Charles O'Malley, the Irish dragon

Preface

The success of Harry Lorrequer was the reason for writing Charles O'Malley. That I myself was in nowise prepared for the favor the public bestowed on my first attempt is easily enough understood. The ease with which I strung my stories together — and in reality the Confessions of Harry Lorrequer are little other than a note-book of absurd and laughable incidents — led me to believe that I could draw on this vein of composition without any limit whatever. I felt, or thought I felt, an inexhaustible store of fun and buoyancy within me, and I began to have a misty, half-confused impression that Englishmen generally labored under a sadcolored temperament, took depressing views of life, and were proportionately grateful to any one who would rally them, even passingly, out of their despondency, and give them a laugh without much trouble for going in search tof >t. -

When I set to work to wiite* Charles O'Malley, I was, as I have ever been, very low with fortune, **.nd the "success" of a new venture was pretty much as eventful 10 me as the turn of the right color at rouge et noir. At the same time I had then an amount of spring in my temperament, and a power of enjoying life, which I can honestly say I never found surpassed. The world had for me all the interest of an admirable comedy, in which the part allotted myself, if not a high or a foreground one, was eminently suited to my taste, and brought me, besides, sufficiently often on the stage to enable me to follow all the fortunes of the piece. Brussels, where I was then living, was adorned at the period by a most agreeable English society. Some leaders of the fashionable world of London had come there to refit and recruit, both in body and estate. There were several pleasant and a great number of pretty people among them ; and, so far as I could judge, the fashionable dramas of Belgrave Square and its vicinity were being performed in the Rue Roy ale and the Boulevard de Waterloo with very considerable success. There were dinners, balls,

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IV PREFACE.

dejeuners and picnics in the Bois de Cambre, excursions to Waterloo, and select little parties to Bois-fort, a charming little resort in the forest, whose intense cockneyism became perfectly inoffensive as being in a foreign land, and remote from the invasion of home-bred vulgarity. I mention all these things to show the adjuncts by which I was aided, and the rattle of gayety by which I was, as it were, " accompanied," when I next tried my voice.

The soldier element tinctured strongly our society, and I will say most agreeably. Amongst those whom I remember best were several old Peninsulars. Lord Combermere was of this number, and another of our set was an officer who accompanied, if indeed he did not command, the first boat party who crossed the Douro. It is needless to say how I cultivated a society so full of all the storied details I was eager to obtain, and how generously disposed were they to give me all the information I needed. On topography especially were they valuable to me, and with such good result that I have been more than once complimented on the accuracy of my description of places which I have never seen, and whose features I have derived entirely from the narratives of my friends.

When, therefore, my publishers asked me could I write a story in the Lorrequer vein, in which active service and military adventure could figure more prominently than mere civilian life, and where the achievements" of • "a, British." atafryf wight form the staple of the narrative — when this" question wa^s propounded me, I was ready to reply, not one,,'^u^ '.fifty.' ' De liot mfata'ke'mp, and suppose that any overweening confidence in my literary* po Vers would have emboldened me to make this reply ; my whole strength lay in the fact that I could not recognize anything like literary effort in the' matter. If the world would only condescend to read that which I wrote precisely as I was in the habit of talking, nothing could be easier for me than to occupy them. Not alone was it very easy to me, but it was intensely interesting and amusing to myself to be so engaged.

The success of Harry Lorrequer had been freely wafted across the German Ocean, but even in its mildest accents it was very intoxicating incense to me ; and I set to work on my second book with a thrill of hope as regards the world's favor, which — and it is no small thing to say it — I can yet recall.

I can recall, too, and I am afraid more vividly still, some of the difficulties of my task when I endeavored to form anything like an accurate or precise idea of some campaigning incident, or some pas-

PREFACE. V

sage of arm3, from the narratives of two distinct and separate " eye-witnesses." What mistrust I conceived for all eye-witnesses from my own brief experience of their testimonies ! What an impulse did it lend me to study the nature and the temperament of the narrator, as indicative of the peculiar coloring he might lend his narrative ; and how it taught me to know the force of the French epigram that has declared how it was entirely the alternating popularity of Marshal Soult that decided whether he won or lost the battle of Toulouse.

