There is no hold by which an Englishman is sooner taken than that of compassion--We were immediately interested in behalf of this veteran. Even Tabby’s heart was melted; but our pity was warmed with indignation, when we learned, that in the course of two sanguinary wars, he had been wounded, maimed, mutilated, taken, and enslaved, without ever having attained a higher rank than that of lieutenant--My uncle’s eyes gleamed, and his nether lip quivered, while he exclaimed, ‘I vow to God, sir, your case is a reproach to the service--The injustice you have met with is so flagrant’--‘I must crave your pardon, sir (cried the other, interrupting him), I complain of no injustice--I purchased an ensigncy thirty years ago; and, in the course of service rose to a lieutenant, according to my seniority’--‘But in such a length of time (resumed the ‘squire), you must have seen a great many young officers put over your head’--‘Nevertheless (said he), I have no cause to murmur--They bought their preferment with their money--I had no money to carry to market that was my misfortune; but no body was to blame’--‘What! no friend to advance a sum of money?’ (said Mr Bramble) ‘Perhaps, I might have borrowed money for the purchase of a company (answered the other); but that loan must have been refunded; and I did not chuse to incumber myself with a debt of a thousand pounds, to be payed from an income of ten shillings a-day.’ ‘So you have spent the best part of your life (cried Mr Bramble), your youth, your blood, and your constitution, amidst the dangers, the difficulties, the horrors and hardships of a war, for the consideration of three or four shillings a-day a consideration--’ ‘Sir (replied the Scot, with great warmth), you are the man that does me injustice, if you say or think I have been actuated by any such paltry consideration--I am a gentleman; and entered the service as other gentlemen do, with such hopes and sentiments as honourable ambition inspires--If I have not been lucky in the lottery of life, so neither do I think myself unfortunate--I owe to no man a farthing; I can always command a clean shirt, a mutton-chop, and a truss of straw; and when I die, I shall leave effects sufficient to defray the expence of my burial.’