to the cutty-stool in early life, and had
become the scandal of his elders—it was
refreshing, I say, to see them shining away
here as pashas, and knights, and generals.
They were quite in their element.

There they were, eating and drinking
together like gipsies or mosstroopers; drinking
brandy and water, to keep off cholera, out of
their embroidered caps; and cutting up tough
fowls with their doughty sabres. There they
were lending money to each other out of
purses slender enough probably; disputing
with consuls about unpaid tailors' bills for
the wonderful uniforms; laughing together;
quarrelling together, making it up with tears
and assurances "that Jack was the best
fellow under the sun, only, hang him, he is
always coming the general over me so." There
they were, believing in each other, and believing
in themselves, talking about their uncles who
lived in parks, which were always the
finest in the part of the United Kingdom in
which they were situated. There they were
talking of their sisters, who were all trumps
of girls, and who had often helped to pay
(perhaps out of a governess's salary) for the
wonderful uniforms—when they were paid
for, which was not often. There they were, talking
of their wives, who had mostly behaved
badly. Puncturing their breasts and arms
with tattooed letters of the names of splendid
women they had left behind at Bucharest, or
bold devices like Erin-go-bragh or Rule
Britannia. Many a fine fellow, as he lies
stiff and stark beneath the inclement skies
of the Crimea, shall be found by some
dauntless friend among the thickest of the
fallen, wherever glory was to be won, or the
wildest valour dared to spur, and he shall
be known by those brave words upon his
breast, and buried with a tear, which shall
not be the last shed over him. Yes, there
will be mourners enough for them among
bright-eyed women and true men. Among
fathers, of whom they were still the pride, and
among mothers, who will not be comforted
when they hear that their bold sons have
fallen. The sons with the open brows and
hazel eyes, with the hot tempers and hearts
of gold. Sons who, in spite of reckless habits,
made little hoards—stolen often from the
necessaries of life—to send some token of their
unaltered and enduring love to far-away
homes and relatives, who had looked coldly
enough on them; who wrote letters, telling
of their brightened fortunes; who wrote
letters which had made the old folks stare and
hold up their heads again, and given rise to
paragraphs in county papers; who wrote
letters full of high hopes and honest simple-
hearted projects for the future; and who
never wrote again.

Then there were sparkling little French
officers making jokes about their chances of
promotion; and prosy, good-natured soldiers
(no one on earth is so prosy as a French
private) telling extraordinary stories,
perfectly unintelligible, of course, to British
grenadiers, and Scotch or Irish soldiers listening
to them with polite and tipsy gravity.
There were doctors hurrying about to and from
the hospital, and orderlies galloping hither and
thither over the blackened ruins of the Greek
fire, for Greek it really does seem to have been.
There were army chaplains, with curious
recipes for making curry, who stopped obliging
linguists in the streets, and wanted
to know " the Greek for Cayenne pepper?"
There were French and Italian hucksters
driving roaring trades; and impromptu
hotels cheating many travellers; for the military
messes have all been broken up, and
even the ex-officers of the King of .Candy—
usually such sticklers for military etiquette,
and capital authorities on culinary matters, as
indeed on all others, are obliged to dine by
twos and threes.

We adjourned with some of them to the
house of the consular interpreter. He was
a grandiloquent man, as all Greeks in office
are. He immediately took us mentally and
bodily into a sort of custody. He implored
us, as we trusted in his honour and abilities,
to free ourselves from the smallest thought
or trouble about anything. We found him,
of course, a fearful scamp, and his
house seemed merely a windy, wooden,
trap, for vermin, and bad smells—the
latter coming quite unexpectedly and in
stifling gusts. The former absolutely turned
us out of bed, descending on us in such
countless hosts when we put out the lights,
that there was no keeping the field against
them.

The food we got here was, of course, bad:
the Greeks having no idea of eating and
drinking, except on festival days. The bill
was so preposterous that it called forth a
rather energetic remonstrance from the
Almoner of our party.

"Sare," whined the Greek, in defence of
his charges, and with all the misplaced pride
of his race, " I am not a common man."

"No, faith," replied the Purse-bearer,
wincing, " you seem to me a most uncommon
rogue."

We were glad to get away, touzled,
bitten, dirty, comfortless, and sleepless,
to go plashing along through the lonely
moonlight to the sea-shore where a boat
was waiting for us.

This day is published, for greater convenience, and
cheapness of binding,
THE FIRST TEN VOLUMES
OF
HOUSEHOLD WORDS,
IN FIVE HANDSOME VOLUMES,
WITH A GENERAL INDEX TO THE WHOLE.

Price of the Set, thus bound in Five Double instead of Ten
Single Volumes, £2 10s. Od. The General Index can
be had separately, price 3d.