Love is never so happy--so gay--so delightful--so fascinating, as when he decorates himself in military trappings; and had his little godship been consulted upon how his portrait ought to have been set forth by the poets and the artists, I have no doubt but he would have directed them to have pictured him in the dress of a soldier. He always has delighted in camps and barracks; the clashing of arms sets his heart into a glow, and the sound of the drum makes him flutter his wings like a rising lark. Yet, with all this preference for the profession of the sword, his happiness is seldom long-lived, and he is often--very often, found weeping over his broken joys--or toys, as they may be--in bitterness, as proportionately poignant as his pleasures were vivid. For the truth of this, I appeal to the individuals of the British army who have served with the little deity, and to those who are still better judges--their sweethearts. Amongst the many instances of romantic and unfortunate love which have fallen under my observation in the service, is the case of a friend of mine--a young officer of the **th regiment of infantry--to which are attached circumstances so interesting, that I feel I shall not be intruding on my readers in sketching a brief history of its light and shade. Without giving the real names of the parties, in doing which I should not feel myself warranted, I will tell the story; and it will not, I hope, lose its title to credence, by romantic substitutes. Let us then call one Allemar, and the other Ellen. Allemar was about four-and-twenty when he first saw Ellen: she was not then quite sixteen; and although not altogether the “_angelic_” and “_etherial_” beauty which he imagined her to be, and as which his passionate language was wont to speak of her, yet was she a sweet girl--such a girl as one, possessing her, would not be inclined to change for another, although a thousand beauties were given him for choice:--yellow-silky hair--fine expressive blue eyes--teeth like ivory--middle size--shape like Venus herself:--gentle, yet acute in thought; and as musical in her soul as the spheres are said to be in their bodies. _He_ was a manly, open-hearted--and, what his companions called--a good-looking fellow; but the ladies of his acquaintance (and the ladies are the best judges in the world of such matters) all agreed that he was irresistible amongst them--whether from his manliness of person, his elegance of mind, or his suavity of manners; or whether from the happy combination of these three qualifications, I am not prepared to say--but certain it is that he was “the man for the ladies.”