ABSTRACT
‘The wretch who has been the object of your inquiries, was the son of a peasant in my village, and having given early symptoms of a dishonest propensity, though of good and lively parts, his parents / thought the discipline of a military life might be a salutary restraint on him, or at least that a change of scene would remove him from the bad connexions he had formed, and probably time might then correct his evil habits. Accordingly at their request I received him into my regiment as a drummer, and promised to take him particularly under my protection, and keep a vigilant eye upon his conduct.
