AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 5 



Each hundred was doled out with painful reluctance, 

 and the knowledge that a certain annual allowance would 

 be requisite for my support made him still more 

 wretched. I joined the regiment ; my subsidies — 

 generally drafts for a paltry fifty — were " few and 

 far between." To hold a certain place in society, with 

 an income incompetent to its expenses, is a state of 

 inexpressible misery. Gradually I became embarrassed, 

 and in two years found it necessary to exchange from 

 the Blues to a Light Cavalry regiment, then stationed in 

 the East Indies. My uncle made no objection ; he was 

 tired of what he termed supplying my boundless 

 extravagance, bade me a cold farewell, and his parting 

 words, as I stepped into the carriage, were a request 

 that I would " write but seldom, as postage from the 

 East, his lawyer told him, was enormous." 



I obeyed him to the letter ; I only wrote once, and 

 that was conveying an entreaty that he would purchase a 

 majority likely to become vacant ; I got a coarse refusal, 

 and thus our correspondence terminated. For four 

 years I never heard from him, and had nearly forgotten 

 that I had left a relation behind me. 



I was surprised, however, at this distant period with 

 a letter, worded in his stiff and peculiar style. It 

 briefly stated that his health was indifferent, and that 

 he would recommend me to return to Europe with as 

 little delay as possible. 



This recommendation was anything but gratifying. 

 I liked India well enough — the climate agreed with 

 me — my health was unimpaired — the mess was good — 

 the regiment gentlemanly — and, better still, I could 

 live most comfortably upon my pay. I felt, however, 

 that my uncle's invitation should not be neglected ; 



