Litchfield enquirer., 1872-05-30
ALEoEND OF c.sRALrER.
CHAPTER 1


 ligious house, and still retains the name of the Convent Two sides of 8 long quadrangular gallery, traversing the inte- rior of the buildings, are hung with DOT traits of officers present at the great siege ill 1779-63, executed in a style which proves that Pre- -Raphaelte painters exist ed ill those days. One Of these portraits represents my grandfather To judge from painting of him by Sir Joshua, and a small miniature likeness, both still in possession of the family, he must have been rather good looking old gentleman, with Gn affabie, soldierlike air, and very respectable features. The portrait at the Convent IS doubtless a strong likeness, but by no means so hattering; it repre- sents him mnch as be might have appear ed in life, if looked at through cheap opera glass. 4 full inch has been ab- stracted from his forehead, and added to his chin; the bold nose has become great promontory in the midst of the level coun- tenance; the eyes have gained in feroeity what they have lost in speculation, and would, indeed, go far to convey disa- greeable impression of my ancestors char acter, but for the infexible smile of the mouth. Altogether, the grimness of the air, the buckram rigidity of figure, and the uncompromising hardness of his shirt frill and the curls of his wig, are such as are to be met with in few works of art, besides the figure heads of vessels, the slgnboards of country inns, and the hap piest efforts of Messrs. Millais and Hunt
 However, my grandfather is no worse of than his compeers. Not far from this one is another larger painting represent ing a council of officers held during the siege, where, notwithstanding the gravity of the occasion and the imminence of the danger, not single face i'll the intrepid assembly wears the slightest expression of anxiety or fear, or, indeed, of anything else; and though my progenitor, in addi- ] tion to the graces of the other portrait, is here depicted with squint, yet he Is by i no means the most ill-looking individual present. But the illustrious governor, 1 Elliott, has suffered more than anybody at the hands of the artist. Besides figur- i ing in the production aforesaid, a statue 1 of him staAds in the Alameda, carved in some sort of wood, unluckily for him, of durable nature The features are of 8 very elevated cast, especially the hose; the little legs seem by no means equal to the task of sustaining the enormous cooked hat; and the bearing is so excessively mil itary, that it has been found necessary to prop the great commander from behind to prevent him from falling backwards
 My grandfather, John Flinders, joined 1 the garrison of Gibralter as major of in- fantry few years before the siege. He was then forty-seven years of age, and up to that time had remained one of the most determined old bachelors that ever existed. Not that he ever acclaimed against matrimony in the style of some of our young moderns, who fancy themselves too strong minded to marry; the truth be- ing that they remain single either because i they have not been gifted by nature with tastes sufficiently strong to like one wo- man better than another, or else, because no woman ever took the trouble to lay siege to them. My grandfather had nev- CT married, simply, I believe, because matrimony had never entered his head He seldom ventured, of his own choice, into ladies' society, but when he did, no man was more emphatically gallant to the sex. One after one, he saw his old friends abandoning the irresponsible ease of bachelorhood for the cares of welded life; but while he duly congratulated them on their felicity, and officiated as godfather to their progeny, he never seemed to an- ticipate similar destiny for himself All his habits showed that he had been too long accustomed to single harness to go cleverly as one of a pair. He had partic- ular hours of rising, and going to bed; of riding out and returning; of settling him. self down for the evening to book and pipe, which the presence of a helpmate would have materially deranged And therefore, without holding any Malthu- sian tenets, without pitying his Benedick acquaintances, or entertaining thought of the sex which would have been in the least degree derogatory to the character of De Coverly, his castles ill the air were never tenanted by any of his own posterity.
 It was fortunate for my grandfather that in his time people did not suffer so much as now from that chronic infamma- tion of the conscience, which renders them perfectly miserable unless they are en- gagged in some tangible pursuit -''improv- ing their minds, or "adding to the gen. eral stock of information" A more use- less, contented person never existed He never made even a show of employing himself proftably, and never complained of weariness in maintaining the monoto- nous jog-trot of his simple daily life He read good deal, certainly, but it was not to improve his mind, only to amuse him. self Strong minded hooks, to stimulate his thinking faculties, would have had no charms for him; he would as soon have thought of getting galvanized for the pleasure of looking at his muscles; And l don't know whether it was not just as we'll: In systematically cultivating his 1 mind, he would merely have been laying where there would never have been Q crop-and some pleasant old weeds would have been pulled up in the process. A green thistly common, even though goose could hardly find sustenance there, is na- ture still, which can hardly be said of a | patch of earth covered with guano.
 So my grandfather went on enjoying himself without remorse after his own fashion, and never troubled himself to think-an operation that would have been inconvenient to himself, and productive of no great results to the world He transplanted his English habits to Gib- ralter; and, after being two years there, knew nothing more of Spain or Spaniards than the view of the Andalusian hills from the Rock, and short constitutional daily ride along the beach beyond the Spanish lines, to promote appetite and di- gestion, afforded him. And so he might have continued to vegetate during the re- malnder of his service there, but for a new acquaintance that he made about this time.
 Frank Owen, commonly called Garry Owen by his familiars, was one of those joyous spirits whose pleasant faces and engaging manners serve as a perpetual act of indemnity for all breaches of de- corum, and trespasses oyer social and con- ventional fences, committed by them in the gaiety of their hearts. In reproying his many derelictions of military duty, the grim colonel of..the regiment would insensibly exchange his habitual tone of severe displeasure for one of mild remon- strance- influenced, probably, quite as much, in secret. by the popularity of the unrepentant offender, as by any personal regard for him. Captain Hedgehog, who had shot man through the heart for corking his face one night when he was drq1nk and all oonkoof xxsf1, xvhoo< 1ako,,