The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer — Complete — John Shaqi
The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer — CompleteLever, Charles
General
The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer — Complete
Lever, Charles
Fiction
Lieutenant-Colonel Carden—for so I shall call him, although not his
real name—had not been a month at quarters, when he proved himself a
regular martinet; everlasting drills, continual reports, fatigue
parties, and ball practice, and heaven knows what besides, superseded
our former morning’s occupation; and, at the end of the time I have
metioned, we, who had fought our way from Albuera to Waterloo, under
some of the severest generals of division, were pronounced a most
disorderly and ill-disciplined regiment, by a Colonel, who had never
seen a shot fired but at a review in Hounslow, or a sham-battle in the
Fifteen Acres. The winter was now drawing to a close—already some
little touch of spring was appearing; as our last play for the season
was announced, every effort to close with some little additional effort
was made; and each performer in the expected piece was nerving himself
for an effort beyond his wont. The Colonel had most unequivocally
condemned these plays; but that mattered not; they came not within his
jurisdiction; and we took no notice of his displeasure, further than
sending him tickets, which were as immediately returned as received.
From being the chief offender, I had become particularly obnoxious; and
he had upon more than one occasion expressed his desire for an
opportunity to visit me with his vengeance; but being aware of his kind
intentions towards me, I took particular care to let no such
opportunity occur.
On the morning in question, then, I had scarcely left my quarters, when
one of my brother officers informed me that the Colonel had made a
great uproar, that one of the bills of the play had been put up on his
door—which, with his avowed dislike to such representations, he
considered as intended to insult him: he added, too, that the Colonel
attributed it to me. In this, however, he was wrong—and, to this hour,
I never knew who did it. I had little time, and still less inclination,
to meditate upon the Colonel’s wrath—the theatre had all my thoughts;
and indeed it was a day of no common exertion, for our amusements were
to conclude with a grand supper on the stage, to which all the elite of
Cork were invited. Wherever I went through the city—and many were my
peregrinations—the great placard of the play stared me in the fact; and
every gate and shuttered window in Cork, proclaimed “THE PART OF
OTHELLO, BY MR. LORREQUER.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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