12 Memoir of Tom Smith. 



relate by and by, though it must be o^vned 

 that the sitting T^^as rather a long one. 



Tom "was still at school when England was 

 thi'eatened with invasion, and Yolunteer corps 

 were formed in every quarter in consequence. 

 As at the present day, '^ cadet corps" were set 

 on foot, though not so named; but the elder 

 school-boys were drilled, and were provided 

 with wooden swords and guns, of Avhich the 

 blades and barrels were handsomely black- 

 leaded; and in order to procure feathers for 

 their hats, the hackle of all the white and red 

 cocks, in Tom's neighbourhood at least, was 

 " appropriated" with or without leave, as might 

 happen. Mr. Smith was a captain in the Bent- 

 worth, Shaldon, and Lasham corps; and on 

 Tom quitting school, at the age of seventeen, 

 he was at once appointed an ensign in his 

 father's company, in which he continued until 

 the peace of 1814. He thus acquired a great 

 desire for a military life, and a promise of a 

 commission was obtained for him ; but family 



