Even the sergeants contrived to procure a room, where they enjoyed themselves as much as the officers in the mess-room; and their jokes, if not equally refined, were not the less entertaining. Being a member of the mess committee, my avocations obliged me to keep a vigilant look-out through all parts of the house, which gave me an opportunity of hearing unobserved many of the jests and repartees which took place in the sergeants’ room, or debating society, as it was termed. But although these were at times rather sharp, still perfect good-humour prevailed throughout. The principal spokesmen, if my memory fail not, were a Sergeant Turnbull of the Guards, and a Sergeant O’Brien, of the 87th Regiment. They were most determined opponents, and each had a bigoted attachment to his own country, in support of which he poured forth witty and pungent repartees to the great entertainment of the auditors. On one occasion, while I was on my way to our cellar, which was fast falling into consumption, my steps were arrested by loud bursts of laughter issuing from the debating-room. The first words which I distinctly heard were, “O, O, O! You are all ‘O’s’ in Ireland!” [Sidenote: SERGEANTS IN DEBATE.] This remark evidently came from the Guardsman, when O’Brien drily replied, “‘O’ means ‘from,’ or ‘the descendant of’; therefore I am not surprised at its being ridiculed by persons of your country, where long line of descent is so difficult to be traced.” “And pray, Mr. O, from whom are you descended?” “From Bryan Boro, the Great Boro.” “And surely ‘Boro’ must be a corruption of the Spanish word ‘Burro,’ which signifies ‘an ass’?” Then Pat grew eloquent on the deeds of his great ancestor, who at the age of eighty gained a most glorious victory over the invading Danes on the celebrated plains of Clontarf. Equally eloquent was he also on the demerits of the Englishmen of that ancient time, until cried out the British sergeant with a fine scorn: “I like to hear a fellow of your kind, with your beggarly Irish pride, talking of records and historical facts! Look to the history of your own country to learn its disgrace. What have you ever done or achieved except through murders, robbery, cruelty, bloodshed and treachery? Have you not always been fighting amongst yourselves, or against your masters, since we did you the honour of conquering you?” “If we compare notes about murder and treachery, you need not fear being left in the background,” retorted the Irishman; “and as to the honour of being conquered, faith! I cannot cope with you in your dignities there, for I cannot deny that you have been honoured in that way by Romans, and by Danes, and by Saxons, and by Picts, and by Scots.” “Your arguments,” at last said the Englishman, after some further exchange of historical fragments, “might pass without contempt had they not been delivered with such a disgusting brogue. I should recommend you to go back again to some charity school--I mean, in England.”