While, however, I was sifting these evidences, and separating, as well as I might, the wheat from the chaff, I was in a measure training myself for what, without my then knowing it, was to become my career in life. This was not, therefore, altogether without a certain degree of labor, but so light and pleasant withal, so full of picturesque peeps at character and humorous views of human nature, that it would be the very rankest ingratitude of me if I did not own that I gained all my earlier experiences of the world in very pleasant company — highly enjoyable at the time, and with matter for charming souvenirs long after.

That certain traits of my acquaintances found themselves embodied in some of the characters of this story, I do not seek to deny. The principle of natural selection adapts itself to novels as to nature, and it would have demanded an effort above my strength to have disabused myself at the desk of all the impressions of the dinner- table, and to have forgotten features which interested or amused me.

One of the personages of my tale I drew, however, with very little aid from fancy. I would go so far as to say that I took him from the life, if my memory did not confront me with the lamentable inferiority of my picture to the great original it was meant to portray.

With the exception of the quality of courage, I never met a man who contained within himself so many of the traits of Falstaff as the individual who furnished me with Major Monsoon. But the Major — I must call him so, though that rank was far beneath his own — was a man of unquestionable bravery. His powers as a storyteller were to my way of thinking unrivalled ; the peculiar reflections on life which he would passingly introduce — the wise apothegms— were after a morality so essentially of his own invention, that he would indulge in the unsparing exhibition of himself in situations such as other men would never have confessed to, all vi PREFACE.

blended up with a racy enjoyment of life, dashed occasionally with sorrow that our tenure of it was short of patriarchal. All these, accompanied by a face redolent of intense humor, and a voice whose modulations were managed with the skill of a consummate artist, — all these, I say, were above me to convey, nor, indeed, as I re-read any of the adventures in which he figures, am I other than ashamed at the weakness of my drawing and the poverty of my coloring.

That I had a better claim to personify him than is always the lot of a novelist — that I possessed, so to say, a vested interest in his life and adventures, I will relate a .little incident in proof; and my accuracy, if necessary, can be attested by another actor in the scene who yet survives.

I was living a bachelor life at Brussels, my family being at Ostend for the bathing during the summer of 1840. The city was comparatively empty, all the so-called society being absent at the various spas or baths of Germany. One member of the British Legation, who remained at his post to represent the mission, and myself, making common cause of our desolation and ennui, spent much of our time together, and dined tete-a-tete every day.

It chanced that one evening, as we were hastening through the park on our way to dinner, we espied the Major — for as Major I must speak of him — lounging along with that half-careless, halfobservant air we had both of us remarked as indicating a desire to be somebody's, anybody's guest, rather than surrender himself to the homeliness of domestic fare.

"There's that confounded old Monsoon," cried my diplomatic friend. "It's all up if he sees us, and I can't endure him."

Now, I must remark that my friend, though very far from insensible to the humoristic side of the Major's character, was not always in the vein to enjoy it, and when so indisposed, he could invest the object of his dislike with something little short of antipathy. "Promise me," said he, as Monsoon came towards us, — "promise me you'll not ask him to dinner." Before I could make any reply, the Major was shaking a hand of each of us, and rapturously expatiating over his good luck at meeting us. " Mrs. M„" said he; " has got a dreary party of old ladies to dine with her, and I have come out here to find some pleasant fellow to join me, and take a mutton chop together."

" We're behind our time, Major," said my friend; "sorry to leave

PREFACE. Vil

you so abruptly, but must push on. Eh, Lorrequer?" added he, to evoke corroboration on my part.

"Harry says nothing of the kind," replied Monsoon; "he says, or he's going to say, ' Major, I have a nice bit of dinner waiting for me at home, enough for two, will feed three, or if there be a shortcoming, nothing easier than to eke out the deficiency by another bottle of Moulton ; come along with us, then, Monsoon, and we shall be all the merrier for your company.' "

Repeating his last words, " Come along, Monsoon," &c, I passed my arm within his, and away we went. For a moment my friend tried to get free and leave me, but I held him fast, and carried him along in spite of himself. He was, however, so chagrined and pr6- voked, that till the moment we reached my door he never uttered a word, nor paid the slightest attention to Monsoon, who talked away in a vein that occasionally made gravity all but impossible.

