Note 143 — Chapter V

I am informed by Mr. Wright that he was not wounded on this occasion. This is a curious illustration of Byron’s remark about ‘Gazette fame’ (‘Don Juan,’ canto viii., stanza 18 and note). The officer of the 1st Battalion who was wounded at Merxem on February 2 was Lieutenant Church. He had been taken prisoner in one of the fights at Arcangues on December 10, 1813 (see p. 160); but had made his escape, had found his way across France without being discovered, and had joined Glasse’s company in Holland. Like M’Cullock after the Coa (p. 56) he had trusted himself to the fair sex, who had assisted his disguise, and favoured his escape.