1829.) [249 7 
MEMOIKS OF JOHN SHIPP.* 
Tus John Shipp is a fine fanfaronading-sort of fellow—every inch a 
soldier. He has an extraordinary tale to tell, has told it freely and fairly, 
and deserves to be heard. The pen, indeed, is not his weapon, but he 
handles it boldly; and though he knows nothing of the perils he 
encounters, the fullest knowledge would never have daunted his adven~ 
turous spirit. The book is full of offence against what is considered 
good taste and cultivated feeling, and the fastidious must expect to be 
revolted at every turn. They must make the best of it. For our own 
parts, annoyed as we are perpetually with affectation and pretence, we 
are well content with a little roughness and defiance of niceties, accom- 
panied, as it is in this case, with some genuine and unusual experience ; 
and find the jokes of the guard-room about as refined as those of the 
mess. Shipp knows something of both, and he has given us the full 
benefit of his double acquirements. Though our intention is to present 
to our country readers—for the book will scarcely reach them—some 
considerable extracts, we must preface them with a slight sketch of the 
writer’s career. 
Shipp was born in 17€5, and left, in his infancy, an orphan, to the 
mercy of the parish officers. At seven or eight years, he was placed 
with a farmer, whose brutalities he details at some length and with some 
bitterness. He reminds us of a wretch of this cast, who boasted of tak- 
ing out the pith and vigour of his labourers in four or five years, and 
never considered them worth a rush after that period. He estimated 
them precisely as he did his horses—by their strength and powers of 
endurance; and, being the chief of his parish, he carried his theory 
resolutely into practice, and was surely one of the veriest tyrants that 
every disgraced humanity. To quit this atrocious monster, Shipp gladly 
acceded to the wishes of the overseers to take him to the depot at Col- 
chester, and enter him into one of the experimental regiments. These 
were the 22d, 34th, and 65th, consisting of a thousand boys each, from 
ten to sixteen, and were destined to relieve the parishes. Though mak- 
ing most excellent soldiers, this experiment—by the way, we know not 
why—was never repeated: yet surely, with the daily complaints of the 
increase of juvenile delinquency, arecurrence to this expedient would be 
one of the most effective measures that could possibly be devised. Shipp 
was ten years of age when he joined this corps, and, after a year or two 
spent at Hilsea barracks, was sent to the Cape, where the regiment was 
employed in a pretty rough warfare against the Caffrees, till, in 1801, 
the colony was delivered up to the Dutch, and the regiment proceeded to 
India. : 
In 1803, wearying of the drum and fife, and ambitious of distinetion— 
active and alive—he solicited to be placed in the ranks. The request was 
anted—with the rank of corporal, which was quickly followed by 
her promotion—passing through all gradations, to the important post 
of chief non-commissioned officer. On every occasion of danger, he was 
foremost—till, finally, at the memorable siege of Bhurtpore; in 1805—he 
was then but twenty—he volunteered to lead the forlorn hope, and was 
promised a commission if he survived. In four desperate attempts was 
* Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp, late a Lieutenant in 
His Majesty’s 87th Regiment. 3 vols. 8vo. Hurst, Chance, and Co. 
M.M. New Scries—Vou. VII. No. 39. 2 K 
