“But it may well be supposed that Satan did not view these things with indifference. The tares were soon sown among the wheat, and in time they grew up together. The first instrument in the hand of the enemy, was a defection among the men, by going over to the French; in which, however, those that professed religion distinguished themselves in a very honourable manner. I had found, that on two or three occasions, an Irish officer, who was in the French service, (whose name I do not mention, in the hope that he may have repented of a course so disgraceful, and that it may have been overlooked by a generous country,) had been in the prison; and by bribery, and by giving them liquor, had each time induced some of the men to go with him into the French service. To have interfered personally in this matter, it may well be supposed, would have been a sure way of my being removed from the depôt. I, however, spoke to the Commandant on the subject of the youngsters; and, appealing to him as a father, requested that he would not allow any of them to take a step which would be their ruin; however much they might wish it, in order to recover their liberty. And this he readily promised, and shewed indeed a desire to do. “Some time after this, I was preparing to go into the neighbourhood of Sedan, where Colonel D’Ivory, who commanded the engineers in the English army in Portugal, was then residing. I was very desirous of visiting a congregation of French Protestants in that town; and accepted an invitation from the Colonel to stay a few days with him. Before I set off I found that the Franco Irish officer had again appeared at the depôt, and prevailed upon two or three of the men to go with him. I, therefore, went to the Commandant and said, that I waited upon him again, before I set off, to remind him of his promise respecting the youngsters. He assured me that none of them should go; and said, that there was not much to be apprehended, for the men took his liquor and laughed at him. “My journey was not satisfactory, except as regarded the extreme hospitality and kindness of my host, and the pious and almost protestant conversation of Madame D’Ivory. Her health was exceedingly delicate, and she was unequal to exertion. And she spent her time in religious exercises and prayer; while she administered to the wants, and her maid even dressed the wounds of the poor around her. I could not but exclaim, ‘O si sic omnia!’ and lament the errors of her faith, and the almost ridiculous, if they had not been destructive, superstitions of persons about her.[9]