COLERIDGE AS A SOLDIER. 



141 



dexterity, he could not do at all ; 

 ergo, must he not be a natural ? 



" There was no man in the regi- 

 ment who met with so many falls 

 from his horse as Silas Tomken 

 Cumberbatch. He often calculated, 

 with so little precision, his due 

 equilibrium, that, in mounting on 

 one side perhaps the wrong stir- 

 rup the probability was, especi- 

 ally if his horse moved a little, that 

 he lost his balance, and if he did not 

 roll back on this side, came down 

 ponderously on the other. Then 

 the laugh spread amongst the men 

 ' Silas is off again.' Mr. C. had 

 often heard of campaigns, but he 

 never before had so correct an idea 

 of hard service. 



" Some mitigation was now in 

 store for Mr. C., arising out of a 

 whimsical circumstance. He had 

 been placed, as a sentinel, at the 

 door of a ball-room, or some public 

 place of resort, when two of his 

 officers, passing in, stopped for a 

 moment near Mr. C., talking about 

 Euripides, two lines from whom one 

 of them repeated. 



"At the sound of Greek, the 

 sentinel instinctively turned his ear, 

 when he said, with all deference, 

 touching his lofty cap, ' I hope your 

 honour will excuse me, but the lines 

 you have repeated are not quite 

 accurately cited. These are the 

 lines,' when he gave them in their 

 more correct form. ' Besides/ said 

 Mr. C., ' instead of being in Euri- 

 pides, the lines will be found in the 

 second antistrophe of the CEdipus 

 of Sophocles.' ' Why, man, who 

 are you?' said the officer; 'old 

 Faustus ground young again V 'I am 

 your honour's humble sentinel,' said 

 Mr. 0., again touching his cap. 



"The officers hastened into the 

 room, and inquired of one and 

 another about that ' odd fish' at the 

 door, when one of the mess it is 

 believed the surgeon told them 

 that he had his eye upon him, but 

 he could neither tell where he came 



from, nor any thing about his family 

 of the Cumberbatches ; ' but,' con- 

 tinued he, ' instead of his being an 

 ' odd fish,' I suspect he must be a 

 'stray bird' from the Oxford or 

 Cambridge aviary.' They learned 

 also the laughable fact, that he was 

 bruised all over by frequent falls 

 from his horse. ' Ah ! ' said one of 

 the officers, ' we have had, at differ- 

 ent times, two or three of these 

 ' university birds ' in our regiment.' 



" This suspicion was confirmed 

 by one of the officers, Mr. Nathaniel 

 Ogle, who observed that he had 

 noticed a line of Latin chalked 

 under one of the men's saddles, and 

 was told, on inquiring whose saddle 

 it was, that it was ' Cumberbatch's.' 



" The officers now kindly took pity 

 on the 'poor scholar,' and had Mr. C. 

 removed to the medical department, 

 where he was appointed assistant 

 in the regimental hospital. This 

 change was a vast improvement in 

 Mr. C.'s condition ; and happy was 

 the day also, on which it took place, 

 for the sake of the sick patients ; 

 for Silas Tomken Cumberbatch's 

 amusing stories, they said, did them 

 more good than all the doctor's 

 physic. 



'' If he began talking to one or 

 two of his comrades for they were 

 all on a perfect equality, except 

 those who went through their ex- 

 ercises the best, and stretched their 

 necks a little above the ' awkward 

 squad,' in which ignoble class Mr. 

 C. was placed as pre-eminent mem- 

 ber, almost by acclamation if he 

 began to speak, notwithstanding, to 

 one or two, others drew near, in- 

 creasing momently, till by and by 

 the sick beds were deserted, and 

 Mr. C. formed the centre of a large 

 circle. 



" In one of these interesting con- 

 versations, when Mr. C. was sitting 

 at the foot of the bed, surroundf 1 

 by his gaping comrades, who were 

 always solicitous of, and never 

 wearied with, his stories, the door 



