Note 27 — Chapter VIII · CAMPAIGN OF 1812: THE STORMING OF BADAJOS—HARRY SMITH’S MARRIAGE.
Reading edition
Random Shots by a Rifleman, by Sir John Kincaid, pp. 292-296. I venture to quote the rest of Kincaid’s interesting passage: “Thrown upon each other’s acquaintance in a manner so interesting, it is not to be wondered at that she and I conceived a friendship for each other, which has proved as lasting as our lives—a friendship which was cemented by after-circumstances so singularly romantic that imagination may scarcely picture them! The friendship of man is one thing—the friendship of woman another; and those only who have been on the theatre of fierce warfare, and knowing that such a being was on the spot, watching with earnest and increasing solicitude over his safety alike with those most dear to her, can fully appreciate the additional value which it gives to one’s existence.
“About a year after we became acquainted, I remember that our Battalion was one day moving down to battle, and had occasion to pass by the lone country-house in which she had been lodged. The situation was so near to the outposts, and a battle certain, I concluded that she must ere then have been removed to a place of greater security, and, big with the thought of coming events, I scarcely even looked at it as we rolled along, but just as I had passed the door, I found my hand suddenly grasped in hers. She gave it a gentle pressure, and, without uttering a word, had rushed back into the house again, almost before I could see to whom I was indebted for a kindness so unexpected and so gratifying.
“My mind had, the moment before, been sternly occupied in calculating the difference which it makes in a man’s future prospects—his killing or being killed, when ‘a change came o’er the spirit of the dream,’ and throughout the remainder of that long and trying day I felt a lightness of heart and buoyancy of spirit which, in such a situation, was no less new than delightful.
“I never until then felt so forcibly the beautiful description of Fitz-James’s expression of feeling, after his leave-taking of Ellen, under somewhat similar circumstances—
“‘And after oft the knight would say, That not when prize of festal day Was dealt him by the brightest fair That e’er wore jewel in her hair, So highly did his bosom swell As at that simple, mute, farewell.’”