made the subject of much
good-humoured quizzing, in the field their steady valour was justly
appreciated. No regiment in the service contained a larger proportion of
"lads that weren't aisy," which metaphorical phrase, current among the
Rangers, is translated by Mr Grattan as signifying fellows who would
walk into a cannon's month, and think the operation rather a pleasant
one. Whenever a desperate service was to be done, "the boys," as they,
_more Hibernico_, familiarly termed themselves, were foremost in the
ranks of volunteers. The contempt of danger, or non-comprehension of it,
manifested by some of these gentlemen, was perfect. "My fine fellow,"
said an engineer officer, during the unsuccessful siege of Badajoz in
May 1811, to a man under Lieutenant Grattan's orders, who sat outside a
battery, hammering at a fascine; "my fine fellow, you are too much
exposed; get inside the embrasure, and you will do your work nearly as
well." "I'm almost finished, colonel," was the reply, "and it isn't
worth while to move now. Those fellows can't hit me, for they've been
trying it these fifteen minutes." Just then, a round-shot gave the lie
to his prediction by cutting him in two; and, according to their custom,
the French gunners set up a shout of triumph at their successful
practice. Some of the Connaughters, who had never lost sight of their
native bogs till exported to the Peninsula, understood little or no
English beyond the words of command. On an inspection parade, one of
this class was asked by General Mackinnon, to whose squad he belonged.
Bewildered and puzzled, Darby Rooney applied to his sergeant for a
translation of the general's question--thus conveying to the latter an
idea that this was the first time he had heard such a thing as a squad
spoken of. The story got abroad--was, of course, much embellished--and
an hour afterwards the third division was enjoying a prodigious chuckle
at the notion that not one of the Connaughters knew what a squad meant.
The young men laughed, the old officers shook their heads and deplored
the benighted state of the Irishmen; whilst all the time, Mr Grattan
assures us, "the Eighty-eighth was a more really _efficient_ regiment
than almost any _two_ corps in the third division." As efficient as any
they undoubtedly were, when fighting was to be done; but in some other
respects their conduct was less irreproachable. According to their
historian and advocate's own showing, their knapsacks wer