Our dinner proceeded drearily enough. The diplomatist's stiffness never relaxed for a moment, and my own awkwardness damped all my attempts at conversation. Not so, however, Morisoon ; he ate heartily, approved of everything, and pronounced my wine to be exquisite. He gave us a perfect discourse on sherry, and Spanish wines in general, told us the secret of the Amontillado flavor, and explained that process of browning by boiling down wine which some are so fond of in England. At last, seeing, perhaps, that the protection had little charm for us, with his accustomed tact, he diverged into anecdote. " I was once fortunate enough," said he, "to fall upon some of that choice sherry from the St. Lucas Luentas which is always reserved for royalty. It was a pale wine, delicious in the drinking, and leaving no more flavor in the mouth than a faint dryness, that seemed to say, ' another glass.' Shall I tell you how I came by it ?" And scarcely pausing for a reply, he told the story of having robbed his own convoy, and stolen the wine he was in charge of for safe conveyance.

I wish I could give any, even the weakest, idea of how he narrated that incident, the struggle that he portrayed between duty and temptation, and the apologetic tone of voice in which he explained that the frame of mind that succeeds to any yielding to seductive influences is often in the main more profitable to a man than is the vain-glorious sense of having resisted a temptation. " Meekness is the mother of all the virtues," said he, " and there is no being meek without frailty." The story, told as he told it, was too much for the

VI li PREFACE.

diplomatist's gravity ; he resisted all signs of attention as long as he was able, and at last fairly roared out with laughter.

As soon as I myself recovered from the effects of his drollery, I said, " Major, I have a proposition to make you : let me tell the story in print, and I'll give you five naps."

" Are you serious, Harry ?" asked he. " Is this on honor?"

" On honor, assuredly," I replied.

" Let me have the money down, on the nail, and I'll give you leave to have me and my whole life, every adventure that ever befell me, aye, and, if you like, every moral reflection that my experiences have suggested."

" Done !" cried I ; " I agree."

" Not so fast," cried the diplomatist ; " we must make a protocol of this ; the high contracting parties must know what they give and what they receive. I'll draw out the treaty."

He did so at full length, on a sheet of that solemn blue tinted paper so dedicated to dispatch purposes, — he duly set forth the concession and the consideration. We each signed the document, he witnessed and sealed it, and Monsoon pocketed my five napoleons, filling a bumper to any success the bargain might bring me, and of which I have never had any reason to express deep disappointment.

This document, along with my university degree, my commission in a militia regiment, and a vast amount of letters very interesting to me, were seized by the Austrian authorities on the way from Como to Florence in the August of 1847, being deemed part of a treasonable correspondence, — probably purposely allegorical in form, — and never restored to me. I fairly own that I'd give all the rest willingly to repossess myself of the Monsoon treaty, not a little for the sake of that quaint old autograph, faintly shaken by the quiet laugh with which he wrote it.

That I did not entirely fail in giving my Major some faint resemblance to the great original from whom I copied him, I may mention that he was speedily recognized in print by the Marquis of Londonderry, the well-known Sir Charles Stuart of the Peninsula campaign. " I know that fellow well," said he ; " he once sent me a challenge, and I had to make him a very humble apology. The occasion was this : I had been out with a single aide-de-camp, to make a reconnaissance in front of Victor's division ; and to avoid attracting any notice, we covered over our uniform with two common gray over-

PREFACE. ix

coats which reached to the feet, and effectually concealed our rank as officers. Scarcely, however, had we topped a hill which commanded the view of the French, than a shower of shells flew over and around us. Amazed to think how we could have been so quickly noticed, I looked around me, and discovered, quite close in my rear, your friend Monsoon with what he called his staff, a popinjay set of rascals, dressed out in green and gold, and with more plumes and feathers than the general staff ever boasted. Carried away by momentary passion at the failure of my reconnaissance, I burst out with some insolent allusion to the harlequin assembly which had drawn the French lire upon us. Monsoon saluted me respectfully, and retired without a word ; but I had scarcely reached my quarters when a 'friend' of his waited on me with a message, — a very categorical message it was too, — ' it must be a meeting or an ample apology.' I made the apology, a most full one, for the Major was right, and I had not a fraction of reason to sustain me in my conduct, and we have been the best of friends ever since."

