CHAPTER X.

Change quarters-Good garden-Colonel Fyers tries the change of air by going to sea with Sir George Cockburn, and finally goes to England-The Royal George, Sir I. T. Duckworth-Very polite reception of my visit-Stone shot and Maltese ass-The 6th Regiment arrived-Toss-up Toledano, a celebrated Jew.

ABOUT this time Captain and Mrs. Buchannan, of the Royal Engineers, sailed for England; and as the house occupied by them was very convenient, and I had a right to take possession of it if I pleased, I failed not to do so; particularly as there was an excellent garden, for Gibraltar, attached to it. These quarters were not, however, free from ob

jection; for the Jews' Synagogue formed the boundary of the longest side of the garden which faced the house, and which contained most of its windows in the side next to the garden.

In the ordinary course of things, the removal of our furniture from one house to another is regarded as a sort of event, and generally produces an inconvenient derangement and confusion in all our little matters, during several days before and after. In addition to these annoyances, we, not unfrequently, have to deplore the destruction or mutilation of some valuable articles; but in military life we do those things very differently.

Having, pro formá, communicated my wishes to the officer commanding, with respect to my change of quarters, to which, of course, no objection was made; I sent my servant one morning, after breakfast, to the barracks, to order thirty or forty soldiers of my company, with three or four hand-barrows, and two or three carpenters, to come to my house immediately after dinner.

The party at the appointed hour marched up to my door, and six of them at a time entered the house; when each taking up a convenient load of carpets, chairs, or tables, &c., returned to the street, and there waited until the whole had in like manner received their portion to be carried, excepting the carpet bearers, who went on immediately; the carpenters taking down the curtains and bedsteads. In this way, every article in the house was distributed in light loads, and in a few minutes the house was perfectly empty. The serjeant having ordered each man to shoulder his share, he ordered the procession to march off by the right, and as the various articles which should be first put into the house had been made to move on at the head of the line, on their arrival at their destination they were all put into the best order at Thus, on the 20th of April, 1807, I completed the formidable operation of moving to a house, about a mile distant from the one I quitted, in the short space of less than two hours, by which time my bed was made, the washing apparatus ready for use, the pictures,

once.

up

about sixteen in number, and a looking-glass, all hung up in their places; my library, of wards of one thousand volumes, had been carried in the same order, on the shelves, and all my linen had been left in my drawers, the whole without suffering the slightest injury.

I was now greatly delighted at having a real garden instead of an artificial one in boxes on the roof of a back kitchen; and, although it was of such dimensions as elsewhere would be viewed as being very small, yet at Gibraltar it was thought far from contemptible, being about seventy feet in length by about thirty in width.

My little orange trees which I had reared from seeds were now fit for transplanting, having grown up to the height of about two feet in little more than a year, and my lemon and citron plants were still more forward. I very soon received some important additions from Ceuta, and various parts of Africa, and my naval friends were very kind in bringing me valuable plants, seeds, and flowers-pots from Sicily and Malta; the pots from Malta are made of a very soft stone, and are beauti

ful, but in a short time after exposure to the atmosphere, they become very hard.

During many months prior to this period the health of our most excellent commanding Engineer, Colonel Fyers, had been suffering frequent attacks. He had already had the advantage of a trip to sea with his family on board of his friend's ship, Captain Cockburn (Sir George), which had been of essential service to him; he was, nevertheless, advised that his return to England would be highly conducive in restoring him to a more permanent improved state of health.

Accordingly, in the month of May, Colonel Fyers and his amiable family embarked for England, carrying with them the sincerest regards of every officer then at Gibraltar; and were followed to the place of embarcation by a vast concourse of the inhabitants, with sad faces and tearful eyes.

On his departure the Colonel made me a present of some splendidly sculptured vases, and many valuable flowers.

Captain Evatt now assumed the command of the Engineers until the arrival of Lieu