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which the Norwegians have of taking a cup of hot coffee at an early hour, is by no means an unpleasant one, however laughable it may appear, and to a stranger is very captivating. It is true you are awakened out of a sound sleep some hours before the usual time of rising; but in what manner? You raise your half-opened eyes, and see close to you what appears a vision of the most agreeable nature, in the form of a young beauty, with a lovely complexion, and light flowing ringlets. Possibly your dreams may have been presenting such a one to your imagination at the very moment, and you now deem it suddenly realized. You are, however, soon convinced that it is an earthly substance, from her gently rousing you by the shoulder, on seeing that you are hardly in a state of sufficient animation to attend to her summons. You then discover, that the pretty intruder is the daughter of the mistress of the house, who, with the most captivating smile imaginable, invites you to partake of the refreshing beverage she has brought; and which being accepted by you with the usual expression of gratitude common in Norway, tuimde tak, a thousand thanks, your fair attendant retreats, and leaves you to present a pleasant addition in her own image, to the scenes of fancy you had perhaps been before indulging in.

All this is much more advanced in civilization, than might be concluded from the primitive mode which they have adopted of settling their card debts. Were a respectable dowager of Cavendish-square informed that the whist-players of the north pay for their points in barrels of oil, she would doubtless turn up her nose at the savages. It is certainly amusing to think of the odd trick transferring blubber, and of grave merchants playing at double-barrelled points. A person in those latitudes given to whist, instead of a card, is obliged to keep an oil warehouse.

Cards, next to smoking, are the darling amusement of a Finmark merchant; his favourite games whist and boston. The former, as played in Finmark, differs little from ours, except in the marking, and the additional honour which they count, making the ten a fifth. Ten points are the game; all that is won over that number is added to the next game, and so on till the rubber is finished. The only singular feature is in the marking and settling the accounts, which seldom takes place till the end of the year, when it is charged generally in their books, either against fish or oil, at the current price of the article at the time of settling. One of the party has to keep the account, which is done nearly in the same manner as they mark while playing ; thus, if

A has won five points, it is expressed...... A +5
B has lost five ditto....

thus B-5

and so on, as many as play. The success of the respective parties is thus simply denoted by the marks of plus or minus; and two columns are kept in this manner, which at the end of the year, or whenever the day of settlement may be, are made to balance generally by means of barrels of oil. Boston does not vary, but is played in the same way as on the rest of the continent.

These countries appear, as well as we can judge, worthy of the attention of the English merchant. The port of Hammerfest is now becoming better known, and the town, of the same name, is rising to some consequence. We shall conclude this long article by giving Mr. Crowe, who has been already mentioned, as an example to those who may be disposed to extend their views in this quarter.

It was in 1819 that the first Englishman settled himself upon the Finmark shores. This was Mr. John Crowe, who, having been some time in the naval service of Russia, had quitted it with several other officers, on the breaking out of the war between England and the former power. Accidental circumstances having thus thrown him out of the line of his profession, he turned his attention to commerce, and being well acquainted with the language, as well as the state and capabilities of the northern trade of Russia, he, after having explored the coasts of the White Sea, established a factory at Fuglinæs, situate on the western coast of Finmark, and forming the arm of the bay at Hammerfest.

Anterior to this period, at least in modern times, no British vessels had visited these coasts for the purpose of commerce; and although they afford safe and commodious harbours, they are altogether so little known to our navigators, that our vessels in

their voyages to and from Archangel, Omga, and other parts of the White Sea, have in the worst weather preferred keeping the sea, at any risk, rather than trust themselves within reach of a coast, the very sight of which is, with reason, formidable to those unacquainted with it. In this respect alone, the above establishment will be of extreme advantage to our trade in general with the White Sea, both by rendering these coasts more known, and removing the impressions of alarm and distrust: for instance, how important it must be for a vessel to know, that in the vicinity of the North Cape, on a coast considered hitherto as perfectly savage and uninhabited, a secure and commodious harbour is open to her; where not only good pilotage may be afforded her, but she may supply herself with water, and indeed almost every thing she may stand in need of.

Captain Brooke's volume contains much instruction and entertaining matter. He is a little prolix, and not very exact in his language. The Winter in Lapland might, with advantage, be contracted into half the space: half the expense of the work would thus be saved, and double the number of copies sold-that is, twice the information spread. It would ill become us, however, who have spent many pleasant hours over the volume, to complain. We should observe, that Captain Brooke is something of a naturalist, and something of an artist; by which accomplishments he is able to gratify both the man of science and the man of mere curiosity, by his descriptions, written and engraved, of natural objects and external impressions.

