The Young Dragoon: Every Day Life of a Soldier

Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease, Seats of my youth, when every sport could please; How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green, Where humble happiness endeared each scene!

Angels and ministers of grace defend us!-- Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd, Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked or charitable...

Roger he swore he'd leave his plough, His team and tillage all, by gum; Of a country life he'd had enou'; - He'd leave it all and follow the drum. He'd leave his threshing in th...

"Who'll serve the King?" said the Sergeant, aloud, Loud roll'd the drum, and the fife played sweetly. "Here, Mr Sergeant," says I from the crowd, "Is a lad that will serve your...

He then gave me a shilling, and informed me that I was a soldier, and that in addition to the shilling, he would advance me three or four days' pay to stand treat to _my comrade...

When first I met thee, warm and young, There shone such truth about thee, And on thy lip such promise hung, I did not dare to doubt thee. I saw thee change, yet still relied, St...

Bring forth the horse: the horse was brought; In truth he was a noble steed, A Tartar of the Ukraine breed, That seemed as though the speed of thought Were in his limbs.

Strengthening fare and a welcoming glance, More than rich dainties and pleasures entrance; When to droop we begin, Mine host joins in, Health to the soldier, and health to our l...

For once, upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, Caesar said to me--"Darest thou, Cassius, now Leap in with me into this angry flood, And swim to...

Who has done this deed? All are suspect, While yet the guilty one is undiscovered: We stand alike condemn'd, alike acquitted-- The guilty innocent, the innocent guilty. Let rigi...

Though we march, or though we halt, Or though the enemy we assault; Though we're cold, or though we're warm, Or though the sleeping town we storm, Still the merry, merry fife an...

Which of their weapons hath the conquest got Over their wits; the pipe or else the pot? For even the derivation of the name Seems to allude and to include the same: Tobacco as "...

_Cassio_.--I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a commander, with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet an officer. Drunk? and speak parrot? and squabble?...

In cases where non-commissioned officers misconduct themselves, they are not confined in the guard-room, but considered as placed under arrest in their own room, without a guard...

The sergeant; to whom I alluded in a former chapter as having deserted from Liverpool, where he was stationed in command of a recruiting party, was the first non-commissioned of...

"On went the buffalo, tearing and crushing all before and around him. How long this lasted I know not; but, although I was very weak, stunned, and nearly blinded, I still madly...

Bid him beside, his daily pains employ To form the tender manners of the boy, And work him like a waxen babe with art, To perfect symmetry in every part.

My readers will probably be interested in the mode of procuring and management of troop-horses. In the first place, the horses which are purchased for the cavalry are selected o...

And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed, The mustering squadron, and the clattering car Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, And swiftly forming in the ranks of war...

During our stay in the Staffordshire Potteries we enlisted three recruits. One of these had been a dealer in all kinds of dogs, and, according to his own admission, sometimes a...

For gold the merchant ploughs the main, The farmer ploughs the manor; But glory is the sodjer's pride; The sodjer's wealth is honour. The brave, poor sodjer ne'er despise, Nor c...

A triple mounted row of pillars laid On wheels (for like to pillars most they seem'd, Of hollow'd bodies made of oak or fir, With branches lopp'd in wood or mountain fell'd): Br...

Excess of bodily exercise may render us wild and unmanageable, but excess of arts, science, and music, makes us faddled and effeminate. Only the right combination makes the soul...

When I first joined the army, we had a drill sergeant who had been in the Queen of Spain's service, a most intelligent and agreeable fellow, as I afterwards found out when I was...

There through the piny forest half absorbed, Rough tenant of these shades, the shapeless bear ... stalks forlorn; Slow-paced and sourer as the storms increase, He makes his bed...

"Having done so well with our wild-beast speculation, we determined to return to, the Rocky Mountains on another cruise after bears, panthers, or anything we could manage to sec...

Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give To sounds confused; behold the threaden sails. Borne with the invisible and creeping wind, Draw the huge bottoms through the furro...

Now all the youth of England are on fire, And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies; Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought Reigns solely in the breast of every man.

Follow, follow! Grapple your minds to steerage of this navy, And leave your England as dead midnight still, Guarded with grandsires, babes, and old women, Either past or not arr...

After our arrival at Varna we had to wait a few days for the order of embarkation, and finally sailed in company with the 17th Lancers in the _Himalaya_, Lord Cardigan and his s...

How stands the glass around? For shame! ye take no care, my boys; How stands the glass around? Let the mirth and wine abound. The trumpets sound, The colours flying are, my boys...

Above the tide each broadsword bright Was brandished like a beam of light, Each targe was dark below; And with the ocean's mighty swing, When heaving to the tempest's wing, They...

There's nought so gay this earth can yield, Nor aught so swift and light, As we hussars, when we're afield, Or rushing through the fight. When it roars and cracks like thunder-s...