contained in this purse; you will dispose of it as you please
for your mutual advantage. Before I depart to-morrow I will give such
directions as may enable him to join the regiment, which is now
preparing to march.' He then requested that he might retire to rest, and
my father would have resigned the only bed he had in the house to his
guest, but he absolutely refused, and said, 'Would you shame me in the
eyes of my new recruit? What is a soldier good for that cannot sleep
without a bed? The time will soon arrive when I shall think a
comfortable roof and a little straw an enviable luxury.' I therefore
raised him as convenient a couch as I was able to make with heath and
straw, and wrapping himself up in his riding-coat, he threw himself down
upon it and slept till morning. With the first dawn of day he rose and
departed, having first given me the directions which were necessary to
enable me to join the regiment. But before he went, my father, who was
equally charmed with his generosity and manners, pressed him to take
back part of the money he had given us; this, however, he absolutely
refused, and left us, full of esteem and admiration.

"I will not, gentlemen, repeat the affecting scene I had to undergo in
taking leave of my family and friends. It pierced me to the very heart;
and then, for the first time, I almost repented of being so near the
accomplishment of my wishes. I was, however, engaged, and determined to
fulfil my engagement; I therefore tore myself from my family, having
with difficulty prevailed upon my father to accept of part of the money
I had received for my enrolment. I will not trespass upon your time to
describe the various emotions which I felt from the crowd of new
sensations that entered my mind during our march. I arrived without any
accident in London, the splendid capital of this kingdom; but I could
not there restrain my astonishment to see an immense people talking of
wounds, of death, of battles, sieges, and conquests, in the midst of
feasts, and balls, and puppet-shows, and calmly devoting thousands of
their fellow-creatures to perish by famine or the sword, while they
considered the loss of a dinner, or the endurance of a shower, as an
exertion too great for human fortitude.

"I soon embarked, and arrived, without any other accident than a
horrible sickness, at the place of our destination in America. Here I
joined my gallant officer, Colonel Simmons, who had performed the voyage
in an