I may here mention a simple incident that occurred while I was in Athlone. One night I was placed sentinel over a prisoner, in the room in which he slept. He was asleep, and I did not disturb him; a book lay near me; I took it up and passed the two hours with it; it was a book of sermons on Contentment, written by an old divine, (if I mistake not, a Mr. Taylor of London,) but it matters not who the author was. He handled it in a variety of lights, and applied the principle of contentment to the good works of Christians. I forgot all that I read but the following expressions; he said, that the genuine disciple of Christ was one, who was willing to do every thing for the sake of Christ, and, at the same time, was content to deny all he had done for Christ's sake. The author pursued his subject in a spiritual sense, and I was taken with the book, although I did not understand it. It was, however, written in such a strain of piety, that I was struck with it; my memory kept hold of the words, "do all for Christ, and deny all for Christ;" and I would at times reflect upon them, as strange and mysterious. I could never understand them, but I could not help being struck with them; and when the Lord opened my eyes several years afterwards, I remembered I had read them, and wondered how it was I did not understand them sooner; but I was then carnal; and the things of the Spirit were foolishness to me, for I had not spiritual discernment. We left Athlone, and marched to Cork, in June, 1799, to embark for England, and join the army that was forming to invade Holland. After leaving Athlone, I began to fall off in my attention to serious things. I carried Gray's Sermons in my knapsack, to oblige a comrade who was a Methodist, but who had not room for it in his. I carried it to the place of our embarkation, and returned it to him, without having read any part of it. I had read little or nothing of my Bible either, during the march. I found out the Methodist meeting at Cashil, where we stopt a day, and was at worship twice or thrice. We lay several weeks encamped at a place called Monkton, near Cork, waiting for vessels to carry us to England. I was twice or thrice at a prayer meeting during that time; but although the prospect of danger was increasing, I was increasingly remiss in attending to religious duties; and this was the case with the most part of those who had been joined with the Methodists. There was only one man in the regiment who was uniformly steady and consistent in these things. Footnote 3: They impressed into their service all the blacksmiths they could find. Footnote 4: Reports varied as to the number landed: some reports made them 15,000, others, as high as 30,000. CHAPTER III.