CHAPTER IV.

WOOLWICH.

It was in February 1813 that Drummond was summoned to pass his entrance examination at Woolwich. He arrived on the 24th, and passed his examination the same day.

'He often used to smile," says his friend, General Sir T. A. Larcom,* "at the terrors of his solitary entrance to this portal of his future life. It happened that, at a distance from Edinburgh and his family, he had no relative or friend to accompany and support him in the ordeal of examination; and when, immediately on landing from the packet which had brought him from Scotland, alone, and with his letter of summons in his hand, he presented himself at the barracks, the porter rebuffed him with the chilling information, You are too late.' He was received, however, and passed with credit."

The incident alluded to brings out so much of Drummond's character, that it must not be passed over without stating the details. Fortunately they are recorded in a letter written to his mother at the time. He had gone to Woolwich by sea in a packet from

* "Memoir of the Professional Life of the late Captain Drummond,” in “Papers on Subjects connected with the Duties of the Corps of Royal Engineers," vol. iv. p. 2. Lond. 1841.

Leith. The passage was rough, but not a very long one, as passages were then made. He left Leith on a Friday, and arrived at Gravesend at two o'clock of the morning of Wednesday, the thirteenth day. This was February 24th, and an examination day: so Drummond made up his mind to proceed at once to Woolwich, and undergo the examination. "I had desired the steward the night before," he writes,* "to awake me early, in order that I might set off for Woolwich. He forgot to call me, and I awoke at seven o'clock, dressed, put up my things, and got ashore at eight o'clock. The coach had set off about ten minutes before, and I ran about three miles trying to overtake it, but in vain, A return chaise came up, and I got within two miles of Woolwich when it wanted twenty minutes of eleven o'clock [the hour for the examination]. There the man stopped to rest his horses, so I got out, and ran as hard as I could, and arrived at the Academy five minutes before eleven. I rang a bell, and asked for Russel, the clerk. His wife came, and told me he would be there soon. He came in about half an hour, when he took me to Colonel Phipps, and-to make a long story short-I passed my examination, delivered my letters to Colonel Mudge, and joined that afternoon." He He says in another place: "When I arrived at the Academy, I hesitated whether to go in or not, but after travelling sixteen miles, I thought it was a pity not to go in and get it over." He does not mention the fact that the examiner on the occasion was Professor Barlow, who from the moment of his arrival took an interest in him. It was before the appointed hour when the determined young runner reached the gate; but after it, owing to the absence of the clerk, before his * Letter to Mrs Drummond, dated March 3, 1813.

presence was reported. We may imagine his annoyance at the delay, after he had exerted himself so much to be in time. He had no fear as to passing; he but "wanted in." "Here," said the clerk to the professor, "is a young man from Scotland who pretends to know everything." No doubt Mr Barlow learned somewhat of the circumstances, and would be interested in a youth who showed so much self-confidence and determination.

Though Drummond arrived unaccompanied by a friend, he was not without the means in his possession to enable him soon to make friends for himself. Among his introductions was one to Colonel Mudge, who, after a distinguished career as a geodesist, as superintendent of the Ordnance Survey (which office he still, in 1813, continued to fill), was appointed, in 1809, Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Military Academy. The colonel from the first showed Drummond attention, at least he had him to dinner on an early day. This functionary seems to have been far from popular with the cadets, and the first impressions which Drummond received of him were unfavourable. But these

quickly wore away. "As to my letter to Colonel Mudge," he writes,* "it is impossible for me as yet to say how that letter will turn out, but I received his promise to assist me." The reason for doubting the value of the promise lay in the character of the "He is a man," governor as painted by some cadets.

says Drummond, drawing in a few

words a picture,

"of diminutive stature, broken constitution, and low spirits, grim looking, and not very easy of access. .. However, it is most material to get in with him, as he has the sole management here." Drummond had too Letter to Mrs Drummond, 23d March 1813.

much sense and practicality not to appreciate the value of an introduction to a man of such standing, though, as we shall see, he was disposed, in his inexperience, to overestimate it. In an earlier letter, dated March 3, after mentioning that he had been dining with the governor, he says: "So I think I will write to Professors Playfair and Leslie, and thank them for their letters the first opportunity. It is much in my favour to have letters from such men." I infer, as both the professors were friends of the colonel's, that they had introduced their old pupil to him.

He brought with him an introduction to Dr Smith, the head of the medical department, whose relations lived near Musselburgh. The Smiths were exceedingly kind, and he was soon at home in their house, which was situated about a mile from the Academy. He found a friend in Mr Jackson, the cadet who occupied the same room. It happened, also, that the servant in attendance on the room was a Drummond from the neighbourhood of Comrie, who knew both his father and uncle.

The letter, of date 23d March 1813, is a long one. It gives an idea of life at the Academy, besides answering categorically a number of questions contained in two letters received from home. There are symptoms as if of fatigue in the writer, most probably indications of the distress of mind which, we shall see, he was suffering. His financial accounts, he says, are carefully kept, and will be transmitted if required. He appreciates the kindness of the Smiths, and deplores that they are to leave so soon. "Their leaving in May will be an irreparable loss to me." "You desire me particularly to say whether or not I get enough of food. I have always got as much as I desire." It would have.

distressed his mother had he stated the whole truth, as he was afterwards forced to do. A portion of it, however, appears from the following account of the round of the day:-"There is a parade at half-past seven, after which we get breakfast-a bowl of milk and a round of bread. At eight o'clock, we go to the Academy, and stay till twelve o'clock, after which we are drilled. Dine at one o'clock, and at two o'clock return to the Academy till half-past five. There is then a parade again, after which no cadet is allowed to go out without leave. At eight o'clock we have supper-bread and cheese; and at nine o'clock we must be in bed, for then a lieutenant of the artillery, the servant and the corporal, come round, put out the candles and fire, and lock the door. At five o'clock in the morning the servant comes and takes away the shoes; comes back at six o'clock and puts on the fire; and at seven we get up. This is the life we lead."

The picture, it must be confessed, is far from attractive. Here is a boy, fresh from home joys and comforts, suddenly caught in the round of a desolate system, and worried in it from five o'clock in the morning till nine o'clock at night; his diet, so far as it is stated, little better than work-house fare, beginning with milk and a round of bread, and ending with dry bread and cheese. Parades and drills incessant; the sense of freedom pinched out. Morning parade early enough, one would think, without a servant systematically to disturb one's rest an hour and a half before one was wanted. A shudder comes over me recollecting another system not quite so bad, yet bad enough,-academical, but ecclesiastical, not military,-with morning and evening chapels in the place of parades. How did the youth like that of which he had experience? He would have