my time, just at this juncture, was pa.s.sed in a pretty even routine of planning and executing mischief, and receiving its reward.
This, however, was not long to last; for fickle fortune threw an incident in my way, which diverted my attention from all my former tricks and frolics, and turned my thoughts into a new channel. One autumn"s morning, in the year 1794, while I was playing marbles in a lane called Love Lane, and was in the very act of having a shot at the whole ring with my blood-alley, the shrill notes of a fife, and the hollow sound of a distant drum, struck on my active ear. I stopped my shot, bagged my marbles, and scampered off to see the soldiers. On arriving at the market-place, I found them to be a recruiting party of the Royal Artillery, who had already enlisted several likely-looking fellows. The pretty little well-dressed fifer was the princ.i.p.al object of my notice. His finery and shrill music were of themselves sufficient attractions to my youthful fancy; but what occupied my thoughts more than either of these was the size of this musical warrior, whose height very little exceeded that of the drum by which he stood. "Surely,"
thought I to myself, sidling up to him, "I must be myself as tall, if not taller, than this little blade, and should make as good a soldier!"
Reflections of this nature were crowding thick into my mind when the portly sergeant, addressing his words to the gaping rustics by whom he was surrounded, but directing his eyes to the bed-room windows in the vicinity of his station, commenced a right royal speech. I swallowed every word spoken by the royal sergeant, with as much avidity as the drum-major"s wife would her morning libation. It was all about "gentlemen soldiers," "merry life," "muskets rattling," "cannons roaring," "drums beating," "colours flying," "regiments charging," and shouts of "victory! victory!" On hearing these last words, the rustic b.u.mpkins who had enlisted exposed their flowing locks, and with their tattered hats gave three cheers to "the king--G.o.d bless him." In this I most heartily joined, to the no small amus.e.m.e.nt of the a.s.sembled mult.i.tude. "Victory!" seemed still to ring in my ears, and the sound inspired my little heart with such enthusiasm, that it was not until some minutes after the rest had left off cheering, that I became conscious, from the merriment around me, that I still held my tiny hat elevated in the air, waiting for a repet.i.tion of that spirit-stirring word. Finding myself observed, I adjusted my hat with a knowing air, elevated my beardless chin with as much consequence as I could a.s.sume, and, raising myself on tiptoe, to appear as tall as possible, I strutted up to the sergeant, and asked him, in plain words, if he would "take I for a sodger?" The sergeant smiled, and patted my head in so condescending a manner, that I thought I might venture to take the same liberty with the head of the drum; but in this I was mistaken, for I had no sooner touched it than I received from the drummer a pretty sharp rap on the knuckles for my presumption: his drum-head was as sacred to him as the apple of his eye. I again mounted on tiptoe and urged my question, "Will you like I for a sodger?" intimating, at the same time, that I was "bigger than that there chap," pointing to the little fifer.
Incensed at this indignity, the boy of notes was so nettled, that he commenced forthwith to impress on my face and head striking marks of his irritation in being thus degradingly referred to. This I felt that I could have returned with compound interest; but, as my antagonist had the honour of wearing his Majesty"s livery, I deemed it wiser to pocket the affront, with my marbles, and make the best of my way off. I accordingly made a retrograde movement towards home, full of the scene I had just witnessed, and vociferating, as I went along, "Left, right;"
"Right, left;" "Heads up, soldiers;" "Eyes right;" "Eyes left," &c. In short, I had thus suddenly not only been touched by the military, but got the military touch; and from that day forth I could neither say nor do anything, but in what I thought a soldier-like style: my play consisted chiefly of evolutions and manoeuvres, and my conversation of military phrases.
Shortly after this adventure, I was sent to live with a farmer in the town, whose heart was as cold as the h.o.a.r-frost which often blighted his fairest prospects. Fortunately for me, however, his wife was of a different disposition. This good dame proved almost a second mother to me, and frequently screened me from the effects of my master"s rage; but so restless and untoward (to say the truth) were my inclinations and propensities, and so imperious in his commands, and unrelenting in his anger, was my master, that in spite of my kind mistress"s intercession in my favour, I seldom pa.s.sed a day without being subjected to his cruel lash. This treatment was but little calculated either to conciliate my affections, or to effect a reformation in my conduct. My feelings became hardened under the lash of oppression; and my desire to leave a place so little congenial with my disposition increased daily.
