punctuation is remarkably
varied. I have tried to preserve both, except that the spaces between a
word and the following colon or semicolon have been removed. There
are also many French words and phrases, whose meaning will usually
be obvious as soon as you realise they are French. Of course I
apologize for any genuine errors in spelling and punctuation that have
crept into this file.
Captain Gronow is an entertaining raconteur who brings his own
experiences in the Regency period and the wars with France
delightfully to life. Gronow published several sets of memoirs. This file
covers the first half of what he published. Search the web for "Captain
Gronow" to learn more about this interesting gentleman.
The text is arranged as a series of topics, each with a title in capital
letters. Sometimes there is continuity in this arrangement, sometimes
there is not. There is no other structure to the text.
I have used the character for "pounds" (money) in this text: '£'. If the
character n single quotes does not look like a pound sign to you, well,
at least you know what is intended. The book text uses a lower case 'l'
for this purpose, but in computer fonts the 'l', looking just like a '1'
when following a string of digits, is confusing.
Many thanks to Pam Wisniewski for profreading this text.
- Tobias D. Robison, September, 2001
[email protected]
Reminiscences of Captain Gronow
Formerly of the Grenadier Guards, and M.P. for Stafford:
being
Anecdotes of the camp, the court, and the clubs, at the close of the last
war with France.
Related by himself.
"O friends regretted, scenes for ever dear! Remembrance hails you with
her warmest tear! Drooping she bends o'er pensive fancy's urn, To trace
the hours which never can return."
London:
Smith, Elder and Co., 65, Cornhill.
M.DCCC.LXII.
A FEW WORDS TO THE READER
It has been my lot to have lived through the greater part of one of the
most eventful centuries of England's history, and I have been thrown
amongst most of the remarkable men of my day; whether soldiers,
statesman, men of letters, theatrical people, or those whose birth and
fortune - rather, perhaps, than their virtues or talents - have caused
them to be conspicuous in society at home or abroad. Nature having
endowed me with a strong memory, I can recall with all their original
vividness scenes that took place fifty years ago, and distinctly recollect
the face, walk, and voice, as well as the dress and general manner, of
everyone whom I have known. I have frequently repeated to my friends
what I have seen and heard since the year that I joined the Guards
(1813), and have been urged to commit to paper my anecdotes and
reminiscences.
Unfortunately, I have not the power of efficiently describing in words
the pictures that are hung up in the long gallery of my memory: a man
may see very distinctly the landscape before him, yet he may be unable
to delineate that which he gazes upon and is intimately acquainted with.
A viva voce narrative of an incident told to a friend in conversation
may pass muster, and one is able to fill up any gaps in an imperfect
description; but it always occurred to me that I had no right to task a
reader's time and patience unless I could put before him what I had to
say in a lucid and complete form; I therefore refrained from committing
myself to print. I have at length, however, yielded to the suggestion of
friends, and written down some anecdotes in the best way I could.
Soldiers are not generally famous for literary excellence, and when I
was young, the military man was, perhaps, much less a scholar than he
is at the present day; but I hope that the interest of the matter will make
up for any deficiency of style.
In going over more than half a century, and treating of men, women
and events, it was necessary to leave out many anecdotes which would,
perhaps, have been more interesting than most of those that I have
given; for I would not willingly offend, or hurt the feelings of any one,
and I wish to respect the memory of the dead, as well as to take into
consideration the sensitiveness of the living. My Reminiscences, it will
be seen, are nothing more than miniature illustrations of contemporary
history; and though the reader may find here and there scraps of
biographical matter, I confine myself to facts and characteristics which
were familiar to the circle in which I moved, and perhaps are as much
public property as the painted portraits of celebrities.
Should this work meet with the approbation of the public, I hope at a
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