sort; and to us they appeared remarkably cheap. At an eating-house near the Town Hall, I have frequently got an excellent dinner, consisting of poultry, fish, and flesh, with abundance of vegetables, and a glass of schnaps included, for three-pence halfpenny. Geese, here, are remarkably good and plentiful; a good sized one could be had at the cook-shop, ready dressed, for 18. 3d. A great many of the inhabitants of this, and other towns in Germany, keep geese, which, I suppose by some municipal regulation, are taken out every morning, to feed on the commons. The man who takes charge of them, goes through the town in the morning, blowing a horn, on hearing which the keepers of geese turn them out. When all are collected, they are taken to the common and at night the man brings them back to the owners. A similar practice prevails in regard to the pigs, which are summoned by the cracking of a whip, and taken in like manner to the common. The abundance of geese enables the people to indulge

in the luxury of the finest feather beds, one under, and one over them, with a pair of sheets only between them.

I had the good fortune to be quartered here upon a very respectable Lutheran minister, whose house was adjoining the church. He could speak a little English; and I understood, by this time, something of the German; and every morning, when I was off duty, he would invite me into his library : when the servant used invariably to bring us in two buns, and two glasses of rum, and he would question me about England, its customs, politics, religion, and so on, occasionally referring to some of his books. After passing an hour thus, he would dress and go to the church, to perform his religious. duties. The short time I passed in the house of this worthy pastor, was about the most agreeable that I have ever experienced.

The latter end of October the frost set in

with the greatest severity, and the weatherwise then predicted that we should have a long and severe winter.

On the arrival of the transports, we left Rostock amidst the strongest manifestations of goodwill and friendship from the inhabitants; and after a march of a few miles, we reached the shores of the Baltic, in the Gulf of Lubec. This was on the 2nd of November, 1813; the sea was uncommonly rough, and the process of embarkation was both difficult and dangerous. Having none but the ships' boats, it was late at night before the various regiments got on board; and then some of the officers were obliged to leave their horses behind them.

The two vessels in which our regiment embarked, were the Ajax and Mountaineer, ricketty things, of about 400 tons each. The wind increased in violence, and we were buffetted about at the mercy of the waves for two days and nights; every wave dashing over the vessel, compelling us to keep the hatchways closed, and the watch, on deck, obliged to lash themselves to some part of the vessel, to prevent them from being washed overboard.

As it was found impossible to proceed, in

such weather, we sought shelter in the harbour of Gottenburg; where we were detained for fourteen days. This delay was very distressing, as the majority of our men were attacked with dysentery; and the effluvia between deck was so horribly offensive and insupportable, that those who were free from the disorder (and I was fortunately one of them) chose rather to remain, day and night, on deck, sleeping in or under the long-boat, in the forecastle, or any where that we could stow ourselves away; the frost at the time being so intense, that the ships were actually frozen in. A Lieutenant Dowling,* and another officer, belonging to us, were sent up the river to Gottenburg, where they were detained for a fortnight; and spent for their own subsistence—the money with which they had been provided to purchase some necessary things for the men.

When released from this place, we had a favourable, though rather brisk, wind; and

This officer is now Barrack-master at the Wellington Barracks, London.

in four days we reached Yarmouth Roads, where we were exposed to another tremendous storm, which continued, with fearful violence, through the night. When daylight appeared, seventeen vessels were discovered on shore, some of them complete wrecks.

We hoped, having so much sickness on board, that we should be permitted to land directly; but had to await the arrival of instructions from the Government, which, when they came, were a sad disappointment to many. The order was the whole of the women and children should be left on shore, at Yarmouth, and the troops sent directly to Holland; and it was expected our landing there would be strongly contested by the French. These orders were a sad disappointment to most of us; but it was particularly distressing to the married people, to be separated thus suddenly the women and children landed in a strange place, perhaps hundreds of miles from their home, and no resources; the men, most of them ill, on board, with the prevailing disorder. But the orders were imperative, and