During the autumn, the regiment to which I belonged marched to Chelmsford in Essex, and was stationed there a few weeks with other corps, previously to our proceeding to Norman Cross for the purpose of guarding some thousands of unhappy Frenchmen, cooped up at that place, and clothed in yellow (the prison dress) to expiate their revolutionary sins by many years' captivity and exile in a loathsome prison, cut off from their relatives and friends. Their necessities forced them to exert their ingenuity in making various curious toys, which they disposed of at a very low rate to enable them to procure a few comforts, to alleviate their extreme wretchedness, which was beyond description; for want of clothes many of them suffered every privation rather than be clad in a conspicuous and humiliating colour; others were in rags and almost in a state of nudity, having lost their all by gambling; and to so great an extent did the vice grow, that many would even stake their rations, and every trifle given to them by strangers, until, by their half famished looks, they bore a resemblance to skeletons. The exterior of the prison was enclosed by strong wooden railings, as well as the four interior quadrangles, in the centre of which stood a circular block house bristled with three pounders on swivels, their muzzles peeping out of square apertures (similar to the ports of a ship) to play on the prisoners in case of their becoming refractory. Generals Boyer and Rochambeau were, for some reason or other, in close confinement; one of them played and sang most delightfully on the guitar. The barracks stood about east and west, occupied by two regiments, with two field pieces always placed at the gates, in readiness to fire if necessary. The high north road ran within about two hundred yards of the west barrack. A troop of the 7th light dragoons[7] were quartered near at hand to pursue those Frenchmen who might attempt to effect their escape, which many accomplished by the utmost danger, and the most unaccountable perseverance; sometimes by working under ground for months, to excavate a way out of prison. One man, absolutely wrapped in straw bands, dropped himself into a night cart, (which he was aware would be drawn away that night) and he was pitched out with the soil at the usual place on the slope of a hill; but, in his haste to extricate himself, he was discovered, and brought back half suffocated. Many of the poor prisoners gave lessons in fencing; and while I was once displaying the proficiency I had made in that art to an amateur by placing him in a defensive position to ward off my rapid attack, he unfortunately guided the point of my cane up his own nostrils which caused him forthwith to ungrasp his sword, and apply both hands to the wounded part. Being much alarmed at the accident, I stood at a respectful distance from my friend, until the pain had subsided; fearing that, under such torment, he might take signal vengeance on my slender frame.