e merit (if
any) attached to which I may justly lay claim, I do not affect to deny;
but it is far, very far, from my thoughts, to assume the possession of
uncommon fortitude, or to arrogate to myself any degree of heroism
superior to that which would be displayed, on occasions which required
it, by every brave officer in his Majesty's service.

Having thus, first, disclaimed all intention of boasting of my
performances, or of holding myself up as a prodigy of valour, it becomes
me next to declare that I do not pretend to afford the reader any
important intelligence respecting our Indian possessions, either as
regards statistics or politics. Information on these subjects must be
sought in the works of writers of far higher pretensions than the humble
author of these Memoirs.

My design has been to present the public with a simple and unadorned
narration of my own life, from the period of my infancy to the date of
my having been, unfortunately, compelled to quit his Majesty's service.

If, among the anecdotes which I have introduced, the eye of criticism
may detect many which may be deemed of too trivial a nature, and devoid
of that piquancy which can alone confer a value on such light and
unimportant materials, I can only plead that I may have been led to
over-estimate their merit, from the hearty laughter which they created
when they were first noted by me; and I trust it will be recollected
that it is a rough soldier who has ventured to think them worthy of
publicity. So, also, if in my account of the battles and sieges in which
I have had the honour to participate, my details shall appear flimsy or
meagre, more especially as concerns the objects of the government of
India in the various campaigns in which I have been engaged, be it
remembered that I do not profess to know their designs; that my constant
occupation in my professional duties afforded me no time to study them;
and that it is the subaltern's duty to act, and not to reason.

My Memoirs, such as they are, I leave to the indulgent consideration of
a liberal public.

JOHN SHIPP.

BHURTPORE COTTAGE,
ALPHA ROAD, REGENT'S PARK,
_January, 1829_.

MEMOIRS OF JOHN SHIPP.

CHAPTER I.

In the ponderous mouldy register of the little market-town of
Saxmundham, in the county of Suffolk--covered with the red remnants of
the old worn-out velvet pulpit-cushion of the said village chu