ABSTRACT
IT was late in the Autumn of 1777 before I obtained a passage to New York; and then only in a brig laden with rum, which was for the use of the army, shipped by contract; and as convoy was absolutely necessary, and it was long before we could obtain a frigate for that purpose, we did not arrive at our destination till the end of November. – The surrender of Burgoyne’s army, and of course my regiment, had before that time happened;8 – my joining it under such circumstances was out of the question, and I had interest enough to obtain the appointment of aid-de-camp to the commander in chief, and continued at New York9 without suffering any other than the common inconveniencies which must ever be felt in the seat of war. – Isabella, who had borne like a heroine the second voyage, notwithstanding all she suffered in the first, made some agreeable acquaintance among the ladies of the British officers; and her fears for my safety gradually subsiding as we continued in garrison, she regained her beauty and her spirits. My vanity would have had sufficient gratification, if it could have been gratified with the reputation of having the most beautiful wife of any man then in that part of the world; but I know not how it was – the very marked attention of one person, which was visible enough to eyes less quick-sighted than mine, and the idea that I might at any time be set, like Uriah,10 in the front of the battle, at the pleasure of one under whose command I was, entirely deprived me of the satisfaction this praise might otherwise have given me: – I was ashamed of continually feeling the weakness I had so often ridiculed; and certainly Isabella’s behaviour gave me no reason for it: the same volatility of temper that had induced her on so short an acquaintance to bestow her hand upon me, made me less confident than I ought to have been, of the affection to which in gratitude I should have imputed what she had done in my favour.
