100 PRINCE OF WALES 



when he was reinstated. He reached his destination 

 after a two hours' ride, and at parting heartily shook 

 me by the hand, saying he had had a very pleasant 

 journey. 



Another occurrence at this time was the embarkation 

 of that crack regiment, the 10th Hussars, for the Penin- 

 sula, His Royal Highness George Prince of Wales, their 

 Colonel, afterwards King George the Fourth, came down 

 to Portsmouth to witness their departure. This caused 

 no little stir in the old town. A review of the troops in 

 the garrison took place on Southsea Common. The Prince 

 was there on horseback, accompanied by an eccentric 

 baronet,^ whose strange attire — a long loose plain drab 

 coat and a slouched hat, contrasted strongly with the tight 

 Hussar jacket and the fur cap of his royal and rotund 

 Patron. After the review the officers of the regiment 

 irave a errand farewell dinner at one of the hotels to their 

 distinguished Colonel, to which the principal officers of 

 the garrison were invited, where my friend and I had the 

 highly- prized privilege of seeing the first gentleman in 

 the land sitting at the head of the table, gnawing a bone 

 like a rustic. 



It was not long after this that a most awful and melan- 

 choly accident occurred, involving the death of five poor 

 creatures. A detachment of some regiments of infantry 

 had disembarked from Ireland, and had brought with 

 them as much as eight or ten barrels of gunpowder, which 

 were temporarily deposited on Point Beach. I was 

 sitting ha\dng my hair cut in a hairdresser's shop at the 

 bottom of the High Street, when a tremendous concussion 



^ Sir John Ladd. 



