I have observed him on Sunday in
church, eyeing the country girls most suspiciously; and have seen him
leer upon them with a downright amorous look, even when he has been
gallanting Lady Lillycraft, with great ceremony, through the
church-yard. The general, in fact, is a veteran in the service of
Cupid, rather than of Mars, having signalized himself in all the
garrison towns and country quarters, and seen service in every
ball-room of England. Not a celebrated beauty but he has laid siege
to; and if his word may be taken in a matter wherein no man is apt to
be over-veracious, it is incredible the success he has had with the
fair. At present he is like a worn-out warrior, retired from service;
but who still cocks his beaver with a military air, and talks stoutly
of fighting whenever he comes within the smell of gunpowder.
I have heard him speak his mind very freely over his bottle, about the
folly of the captain in taking a wife; as he thinks a young soldier
should care for nothing but his "bottle and kind landlady." But, in
fact, he says the service on the continent has had a sad effect upon
the young men; they have been ruined by light wines and French
quadrilles. "They've nothing," he says, "of the spirit of the old
service.
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