Lives of the Lindsays, Or, a Memoir of the House of Crawford and Balcarres

ilmllllMM N'E ; S", 1 >x . 2 , National Library of Scotland II II III 1 1 III B000031768* J? * -P LIVES THE LINDSAYS. VOL. IV. r \ 1 9 6 9 ; Oriental JWtecellantetf COMPRISING ANECDOTES OF AN INDIAN LIFE, BY THE HON. ROBERT LINDSAY; NARRATIVES OF THE BATTLE OF CONJEVERAM, &c, BY THE HON. JAMES AND JOHN LINDSAY; JOURNAL OF AN IMPRISONMENT IN SERINGAPATAM, BY THE HON. JOHN LINDSAY; AN ADVENTURE IN CHINA, BY THE HON. HUGH LINDSAY. WIGAN: PRINTED BY C. S. SIMMS. 1840. CONTENTS. Anecdotes of an Indian Life. By the Hon. Robert Lindsay. page 1 Two Narratives of the proceedings of the British army under General Sir Hector Munro and Colonel Baillie, and of the battle of Con- jeveram, 10th Sept., 1780, in which the division under Colonel Baillie was either cut to pieces or taken prisoners. By the Hon. James and John Lindsay, 73d Highlanders 117 Journal of an Imprisonment in Seringapatam, during the years 1781, 1782, 1783, and part of 1780 and 1784. By the Hon. John Lindsay 1 69 An Adventure in China. By the Hon. Hugh Lindsay 281 General Index to the four volumes 297 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/livesoflindsaysv400craw ANECDOTES OF AN INDIAN LIFE, THE HON. ROBERT LINDSAY. : ANECDOTES OF AN INDIAN LIFE, &c. INTRODUCTION. "Men leave the pictures of their frail and transitory persons to their families ; some lineaments of their mind were a better legacy, and would make them more known to posterity."—The truth of my father's observation is obvious, and, were each individual to keep a diary of the occurrences that happen to him during his journey through life, anecdotes would be found, to fill an inter- esting volume. I, as an individual, have to regret that I did not pay attention to my father's suggestion thirty- five years ago, when, like the hunted hare, I returned to the native ground from which I was originally started my trifling adventures were then full in my recollection, and might have been told to advantage ; but sixty-five years of age neither improve the genius or memory of 4 ANECDOTES OF the narrator : —It was at this period of my life that, lying on the couph, suffering under a severe paroxysm of gout, and surrounded by my three daughters, Anne, Cecilia, and Elizabeth, who had in rotation exerted their young and cheerful minds to beguile the tedious hours, one of them took up my father's memoirs, and, having read the passage I have just now quoted—" Why do you not, my dear father," said she, " follow up this good advice ? Here is pen, ink, and paper ; exert your memory—dic- tate to us the events you recollect, as far as concerns your own private history, and we will to the best of our ability commit your ideas to paper." It was impossible to refuse their reasonable request, and, before the fit of gout was effectually removed, they contrived to squeeze from me the following short history of my active career, commencing at the period I left Britain, in 1/68, and ending in 1789, embracing a period of twenty years, when my narrative ceases. I then followed the example of my father in becoming farmer, and for the next thirty- five years devoted my time and attention to the cultiva- tion and improvement of the small portion of the Bal- carres estate I purchased from my eldest brother, and my other landed property. On this subject I do not mean to enlarge, leaving it to some one of my family to describe how far I succeeded in my farming operations and improvements, or the reverse. AN INDIAN LIFE. CHAPTER I. I was born on the 25th of January, 1754, the second son of James Earl of Balcarres and Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Dalrymple. In the autumn of 1 768, my father died at Balcarres, leaving a family of eight sons and three daughters. My mother's brother, William Dalrymple, then a merchant at Cadiz, offered a situation for one of us ; being the second son, this was proposed to me, who cheerfully accepted it, then at the age of fourteen. Charles Dalrymple, my mother's youngest brother, carried my brother Colin and me to London. He left Colin at Mr. Rose's academy, at Chiswick, and embarked me on board a Cadiz trading-vessel at Deptford. The talents of my brother Colin were far superior to mine ; he was very handsome, showy in his appearance and elegant in his address ; we were bosom companions, and the same intimacy continued till the latest period of his existence. Twenty-seven years afterwards, his duty as a general officer called him