HARDMAN'S ACCOUNT OF WATERLOO.
(Vol. viii., p. 199.; Vol. ix., p. 176.)
I perfectly recollect reading, when a boy, a critique on this poem, and being much amused thereby. The critique appeared in the Literary Gazette or Athenæum, as well as I remember. I never saw the poem, but I recollect some of the lines quoted, which went nearly as follows:—
"The following morning, at break of day,
An orderly dragoon did come this way:
'Holloa! holloa! I say, give ear,
Is Adjutant Hardman quartered here?
Holloa! halloa! I am not wrong,
Is Adjutant Hardman here at home?'"
I merely quote from memory and hope, therefore, that any deviations from the original may be pardoned.
Lieutenant (Brevet Captain) Hardman, if not a first-rate poet, is a gallant soldier, and I rejoice to see his name in the Army List for March, 1854. I cannot ascertain at what period he joined the army, but he was present at the cavalry engagements of Sahagun and Benevente, on December 20th and 27th, 1808, on the retreat of Sir John Moore's army to Coruña, for which he is decorated with a Peninsula medal. For his bravery as a non-commissioned officer he was promoted, May 19, 1813, to a cornetcy in the royal wagon train; and was transferred, August 12 following, to the 23rd Light Dragoons, and was same day appointed Regimental Adjutant of that corps. On the almost total change of officers that took place in the 10th Hussars, owing to the quarrels of Colonels Quentin and Palmer, Lieutenant Hardman succeeded Captain Bromley, on December 15, 1814, as Lieutenant and Adjutant in the corps in which he had commenced his military career; a sufficient proof of his having been a zealous, active, and efficient non-commissioned officer, when serving as such in the regiment. He embarked at Ramsgate with the service squadrons of his regiment in April, 1815, and landed at Ostend, whence the 10th regiment proceeded to Brussels: it was present at Quatre Bras, although not engaged with the enemy: and at Waterloo it behaved with the greatest gallantry, and lost two officers, nineteen soldiers, and fifty-one horses killed, in addition to six officers and twenty-six men wounded. Lieutenant Hardman's position as adjutant necessarily kept him in the vicinity of his commanding officers, Col. Quentin and Major Howard; therefore he was an eye-witness of poor Howard's death. Lieutenant Hardman received the Waterloo medal. The 10th Hussars landed at Ramsgate, from Boulogne, in January, 1816, and marched to Brighton, where Lieutenant Hardman resigned the adjutantcy, February 8, 1816, and exchanged to half-pay of the regiment, June 6, same year, since which period he has not served upon full pay.
G. L. S.