Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/100

 view of averting any suspicion that might otherwise arise, as to my meditated plans. One regulation imposed the penalty of drinking a tumbler of brandy, on the refusal to sing a song. As I could do neither, the tide of disapprobation was flowing against me, when, on condition of the remission of my penalty, I engaged, at the following meeting, to sing one that no one had ever heard; that day arrived, my poetical, as well as vocal, talents were brought into action, and exerted upon the prevailing foibles of every one present. The song, which was the one alluded to in Miller's work, was received with "eclat," and good humour, and ever after sung by the president, at the opening of the club, so long as it existed. The following Saturday, I was again about to be fined, when I repeated my former engagement, provided we should all be together.

Having, for some time, vainly indulged the hope of finding a companion willing to share my fate, and the winter fast approaching, I became apprehensive of not being able to make the attempt before the en