Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected.Hyphenation and accentuation have been standardised, allother inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spellinghas been maintained.
A HERO OF THE PENINSULAR ANDWATERLOO CAMPAIGNS;
EDITED BY
GEORGE NUGENT BANKES,
AUTHOR OF "A DAY OF MY LIFE AT ETON," ETC., ETC.
London
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET
1886
[All rights reserved]
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
Square 16mo, cloth extra, 2s. 6d. each.
A DAY OF MY LIFE AT ETON.
ABOUT SOME FELLOWS; or, Odds and Ends fromMy Note-book.
CAMBRIDGE TRIFLES; or, Splutterings from anUndergraduate's Pen.
A CAMBRIDGE STAIRCASE.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.
WRITTEN TO ORDER: being some Account of theJourneyings of an Irresponsible Egotist, and of How heenjoyed himself thereon.
London: SAMPSON LOW & CO., 188, Fleet Street, E.C.
Sergeant William Lawrence died at Studland in Dorsetshire in the year1867, bequeathing the manuscript of the accompanying autobiography tothe family one of whose members now submits it to the notice of thepublic. Circumstances, which perhaps may be too often interpreted asreally meaning an unfortunate tendency to procrastination, havehitherto prevented it being put into shape with a view to publication:one thing after another has intervened, and the work has been passedon from hand to hand, until after these long years a final effort hasbeen made, and the self-imposed task completed.
The book is simply sent forth on its own merits in the hope that thereare yet some, if not indeed many whose hearts are never weary of thetales of England's glory in the past, and seek to find in them reasonwhy that glory should be perpetuated. Many an account have we alreadyhad of the victories of the Peninsula and Waterloo, and this but addsone more to the list: though perhaps it (p. vi) may be regarded insomewhat of a supplementary light, as treating of the campaignsneither from an entirely outside and soi-disant unprejudicedstandpoint, nor with the advantages possessed by one who may have hadaccess to the councils of the authorities, but as they were seen byone who came and went and did as he was told, and was as it werenothing more than a single factor in the great military machine thatwon our country those battles of which she has so much right to beproud. What criticisms of the conduct of the war our veteranoccasionally does indulge in are of course chiefly founded on the campgossip current at the time, and in reading them it must always beborne in mind that events at the moment of their happening often donot present the same appearance as when viewed from the calmersecurity of after years, and they must be judged accordingly.
As to the style. Lawrence, though he never betrayed the fact to theauthorities during his whole military career, being possessed of awonderful aptitude for mental