nge contrariety we feel most bitterly
the censure of these very people, whenever any trivial circumstance, any
small or petty observance with which they are acquainted, gives them,
for the time, the power of an opinion. The mere fact of our contempt for
them adds a poignancy to their condemnation, and I question much if we
do not bear up better against the censure of the wise, than the scoff of
the ignorant.

"On I went, and on, never even turning my head; for though I had left
all the little wealth I possessed in the world, I would gladly have given
it, ten times told, to have blotted out even a particle of the shame
that rested on my character. Scarcely had I reached the high road, when
I heard the quick tramp of horses, and the rattle of wheels behind me;
and, so strong were the instincts of my fear, that I scarcely dared to
look back; at length I did so, and beheld the mail-coach coming towards
me at a rapid pace. As it neared, I hailed the coachman, and without an
inquiry as to where it was going, I sprung up to a place on the
roof, thankful that ere long I should leave miles between me, and my
torturers.

"The same evening we arrived in Cork; during the journey I made
acquaintance with a sergeant of a light dragoon regiment, who was
proceeding in charge of three recruits, to the depot at Cove. With the
quick eye of his calling, the fellow saw something in my dispirited
state that promised success to his wishes; and he immediately began the
thousand-times-told tale of the happiness of a soldier's life. I stopped
him short at once, for my mind was already made up, and before the day
broke, I had enlisted in his Majesty's Twelfth Light Dragoons, at that
time serving in America.

"If I have spared you the recital of many passages in my life, whose
painful memory would hurt me to call up, I shall also pass over this
portion of my career, which, though not marked by any distinct feature
of calamity, was, perhaps, the most painful I ever knew. He who thinks
that in joining the ranks or an army, his only trials will be the
severity of an unaccustomed discipline, and the common hardship of a
soldier's life, takes but a very shallow view of what is before him.
Coarse and vulgar associates--depraved tastes and brutal habits--the
ribald jest of the barrack-room--the comrade spirit of a class, the very
lowest and meanest--these are the trials, the almost insupportable
trials, of him who has known better days.

"As hour by