t military "spectacle" it could not, of
course, be compared with those mighty armies I had seen deploying
through the defiles of the Black Forest, or spreading like a sea over
the wide plain of Germany, but in purely picturesque effect, this scene
surpassed all I had ever beheld at the time, nor do I think, that, in
after life, I can recall one more striking.

The winding road, which led over hill and valley, now disappearing, now
emerging, with the undulations of the soil, was covered by troops
marching in a firm compact order; the grenadiers in front, after which
came the artillery, and then the regiments of the line. Watching the
dark column, occasionally saluting it as it went with a cheer, stood
thousands of country people on every hill-top and eminence, while far
away, in the distance, the frigates lay at anchor in the bay, the guns
at intervals thundering out a solemn "boom" of welcome and encouragement
to their comrades.

There was something so heroic in the notion of that little band of
warriors throwing themselves fearlessly into a strange land, to contest
its claim for liberty with one of the most powerful nations of the
world; there was a character of daring intrepidity in this bold advance,
they knew not whither, nor against what force, that gave the whole an
air of glorious chivalry.

I must own that distance lent its wonted illusion to the scene, and
proximity, like its twin-brother, familiarity, destroyed much of the
"prestige" my fancy had conjured up. The line of march, so imposing when
seen from afar, was neither regular nor well kept. The peasantry were
permitted to mingle with the troops; ponies, mules, and asses, loaded
with camp-kettles and cooking vessels, were to be met with every where.
The baggage-wagons were crowded with officers, and "sous-officiers,"
who, disappointed in obtaining horses, were too indolent to walk. Even
the gun-carriages, and the guns themselves, were similarly loaded, while
at the head of the infantry column, in an old rickety gig, the ancient
mail conveyance between Ballina and the coast, came General Humbert,
Neal Kerrigan capering at his side on the old gray, whose flanks were
now tastefully covered by the tri-colored ensign of one of the boats as
a saddle-cloth.

This nearer and less enchanting prospect of my gallant comrades I was
enabled to obtain, on being dispatched to the rear by Colonel Charost,
to say that we were now within less than a mile of the town of K