This embarkation, and the assemblage of so many objects of attraction at the port of Cork, drew together an immense influx of visiters to that city and its vicinity. As the period of sailing approached, the towns, which, in those days, were paltry villages, of Passage and Cove became so crowded, that three or four guineas per week were demanded by the needy householders for the miserable accommodation of a couple of rooms; but wretched as the accommodations were, they were cheerfully endured by those, who, for the last time in life, enjoyed the loved society of a husband, parent, or brother, with whose smiles they were destined never more to be cheered, it is a melancholy fact, that not one-tenth of the brave army, then embarked for the West Indies, lived to wear the laurels their gallantry so nobly won.

Island after island fell in rapid succession to their conquering arms; victory every where crowned the British banner; but dire disease followed in her train, and swept off, with unsparing hand, alike the conquerors and the conquered.

After a variety of blunders and delays, arising chiefly from the ignorance of many of the working members of the civil and military departments intrusted with the details of the embarka tion, the fleets were at length declared ready to sail on their several destinations.

It must be recollected, however, that these were the first days of war after a rusting ten years' peace; that 66 war is no common art," and that the embarkation or landing of a large -force, with order and regularity, is not one of the least of its difficulties. The public departments were then either in their infancy or their dotage. There was a Minden muster-master-general, a Canadian commissary-general, a gallant, but untaught quarter-master-general, amongst whose army of assistants few could be found with ability to map a potato garden; juvenile artillerists, who scarcely knew the muzzle from the breech of a gun; artificers, who just knew "a hawk from a handsaw;" and assistant adjutants-general who had to depend on clerks and non-commissioned officers for the accuracy of their military returns. The high state of efficiency to which all the military, and some few of the civil departments of the united service has been brought, has been dearly purchased; but the materiel of the British army and navy may at present be equalled, but certainly not surpassed by that of any nation in Europe. On the sailing of the fleets I returned to Dublin, having received the thanks of my friend for what he was pleased to term my valuable assistance.

CHAPTER XIV.

Then-the soldier.

It was my great delight, at this period of my life, to attend guard-mounting at the castle-yard every morning the weather permitted. My acquaintance with many of the officers of the garrison gave me the entrée of the circle; and by this constant association with military men, my penchant for the naval service gradually passed away. A new desire was creeping on me, for the indulgence of which I had not long to sigh.

Early in 1794, letters were granted to several noblemen and gentlemen, and in less than three weeks from the 1st of May, the whole of Ireland became covered with_recruiting parties. In addition to the new levies, the Royal Irish Artillery was augmented to three battalions, while second battalions were added to all the regiments of the line then serving in Ireland. With this sudden call on the population of the country for a contribution of fifty thousand men, it is astonishing in what a short space of time the call was answered and the levies completed.

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To the quality of the stuff, much objection might have been started; but the standard as to age and altitude was not, as regarded the regiments of the line, at least, in those days, so rigidÏy severe as in former times, nor the form and capacity of the man, mere mortal man! food for powder," too scrupulously scanned. Amongst those to whom letters of service had been granted, Colonel John Doyle appeared one of the earliest in the field. With all that tact and talent by which it has been his good fortune through life to win and preserve the favour of all to whom he became known, from the prince to the peasant; he headed his recruiting party on its first public appearance, dressed in the uniform of the hussars of the

"PRINCE OF WALES'S IRISH HEROES!" He was a fine manly looking soldier, between thirty and forty years of age, above the middle height, possessing a handsome, lively face, and an eye like Mars.

In his first harangue to the populace he gave that pledge, which, at the end of six and thirty years, he can happily and proudly say he never forfeited:

"My lads, here are the colours of our KING! here the emblem of our dear country;"-pointing to the green flag, with the harp and crown which waved beside the British colours"may they be for ever united! You know me too well to believe I come to raise and sell ye! No, my brave IRISH HEROES, you shall never be drafted, and, by the blessing of God, your Colonel, JOHN DOYLE, will remain your Colonel to the last moment of his life!"

It is a fact, that in ONE day he raised the astonishing number of THREE hundred able-bodied recruits.

The Doyles are a highly talented family. Of the various branches, and they are numerous, I scarcely know one whose course of life has not been eminently prosperous: if "conduct be fate," their success affords the most ample proof of honour and rectitude.

General Sir John Doyle, Bart., Grand Cross of the Bath, who still commands the heroes, the 87th, or Irish fusileers, and who may now be called the head of the family, has said more witty things and done more worthy actions, than it falls to the lot of many men to boast of. With the snows of nearly fourscore winters on his brow, he unites in himself a rare and delightful combination of talent; blending the judgment of the sage with the vivacity of youth; the learning of the scholar with the polished wit of the man of fashion; and the elegance of the courtier with the sincerity of the friend. His military career commenced during the American war, as companion in arms to that illustrious character, Lord Rawdon, late Marquis of Hastings, who, to the latest moment of his honourable life, preserved the most devoted affection to the friend of his youth. So great was the popularity of Colonel Doyle, that he completed one battalion in the short space of a month, and in less than three had the honour to head it in the field of battle.*

Numbers of my acquaintance and school-fellows had donned the scarlet jacket, and, although the recollection of the trouble and mortification I had given my good father on my former selection of a profession, kept my tongue silent as regarded my wishes, I took daily opportunities of showing the interest I felt in the busy scene then passing. I was held as an authority on every recruiting party that appeared; I could tell their colonel, colours, dress, and distinctions, with all the accuracy of their own adjutants.

