found my disappearance excited alarm, they assumed more interest: it was so fine to sit quietly among the branches and hear concern and solicitude expressed about the child.

I will spare the reader the fatigue of accompanying our little fleet through

"Antres vast and deserts wild;"

only observing, that the magnificent solitude through which we travelled was much relieved by the sight of Johnson Hall, beautifully situated in a plain by the river; while Johnson Castle, a few miles further up, made a most respectable appearance on a commanding eminence at some distance.

We travelled from one fort to another; but in three or four instances, to my great joy, they were so remote from each other that we found it necessary to encamp at night on the bank of the river. This, in a land of profound solitude, where wolves, foxes, and bears abounded, and were very much inclined to consider and treat us as intruders, might seem dismal to wiser folks. But I was so gratified by the bustle and agitation produced by our measures of defence, and actuated by the love which all children have for mischief that is not fatal, that I enjoyed our night's encampment exceedingly. We stopped early wherever we saw the largest and most combustible kind of trees. Cedars were great favorites, and the first work was to fell and pile upon each other an incredible number, stretched lengthways; while every one who could, was busied in gathering withered branches of pine, &c., to fill up the interstices of the pile and make the green wood burn the faster. Then a train of gunpowder was laid along to give fire to the whole fabric at once, which blazed and crackled magnificently. Then the tents were erected close in a row before this grand conflagration. This was not merely meant to keep us warm, though the nights did begin to grow cold, but to frighten wild beasts and wandering Indians. In case any such, belonging to hostile tribes, should see this prodigious blaze, the size of it was meant to give them an idea of a greater force than we possessed.

In one place, where we were surrounded by hills, with swamps lying between them, there seemed to be a general congress of wolves, who answered each other from opposite hills in sounds the most terrific. Probably the terror which

all savage animals have at fire, was exalted into fury by seeing so many enemies whom they durst not attack. The bullfrogs, those harmless though hideous inhabitants of the swamps, seemed determined not to be outdone, and roared a tremendous bass to this bravura accompaniment. This was almost too much for my love of the terrible sublime : some women, who were our fellow-travellers, shrieked with terror; and finally, the horrors of that night were ever after held in awful remembrance by all who shared them.

The last night of this eventful pilgrimage, of which I fear to tire my readers by a further recital, was spent at Fort Bruerton, then commanded by Capt. Mungo Campbell,* whose warm and generous heart, whose enlightened and comprehensive mind, whose social qualities and public virtues, I should delight to commemorate did my limits permit; suffice it, that he is endeared to my recollection by being the first person who ever supposed me to have a mind capable of culture, and I was ever after distinguished by his partial notice. Here we were detained two days by a premature fall of snow. Very much disposed to be happy anywhere, I was here particularly so. Our last day's journey, which brought us to Lake Ontario and Fort Oswego, our destined abode, was a very hard one we had people going before, breaking the ice with paddles, all the way.

All that I had foreboded of long tasks, confinement, &c., fell short of the reality. The very deep snow confined us all; and at any rate the rampart or the parade would have been no favorable scene of improvement for me. One great source of entertainment I discovered here was no other than the Old Testament, which, during my confinement, I learned to read; till then having done so very imperfectly. It was an unspeakable treasure as a story-book, before I learned to make any better use of it, and became, by frequent perusal, indelibly imprinted on my memory. Wallace wight, and Welwood's memoirs of the history of England, were my next acquisitions. Enough of egotism! yet all these circumstances contributed to form that taste for solid reading which first attracted the attention of my invaluable friend.

* Col. Mungo Campbell was killed leading on the attack of Fort St. Anne, at the battle of White Plains, anno 1777.

I cannot quit Ontario without giving a slight sketch of the manner in which it was occupied and governed while I was there and afterwards, were it but to give young soldiers a hint how they may best use their time and resources, so as to shun the indolence and ennui they are often liable to in such situations. The 55th had by this time acquired several. English officers; but with regard to the men, it might be considered as a Scotch regiment, and was indeed originally such, being raised but a very few years before in the neighborhood of Stirling. There were small detachments in other forts; but the greatest part were in this, commanded by Major (afterwards Colonel) Duncan, of Lundie, elder brother of the late Lord Duncan of Camperdown. He was an experienced officer, possessed of considerable military science, learned, humane, and judicious, yet obstinate, and somewhat of a humorist withal. Wherever he went, a respectable library went with him. Though not old, he was gouty and warworn, and therefore allowably carried about many comforts and conveniences that others could not warrantably do. The fort was a large place, built entirely of earth and great logs; I mean the walls and ramparts, for the barracks were of wood, and cold and comfortless. The cutting down the vast quantity of wood used in this building had, however, cleared much of the fertile ground by which the fort was surrounded. The lake abounded with excellent fish and varieties of water-fowl, while deer and every kind of game were numerous in the surrounding woods. All these advantages, however, were now shut up by the rigors of winter. The officers were all

