' These were certainly the words of his
note, and, at the only time I heard him speak on the subject of
religion he discomfited his adversary in an argument at the mess by
'Why, sir, you do not suppose that I believe in those fellows,
Luther, Calvin, and John the Baptist, do you?'
Nothing could stand this argument. All the party burst into a laugh,
which the old gentleman took for an unequivocal recognition of his
victory, and his adversary was silenced. He was an old man when I
first became acquainted with him. I put into his hands, when in camp,
Miss Edgeworth's novels, in the hope of being able to induce him to
read by degrees; and I have frequently seen the tears stealing down
over his furrowed cheeks, as he sat pondering over her pages in the
corner of his tent. A braver soldier never lived than old G------;
and he distinguished himself greatly in the command of his regiment,
under Lord Lake, at the battle of Laswari[8] and siege of
Bharatpur.[9] It was impossible ever to persuade him that the
characters and incidents of these novels were the mere creations of
fancy--he felt them to be true--he wished them to be true, and he
would have them to be true.
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