THE MILITARY SKETCH-BOOK.*

WE are extremely glad to see the Half-pay on active literary service. Few people have more to tell than they who have seen seventeen years of service abroad and at home; and few, that which is better worth hearing. Military authors, we are glad to observe, are accumulating; the literary fever is even penetrating the Commissariat. It is only the other day, that an officer on the quarter-master's staff gave us his "Adventures in the Peninsula," in a very pleasant manner. As he could not show his bravery, he hit upon the scheme of displaying his learning. In spite of his Greek and his classics, however, we were glad that he had become an author. But we prefer the Recollections of the Gentlemen of the Line. "The Military Sketch-Book," and "The Naval Sketch-Book," may be clubbed together, and be considered the sketch-book of the United Service. The "Officer of the Line" is, however, more to our liking than the sailor, for he is evidently a better-natured man. Generous, brave, and modest, he possesses all the virtues of the soldier-light-hearted, jovial, and spirited, he shows himself an Irishman-and the force and reality of many of his sketches, prove him in possession of considerable literary talents. His pathos, as well as his gaiety, is Irish-his romance is also Milesian-in the one he is somewhat given to the mawkish; and in the other to the improbable. The Subaltern is more scholastic and finished in his pictures-the author of the Eventful Life is more particular and full in his descriptions, and more striking and copious in his details, and more valuable from the rarer nature of his testimony;

*The Military Sketch-Book. Reminiscences of Seventeen Years in the Service Abroad and at Home. By an Officer of the Line London, Colburn, 1827. 2 vols. 12mo. By an Officer of Rank. Published last year.

but then the officer of rank is a shrewder character than either; knows the world better, and is somewhat of a satirist. It is true, that he frequently fails-that his humour is often broad and coarse, as well as that his pathos is puling-but on the whole, the book is decidedly clever, and exceedingly amusing. It may be made more than amusing-the character of the British Officer, and of the British army, is illustrated by many of the author's remarks and anecdotes; and the question of corporal punishment is well exemplified. For the purposes of instruction, and also for our own delight, we much prefer the graver parts of the work-by which we mean, those sketehcs which are not coloured by fiction, but pretend to be nothing more than what they are honest recollections. Of this kind is the account of the Walcheren expedition, which is the best sketch of that ill-fated expedition. The most amusing part of it relates to the operation of a brigade of five hundred sailors, who served with the army as a kind of guerrlla force. Their playing at soldiers is highly laughable and characteristic.

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The annoyance from the enemy's rifles was a good deal lessened by the brigade of sailors. These extraordinary fellows delighted in bunting the Munseers," as they termed the French; and a more formidable pack never was unkennelled. Armed, each with an immense long pole or pike, a cutlass, and a pistol, they appeared to be a sort of force that, in case of a sortie, or where execution was to be done in the way of storming, would have been as destructive as a thousand hungry tigers: as it was, they annoyed the French skirmishers in all directions, by their irregular and extraordinary attacks. They usually went out in parties, as if they were going to hunt a wild beast, and no huntsman ever followed the chase with more delight. The French might fairly exclaim with the frogs in the fable- Ah! Monsieur Bull, what is sport to you, is death to us."