very young men, brought from school or college to the army; and since the dreadful specimen of war which they had met with on their first outset, at the lines of Ticonderoga, they had gone through all possible hardships. After a march up the St. Lawrence, and then through Canada here,—a march, indeed, (considering the season, and the no road,) worthy the hero of Pultowa,-they were stationed in this new-built garrison, far from every trace of civilization. These young soldiers were, however, excellent subjects for the forming hand of Major Duncan. As I have said on a former occasion of others, if they were not improved, they were not spoiled, and what little they knew was good.

The major, by the manner in which he treated them,

seemed to consider them as his sons or pupils; only he might be called an austere parent, or a rigid instructor. But this semblance of severity was necessary to form his pupils to habitual veneration. Partaking every day of their convivial enjoyments, and showing every hour some proof of paternal care and kindness; all this was necessary to keep them within due limits. Out of regard to their own welfare he wanted no more of their love than was consistent with salutary fear; and yet made himself so necessary to them, that nothing could be so terrible to them as, by any neglect or imprudence, to alienate him. He messed with them, but lived in a house of his own. This was a very singular building divided into two apartments; one of which was a bedroom, in which many stores found place, the other a breakfasting-parlor, and, at the same time, a library. Here were globes, quadrants, mathematical instruments, flutes, dumbbells, and chessboards; here, in short, was a magazine of instruction and amusement for the colonel's pupils, that is, for all the garrison. (Cornelius Cuyler, who had now joined the regiment, as youngest ensign, was included in this number.) This Scythian dwelling, for such it seemed, was made entirely of wood, and fixed upon wheels of the same material, so that it could be removed from one part of the parade to another, as it frequently was. So slight a tenement, where the winters were intensely cold, was ill calculated for a gouty patient for this, however, he found a remedy; the boards, which formed the walls of his apartment, being covered with deer-skins, and a most ample bear-skin spread on the floor by way of carpet. When once the winter set fully in, Oswego became a perfect Siberia, cut off even from all intelligence of what was passing in the world. But the major did not allow this interval to waste in sloth or vacancy; he seemed rather to take advantage of the exclusion of all exterior objects. His library was select and soldierlike. It consisted of numerous treatises on the military art, ancient and modern history, biography, &c., besides the best authors in various sciences, of which I only recollect geography and the mathematics. All the young men were set to read such books as suited their different inclinations and capacities. The subalterns breakfasted with their commander in rotation every day. three or four at a time; after breakfast he kept them, perhaps

two hours, examining them on the subject of their different studies. Once a week he had a supper-party for such of the captains as were then in the fort; and once a week they entertained him in the same manner. To these parties such of the subalterns as distinguished themselves by diligence and proficiency, were invited. Whoever was negligent, he made him the subject of sarcasms so pointed at one time, and at another so ludicrous, that there was no enduring it. The dread of severe punishment could not operate more forcibly. Yet he was so just, so impartial, so free from fickleness and favoritism, and so attentive to their health, their amusements, and their economy, that every individual felt him necessary to his comfort, and looked up to him as his "guide, philosopher, and friend."

CHAPTER XLVI.

Benefit of select reading.—Hunting excursion.

UNSPEAKABLE benefit and improvement were derived from the course of reading I have described, which, in the absence of other subjects, furnished daily topics of discussion, thus impressing it more forcibly on the mind.

The advantages of this course of social study, directed by a Mentor so respected, were such, that I have often heard it asserted that these unformed youths derived more solid improvement from it than from all their former education. Reading is one thing; but they learned to think and to converse. The result of these acquirements served to impress on my mind what I formerly observed with regard to Madame, that a promiscuous multitude of books always within reach retards the acquisition of useful knowledge. It is like having a great number of acquaintances and few friends; one of the consequences of the latter is to know much of exterior appearances, of modes and manners, but little of nature and genuine character. By running over numbers of books without selection, in a desultorv manner, people, in the same way, get a