JAMES MUSPRATT 71 



The youth rejoiced to devote what time he 

 could spare to the study of such books as the 

 Dictionary of Chemistry, by Nicholson, and 

 a translation of the works of Guyton de 

 Morveau, and also to the making of ex- 

 periments. 



In the year 1810 he had the calamity to 

 lose his father, and in the succeeding year 

 his mother died. She had excited in him 

 devoted love and veneration, and to his 

 latest day her memory was sacred to him. 

 Just before his father's death the young 

 apprentice had for some cause quarrelled 

 with his master, and was at home unoccupied 

 when he lost his mother. An orphan, his 

 heart heavy with grief, and his prospects 

 darkened, the slight inheritance left him by 

 his parents wasting away in Chancery pro- 

 ceedings, he was attracted by the excitement 

 of a warrior's life, and determined to seek a 

 career in the army. All Europe was at this 

 time watching the exploits of Wellington and 

 Napoleon in the Peninsula, and to this strife 

 of heroes, James Muspratt, full of strength 

 and valour, went. 



The cavalry of England had won much 

 glory in these campaigns, and he was 

 determined in it to obtain a cornetcy. But 



