Another characteristic trait in the character of these men was their quiet, orderly, and kind deportment to the inhabitants of the different countries in which they were stationed. Soldiers are apt to look upon themselves as a distinct class, and to assume a certain haughty bearing in their dealings with civilians, who, of course, are prone to retaliate. The Highlanders seem never to have forgotten that they were only civilians in arms, bound by the laws of courtesy as well as by the rules of military discipline. During the years 1743-44 the 42nd Regiment was stationed in different parts of Flanders, under the command of Field-Marshal the Earl of Stair, where, if they had been so disposed, they might have levied contributions on the powerless inhabitants. The latter, however, had such confidence in their honesty and integrity, that they specially requested to have them appointed the guardians of their property, and bore willing testimony to the faithfulness with which they had discharged this duty. Few of them, we are told, were ever drunk, and they as rarely swore. They retained in Flanders the simple habits of their own native glens, and when they left, the Elector-Palatine wrote to his envoy in London, desiring him to thank the King of Great Britain for the excellent behaviour of the regiment while in his territory, “for whose sake,” he adds, “I will always pay a respect and regard to a Scotchman in future.” In the month of May, 1815, the intelligence reached England that Napoleon had escaped from Elba, and the three Highland regiments which had been stationed in Ireland at once embarked for Flanders, and took up their quarters at Brussels, where they became very popular among the inhabitants. They were billeted among the citizens, who, instead of regarding this as a hardship, rejoiced in their presence, and had such confidence in their honesty, that they often committed their shops to their care when they had occasion to go out. It was not unusual to see a stalwart Highlander nursing a Flemish baby, and handling it as tenderly as if he had been “to the manner born.” But, in truth, our Highland soldiers have always been remarkable for their fondness for children. When the 78th Highlanders forced their fiery way to the Residency at Lucknow, and were welcomed by the starving women whom they had saved from a fate worse than death, they seized the children from their arms, pressed their bearded faces against their tender cheeks, and shed tears of generous pity over them. Those tears did not unman them or unfit them for their duty, as all who are familiar with the annals of the Indian campaign will at once admit. No wonder that the kind-hearted Highlanders at Brussels made a favourable impression on the hearts of the Flemish maidens with whom they were brought in contact. A soldier of the 42nd had gained the affections of the daughter of a wealthy tradesman in whose house he was quartered at Brussels, and though he had never told