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Regularly every day after their mess (for they messed generally on a green in the village of East Zuburg) they would start off to their hunt," as they called it, in parties headed by a petty officer. Then they would leap the dykes, which their poles enabled them to do, and dash through those which they could not otherwise cross; they were like a set of Newfoundland dogs in the marshes, and when they spied a few riflemen of the French, they ran at them helter-skelter: then pistol, cutlass, and pike, went to work in downright earnest. The French soldiers did not at all relish the tars and no wonder; for the very appearance of them was terrific, and quite out of the usual order of things. Each man seemed a sort of Paul Jonestarred, belted, and cutlassed as they were. Had we had occasion to storm Flushing, I have no doubt that they would have carried the breach themselves. The scenes which their eccentricities every hour presented, were worthy of the pencil of Hogarth. Among the most humourous of these, were their drills, musters, and marchings, or as they generally called such proceedings, "playing at soldiers." All that their officers did, had no effect in keeping either silence or regularity; those officers, however, were "part and parcel" of the same material as the Jacks themselves, and as able to go through the pipe-clay regularity of rank and file, as to deliver a sermon on the immortality of the soul. But the fact is, they were not either expected or intended to be regular troops, and their drills were merely adopted to teach them to keep together in line when marching from one place to another; so that they might not go about the country after the manner of a troop of donkeys. These marches and drills afforded the highest degree of amusement, both to soldiers and officers; the disproportion in the sizes of the men-the front rank man, perhaps, four feet one, while the rear rank man was six feet two; the giving of the word from the " middy," always accompanied by a "G-- d-n;" the gibes and jeers of the men themselves. "Heads up, you beggar of Corpolar there," a little slang-going Jack would cry out from the rear-rank, well knowing that his size secured him from the observation of the officer. Then perhaps the man immediately before him, to show his sense of decorum, would turn round and remark: "I say, who made you a fugle man, master Billy? can't ye behave like a sodger afore the commander, eh?" Then from another part of the squad, a stentorian roar would arise, with "I'll not stand this, if I do, bl-t me; here's this here bl-y Murphy stickin' a sword into my starn.' Then perhaps the middy would give the word "right facc," in order to prepare for

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marching; but some turned right and some left, while others turned right round and were faced by their opposite rank man. This confusion in a few minutes, however, would be rectified, and the word "march" given off they went, some whistling a quick-step, and others imitating the sound of a drum with his voice, and keeping time with the whistler," row dididow, dididow, row dow, dow "-every sort of antic trick began immediately, particularly treading on each others' heels. I once saw a fellow suddenly jump out of the line of march, crying out, "I be d-d if Riley hasn't spikes in his toes, an' I won't march afore him any longer," and then coolly fell in at the rear. 66 Keep the step," then was bandied about, with a thousand similar expressions, slapping each other's hats down upon their eyes, elbowing, jostling, and joking-away they went to beat the bushes for Frenchmen; and even when under the fire of both the hidden riflemen and the rampart guns, their jollity was unabated. One of these odd fellows was hit in the leg by a rifle ball which broke the bones, and he fell it was in a hot pursuit which he and a few others were engaged in after a couple of the riflemen, who had ventured a little too far from their position, when, seeing that he could follow no farther, he took off his tarry hat and flung it with all his might after them; "there, you beggars, I wish it was a long eighteen for your sakes." The poor fellow was carried off by his comrades, and taken to the hospital, where he died.

As John Bull carries all his peculiarities into foreign parts, so were these sailors equally tenacious of their marine usages in military service. In the cannonading of the town, they would only fire in broadsides, and such was their zeal in firing, that they at length blew up themselves.

The sailors' battery, containing six twenty-four pounders, almost split our ears. These enthusiastic demi-devils fired not as the other batteries did, but like broadsides from a ship-each discharge was eminently distinguished by its terrific noise, for the guns were all fired at once, and absolutely shook the earth at every round. So vehement were these seamen in their exertions, that they blew themselves up at last! This was done by a little squat fellow, who served the guns with ammunition: he placed a cartridge against a lighted match in his hurry; this exploding, communicated with a large quantity of powder, and the natural catastrophe followed. About twenty of the brave fellows, among whom was a young midshipman, were severely burnt and bruised; out of which number, were I to judge from their appearance as they were carried past us, I should suppose not more than half a dozen recovered. They were all jet black, their faces one shapeless mass, and their clothes and hair burnt to a cinder. In the midst of their suffering the only thing that seemed to ease them, was swearing at the little sailor, who was the author of their misfortune; while he, poor creature, in addition to his wounds and burns, patiently suffered the whole torrent of his comrades' abuse.

"Geraghty's Kick" is a sketch of another kind, but equally characteristic. Geraghty was a powerful Irishman, who once kicked a bursting shell out of the middle of his own regiment into another. The bravery of the action led to encouragement, and encouragement led to insolence, until Geraghty became a privileged drunkard, and was at length discharged by the Colonel, to secure his regiment "from the further consequence of Geraghty's kick." This is the account of the exploit, and some of its consequences.

