The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-27 00:00:00

THE CAMP AT

THE ENCAMP:

On Friday evening, as the .blic are aware, his Royal
Highness Prince Albert s b •P -illy arrived, about half-
past five, at the encatnpmentaind there established him-
self in the royal pavilion a 4 blead-quarters. The unex-
pected arrival of a visitor of:linch distinction occasioned
no small gossip among, the tAgers, the majority of whom
were totally unaware of the: aeons which induced his
Royal Highness to break ' rest by passing a night
et
upon. the heath, for it was " ' nt to all that he intended
stopping there. Some egujootured that it was for the
purpose of being early one tha ground for the review of
the following day, quite fOggtting that, come at what
hour they may, princes *reliever late. Some guessed
the precise truth—namely, thit it was to witness a night
surprise ; but this was a mere guess, and not generally
credited, as the officers reasoned that the men, having a
most fatiguing field-day to .go through with on Satur-
day, they would not have their previous night's rest
broken by any alarm in the camp, which could well be
postponed to a less active season. The appearance of
the order-book which is issued.every evening, and which
generally contains a prograMme of the following day's
proceedings, did not remove these doubts. It merely
stated that 20 rounds of ammunition were to be issued to
the men, in addition to what was already in their pouches,
making up a total stock of 35 rounds per man. The
issuing of such an unusual quantity was taken as a suffi-
cient guarantee of the sharp field practice which they
would have to undergo during the review on the follow-
ing day. There was also another paragraph in the ge-
neral orders which seemed to bode nogood to the night's
rest of the forces, and which-pautioned officers to impress
upon the men, before retiriwfor the evening, the neces-
sity of turning out unawlanirs'--the instant the tattoo
' was heard bOating. This last sentence was deemed by
most of the officers to be conclusive as to a night's sur-
prise being close at hand ; but, of course, none of these
suspicions transpired among the visitors who had come
down in the expectation of seeing a field-day, and,
being, as the public are aware, miserably disappointed,
were Consoling themselves by gazing at the aspect
which the camp presented by sunset from one of the
neighbouring hills. This appearance was unusually
picturesque on Friday evening. All the men were out
between the tents, amusin,, themselves with athletic
games of various kinds, and from a distance their clus-
tering forms and many-coloured uniforms, standing out
in bold relief upon the dark brown heather, gave an
animation and beauty to the scene which it is almost
impossible to describe in words. The many roads across
the common were covered with long lines of waggons
laden with provender for the horses and provisions for
the men, while upon the extreme right and left of the
position from the cavalry and artillery stables over the
heath were streaming two long lines of horse, each com-
prising about 1,400 splendid animals, cantering down to
water at the neighbouring ponds. At the same time
(seven o'clock) the last bugle for mess was, blown, and
simultaneously the bands of all the different regiments
struck up their favourite airs, while the officers sat down
to mess. The harsh clang of the pipers of the Highland
regiments, and the splendid military music of the other
bands, came, mellowed by the distance, into one har-
monious murmur, which imparted a finish to a scene
sufficiently characteristic and striking in itself.
By 8 o'clock mess was over, and the officers strolled
about the comp, looking on with much interest at the
games and sports of their respective regiinents. The
English soldier, as usual, played football, while the
Highlander danced reels, strathspeys, and flings with
wonderful grace and agility. At the cavalry quarters
all boisterous amusements were given up, out of respect
to the neat proximity of the Prince's tent upon the Mag-
net ; but the men strolled about, smoking, or sat upon
the brow of the hill which overlooks the whole camp,
enjoying the prospect which lay stretched beneath them
bathed in all the beauties of the glorious sunset. The
sun went down, the games grew fainter, and the players
less energetic. Parties of " leave men" began to hurry
across the heath, to join their companies before tattoo,
while, too tired to wait for the welcome signal, an
immense number of the men had already turned in for
the night.
At half-past nine o'clock the last signal for the night-
watch was given. The "ear-piercing fife " and " spirit-
stirring-drum " cleared the camp ground as if by magic,
and by the time the long melancholy notes of the bugles,
sounding the recal, had faded away in the distance, not
a man was to be seen among the long white lines of the