NOTES FOR AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
THE MILITIA.
BY JOHN CLARE.
[John Clare (1793-1864 ), the poet of English fields and hedgerows, was nineteen years of age at the time of the levy. He was about five feet high, thin and not very strong—he had suffered more than his share of the agues and accidents that used to befall the farm labourer. But with all his fragility, and in spite of his peasant manners and peasant speech, he looked, we are told, " like a nobleman in disguise." In Martin's biography of Clare there is a vivid picture of the rabble that was collected at Oundle. The issue of clothing was haphazard—Clare needed an outsize in helmets, and none could be found to fit : he was thus forced, while he was on parade, to hold down his helmet with one hand, hold up his too voluminous trousers with the other, and bestow his gun as best he could. After a few weeks the whole regiment was disbanded, apparently in despair.]
-WHEN the country was chin deep in the fears of invasion and every mouth was filled with the terrors which Buonaparte had spread in other countries, a national scheme was set on foot to raise a raw army of volunteers ; and to make the- /natter plausible a letter • was circulated said to be written by the Prince Regent. I forget how many were demanded from our parish, but I remember the panic which it created Was very great. No -great name rises in the world without creating a crowd of little mimics' that glitter in borrowed rays ; and no great lie was ever yet put in circulation without a herd of little lies multiplying by instinct, as it were, and - crowding under its wings. The papers that were cireu- . lated assured the people of England that the French were on the eve of invading it, and that it was deemed necessary by the Regent that an army from eighteen to forty-five Should be raised immediately. This was the great lie; and the little lies were soon at its heels, which assured the people of Helpstone that the French had invaded and got to London. And some of these little lies had the impudence to swear that the French had even reached Northampton. The people got at their doors in the evening to talk over the rebellion of '45 when the rebels reached Derby, and even listened at intervals to fancy they heard the French " rebels " at Northampton, knocking it down with their cannon. I never gave much credit to popular stories of any sort ; so I felt no concern at these stories, though I could not say much for my valour if the tale had proved true.
We had a crossgrained sort of choice left us—to be found to be drawn and go for nothing, or take on as volunteers for a bounty of two guineas. I accepted the latter and went with a neighbour's son, W. Clarke, to Peterborough to be sore on. The morning we left home our mothers parted with us as if we were going to Botany Bay, and people got at their doors to bid us farewell with a Job's comfort that they doubted we should see Helpstone no more. I confess I wished myself out of the matter.
When we got to Oundle, the place of quartering, we were drawn out into the field, and a more motley multi- tude of lawless fellows was never seen in Oundle before, and hardly out of it. There were thirteen hundred of us. We were drawn up into a line and sorted out into coin- panies. I was one of the shortest, and therefore my station is evident. I was in that mixed multitude called the Battalion. The light company were called Light Bobs, and the Grenadiers Bacon Bolters. They felt as great enmity against each other as ever they all felt for the French. Some took lodgings, but lodgings were very expensive. The people took advantage of the tide and charged high ; so I was obliged to be content with the quarters allotted me. I lived at the Rose and Crown, an inn kept by a widow woman and her two daughters, .which happened to be a good place. The girls were modestly good-natured and the mother a kind-hearted woman behaving well to all that returned it.
Our company was the fifth and the captain was a good sort of fellow, using his authority in the language of a friend advising our ignorance, when we were wrong, what we ought to do to be right, and not in the severity of a petty tyrant who is fond of advising those who meet him merely for the sake of showing authority. I was never wonderful clean in my dress—at least, not clean enough for a soldier, for I thought I took more than necessary pains to be so—and I was not very apt at learning my exercise, for then I was a rhymer, and my thoughts were often absent when the word of command was given. For this fault I was very much teased by a little louse-looking corporal, who took a delight in finding fault with me and loading me with bad jests on my awkwardness as a soldier, as if he had been a soldier all his life. I felt very vexed at this scurrilous coxcomb and retorted ; which only added more authority in his language. He found fault with. me when it belonged to others, merely to vex me, and if I ventured to tamper with his mistake, he would threaten Inc with the awkward squad for speaking. I grew so mad at last with the fool that I really think I should have felt satisfaction in shooting him, and I was almost fit to desert home. Then again I thought my comrades would laugh at me, so I screwed up my resolu- tion to the point at last. I determined if he accused me wrongfully for the time to come, I would certainly fall out of the ranks and address him, be the consequence what it would. I had no great heart to boxing, but I saw little fear in him ; for he was flinch less in strength than I was, and the dread of the Black Hole or awkward squad was but little in comparison to the teasing insults which this fellow daily inflicted: So I determined to act up to my vengeance, and I soon found an opportunity, for he Was presently at his pert jests and sneering meddling again. Madness flushed my cheeks in a moment ; and when he saw it, he rapped me over my knees in a sneering sort of way, and said he would learn me how such fellows as I were dealt with by soldiers. . I could stand it no longer, but threw my gun aside, and seizing him by the throat I hurled him down and kicked him when he was down— which got the fellow fame ; for those that had been against him before lifted him up and called him a good fellow and me a coward.
I was threatened with the Black Hole by one, and even the tying up to the Halberd by others, who said that drummers were exercising themselves and very able to use the whip for punishment.. I thought I possessed common sense in too great a degree to feel fear at threatened tortures of any sort ; for I had always looked on such things as mere trumpery for children ; but I confess my common sense was overcome, and I felt fearful that some- thing was in the wind, till it blew over and got too staled.
The captain inquired into the fray and the Black Hole was dispensed with. I was given an additional guard to serve in its stead. The fellow threw a mortified eye on me ever after and never found his tongue to tell me of a fault even when I was in one.
(Concluded.)
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