At the battle of Talavera, when the hill on the left of the British line had been retaken from the enemy, after the most obstinate and bloody fighting, the French continued to throw shells upon it with most destructive precision. One of those terrible instruments of death fell close to a party of grenadiers belonging to the fortyfifth regiment, who were standing on the summit of the hill. The fusee was burning rapidly, and a panic struck upon the minds of the soldiers, for they could not move away from the shell on account of the compact manner in which the troops stood: it was nearly consumed-every rapidly succeeding spark from it promised to be the last -all expected instant death-when Tom Geraghty, a tall raw-boned Irishman, ran towards the shell, crying out, " By J- I'll have a kick for it, if it was to be my last ;" and with a determined push from his foot, sent the load of death whirling off the height. It fell amongst a close column of men below, while Geraghty, leaning

over the verge from whence it fell, with the most vehement and good-natured energy, bawled out " Mind your heads, boys, mind your heads!" Horror! the shell burstit was over in a moment. At least twenty men were shattered to pieces by the explosion!

Geraghty was wholly unconscious of having done any mischief. It was a courageous impulse of the moment, which operated upon him in the first instance; and the injury to the service was not worse than if the shell had remained where it first fell. Self-preservation is positively in favour of the act, considering that there was no other way of escaping from destruction.

Very serious consequences would have still attended the matter, had it not been for the active exertions of the officers; for the men of the regiment, among which the shell was thrown, and who had escaped, were with difficulty prevented from mounting the hill and executing summary punishment upon the grenadiers, from whom the unwelcome messenger had been so unceremoniously despatched. Thus they would have increased in an alarming degree the evil consequences of Geraghty's kick.

An unexpected shower of admiration and flattery, like the sudden possession of great and unexpected wealth, produces evil effects upon a weak head. The perilous kick, instead of exalting Geraghty's fortunes, as it would have done had he been a prudent man, produced the very opposite consequences. He was talked of throughout the regiment-nay, the whole division, for this intrepid act; every body, officers and all, complimented him upon his coolness and courage; and the general who commanded his regiment (Sir John Doyle) gave him the most flattering encouragement. All this was

lost upon Geraghty; he was one of those crazy fellows whom nothing but the weight of adversity could bring to any tolerable degree of steadiness; and instead of profiting by his reputed bravery, he gave way to the greatest excesses. Finding that he was tolerated in one, he would indulge in another, until it became necessary to check the exuberance of his folly. He gave way. completely to drunkenness when under the effects of liquor, although a most inoffensive being when sober, he would try to "carry all before him," as the phrase goes; and having succeeded in this so frequently, amongst the privates and non-commissioned officers of his regiment, the excitement of the excess began to lose its pungency in his imagination, and he determined to extend his enjoyments amongst the officers: this very soon led him to most disagreeable results. It had been ordered that the privates should not walk upon a certain part of the parade in Colchester Barracks. Geraghty, however, thought proper to kick against it as determinedly as he formerly did against the shell. Charged with strong rum, he one day strutted across it in a manner becoming a hero of Talavera (as he thought), and was seen by two of his officers, ensigns, who sent the orderly to desire him to move off the forbidden ground; but Geraghty declined obedience, and told the orderly to be off to the devil out o' that." The ensigns, on being informed of the disobedience, proceeded to the delinquent, and renewed their orders, which were not only disregarded, but accompanied by a violent assault from Geraghty. The refrac tory giant seized an ensign in each hand, and having lifted both off the ground, dashed their heads together. This was seen by some other officers and soldiers of the regiment, who all ran instantly to rescue the sufferers from Geraghty's gripe. None could, however, secure him; he raged and threatened vengeance on all who came within the length of his long arms; nor would he have surrendered had it not been for a captain in the regiment, under whose eye he pulled many a trigger against the enemy. This officer approached with a stick, seized him by the collar, and began to lay on in good style. "Leather away," cried Geraghty, "I'll submit to you, Captain, and will suffer any thing; flog me, if you like. You are a good sodger, an' saw the enemy; but by J- I'll not be insulted by brats o' boys who never smelt powdther."

The consequences of this violence of course led to punishment: Geraghty was flogged for the mutiny; he received six hundred and fifty lashes, laid heavily on; yet he never uttered a groan during the whole of this suffering; and when taken down, although bleeding, bruised, and doubtless greatly exhausted, assumed an air of insolent triumph; put on his shirt, and boldly walked off to the hospital. The body of the man was overcome,the pallid cheek, the bloodshot eye, the livid lip, the clammy mouth -all declared it; but the spirit was wholly untouched by the lash: nothing on earth could touch it.

The sketch entitled "Punishment," is clever and affecting. The actual infliction of the flogging is evidently drawn by one who has watched the reality with no trifling degree of feeling. This sketch is worth many pamphlets on the subject.

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