ABSTRACT
I Confess, when I went into Arms at the Begining of this War, 1 I never troubled my self to examine Sides: I was glad to hear the Drums beat for Soldiers; as if I had been a meer Swiss, 2 that had not car’d which Side went up or down, so I had my Pay. I went as eagerly and blindly about my Business, as the meanest Wretch that listed in the Army; nor had I the least compassionate Thought for the Miseries of my native Country, ’till after the Fight at Edgehill. 3 I had known as much, and perhaps more than most in the Army, what it was to have an Enemy ranging in the Bowels of a Kingdom; I had seen the most flourishing Provinces of Germany reduced to perfect Desarts, and the voracious Crabats, with inhuman Barbarity, quenching the Fires of the plundered Villages with the Blood of the Inhabitants. Whether this had hardened me against the natural Tenderness which I afterwards found return upon me, or not, I cannot tell; but I reflected upon my self afterwards with a great deal of Trouble, for the Unconcernedness of my Temper at the approaching Ruin of my native Country.
