2 SPOJtTS AND ANECDOTES. 



been so liberally bestowed upon me, and the kind 

 treatment I have received from all quarters, I feel 

 tempted to ask for more. And thus, most kind 

 and, to my notions, easily to be pleased British 

 public, I shall again offer to your indulgent notice 

 a few anecdotes, sayings, and doings, which have 

 come under my own notice, and, many of them having 

 happened to myself, whether they may appear to you 

 interesting and amusing, or not, recall vividly to me 

 things that have taken place and passed away during 

 a long and somewhat eventful life. 



With your permission, then, I will begin by telling 

 you what manner of man I am, or rather, have been. 

 Non sum qualis eram, I am constrained to admit ; 

 but how can it be otherwise, for years have rolled 

 on cito pede, as the Poet says yes, with incredible 

 velocity, as it seems to me. 



I was born, good reader, so long ago as Anno 

 Domini 1810, in camp near Colchester, where my 

 Father was then quartered with the i6th Light 

 Dragoons, now i6th Lancers. On the loth November, 

 1 8 10, I first drew my breath, and was born with both 

 eyes open, as I am told, and having kept them pretty 

 wide open ever since that memorable time, and having 

 been, as they tell me, pretty wide awake for more 



