The aspect of the passage varied with the hour; he who strolled down it, about the hour of dawn, or a little after, might catch glimpses, through half-opened doors, of all stages of the toilet, from soap-suds and dressing-gowns, to what painters term the “_ultima basia_” or finishing touches; possibly, too, he might have a peep at the ensign’s lady, “the soldier’s bride,” divested of all the romance with which song-composers and novelists are wont to invest her; hair _en papillottes_, sleeves tucked up, and washing Augustus or Tommy. At ten, the scene was changed; without the doors, on the ground, might be seen a goodly display of trays, with egg-shells, fish-bones, rice, muffin, and other wrecks of breakfast; sweepers—certain degraded menials, “all same caste as master,”—squatting near and waiting for the said remnants; hookhas or kulians in course of preparation for those who indulged in the luxury of smoking; and here and there, perhaps, a sergeant, havildar, or strapping grenadier sepoy, waiting for the summons from within to give this morning’s report:—noon and evening, tiffin and dinner, each brought its appropriate proceedings, and varied the aspect of the common passage, which will long, with the force of a first impression, remain strongly engraven on my memory. Of late years, with the view of protecting young officers on their arrival, from those impositions, scrapes, and embarrassments, to which, owing to their youth and inexperience, they were formerly exposed, the Government has considerately created an appointment, called the “superintendent of cadets,”—a measure well calculated to mitigate the evil. The system of sending youths to India at the early ages of fifteen or sixteen, appears to me to be one fraught with evil, against which its advantages weigh but as dust in the balance. At that early age, the character and principles are generally quite unformed, and, intoxicated on becoming uncontrolled master of himself, emancipated from the thraldom of home or school, the cadet launches or did launch (unless, in this “go-ahead” age, things have greatly altered) into idleness, dissipation, and frivolity, feeling through life (if not cut off in his prime) the effects of habits and follies which, under all circumstances, and knowing youth’s plastic nature, it was not probable he would avoid.