I myself had heard the incident before this from Monsoon, but told amongst other adventures whose exact veracity I was rather disposed to question, and did not therefore accord it all the faith that was its due ; and I admit that the accidental corroboration of this one event very often served to puzzle me afterwards, when I listened to stories in which the Major seemed a second Munchausen, but might, like in this of the duel, have been amongst the truest and most matter-of-fact of historians. May the reader be not less embarrassed than myself is my sincere, if not very courteous, prayer.

I have no doubt myself that often, in recounting some strange incident, — a personal experience it always was, — he was himself more amused by the credulity of the hearers, and the amount of interest he could excite in them, than were they by the story. He possessed the true narrative gusto, and there was a marvellous instinct in the way in which he would vary a tale to suit the tastes of an audience ; while his moralizings were almost certain to take the tone of a humoristic quiz on the company.

Though fully aware that I was availing myself of the contract that delivered him into my hands, and dining with me two or three days a week, he never lapsed into any allusion to his appearance in print, and the story had been already some weeks published before he asked me to lend him "that last thing — he forgot the name of it — I was writing."

X PREFACE.

Of Frank Webber I have said, in a former notice, that he was one of my earliest friends, my chum in college, and in the very chambers where I have located Charles O'Malley, in Old Trinity. He was a man of the highest order of abilities, and with a memory that never forgot, but was ruined and run to seed by the idleness that came of a discursive, uncertain temperament. Capable of anything, he spent his youth in follies and eccentricities ; every one of which, however, gave indications of a mind inexhaustible in resources, and abounding in devioes and contrivances that none other but himself would have thought of. Poor fellow, he died young ; and perhaps it is better it should have been so. Had he lived to a later day, he would most probably have been found a foremost leader of Fenianism, and from what I knew of him, I can say he would have been a more dangerous enemy to English rule than any of those dealers in the petty larceny of rebellion we have lately seen amongst us.

I have said that of Mickey Free I had not one, but one thousand, types. Indeed, I am not quite sure that in my last visit to Dublin I did not chance on a living specimen of the " Free " family, much readier in repartee, quicker with an a propos, and droller in illustration than my own Mickey. This fellow was "boots" at a great hotel in Sackville street ; and I owe to him more amusement and some heartier laughs than it has been always my fortune to enjoy in a party of wits. His criticisms on my sketches of Irish character were about the shrewdest and the best I ever listened to ; and that I am not bribed to this opinion by any flattery, I may remark that they were more often severe than complimentary, and that he hit every blunder of image, every mistake in figure, of my peasant characters, with an acuteness and correctness which made me very grateful to know that his daily occupations were limited to blacking boots, and not polishing off" authors.

I believe I have now done with my confessions, except I should like to own that this story was the means of according me a more heartfelt glow of satisfaction, a more gratifying sense of pride, than anything I ever have or ever shall write, and in this wise. My brother, at that time the rector of an Irish parish, once forwarded to me a letter from a lady unknown to him, but who had heard he was the brother of " Harry Lorrequer," and who addressed him, not knowing where a letter might be directed to myself. The letter was the grateful expression of a mother, who said, " I am the widow of a field officer, and with an only son, for whom I obtained a presenta-

PREFACE. XI

tion to Woolwich. ; but seeing in my boy's nature certain traits of nervousness and timidity, which induced me to hesitate on embarking him in the career of a soldier, I became very unhappy and uncertain which course to decide on.

" While in this state of uncertainty, I chanced to make him a birthday present of ' Charles O'Malley,' the reading of which seemed to act like a charm on his whole character, inspiring him with a passion for movement and adventure, and spiriting him to an eager desire for a military life. Seeing that this was no passing enthusiasm, but a decided and determined bent, I accepted the cadetship for him, and his career has been not alone distinguished as a student, but one which has marked him out for an almost hare-brained courage, and for a dash and heroism that gave high promise for his future.

" Thank your brother for me," wrote she, " a mother's thanks for the welfare of an only son, and say how I wish that my best wishes for him and his could recompense him for what I owe him."

I humbly hope that it may not be imputed to me as unpardonable vanity — the recording of this incident. It gave me an intense pleasure when I heard it ; and now as I look back on it, it invests this story for myself with an interest which nothing else that I have written can afford me.

