II. That is laudable, Sir; but I fear it will not be very profitable to you. I. Profitable! I don’t much care for profit, so as I obtain well-earned promotion. II. The war is now drawing to a close, and it will be difficult to succeed in your hopes. I. The war, Sir, will never end. Excuse me, Sir--when I say never, I say only with the everlasting Scriptures, “We shall have wars and wars and rumours of wars.” Besides, Sir, the Russians, and Prussians, and Austrians, and even British, I fear, cannot effectually overcome that scourge of civil liberty, Napoleon. II. Pardon me, Sir, I think his day is drawing to a close. I. Impossible! the hordes of the North must vanish before him, even like the chaff before the wind. England is the only hope. II. Be that as it may: your Ensigncy will not be very long coming, if you get it at the fall of Buonaparte. I. I would give up all my hopes to see him fall; for in taking the crown, he betrayed the cause that raised him to glory. II. Then I suppose you say, he sold liberty for a _crown_? I. Precisely. Look at Cromwell, Sir; the man, like David, after God’s own heart--_he_ reigned without a crown. Look at the Roman republic, Sir--_that_ was sold for a crown. Look to America--no crowns there. II. If you have such objections to crowns, why wish to fight for them? I. Indeed, Sir, I am now only--a--talking as it were--a--on public matters. I am as loyal as any man. II. ’Pon my honour, if opinions upon such subjects were often canvassed in the army, even by men of half your age, they would stand but a poor chance of promotion. I. Half my age:--how old do you think I am? II. About fifty-two. I. What!--Oh, you joke. II. Well, how old _are_ you? I. I’m not yet forty. II. Forty! that’s pretty well, I think, for a Volunteer. I. It is, in my mind, the proper age for every thing which requires the full energy of the mind; and what calls for _that_ more than the art of war? I always had a taste for the noble profession--I have _taught_ military tactics. II. Taught! I. Yes, Sir, taught--and some of my pupils are now Captains in the local militia. II. Indeed! I. Yes, Sir; I led the business of one of the first schools in England. II. God bless me!