beans, lettice, cabbages, radishes, in abundance and reasonable. Good wine, very good English porter in bottles,—and also good water:-altogether, with English industry, cultivation, and cleanliness, it might be made a most delightful place.

In Lisbon you may have any English money discounted; even bank notes, but with some loss ;-in drawing for money you also pay discount ;-in remitting it to England, if one hundred pounds, you receive nearly twenty pounds premium. I should recommend Officers coming out, to bring dollars and doubloons, which they can obtain at any banker's.

As the object I had in view, when I commenced these letters, was to afford such information as might be useful to officers and other gentlemen going out to Lisbon, hoping that you would convert the suggestions I might give into a form adapted to answer their purpose, I have generally confined myself to that point; but where I have deviated, it really arose from a feeling approaching to resentment, particularly on the subject of Transports ;—I again pronounce it a most improper mode of treating Officers ordered to Lisbon, to launch them into a ship with such very bad accommodation, and at the disposal of a master of a transport. We were disembarked in like confusion to that of our embarkation, and equally inconvenienced. seven in the morning we were turned out bag and baggage, in a violent hurry-the master stating that he was to go down to Belem at ten :-conceive a cabin full of passengers, some packing, some dressing, all in confusion, landed on shore at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning-strangers to the place, and this effected to humour the whim of a vagabond master of a transport; his ship never having stirred since, now the fifth day.

At

I hope the Transport Board will take the hints I have made, and at all events, however they may slight certain parts, they will consult the good of the country, and not allow the masters of vessels to keep for their own use the rations that may be undrawn when passengers disembark, which I verily believe, in our ship, would amount to twenty pounds at least. Do, gentlemen, be more considerate towards those brave men who fight its battles, and maintain its independence: and do not incline so favorably to a set of beings, who in general are mercenary, tyrannical, insolent, and vulgar. Now, my dear friend, I must conclude my letter.

LETTER IX.

Ever yours faithfully.

Lisbon, 25th May, 1812.

I have now come to a conclusion of the subject which has occupied my letters for some time, but, before I put the finis to my page, I will touch on a point which I lament to say will be found personally interesting to many. From whatever causes it arises, but so it is, that Officers, having more purposes for their money than others, or possibly less money than their rank in life requires, are frequently obliged to incur debts in the maintenance of a respectable appearance; and who, though they may possess the most just intentions, have it not in their power to liquidate demands that may be precipitately made on them, more especially when ordered on foreign service. The mandate for embarkation is the signal for men being employed to lay in wait for the unfortunate debtor, who is seized, and thrown into goal; from which, if he has neither money or friends, he cannot be extricated ;-he loses his commission, and with that his scanty means of livelihood. There are no doubt many young men who, from careless habits and inattention to their affairs, or from a spirit of extravagance, run into debt. Those gentlemen are not objects of pity, and must expect to suffer; but there are officers who, from misfortune, also having large fa

miles, may be involved, and whose commission are their only support: such men, when ordered on foreign service, are surely not objects for insult and cruelty; they are not fit inhabitants for a jail.—I will give you a history, my dear friend, as related to me from good authority; it needs no comment. If the wretch reads it who was the occasion of the misery, or the gentleman who defeated his villany, how different will be their sensations!

A veteran officer, and who had suffered by wounds, possessing only his commission to maintain himself-his wife, and one grown-up daughter, was involved, by the irregularity of a profligate son-to save this son, the anxious parent took upon himself the debts. The son died, and the poor father was ordered to join his regiment in Portugal. This was no sooner made known, and the old officer had got to Portsmouth to embark, when two wretches, to whom he had engaged to pay debts of his son's incurring-wretches who knew the misfortune under which the poor officer laboured—wretches who knew he had not the means of satisfying their demands, that the income arising from his commission was all he possessed in the world, and that this commission was not saleable these fellows, not from necessity, for they were independent, but from a demonial spirit, had the poor gentleman arrested, the very moment he was taking leave of a heart-broken wife and distracted daughter-dragged him to a sponging-house. The fleet sailed, and took with it all his little baggage, leaving the wretched man a victim to misery and woe for two days, grief totally absorbed every other idea; poverty, ignominy, disgrace, and a jail, stared him in the face; but the man and the soldier humbled himself before his God, and the third day spoke peace to his bosom-resigned to the will of that Being who watches over us, who never deserts those who place their confidence in him, the officer endeavoured to comfort those who were his only care. He had recollected, that twenty years since he had known a gentleman, who now resided about eleven miles from Portsmouth; and, urged by despair, he had written to him on the second day of his confinement, without hope of success, and merely from anxiety to do all he could in his unhappy state. But that friend came-fortune had enabled a munificent heart to pursue the dictates of a humane disposition. He came, took upon himself all the debt, liberated the officer, put him on board a vessel, and took to his house the wife and daughter.