My father perceiving my growing partiality for a military life, and being desirous of putting me forward in the world, now that that my eldest brother was serving his clerkship to the law, and my second at college, whilst I was acquiring,

* At Alost, in 1794, where he received a sabre-wound.

through his indulgence, those habits of expense, which, with his limited means and numerous family it would have been criminal to encourage, he, accordingly, one fine Sunday morning, sent for me to his dressing-room, and put this question to

me:

"Oliver, should you like to enter the army, in case I could procure a pair of colours* for you?" "Sir, I should be delighted; but, after my ill luck with Lord Charles, and with all your trouble on that occasion, I feared to hint my wishes to you be fore."-"Well, then," said he, with a smile which inspired confidence, " go to Captain Atkinson to-morrow morning, and he will talk to you on the subject; and, if I mistake not, have something to say that will give you pleasure,"

I went off to church in high spirits, but, to my shame I confess it, thinking more of Dundas's eighteen movements than of the ten commandments.

Next day, by ten o'clock, I was at Wood Quay, opposite to Moira House, watching, with anxious eyes, for the approach of the worthy, witty Joseph Atkinson and his dappled pony. While counting the moments with impatience, the main-guard passed me on its way from the royal barracks to the Castle. The troop of the 7th dragoon guards, or “black horse," as it was called, never, to my eye, seemed so superb, nor Hef Consadine, who rode at its head, more consequential. The band of the Pompadours, never, to my ear, played so pompously; even Brigadier-Major Reed, who brought up the rear, and whose immense belly appeared to turn the corner of Barrack Street five seconds before the rest of his portly person hove in sight-even old Reed, himself, seemed all grace and dignity.t I involuntarily followed the guard in regular pace, until I found myself half-way to the Castle, when I recognised honest Joe on his cob, with whose dimensions in the girth he was at that period nearly equal. He was jogging along, followed by a gang of little blackguard boys, who, knowing his gregarious propensities, hung upon his rear to dispute the honour of holding his horse, while he dismounted to chat with my lord this, or general that. The captain was a courtier, but a kind one; never passing a great man without a bow, or a poor one without a smile. At this time he was quite on the qui vive canvassing

* One knows what a pair of breeches, a pair of tongs, or a pair of bellows means; but I never yet could ascertain the derivation of that old-fashioned term, pair of colours, for one poor ensign!

† Major Reed had originally been a drummer; having gradually risen from the ranks to the command of a company, he retired, after the American war, from the line, and purchased the post of major of brigade to the Dublin garrison. This Falstaff of the town was of the most extraordinary dimen sions, more particularly his belly, which 'gave rise to the severe but witty observation of the late Earl Carhampton, that the "man had certainly swal lowed his DRUM!"

for agencies, and, as no disengaged colonel could say "no!" to such a good-natured soul, he succeeded in obtaining a fair share of the new levies, notwithstanding the more powerful influence of Armit and Borough, Fraser and Reed, Messrs. Ormisby and Cane: the first of which firms, besides its extensive Scotch connexions, possessed a strong hold of the Castle interest; and a hint from the secretary at war, was, in most cases, decisive to colonels in the choice of their agents, when taking up their letters of service.

I believe the great leviathan of Craig's Court has to thank the recommendation, tantamount to a command, of an illustrious individual, now no more, for many a fat agency. Having said thus much en passant, it would be unjust not to add, that the liberality of this most respectable house has ever been unbounded; and many a gallant officer who now figures in the highest ranks of the military profession, owed his timely promotion to the generous aid afforded him, "in the very nick o' time," by this truly munificent establishment.

It was no difficult thing to keep pace with the pony of the warm-hearted Joe, but before we reached his office he dismounted, in order to converse with me with greater freedom. He expressed his hopes of obtaining an ensigncy for me without purchase, through the interest of his friend Earl Moira, whose brother, the Honourable Colonel Rawdon, it was expected would raise a regiment of infantry; but that, at all events, the commission should not cost my father more than about half the regulation. "In the mean time," he added, "you shall have a beating order, with letters of introduction to Lord Moira's friends and tenantry in the county of Meath, where the family name and influence will, no doubt, promote your success.' These preliminaries arranged, I was introduced into the office of Messrs. Atkinson and Woodward, where honest old Humphrey Woodward stared at me as some fresh importation of his poetical partner's; for Joe, in the midst of his military business, could scribble off odes, dedications, and sonnets on every subject, whether of congratulation or condolence, from the birth of a son and heir to the death of a favourite lap-dog.

As Humphrey Woodward, (a Cocker redivivus,) was the man of figures, the courtier Joe, (the Chesterfield of the house,) was the man of letters; and his occasional neglect of this portion of the business, while wooing the muses, gave rise to many friendly squabbles. The labours of the day had just commenced: Humphrey, with spectacles apparently rivetted on a nose which seemed to have been expressly formed by nature for their reception, was hanging over a ponderous leger, with pen in mouth and pencil in hand, running up a long column of figures; when, at the very critical moment of arriving at the top line of his