died of the hypocrisy of the chapel system. A parade is at least such a reality as it pretends to be.

The indefinite object of his inclinations having become definite, desire changed to aversion. The system, from the first intolerable, soon became hateful. Moreover, he was now in a position to understand the nature of the career he had chosen; and neither its duties nor its rewards were such as, when ascertained, reconciled him to the service. He wanted to get out of it, and out of it at once. How great was the distress he suffered at this time may be gathered from the following letter to his aunt, Mrs Macfarlane :

"ROYAL ARSENAL, March 26, 1813. “MY DEAR AUNT,-You will be greatly surprised, and will, I daresay, sympathise with me when you read this. I have been here now upwards of a month, and from one of my mother's letters I gather you all think I like the place very well. God knows, I never told you this in any of my letters. Now you must promise to keep my mother ignorant of what I am about to tell you. From the moment I entered this place, till the present time, I have been miserable, and what I shall do I know not. I expected to have seen Mr Aitchison, and to have told him all this, but from some cause I have not seen him; but perhaps he has not left London, and I may yet see him. I trust I may. I have hesitated long with myself whether or not to tell you this, but my situation becoming every day more irksome, at last compels me to write to you; and you are the best person to give me advice, as I should not like my mother to know, she being so unwell. I would give worlds, if I had them, to get my discharge. But when I think of the enormous expense she has been at in sending me here, and how ill she can afford it, added to my last winter's expense, and when I consider her illness, I know not what to do. Upon no account show her this letter; you know what effect these things have upon her. But if I got my discharge, I might follow some profession in which I might make it up to her, and in which

Write to

Should I

I might be happy. You see how I am situated; as my mother is so unwell I am afraid to tell her. If I delay till July, it will be too late, and I will never get out. You will think this most unaccountable conduct, but the unhappy situation I am in must plead my excuse. After being ready for a commission, there are many chances against getting into the Engineers; promotion is so slow in the Artillery, that all try to get into the Engineers. In the Artillery, one may be a lieutenant for twenty years, living on 5s. 6d. per day. Had I known all this before I came, had I only had a trial of this place! me as soon as you can, and tell me what to do. write to Mr Aitchison, entreating him to apply to General Hope to get me my discharge? O that I was only in Edinburgh in person to tell you all! Colonel Mudge, to whom I was recommended, tries always to prevent those that are good at mathematics from getting their discharge. Whether should I keep it a secret from him, or try and engage him to help me? He could get my discharge if he asked it. You may think it most foolish in me talking thus, and that I may like it better after I have been longer here. But I have seen the life I have to lead, and though I was offered a commission in the Engineers just now, I would be most thankful to give it up. There are a great many wanting to be discharged. I am afraid to delay. I will get it far easier now than after I have been longer here. Write to me immediately if you can, and tell me what to do. O that I had had a trial of this place! Do not show this letter to my mother. General Hope may apply for my discharge, and surely they would not refuse him. I will look every day for your answer. Remember me to Mr Macfarlane. Farewell. I remain, my dear aunt, your affectionate nephew, "THOMAS DRUMMOND."

He wrote again on this subject to his aunt on April 23, 1813. She had told him it would be easy to obtain his discharge in July, and he agreed to wait. "The vacation," he writes, "commences about the 10th July, when we will debate what is to be done." Meantime he entreats her to keep his misery a pro

found secret. The desire to be discharged seems to have been epidemic in the Academy. He mentions several by name as affected by it, his friend Jackson being one of them. means to make no progress in his studies, so as to be discharged at the end of the year. As to, he is too far advanced ever to think of retreating; but he is completely tired of it. Keep all this a deep secret from their friends."

Before the vacation came, however, he had caught a little of the better spirit of the place, and was rising superior to its annoyances. The debate as to what should be done probably never was held; at least there is neither record nor trace of it.

He passed his entrance examination in the end of February; by April he had passed his first examination for a place in the school. The result is recorded in a letter to Mr Aitchison, dated April 13, 1813. "At the last examination here I got from the bottom of the sixth academy to be fifth in the fifth academy, by which I took fifty-five places, and was made by Captain Gow [the commanding officer] head of a room. There is an examination here every month, by which means you have an opportunity of rising in the Academy. But there is no such thing as studying by yourself. This is prevented by the older cadets, who, being at the head of the muster-roll, can do what they please; and as they are always the most ignorant and idle fellows among the cadets, they not only dislike studying themselves, but prevent others from doing it."

A letter to his mother, dated 27th April 1813, is mainly occupied with matters foreign to the studies and competitions at Woolwich. Captain Waugh, a friend of the family, has introduced him to a Lieutenant Chapman, who is very kind, lends him mathe

matical books, and invites him to his rooms to study. He is intimate with a Lieutenant Smith, and Jackson and he are faster friends than ever, and often go long walks in the evening. "It will be a sad loss to me when the Smiths go. Their kindness has been beyond expression." Next Sunday he is to go to visit Mr Hart at Brixton, a friend mentioned for the first time. Fires and candles are now put out at ten o'clock; they were extinguished at nine o'clock in the sixth academy. But the suppers of bread and cheese have grown unsatisfactory. O for the penny post! Almost all the letters contain allusions to the cruel postal rates, and the desirableness of franks. In one, dated 27th May 1813, the clamour for franks increases. By this time he has repeatedly visited the Harts at Brixton, and been most kindly entertained. They are obviously great friends of the family; press him to spend his vacation with them; and then, that being declined, are urgent that he should bring his sister Eliza to visit them when he returns from Scotland.

In his letter to Mr Aitchison he had been looking forward to a competition to take place before July for the vacancies, should they occur, in the senior department. The vacancies occurred, and the competition followed. On the 1st of July he records the result in a letter to his mother. "The examination is now over, and everything has succeeded according to my wishes. I am first on the mathematical list, and second in the Academy. Yesterday was the grand examination day for commissions in the first academy. The vacancies have all been filled, and a few supernumeraries left. If Portugal don't help a little, promotion will be slow." It is thus that, through class feeling, even the best of men are brought at times to

look upon war.

barracks, or, to

"When I return I shall be at the upper speak so as you may understand me better, at the senior department." His distinguished place had won for him an appointment to the upper school.

A few days after this, Drummond returned to Scotland to visit his relations. In less than four months he had won his way from the bottom of the sixth academy to the top of the junior department, and secured his appointment to the senior department. Referring to his rapid progress, General Larcom says: "His mathematical abilities soon made him conspicuous; and it is remembered that he was moved from the sixth to the fifth academy without the usual examination, and passed with such rapidity through that academy, and the fourth and third, that at Christmas of the year in which he joined, he entered the second academy." The distinguished General here appears not so well informed as usual of the conditions of Drummond's progress. If "it is remembered" that he was promoted to the fifth from the sixth academy without the usual examination, the recollection is probably of some story concocted and circulated through envy. We have seen, from his letter to Mr Aitchison of April 13, 1813, that he won that step after the usual examination, and an unusual display of ability, by which he earned at once fifty-five places, and mounted from the bottom of the sixth to be fifth man in the fifth academy.

When he returned to the family in July for the vacation, he looked very unwell. No doubt, hard work, inferior living, and mental distress, had reduced him not a little. It will be remembered that at first

* Memoir, p. 2.