An affecting question is asked by the prophet Zechariah, ‘Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?’ and it is with no small propriety that the inquiry is made concerning myself. I have wandered over sea and land; have been in perils both of flood and field; in ‘hair-breadth ‘scapes’ I have rivalled Othello’s self; for several years I was dangerously familiar with the bayonet-point and whistling bullet; and have followed a profession whose element is strife and bloodshed. While thousands have fallen, I am preserved in the land and light of the living; and, what is perhaps an equal mercy, am placed in a situation in which I have become conscious of these obligations, 233and where the privileges of church-fellowship exist in rich abundance. It would be ungrateful, also, were I not to acknowledge the uncommon kindness with which several of the officers under whom I served furnished me, on application, with testimonials relative to my previous conduct in the army. It would be mere affectation were I to profess myself indifferent to opinions so generously expressed; and as military reputation, founded on faithful services, is frequently the only riches of which an old soldier can boast, I shall be pardoned for introducing some extracts from letters received about this time from several gentlemen well known in superior military circles. I ought to premise that I had applied to Lieut.-Col Williamson, Commandant at the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, for admission into that institution as one of the superintendents of the children; to secure which, I found it necessary to obtain respectable references as to previous character. Colonel (now General) Pearson observed concerning me: ‘I have much pleasure in stating, that his conduct on every occasion merited my most perfect approbation, and that I consider him highly qualified for any situation which requires activity, sobriety, and integrity; and as such I beg leave to recommend him.’ Major Page, under whose notice I had acted at Tynemouth, certified that he had known me for several years, during which period he was pleased to say, that my conduct as a soldier gave great satisfaction; and, with reference to an event in my life already alluded to, adds ‘he particularly distinguished himself, and was the means of rescuing from a watery grave three or four sailors. I recollect his plunging through the surf and bringing a sailor on shore, at the time no boat would quit the beach. I cannot say too much in this soldier’s praise; and nothing gives me greater pleasure than to recommend him.’ To make 234assurance doubly sure, Colonel Napier added, that I had ‘served in the 43rd regiment nearly eleven years; had been at the reduction of Copenhagen in 1807; at General Moore’s retreat to Corunna in 1808, and the following year; and at the battles of Almeida, Busaco, Pombal, Condeixa, Subagal, Fuentes d’Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, and Badajos, at which latter place he was severely wounded in