nd note down everything about him, and there was more at that
date to bear in mind than there ever has been since with me. It was, as
I need hardly tell ye, the time after the first peace, when Bonaparte was
scheming his descent upon England. He had crossed the great Alp
mountains, fought in Egypt, drubbed the Turks, the Austrians, and the
Proossians, and now thought he'd have a slap at us. On the other side of
the Channel, scarce out of sight and hail of a man standing on our
English shore, the French army of a hundred and sixty thousand men and
fifteen thousand horses had been brought together from all parts, and
were drilling every day. Bonaparte had been three years a-making his
preparations; and to ferry these soldiers and cannon and horses across he
had contrived a couple of thousand flat-bottomed boats. These boats were
small things, but wonderfully built. A good few of 'em were so made as
to have a little stable on board each for the two horses that were to
haul the cannon carried at the stern. To get in order all these, and
other things required, he had assembled there five or six thousand
fellows that worked at trades--carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights,
saddlers, and what not. O 'twas a curious time!

'Every morning Neighbour Boney would muster his multitude of soldiers on
the beach, draw 'em up in line, practise 'em in the manoeuvre of
embarking, horses and all, till they could do it without a single hitch.
My father drove a flock of ewes up into Sussex that year, and as he went
along the drover's track over the high downs thereabout he could see this
drilling actually going on--the accoutrements of the rank and file
glittering in the sun like silver. It was thought and always said by my
uncle Job, sergeant of foot (who used to know all about these matters),
that Bonaparte meant to cross with oars on a calm night. The grand query
with us was, Where would my gentleman land? Many of the common people
thought it would be at Dover; others, who knew how unlikely it was that
any skilful general would make a business of landing just where he was
expected, said he'd go either east into the River Thames, or west'ard to
some convenient place, most likely one of the little bays inside the Isle
of Portland, between the Beal and St. Alban's Head--and for choice the
three-quarter-round Cove, screened from every mortal eye, that seemed
made o' purpose, out by where we lived, and which I've climmed up with
two