I have now but to repeat what I have declared in former editions, my sincere gratitude for the favor the public still continues to bestow on me — a favor which probably associates the memory of this book with whatever I have since done successfully, and compels me to remember that to the popularity of " Charles O'Malley". I am indebted for a great share of that kindliness in criticism, and that geniality in judgment, which for more than a quarter of a century my countrymen have graciously bestowed on their faithful friend and servant,

CHAELES LEVEK.

Teieste, 1872.

CONTENTS, VOL. I.

CHAPTER PAGB

I.— Daly's Club House, 17

II.— The Escape, . . 21

III.— Mr. Blake, 26

IV.— The Hunt, 33

V.— The Drawing-Room, 39

VI.— The Dinner, . . 42

VIL— The Flight from Gurt-na-Morra, 51

VIII.— The Duel, • . . 58

IX.— The Return, 64

X.— The Election, 68

XL— An Adventure, 75

XII.— Mickey Free, 79

XIII.— The Journey; 89

XIV.— Dublin, 97

XV.— Captain Power, . 104

XVI.— The Vice-Provost, 114

X VIL— Trinity College— A Lecture, 118

XVIIL— The Invitation— The Wager, 124

XIX.— The Ball, 127

XX.— The Last Night in Trinity, . 139

XXL— The Phosnix Park, 147

XXIL— The Road, 154

XXIIL— Cork, 160

XXIV.— The Adjutant's Dinner, 165

XXV.— The Entanglement, 168

XXVL— The Preparation, 172

XXVIL— The Supper, 177

XXVIIL— The Voyage, 184

XXIX.— The Adjutant's Story— Life in Derry, .... 190 XXX.— Fred Power's Adventure in Philipstown, . . .198

XXXL— The Voyage, 207

XXXIL— Mr. Sparks's Story, 210

XXXIIL— The Skipper, 219

XXXIV.— The Land, 232

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xiv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

XXXV.— Major Monsoon, 236

XXXVI.— The Landing, 244

XXXVII.— Lisbon, 253

XXXVIIL— The Rita Nuova, 258

XXXIX.— The Villa, 263

XL.— The Dinner, 266

XLL— The Route, 270

XLIL— The Farewell, 272

XLIIL— The March, 276

XLIV.— The Bivouac, 283

XLV— The Douro, 291

XLVI.— The Morning, 300

XLVIL— The Review, 303

XLVIIL— The Quarrel, 308

XLIX.— The Route, . 312

L.— The Watch-Fire, 315

LI.— The March, . . . - 322

LIL— The Page, 324

LIIL— Alvas, 330

LIV.— The Supper, 334

LV.— The Legion, 340

LVL— The Departure, . . . 342

LVIL— Cuesta, ' 350

LVIIL— The Letter, 352

LIX.— Major O'Shaughnessy, 355

LX.— Preliminaries, 358

LXL— All Right, 360

LXIL— The Duel, 362

LXIIL— News from Galway, 367

LXIV.— An Adventure with Sir Arthur, 373

LXV.— Talavera, • 375

CONTENTS, VOL. II.

CHAPTER PAGE

I.— Night after Talavera, 383

II.— The Outpost, 38$

III.— The Doctor's Tale, 394

IV.— The Skirmish, 404

V.— The Lines of Ciudad Rodrigo, 410

VI.— The Doctor, 416

VII.— The Coa, 419

VIII.— The Night March, 426

IX.— The Journey, 430

X.— The Ghost, 436

XI.— Lisbon, 442

XII.— A Pleasant Predicament, 450

XIII.— The Dinner, 453

XIV.— The Letter, 457

XV.— The Villa, 463

XVI.— The Visit, 469

XVIL— The Confession, 473

XVIII.— My Charger, 479

XIX.— Maurice, 483

XX.— The Masquerade, 488

XXL— The Lines, 497

XXIL— The Eetreat of the French, 501

XXIIL— Patrick's Day in the Peninsula, 504

XXIV.— Fuentes d'Onoro, 519

XXV.— The Battle of Fuentes d'Onoro, 523

XXVL— A Rencontre, 532

XXVIL— Almeida, 537

XXVIIL— A Night on the Azava, 539

XXIX.— Mike's Mistake, 551

XXX.— Major Monsoon in Trouble, 558

XXXI.— The Confidence, 567

XXXIL— The Cantonment, 572

XXXIIL— Mickey Free's Adventure, 576

XXXIV.— The San Petro, 581

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XVI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

