[10] The sailors on board ship did not suffer much from the malady.
CHAPTER III.
Progress of distemper on the re-landing of the regiment in England—Change of quarters—Amusements—Colchester—An eventful water party—The author obtains leave to join the detachment proceeding to Portugal—A Review—A tale of dental dislocation—Embarkation at Spithead—Landing in Portugal—Incidents of an evening—Amusements at Lisbon, and departure from that city.
The regiment soon re-landed in England, and marched to Colchester, where a vast number of the men died, of ours as well as all the other corps, thereby keeping the clergy in constant requisition to repeat the funeral service over the rudely-shaped coffins of the dead soldiers. Nearly the whole of the corps to which I belonged were laid up with ague and fever, to such a degree, that those able to walk and the few fit for duty were removed to Sudbury, for the benefit of change of air. This proved very beneficial and restored the strength of those who had not been very badly affected with the malady.
At the expiration of two months we were able to muster again about two hundred, out of six, fit for duty. Those officers whose health was sufficiently re-established frequented the balls at Bury St. Edmunds, which were extremely well attended by the neighbouring families; added to these, occasional jaunts and a few private parties made the time pass pleasantly enough until we were ordered to Weeley Barracks, where we spent a sombre winter, (with two other regiments) which passed without any occurrence worth mentioning, except that of the garrison being called out to fire a feu de joie in celebration of George the Third's having reigned over this country for fifty years.
In the spring we shifted our quarters to Colchester, being perfectly sickened of our rustic amusements of shooting larks, skating, or pacing up and down a solitary barrack-square of great extent, and surrounded by a rich grass country, without any thing worthy the appellation of a village for a considerable distance.
Soon afterwards myself and another officer went to Portsmouth to receive volunteers. The officers of a regiment invited us to dine with them at Gosport, and so plied us with peppered turkeys' legs, devilled biscuits and port wine, that we were unable to beat a retreat until two o'clock in the morning. On reaching the ferry, there was not a boat to be seen; wherefore, from necessity, we were reduced to content ourselves with a seat on some stone steps, and there to await the rising sun, whose beams no sooner crimsoned the western hemisphere, than we hailed the first morning ferry boat, and reached our lodging, right glad to quaff a smoking cup of coffee in order to settle our stomachs from the last night's debauch. In a few days we left the rustic vicinity of Portsmouth, and reached the red-bricked town of Colchester, where our time passed in such amusements as are usually practised at a provincial quarter and are so well known to most of the British army, who have had the honor of promenading up and down its pavé.