This feeling induced me to decline the assistance of those who wished to afford me an opportunity of mixing with it, and I retired within myself, unknowing and unknown, affecting to feel contempt for those whom I was afraid to mix with. I was in danger of sinking into a complete misanthrope, and I confined myself so much to the house and my books, that my health began to be impaired. My mother, seeing the apathy and torpid state into which I was fast sinking, endeavoured to arouse me to some exertion, and her arguments had so much effect, that it made me resolve to try some business; but nothing could induce me to do so in Glasgow. I accordingly set about removing to a different part of the country—embarked in a business that I knew nothing about—neglected all the necessary caution which a more intimate knowledge of the world would have taught me—became the dupe of those who chose to take the trouble to deceive me—looked forward to results without calculating the intermediate steps, and in a short time had the pleasure of being as poor as ever. But here let me pay a tribute of gratitude to individuals, who, in a strange place, came generously forward with their advice and purse to assist me, when I needed assistance—who, though truly religious people, did not ask me, before they offered it, what church I sat in, or what my early life had been.—The effects of my ignorance of business could not then be rectified; but I shall ever retain a grateful remembrance of their disinterested goodness. It is useless to go through all the circumstances that induced me to resume the uniform of a soldier; suffice it to say, that it was the result. My only consolation now is, that in spite of my folly, and the untoward circumstances which have occasionally thwarted my passage through life, I can look back on my errors with a conviction that they were more of the head than the heart. GLASGOW: PRINTED BY S. AND T. DUNN. Transcriber’s Notes pg 25 Changed: colour it shed over their countenaces to: colour it shed over their countenances pg 27 Changed: no longer a pleasant birth to: no longer a pleasant berth pg 32 Changed: the tears flowing down her checks to: the tears flowing down her cheeks pg 42 Changed: we crossed the Frith of Forth to: we crossed the Firth of Forth pg 50 Changed: to be seperated from your husband to: to be separated from your husband pg 81 Changed: he made a lounge at me to: he made a lunge at me pg 81 Changed: seemed to be a jealous-minded, vindicative to: seemed to be a jealous-minded, vindictive pg 94 Changed: by seperate routes during the night to: by separate routes during the night pg 100 Changed: with a lable in its mouth to: with a label in its mouth pg 114 Changed: a buglar of the 83d regiment to: a bugler of the 83d regiment