It was with difficulty the good old officer could relate to me this account; he is now in a situation to save money, and discharge his pecuniary obligations: but, putting his hand on his bosom, at the conclusion of his story, he said—My friend, I have obligations which never can be repaid; yet the merciful Father will do it for me; and that heart, which could feel for the miseries of a fellow creature, had that within it that surpasseth all.

The officer further informed me, he had ascertained that whenever writs were received at Portsmouth against any officer, who was there for the purpose of embarkation, the bailiff was immediately privately informed from some person in the Navy Agents' Office, in what ship the officer was to be embarked; by which means po step was taken until the unfortunate debtor was ready to take his final departure-then came the dreadful shock, as if there was a pleasure in adding misery to misery.

Foreign service opens the only way for an officer to save money; and as he finally looks for the comforts of his own fire-side when he has performed his duty, surely his first object would be to discharge bis just demands, previous to returning

home; but if he is locked up in a jail, and loses his commission, the flinty-hearted short-sighted creditor must lose his debt; and richly, in that case, does he deserv thus to suffer.

I have served in the army many years, and advance, as an indisputable fact, that there are no set of men who so scrupulously conduct themselves in their money concerns as the military. We hear of no bankruptcies in the army, no tricks to evade honourable payment, by what is elegantly termed white-washing, and recommencing business, with purses well lined with their creditors' money. An officer incurs a debt, but I aver, that it is oftener occasioned from the scantiness of his pay, than from inclination; for in the army something, nearly bordering on disgrace, is attached to being in debt; and the light it is looked upon no doubt prevents, in a great degree, the practice. An officer looks forward to discharge whatever he may owe, honourably, fully; no compromising ever enters his imagination. Amongst a body of men of such magnitude, there must be, no doubt, some defaulters, particularly as many bankrupt tradesmen have crept into the service; but I defy contradiction when I assert, that the honourable feeling in every corps in the service, spurns, with indignation, the character of a swindler.

As my friend spoke to the fact respecting the Navy Agents' Office, I could not but feel indignant, that the character of such an establishment should be so disgraced, by lending any private aid to the injury and ruin of many worthy military characters, whose sentiments, if properly known, would deeply reflect on the hard-hearted creditor. As for the agent and attorney, what can reach their feelings; what can reach the heart of a man, whose chief support is by the distress and destruction of his neighbour, of the widow, and the orphan. The tigerhearted being who lends his claw to a harsh unfeeling creditor, and while one gnaws the flesh from the very bone, the other takes the marrow, deserves every reprobation; and not less indignant do I feel at the law, that not only, by its course, trebles the original debt, but immures a wretch for life, because he cannot perform impossibilities. Can a man expect to pay 101. who has been arrested for 21. 5s. and could not pay it. Such laws, and such practitioners, are a disgrace to humanity. Why not suffer the wretched prisoners to work; every man could earn something. Let the prisons be so constructed, as to afford conveniences for carrying on different trades; and thus put it in a man's power to work, and let his industry open his prison-door. If an idle fellow will not take advantage of such means, he then deserves his confinement; but let not the poor industrious mechanic, and his family, starve. I am aware there are such places in some county jails, but the jailors have most of the benefit. An occurrence happened last winter, whico can readily be proved by the evidence, on oath of many creditable witnesses.

A girl swore a child against an officer's servant, who was also a soldier; the man was seized, taken to the county jail, was put into a solitary cell; no person was allowed, for two days, to go near him, or take him any refreshment but the jail allowance. A parcel of oakum was put near him, but nothing said. He was thus confined two days in the depth of winter; and had not a medical gentleman interfered, the man would have lost the use of his limbs: as it was, even when by this worthy gentleman's representations, the man was removed to a warmer situation, he lost his hearing for some weeks. If he had picked oakum, it is likely that the jailor would have been less rigorous, who confessed that he derived ten-twelfths of the profits. My heart sickens when I reflect how many brave fellows of our navy, and our army, are locked up in the walls of

a prison for debt, and at the instigation of wretches who would tremble at the alarm of danger.

A partial remedy, I think, might be found, which would relieve many honest but unfortunate debtors; for instance, take any particular class of men, and let that description of people enter into a subscription, and create a fund for the relief of their own class, governed by a committee, to operate as follows: one of them is arrested for debt, he submits his case to the committee; if he proves that it has arisen not from dishonest practices, and a bad disposition, the committee should lend him the money, taking proper sureties for his refunding it at a certain time. I conceive something of this nature might be executed, to prevent the hideous expenses of the law. The debtor lays his case before the committee, prior to its getting into the fangs of an attorney, and the brutal rapacity of the pettyfogging lawyer will be counteracted.

