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so much regard for me, and described the (illegible text) business of a soldier's life with so much art that I began to listen to his proposal of entering me in his service; and having maturely weighed the circumstances pro and con I signified my consent and was admitted into the regiment of Picardy. The company to which this command belonged, was quartered at a village not far off, wither we marched next day and I was presented to my captain who gave me a crown to drink, and ordered me to be accommodated with clothes, arms and accoutrements. I sold my livery suit, purchased linen, and, in a very short time, became a complete soldier.
It was not long before we received orders to march into Germany in order to reinforce Mareschal Duc de Noailles who was then encamped with his army on the side of the river Maine to watch the motions of the English, Austrians and Hessians under the command of the Earl of Stair. We began our march accordingly, but it is impossible to describe the hunger and thirst I sustained, and the fatigue I underwent, in a march of so many hundred miles, so that in a very short time the inside of my thighs and legs were deprived of skin and I proceeded in the utmost torture. This misfortune I owed to the plumpness of the constitution. The continual pain I felt made me fretful, and my peevishness was increased by the mortifi-