Meantime, all the cats and dogs in my master"s house were made to go through military evolutions; the hoes and rakes were transformed into muskets, and the geese and turkeys into soldiers. Even my master"s whip, which was always in requisition at the conclusion of these performances, could not eradicate my propensity for "soldiering." Every time his back was turned, my military exercises were resumed; and when I could not by possibility find time to be thus actively engaged, I solaced myself with whistling, "G.o.d save the King," "The British Grenadiers," and "See, the conquering hero comes." The first of these tunes I once commenced in the churchyard, during a funeral service; for which I got the s.e.xton"s cane over my back; "that being no place," as the said s.e.xton judiciously remarked, "to show my loyalty in." Even the old women in the parish could not pa.s.s me without a military salute, such as "Heads up, missis!"
"Eyes right, missis!" "Keep the step, missis!" &c. These pranks often brought me into disgrace and trouble, and usually ended with an application of the end of my master"s whip.
In the dreary month of December, when the white snow danced along the glen, and the icicle sparkled on the h.o.a.ry oak, I had transported my frozen limbs into a turnip field, close by the Great Yarmouth road, where I stood shrivelled up like a dried mushroom, plotting and planning how to escape from the truly wretched situation in which I felt myself to be then placed. I had just put my cold fingers into my mouth, for the purpose of warming them, and had given them the first puff, when I heard the distant sound of martial music. Down went my hands, and up went my heels. I made an _ech.e.l.lon_ movement towards the place; jumped over the gate; brought up my right shoulder a little; then gave the word "Forward," and marched in double quick time. The music soon got nearer; or, at all events, I soon got so near to the music that I was glad to halt. Just at this moment the whole band struck up "Over the hills, and far away," which kindled a flame in my bosom which nothing but death can extinguish, though I have now long since had my full share of the reality of the Scotch melody. On coming up to the party of soldiers, I gave the colonel a military salute, by first slapping my leathers, then bringing up my right hand (which, by the by, was the wrong hand) to my forehead, and extending the thumb as far as I could from my fingers. I continued in this position, keeping my elbow parallel with the top of my head, until the colonel came close up to me; and, remarking how studiously I retained the same position, condescendingly said, with a smile, "That"s a fine fellow." On this head I perfectly agreed with the gallant commandant, as may be readily supposed; and the compliment so elated me, that I felt by no means certain whether I stood on my head or my heels; but ran about, first in the front, then in the rear, until at last I ran b.u.mp up against "master," who presented himself to my astonished eyes, mounted on Corporal Dash (a horse of his I had so named), with a long hunting whip (a very old friend of mine) in his hand. The moment I recognized these old acquaintances, I saw that I had not a minute to lose; so, making up my mind that a good retreat was far better than a bad fight, I ran off at full charge, as fast as my legs would carry me, my master riding after me, and roaring out most l.u.s.tily, "Stop! stop!" If, instead of "Stop," he had said "Halt," it is more than probable that my legs would instinctively have obeyed; for, from the constant drills to which they had been subjected, they began to move quite mechanically. As it was, however, on I went, until a stile brought my master up; when, as I was quite out of breath, I thought I might as well halt too. Here I had the satisfaction of hearing my master swear roundly, that he would kill me when he caught me. "Thank G.o.d," thought I to myself, "you have not got me yet." The moment my persecutor rode on, I cut across a field, and again gained the head of the corps of Royal Horse Artillery, who were at this time just entering the suburbs of the village. Here I dared not venture to follow them any farther, until my master"s hurricane had blown over; so I mounted a gate, where my heart yearned after them, as that of a wounded soldier does after his corps in the battle"s heat. Here I again set my wits to work how to elude the chastis.e.m.e.nt I was sure to receive from the infuriated man of clods. The regiment which I had seen was, I had ascertained, on its march to Yarmouth, to embark for foreign service; and, from the condescending manner of the colonel (who returned my salute), I made no doubt whatever that he would be glad to take me for a soldier. Full of these thoughts, I loitered about all day, but dared not venture in, until, at length, my interior began to express wants respecting which I had not before reflected. These demands were of a nature not to be drilled into obedience; so, at last, overcome by fatigue and inanition, in I marched, having first seen my master march out. My mistress, who was ever ready to act the part of a kind mother towards me, soon provided me with a substantial meal. I was not long in doing justice to the repast thus kindly set before me; and, having effectually satisfied my appet.i.te for the time present, I took the precaution of lining my pockets with a large hunch of bread and cheese, to subsist on the following day, when I intended to be in light marching order to follow the soldiers. Having thus prudently provided in some degree for the future, I betook myself to my usual occupations; but I had not commenced work more than five minutes, when I espied my master reconnoitring me from behind a hedge.
