CHAPTER VIII.

Row in the suburbs-Examination of Pat Mulligan— Blackwashing the baker-Introduction of vaccination into Canada-Novel entertainment on the ice-A Frenchman of the old school-Accidental explosion -New method of fishing-An unpleasant bedfellow -Embark for England.

DURING my frequent visits at Montreal, I had formed a considerable degree of intimacy with an Ensign Barclay, of the 41st regiment, a tall, handsome fellow, six feet three inches high, possessing great muscular strength; I believe he was a nephew of Lady Johnson, and a native of New York, and died some years afterwards a Lieutenant-Colonel, and aide-decamp to the Duke of York. Delancy Barclay, about this time, was transferred from the 41st regiment to the 17th Light Dragoons, with the commission of a cornet; and he having arrived at Quebec, probably in order to take leave of

his friends prior to his departure for England, I invited him to dine with me at the mess, on the 6th of January, 1802, and also invited Lieutenant Burrows, of the 6th regiment, to meet him; my being engaged to pass the evening at a king-and-queen-party had totally escaped my recollection. We always dined at four o'clock, and as I was in the chair, I passed the bottle as quickly as was consistent with propriety, and gave as many bumper-toasts as I could think of, saving myself as much as possible.

At length, by eight o'clock, my friends rose to depart, and I accompanied them, as also Lieutenant Paul, of the Artillery, and Captain Burton, of the 7th regiment, then garrisonmajor of brigade, both members of our mess. In passing the house occupied by Paul and myself, my friends being aware that I had promised to pass the evening in the Lower Town, were on the look out, to prevent my effecting an escape, which I freely admit I had meditated, for I had no taste for the sort of amusement they had in view. The moment I gave any sign of going into the house, I was violently opposed, and it was not until I assured them it was for the purpose of providing myself

with some Roman candles I had made but a few days before, that I was allowed to go in, promising to overtake them in half a minute; but as soon as I saw them sufficiently distant, I started in a contrary direction, and instantly, with all the speed I could command, hastened to fulfil my engagement in the Lower Town, where I passed a most agreeable evening.

On my return home, Paul called to me from his bed-room in a most pitiable tone of voice, begging that I would go to him. I there found him in a sad plight, beaten and bruised in a very severe manner, yet very luckily he had no bones broken, nor dangerous wounds. He was suffering a great deal of pain, and after giving him a glass of brandy and water (for he had been sufficiently beaten to be quite sobered) he stated that soon after they had entered the suburb of St. John, and had commenced their efforts to astonish the natives, they had accidentally got separated, and each had to fight large numbers of Canadians; but that, after a while, he had succeeded in reaching the spot where Barclay was surrounded by forty to fifty men; whom he kept from closing upon him by swinging a long fire-pole-an instrument made on purpose for

demolishing houses, in order to arrest the progress of conflagration, and which resembled an immense boat-hook, twenty feet long at the least.

Barclay's extraordinary strength enabled him to wrest that powerful weapon from the grasp of two or three Canadians, who were endeavouring therewith to sweep him down, but he had no sooner acquired the exclusive possession of that instrument of destruction, than he began to whirl it round and round his head, like a horizontal mill-wheel, and in that manner kept a clear circle around him as he gradually retreated towards St. John's Gate. At one moment, however, one fellow bolder than the others ran in upon Barclay, in the hope of stopping the mill, but here again Barclay's strength extricated him from his peril; he seized his assailant by the scruf of the neck, and pitched him head foremost with so much force against a window, that he sent the man, windowsash and all, into the house, and before the panic-struck spectators had time to profit by the momentary stopping of the whirling firepole, Barclay had recommenced the same rotary movement, and thus by degrees secured his

retreat into town without having sustained the slightest injury.

Paul, in the midst of all this, had been very roughly handled, and would undoubtedly have paid very dearly, had not a Canadian, who had received some acts of kindness from him, stepped up and interposed in his behalf. On the following morning, I hastened to call upon Brigade-Major Burton, who had lodgings in the market-place. He was in bed, complaining loudly, and groaning with pain in his shoulder, which at first he had believed to have been broken. I found Burrows in the hands of the regimental surgeon, who was engaged in bringing together the lips of a severe cut, extending from one eyebrow a long way into the hair, and another about three inches long across the top of his head, both completely cut to the bone. Moreover, he was very much bruised in various parts of the body, and it appeared to me very evident that an intention of putting him to death had existed amongst the justly-exasperated Canadians. The wounds on his head had been inflicted with a shovel. He could not form any idea of the length of time he had been senseless, but he