The profession of an attorney or solicitor is, by some of its practitioners, made highly respectable and honourable; but it is a profession of which knaves can and do take advantage. The reptile who, for the sake of gain, will plunge a worthy family into destruction, is a disgrace to human nature; yet hundreds stalk abroad or sneak in holes and corners, they stile an office, and the unfortunate tradesman, the brave soldier and sailor, are daily sacrificed to the rapacious villany of such miscreants. A veteran mutilated officer, being grossly insulted by one of these harpies, applied his finger and thumb to the reptile's nose; this self-created gentleman resented the insult, but how; he was ashamed to prosecute for the assault, as that would proclaim his cowardice; no, he swore he would ruin the officer; and, to keep his word, he got hold of every little debt he could against the officer; and making use of that power the law admits, insulted, imprisoned, and finally ruined a man, who had bled in defence of his country, who had sacrificed a limb. The villain publicly declared he would pursue his prey to ruin, and the law supported him; for although the officer could prove that the wretch had avowed this base intention, could prove that he had bought up his debts at a high rate, he could obtain no redress. But no more of this, the very idea is offensive to humanity.

Before I conclude this letter, I must assert, that there is no body of men so completely free from debt as the officers of the army, and from the best causes. In the first place, a strong sentiment of honour; and, 2ndly, a regular system of living. The mistaken, but unfavourable, light they are regarded in by persons in trade; the feeling that their incomes will only allow to a certain extent, the man's necessity points out; and which necessity gives pretence to the method of making the most of their apparel,—a turned coat, a turned hat, vamped boots, indulgencies that custom supports and usage patronises. This combination saves the pocket, limits the real wants, and creates habits of prudence. Were it not for such customs, the subaltern would starve; by them he is preserved from ruin. Even snares are continually laid to entrap the unwary youth; he is pressed to or der clothes, or other articles; he is pressed for payment: law expenses are pressed on him, until he is pressed to his destruction, and by whom-by the honest creditable man in trade.-Ever faithfully your's.

Villa Franca, July 27, 1812.

Being ready to leave Lisbon for the purpose of joining the army, 1 obtained a route from the Quarter-Master-General's Office for myself and servants; also drew

an allowance of three days' rations and forage. The route specifies the day on which you are to quit Lisbon-points out the road to be taken-the towns where you are to halt each night-and those where you are to draw provisions. Thus prepared, I left that city the following day, at half-past eleven o'clock. You must here allow me a short digression.—A General Officer, the late Adjutant-General in Scotland, a man in every respect most amiable, and a man to whom I am proud of being under obligations, had ordered a cart to be made for his baggage at Lisbon; and conceiving that it would be finished before my arrival, begged that I would bring it on, with some useful articles, wine, &o. to head-quarters. I instantly busied myself about the cart; and as the maker seriously assured me it should be finished in three days, I prepared accordingly; but the man broke this promise, and fifty others of a similar nature; and as he was not blessed with much sensibility or feeling, I was obliged to wait patiently for the termination of his labour. At length he finished it; and after various encomiums on his extraordinary ingenuity in having turned out a machine, that has every quality that it should be without, excepting strength, in which respect our broad-wheeled waggons are but a few degrees stronger, I got the cart; one horse to draw it, and two more to draw him and the load. There appears to be a general sentiment with the Portuguese trader, manufacturer, and mechanic; they do not hesitate to make the most exorbitant demands for their goods, and very frequently dispose of them at one-tenth of the price first asked; and they are seldom punctual to their promises.

As already observed, I obtained the cart; but a more expeditious method of proceeding to Villa Franca being at hand, viz. a boat, I had all the baggage put into one, and in five hours reached this place. On my arrival, I ordered the four boatmen to assist in carrying my baggage; but even the offer of half-a-crown te each, would not induce the idle rascals to go ten yards.

The Tagus above Lisbon, in my opinion, loses all its grandeur. At first there is a tolerable expanse of water, having on the left bank a variety of bold undulating ground, covered with buildings, olive trees, and vines. The former are, in some places, handsome and well disposed, particularly the convents; the shore, on the opposite side, is a flat. Above Lisbon the Tagus cannot be compared to the Severn, except in the muddy appearance of its water; and both are disgusting in that respect. In vain do we look for grandeur on either side of the Tagus; nolofty wood, no rich pasturage; it is a thread-bare garment, decked with tinselindeed every thing is tinsel in Portugal; their religion, laws, manners, customs, buildings, dress, furniture, and their country. First examine their religion-bigotry, idolatry, slavery, and knavery, or rather thieving-for people of the latter description abound in Portugal, and indeed do not disown it. As for their laws, a man can be shut up in prison for a year, and perhaps then released, his confinement having arisen in mistake, or at the order of a man in power, or because he is accused, and his accuser is not required to confront him. Their manners are tinsel, there being no sincerity amongst them; their customs are tinsel, for whether in dress, in carriages, or furniture, finery is paramount; and I have frequently met four miserable mules dragging along a miserable carriage, with the coachman, postillion, and footmen, in glaring liveries.-Here for the present I leave them, and proceed to a description of my journey.

I already have observed, that I ordered my baggage to be put into a boat, and with it went up the river to Villa Franca. Lord Wellington, no doubt for very just causes, has established regulations as to the manner in which an Officer on the