Presently he crossed a stile with a large whip in his hand; and I could discern, from his artful movements, that it was his intention to come upon me unperceived. Now and then, in order that my fears might not be excited, he would stoop down and pull a turnip; but I was too good a soldier myself to be out-generalled in this manner. I stood from my work, the better to observe the enemy"s movements, and kept my eye upon the fugleman. At last, I saw him make preparations to arrange his whip; so I immediately arranged my legs for a start. "Every step that he now takes," thought I to myself, "is a step nearer to my back; whereas, now that I have ten yards" start, there is still a chance for me." My master perceived that I was ready for a bolt, and soon broke from slow time into quick, and from quick to double quick, which put me to the charge, my master following me--swearing, threatening, and roaring out, "Stop him! stop him!" a second time. I turned round to look who was likely to stop me, when my foot came in contact with a large clod, and I tumbled heels over head. Here the chase ended; for my tyrant caught hold of me by a smock-frock which I had on, and commenced flogging me; but, from the race I had given him, I found he was so winded, that he had not strength left to hurt me much; so I "showed fight" at once, by seizing hold of the lash of the whip. This so enraged him, that he threw me from him with such violence, that one side of the smock-frock and I parted company, and I had just sufficient time left me to get up again and make my escape, which I did, leaving my master, as a token of my unalterable affection, the one side of my upper garment. Let it be his winding-sheet, for he was a cruel monster!
The remaining half of my smock-frock I stuck in a hedge in the same field, as a further token of my regard, and as a proof of my anxiety to leave him all I could spare. I then made a movement towards the town, in the hope that I should see the colonel, but he was not to be found; and I went from public-house to public-house, in search of the soldiers, till night began to unfold her sombre mantle, which was as gloomy as my poor little friendless bosom. Go home I dared not; so, after wandering about the farmer"s house, I at last got into the stable, and slept all night in the hay-loft, dreaming I was a general, and riding over the battle"s plain. Here I slept as sound as a dead soldier, until I was awoke in the morning by the gruff voice of my master, inquiring if they had seen anything of me, and protesting that, whenever he caught me, he would skin me alive. "Bob" (one of his men), he bellowed out, "saddle that there old horse, Corporal Dash, and I"ll go and see where he is; and, if I catches him, I"ll put him in the stocks, and see if that can"t cool his courage for him. He is the most tarnationest and outdationest lad I have ever seen: it was only the day before yesterday that I catched him riding the old sow, Polly, with a pitchfork, and singing out, "Victory! victory!" but I"ll see if the stocks won"t cool him." The old corporal was saddled accordingly, and led out. I could distinctly see him through a small hole in the loft, and he trotted off towards the market-place. I now began to think what place was best and safest for me. Skinning alive I could not bear the thoughts of; and, as to the stocks, it is true they might have cooled me, for it was freezing hard, and as bitter a morning as ever blew from the heavens; but there was nothing soldier-like in the situation, and the thoughts of such a position were not to be endured.
As soon as Bob had left the place to go to his work, I began to form plans for my retreat. Resolved, for the present, to act on the defensive, I first reconnoitred the course, to see that the enemy was not lying in ambush for me, or lurking in the vicinity of my hiding-place. Finding all clear, I descended to the stable, and soon gained the road. Having pa.s.sed through the barn-yard and orchard, I peeped in at the farmhouse, but could not catch a glimpse of my kind mistress. My bread and cheese I had eaten the preceding evening, and my stomach began now to evince symptoms of mutinous commotion; but the fear of falling again into the hands of my merciless enemy prevailed over all other considerations, and, in an adjoining field, I regaled myself very contentedly on a turnip. I had just concluded that sumptuous repast, and was beginning to reflect seriously on the situation in which I had placed myself, when the band struck up that beautiful old melody, "The girl I left behind me." This was both meat and drink to me, and its sweet notes comforted my lately inconsolable bowels. I put myself in marching and soldier-like att.i.tude; and, with my hands stuck close to my leathers, my fingers directed towards the earth, chin elevated, toes pointed, thus I stepped off with the left leg, keeping time with the tune, until I arrived at the toll-gate, about a quarter of a mile from the town. Here I could not help halting, to look back on the little place of my birth, the scene of my boyhood, and many a sportive hour. I found the tear trickling down my cheek. It was near the grave of my fond mother, too. I hesitated, for some time, whether to proceed or return; but my master"s dreadful threat rushed upon my mind in all its terror, and this impelled me onwards; and I again joined the followers, men and boys, girls and dogs. I was but a child, but I was a child cast upon the world, parentless, and in the hands of a cruel master. I could not believe it possible to be worse off, and therefore continued my march towards Yarmouth, without a mouthful of bread to eat, or a penny in my pocket. I knew not a soul in the place to which I was going; but my truant disposition took a hop, step, and jump over all difficulties.
My worldly effects consisted of a hat, which had once been round, but which, from my continually turning and twisting it into the shape of c.o.c.ked-hats, road-hats, soldiers" caps, &c., was now any shape you wished; a little fustian jacket; waistcoat of the same material; a coa.r.s.e shirt, which, from a violent shaking fit, was completely in rags; a pair of leathers, intolerably fat and greasy; ribbed worsted stockings; and a thwacking pair of high-lows, nailed from heel to toe.