to the West Indies, where B 3 6 ANECDOTES OF he fell a victim to that unhealthy climate. In the in- terval he served at Gibraltar during the memorable siege, and he has left behind him, as a proof of his abilities, an approved work on military tactics. So much for a favourite brother, whose memory I shall ever respect. I lived with my uncle very happily for some months, when his affairs became involved in consequence of un- successful speculation to South America, and I therefore accepted my cousin Mr. James Duff's invitation to occupy a room in his house until my uncle's affairs were settled. The arrangement was soon made, and I took possession of my room and seat at the desk, but my good friend, Don Diego, was too kind a master, and, instead of giving me a fixed task in the counting-house, I did as I pleased, and learnt nothing, not even the language of the country. In a few months it was found advisable to send me to Xeres de la frontera, the place where the Sherry wine is made. I was consigned to the care of Don Juan Haurie, the correspondent of the house, with directions to have me instructed in the Spanish language without delay. Don Juan, on his part, made me over to his father confessor, a friar of the order of San Francisco, who gave me an apartment in the convent. I had no reason whatever to complain of my fare, and, having none to converse with but the friars, my progress in the language was rapid. I was regularly summoned to attend the morning prayers, and evening vespers followed of course ; and before and AN INDIAN LIFE. 7 after meals a long benediction was never omitted. Often during the course of the day, and particularly in my walks with the holy brethren, they admonished me to become a Roman Catholic, and, had I remained much longer there, they might have succeeded ; fortunately, in four months, I was recalled to Cadiz, where the gaieties of the town soon made me forget the mysteries of the convent. Xeres was then inhabited by many of the ancient Spanish nobility, who lived a retired and primitive life. Their chief amusement was a species of tournament, called the Manexo. The noblesse and better families, dressed in the ancient costume, and mounted on the most beautiful horses, attended by their servants (also mounted), entered the principal square, and were met, in the opposite direction, by other caballeros. They then ran at the ring, and performed many evolutions exhibiting dexterity and able horsemanship. Towards the close of the day, an active young bull was intro- duced, with a long rope affixed to his horns, so as to allow him to range over half the square. The younger nobility then amused the bystanders by playing around his horns, with infinite dexterity, in a thousand different ways, the bull occasionally clearing the whole square. When the horsemen were tired, the bull was made over to the people, who teazed him on foot, until the animal was exhausted. The regular bull-fight I will not describe, it being well known. The first one I saw was of a superb descrip- B 4 8 ANECDOTES OF tion, given to the ambassador from Morocco ; it highly delighted the ladies, and drew from them gestures of applause and admiration, but upon me it had a very different effect,—I swore never to witness so barbarous a scene again ; but we are all children of habit,— I again followed the crowd, and Viva el toro ! was soon the order of the day with me as well as the Donas. All who can command a pistoreen flock to the bull-fights, which are the favourite amusement of the Spanish popu- lace, and certainly not so barbarous as an English box- ing-match. I once more occupied my seat in the counting-house, but my assiduity at the desk was never conspicuous. Mr. Duff's business lay chiefly in the shipping department ; ships, with cargoes in search of a market, came consigned to him from different parts of the world. He soon found that I had abundance of activity, and, in this department, was daily becoming more useful to him. One instance I will here mention. The better houses of Cadiz have each a tower, from which ships may be seen at a great distance. One morning, having risen early, it then blowing a heavy gale of wind, I looked through the telescope and observed a ship standing into the bay, with a signal of distress flying, and also carrying the distinguishing flag of Mr. Duff's house. I immediately ran down to the mole, and with much difficulty succeeded in getting a boat to venture off to the ship.

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