XXXV.— The Count's Letter, 589

XXXVI.— The Trenches, 593

XXXVII.— The Storming op Ciudad Rodrigo, 598

XXXVIII.— The Rampart, 601

XXXIX.— The Despatch, 607

XL.— The Leave, 610

XLL— London, 618

XLIL— The Bell: at Bristol, ,623

XLIIL— Ireland, 631

XLIV.— The Return, 640

XLV.— Home, 644

XLVI. — An Old Acquaintance, 652

XLVII.— A Surprise, 659

XLVIIL— New Views, 669

XLIX.— A Recognition, 674

L.— A Mistake, 680

LI.— Brussels, 689

LIL— An Old Acquaintance, 698

LIIL— The Duchess of Richmond's Ball, * .706

LIV.— Quatre Bras, . • .717

LV.— Waterloo, - .733

LVI. — Brussels, » .748

LVIL— Conclusion, r . 754

®he Jrish Dragoon,

Chapter I. Daly's Club House

THE rain was dashing in torrents against the window-panes, and the wind sweeping in heavy and fitful gusts along the dreary and deserted streets, as a party of three persons sat over their wine, in that stately old pile which once formed the resort of the Irish members, in College Green, Dublin, and went by the name of Daly's Club House. The clatter of falling tiles and chimney-pots, the jarring of the window-frames and howling of the storm without, seemed little to affect the spirits of those within, as they drew closer to a blazing fire, before which stood a small table covered with the remains of a dessert, and an abundant supply of bottles, whose characteristic length of neck indicated the rarest wines of France and Germany. While the portly magnum of claret — the wine par excellence of every Irish gentleman of the day — passed rapidly from hand to hand, the conversation did not languish, and many a deep and hearty laugh followed the stories which every now and then were told, as some reminiscence of early days was recalled, or some trait of a former companion remembered.

One of the party, however, was apparently engrossed by other thoughts than those of the mirth and merriment around; for, in the midst of all, he would turn suddenly from the others, and devote himself to a number of scattered sheets of paper, upon which he had written some lines, but whose crossed and blotted sentences attested how little success had waited upon his literary labors. This individual was a short, plethoric-looking, whitehaired man of about fifty, with a deep, round voice, and a chuckling, smothering laugh, which, whenever he indulged, not only shook his own ample person, but generally created a petty earth- 2 (17)

quake on every side of him. For the present, I shall not stop to particularize him more closely; but when I add tfeat the person in question was a well-known member of the Irish House of Commons, whose acute undemanding arid' practical good sense were veiled under an affected and well-dissembled habit of blundering, that did far more for his party than the most violent and pointed attacks of his more accurate associates, some of my readers may anticipate me in pronouncing him to be Sir Harry Boyle. Upon his left sat a figure the most unlike him possible ; he was a tall, thin, bony man, with a bolt-upright air, and a most saturnine expression ; his eyes were covered by a deep green shade, which fell far over his face, but failed to conceal a blue scar that, crossing his cheek, ended in the angle of his mouth, and imparted to that feature, when he spoke, an apparently abortive attempt to extend towards his eyebrow ; his upper lip was covered with a grizzly and ill-trimmed moustache, which added much to the ferocity of his look, while a thin and pointed beard on his chin gave an apparent length to the whole face that completed its rueful character. His dress was a single-breasted, tightly-buttoned frock, in one buttonhole of which a yellow ribbon was fastened, the decoration of a foreign service, which conferred upon its wearer the title of Count ; and though Billy Considine, as he was familiarly called by his friends, was a thorough Irishman in all his feelings and affections, yet he had no objection to the designation he had gained in the Austrian army. The Count was certajnly no beauty, but, somehow, very few men of his day had a fancy for telling him so; a deadlier hand and a steadier eye never covered his man in the Phoenix ; and though he never had a seat in the House, he was always regarded as one of the government party, who more than once had dampened the ardor of an opposition member, by the very significant threat of " setting Billy at him." The third figure of the group was a large, powerfully-built, and handsome man, older than either of the others, but not betraying in his voice or carriage any touch of time. He was attired in the green coat and buff vest which formed the livery of the club ; and in his tall, ample forehead, clear, well-set eye, and still handsome mouth, bore evidence that no great flattery was necessary at the time which called Godfrey O'Malley the handsomest man in Ireland.