SWVABHY DIARY. 533 
and non-commissioned officers, and experienced soldicrs, to 
give consistency to the young levies with which he was pre- 
paring to take the field, and he could only supply this want 
by drawing from the veterans of the Peninsula; wherefore 
he resolyed to recall the divisions of the young guard, and 
with it many thousand men and officers of the line most 
remarkable for courage and conduct. In lieu he sent the 
reserve at Bayonne into Spain, replacing it with another, 
which was again to be replaced in May by further levies ; and 
besides this succour, 20,000 conscripts were appropriated for 
the Peninsula.” Napier, Vol. V., pp. 432-8. 
elst February.—There is such a complete vacancy and want of em- 
ployment in our time, that I cannot congratulate myself of a night of 
having done anything either useful or entertaining. 
gend Kebruary.—I received an unlooked-for parcel of clothes from 
Hngland by a private friend, I do not kaow whom, and so much the 
better as it will save me the trouble of returning thanks. 
23rd Kebruary.—Letters from England. I cannot think it quite 
kind of my Hampshire friends never communicating with me, they 
must have made a very unfair presumption that their correspondence 
is uninteresting. 
24th February.—A good enough anecdote of Macdonald. His 
servants, etc. came back from Lisbon to-day and without a helmet, 
which he had, unsolicited, written word he had left for me at Coimbra. 
eoth Kebruary.— 
Oh day ill-spent that can no action tell! 
A blank—for neither good nor evil dwell 
Recorded in thy page. The patient knell 
That tolls thy flight sounds neither ill or well. 
26th February.—1 could almost put the same stamp on this “ busy 
day,” to save my shame I certainly did go out shooting. 
2/th Kebruary.—letters from England hinted to Dyneley that 
Gardiner ' had been posted to the troop? vacated by Major Foy’s pro- 
1 Captain Robert W. Gardiner (Kane’s List, No. 979) served at the capture of Minorea in 
1798 ; in the campaigns in Portugal and Spain in 1808, including the battles of Rorica, Vimeira, 
and the capture of Lisbon; he was Brigade-Major of Artillery in the retreat to Corufia, and with 
Lord Chatham’s expedition to Walcheren, and was present at the capture of Middleburg and 
Flushing. In 1810, he returned to Spain and served at the defence of Cadiz and the battle of 
Barrosa. In 1812, he was present at the siege of Badajos, battle of Salamanca, capture of Madrid, 
and siege of Burgos. In March 1818, he succeeded Captain Macdonald in command of “ E ” 
troop, and served with it, attached to the Hussar Brigade, at the battles of Vitoria, the Pyrenees, 
Orthes, and Toulouse, and other minor affairs. At the conclusion of the war he marched through 
France with the troop and embarked at Calais for England. In the campaign of 1815, Sir Robert 
was present with his troop in the retreat from Quatre Bras and at Waterloo. In 1816, he was 
appointed equerry to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, and was Aide-de-Camp till his promotion to 
Major-General in succession to George IV., William IV., and Queen Victoria. For his dis- 
tinguished services he received the G.C.B. and K.C.H., the gold cross and two clasps, and the 
silver medal and three clasps for the Peninsula; the Waterloo medal with the Order of St. 
Anne of Russia for the campaign of 1815. In 1848, he was made Governor of Gibraltar. Sir 
Robert Gardiner was author of numerous pawphlets, most of which were written in the interest of 
the Regiment with which to the last he thoroughly identified himself. He strongly advocated the 
establishment of an “Artillery of the Guard” as exists in other armies in Europe. He dicd 
Colonel-Commandant, R.H.A. in 186-4, 
2ST oops Leki At 
