which we had at that time in the
regiment, and which was with the left wing, under Colonel Cameron. I
found them on piquet, between the right of the trenches and the river,
half of them posted at a mud-cottage, and the other half in a ruined
convent, close under the walls. It was a very tolerable post when at
it; but it is no joke travelling by daylight up to within a stone's
throw of a wall, on which there is a parcel of fellows who have no
other amusement but to fire at every body they see.

We could not show our noses at any point without being fired at; but,
as we were merely posted there to protect the right flank of the
trenches from any sortie, we did not fire at them, and kept as quiet
as could be, considering the deadly blast that was blowing around us.
There are few situations in life where something cannot be learnt, and
I, myself, stand indebted to my twenty-four hours' residence there,
for a more correct knowledge of martial sounds than in the study of my
whole life time besides. They must be an unmusical pair of ears that
cannot inform the wearer whither a cannon or a musket played last, but
the various _notes_, emanating from their respective mouths, admit of
nice distinctions. My party was too small, and too well sheltered to
repay the enemy for the expense of shells and round shot; but the
quantity of grape and musketry aimed at our particular heads, made a
good concert of first and second whistles, while the more sonorous
voice of the round shot, travelling to our friends on the left, acted
as a thorough bass; and there was not a shell, that passed over us to
the trenches, that did not send back a fragment among us as soon as it
burst, as if to gratify a curiosity that I was far from expressing.

We went into the cottage soon after dark, to partake of something that
had been prepared for dinner; and, when in the middle of it, a round
shot passed through both walls, immediately over our heads, and
garnished the soup with a greater quantity of our parent earth than
was quite palatable.

We were relieved, as usual, by the first division, at ten next
morning; and, to avoid as much as possible the destructive fire from
the walls, they sent forward only three or four men at a time, and we
sent ours away in the same proportions.

Every thing is by comparison in this world, and it is curious to
observe how men's feelings change with circumstances. In cool blood a
man would rather go a little out of his wa