embrace a military career, even in the humble capacity
of a private trooper. It was a cavalry field-day, and a number of
squadrons manoeuvred in presence of several general officers and of
a brilliant staff, whilst soldiers of various corps,--dragoons,
lancers, cuirassiers and hussars, stood in groups watching the
evolutions of their comrades. Veterans from the neighbouring Hotel
des Invalides--scarred and mutilated old warriors, who had shared
the triumphs and reverses of the gallant French armies from Valmy
to Waterloo--talked of their past campaigns and criticised the
movements of their successors in the ranks. Several of these parties
I approached within ear-shot, and overheard, with strong interest,
many a stirring reminiscence of those warlike days when the Corsican
firebrand set Europe in a flame, and spread his conquering legions
from Moscow to Andalusia. At last I came to a group of younger
soldiers, who discussed more recent if less glorious deeds of arms.
The words _Bedouins_, _razzia_, _Algerie_, recurred frequently in
their discourse. I started at the sounds. They reminded me of what I
had previously forgotten, that there was still a battle-field in the
world where danger might be encountered and distinction won. True, I
might have wished more civilised foes than the tawny denizens of the
desert, and a more humane system of warfare than that pursued by the
French in Africa. But my circumstances forbade over-nicety, and that
day I enlisted as volunteer in the light cavalry, merely stipulating
that I should be placed in a corps then serving in Africa.

"Should you care to hear, I will give you at a future time some
details of my military novitiate and African adventures. The former
was by no means easy, the latter had little to distinguish them from
those of thousands of my comrades. A foreign service is rarely an
agreeable refuge, and that of France is undoubtedly the very worst an
Englishman can enter. The old antipathy to England, weakened in the
breasts of French civilians, still exists to a great extent amongst
the military classes of the population. A traditionary feeling of
hatred and humiliation has been handed down from the days of our
Peninsular victories, and especially from that of the crowning triumph
at Waterloo,--the battle won by treachery, as many Frenchmen affirm,
and some positively believe. A French barrack-room, I can assure you,
is anything but a bed of roses to a British volunteer. I w