CHAPTER VIII 



PORTSMOUTH IN 1814, AND PROSPERITV 



The War — Trafalgar — Sir John Moore — Sir David Baird — Corunna — 

 Disembarkation — -Walcheren — Camp at Southsea — Embarkation 

 — The Earl of Chatham — Sir Eichard John Strachan — Prosperity 

 of Seaport Towns — A Profitable Business — A Distinguished 

 Mihtary Gentleman ; his Wants Supplied — A Dinner and Wine 

 — The Bill — An Interesting Discovery — Drive to Eeading and 

 Oxford— An Agreeable Surprise — Prompt Eesolve — Clouds in 

 the Distance — The Eussian Campaign — The Campaign in 

 Germany — Peace — The Visit to Portsmouth — Insanity of the 

 People — Prince Blucher — The Emperor Alexander — The King 

 of Prussia — Napoleon. 



At the time I commenced life — that is, when I married, 

 and possessed an establishment of my own — the town in 

 which I resided partook as much, or more, than any 

 in England, of the benefits arising from a large expendi- 

 ture of the public money. The war was then at its 

 height. Though the victory of Trafalgar had all but 

 annihilated the naval power of France, our blockading 

 squadrons were kept in sufficient force. The channel, too, 

 being infested with privateers, fitted out, for the most 

 part, in the smaller ports, gave ample employment to our 

 cruisers ; Avhile, to preserve our command in the Baltic 

 and Mediterranean Seas, — to provide convoys for large 

 fleets of Indiamen — and otherwise protect our commerce 

 in every quarter of the globe, — the employment of all the 