These, with a little stick, were my only inc.u.mbrances, save a gloomy prospect. I was bitterly hungry, and sadly tired; but on I went until we arrived within a mile of Beccles, some sixteen miles from home. Here some of the soldiers branched off to their quarters in the vicinity of the town; but I followed the greater body, as the more probable means of getting something to eat. The band now again struck up, "Over the hills, and far away." I marched at the head, but began to find that my poor craving stomach could no longer feed upon delicious melody; so I now made up my mind to accost the colonel, and ask him if he could not enlist me for a soldier. The colonel seemed a kind-hearted man; so, as modesty on my part was now quite out of the question, I bent my way to the head inn, where all the officers were a.s.sembled. I inquired for the colonel, and was at last shown into a room where he was sitting, with other officers, at breakfast. I strutted up to him with my hat in my hand, and made him a most obsequious bow, with my hand and foot at the same time. I then stood straight, as if I had swallowed a sergeant"s pike; when the colonel laughingly said, "Well, my fine little rustic, what"s your pleasure?" I said, making another bow, and sc.r.a.ping the carpet with my nailed high-lows, "Soldiering, your honour." At this, the whole of the officers burst into a roar of laughter, in which the colonel most heartily joined. I thought it was the fashion in the army, so I joined them, which only served to increase their mirth; and many of them were obliged to hold their sides from excess of laughter. I soon found that all this merriment was at my expense; at which I began to evince some slight displeasure, and was just about to express it in words, when the colonel said, in the most affectionate manner, "My dear little child, you had better return to your fond mother"s lap." Here I could not help piping, and I replied, "Sir, my mother is dead." "Could I even take you," continued the colonel, "I should imagine that I was robbing some fond parent of its child; besides, we are proceeding on foreign service, against the enemy."
This news only served to increase my anxiety to go, and I again entreated him to look with compa.s.sion upon an orphan. I saw him turn from me, and wipe away a falling tear; and then, addressing me with the affection of a parent, he said, "My dear little fellow, if I was going to remain in England, I would take you; but under the present circ.u.mstances, I cannot." Here I again began to cry, and I told him that I was sixteen miles from home, and had not got a piece of bread to put in my mouth. Upon this, the whole of the officers vociferated, "Waiter!
waiter! waiter!" The waiter was speedily in attendance, when I was ordered breakfast by twenty persons at the same time. I was still resolved not to give up my point; but the colonel again told me, it would be impossible for him to take me, but a.s.sured me that I should be taken care of, and desired me to go downstairs and get my breakfast. I did so, and, in pa.s.sing round the table for the purpose of retiring, some gave me a shilling, some sixpence, so that I had more money than I had ever before possessed in my life. I ate a hearty breakfast in the kitchen, the servants asking me a number of impertinent questions. After breakfast, I counted my riches, and found that I had ten shillings, at least, in my leathers, into the pockets of which I every moment introduced my hand, to feel if all was safe. In the afternoon I was ordered dinner, and at last placed in the charge of a sergeant, who inquired who and what I was. I slept with him, and slept most soundly too, thinking I was a soldier. Early the next morning I was awoke, when the sergeant showed me a note from the good-natured colonel to my master, whose name and address he had pumped me out of the evening before. The sergeant was proceeding to Woodbridge Barracks, and he had directions to take me over to my master, as well as to deliver the colonel"s note, which was open, and contained a most earnest request that, for his sake, my master would not flog me. The generous colonel had also given the sergeant five shillings for me, which he gave me before I started from Beccles. About three o"clock in the afternoon I arrived at my master"s, who was at home. The kind message of the colonel was communicated to him, and he faithfully promised the sergeant, that all should be forgiven and forgotten. I was lured, under this promise, to return to my work, resolved to do better in future; and I began to think that I really had not much reason to complain; for, on counting my money, I found I had fifteen shillings and sixpence left, after treating the sergeant on the way home. Scarcely, however, had the sun risen on the following day, when my master seized me by the neck, and dragged my clothes off my back. He had with him a double-handed whip, such as is used by colliers, and with this he lashed me so unmercifully, that I have no hesitation in saying, that, had not a man, who was labouring in an adjoining field, interfered, he would have killed me. He was the most inhuman man I ever saw; and if he was not dead, and his family in abject poverty, I should, before this, have published his name; but, not to add to their present calamities, I will bury such feelings with their father, and begin a fresh chapter, with accounts more interesting to my readers; first entreating their forgiveness for having dwelt so long on the scenes of my boyhood.
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