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of us lay; until we were despatched to our different destinations.
It was soon seen by the exercise which were the old soldiers amongst
us, and which the recruits; and for the former, while we lay in
prison, there was a little more leisure: though, if possible, a
still more strict watch kept than over the broken-spirited yokels
who had been forced or coaxed into the service. To describe the
characters here assembled would require Mr. Gilray's own pencil.
There were men of all nations and callings. The Englishmen boxed and
bullied; the Frenchmen played cards, and danced, and fenced; the
heavy Germans smoked their pipes and drank beer, if they could
manage to purchase it. Those who had anything to risk gambled, and
at this sport I was pretty lucky, for, not having a penny when I
entered the depot (having been robbed of every farthing of my
property by the rascally crimps), I won near a dollar in my very
first game at cards with one of the Frenchmen; who did not think of
asking whether I could pay or not upon losing. Such, at least, is
the advantage of having a gentlemanlike appearance; it has saved me
many a time since by procuring me credit when my fortunes were at
their lowest ebb.
Among the Frenchmen there was a splendid man and soldier, whose real
name we never knew, but whose ultimate history created no small
sensation, when it came to be known in the Prussian army. If beauty
and courage are proofs of nobility, as (although I have seen some of
the ugliest dogs and the greatest cowards in the world in the
noblesse) I have no doubt courage and beauty are, this Frenchman
must have been of the highest families in France, so grand and noble
was his manner, so superb his person. He was not quite so tall as
myself, fair, while I am dark, and, if possible, rather broader in
the shoulders. He was the only man I ever met who could master me
with the small-sword; with which he would pink me four times to my
three. As for the sabre, I could knock him to pieces with it; and I
could leap farther and carry more than he could. This, however, is
mere egotism. This Frenchman, with whom I became pretty intimate--
for we were the two cocks, as it were, of the depot, and neither had
any feeling of low jealousy--was called, for want of a better name,
Le Blondin, on account of his complexion. He was not a deserter, but
had come in from the Lower Rhine and the bishoprics, as I fancy;
fortune having proved unfavourable to him at play probably, and
other means of existence being denied him. I suspect that the
Bastile was waiting for him in his own country, had he taken a fancy
to return thither.
He was passionately fond of play and liquor, and thus we had a
considerable sympathy together: when excited by one or the other, he
became frightful. I, for my part, can bear, without wincing, both
ill luck and wine; hence my advantage over him was considerable in
our bouts, and I won enough money from him to make my position
tenable. He had a wife outside (who, I take it, was the cause of his
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