Produced by Brian Coe, Quentin Campbell, The book cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber's Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ around the text. Small capitals in the printed works have been transcribed as ALL CAPITALS. More Transcriber's Notes may be found at the end of this document. THE MILITARY SKETCH-BOOK. VOL. I. IN THE PRESS. THE LANCERS. IN THREE VOLUMES LONDON: PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, DORSET STREET. THE MILITARY SKETCH-BOOK. REMINISCENCES OF SEVENTEEN YEARS IN THE SERVICE ABROAD AND AT HOME. BY AN OFFICER OF THE LINE. “The wight can tell A melancholy and a merry tale Of field, and fight, and chief, and lady gay.” IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1827. In presenting these Sketches to the public, the Author begs leave to say, that although in their production he sometimes indulged his imagination, fancy has only been employed to decorate truth. Facts form the ground-work of his book; and although the ornaments may have been carelessly or tastelessly placed, real incidents have neither been obscured nor distorted. To the gentleman who supplied the Author with the necessary hints for the sketch entitled “_Mess Table Chat_, (_No._ IV.)” and also to the gallant officer whose memory and kindness furnished him with the facts relative to the Bush-rangers of Van Diemen's Land, the Author returns his most sincere thanks. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. Page FIRST WEEK IN THE SERVICE 1 THE SOLDIER'S ORPHAN 43 NIGHTS IN THE GUARD-HOUSE, NO. I.:—STORY OF MARIA DE CARMO 51 OLD CHARLEY 98 MESS-TABLE CHAT, NO. I. 108 A DAUGHTER OF OSSIAN 125 THE MULETEER 136 RATIONS, OR ELSE 153 INFERNAL DUTY 156 NIGHTS IN THE GUARD-HOUSE, NO. II. 160 THE FATE OF YOUNG GORE 173