meditations. He probably procured the command at West-Point, with the deliberate design of delivering to the foe that "rock of our military salvation."
Anderson who could scarcely endure to yield the traitor that measure of fame which he had earned, felt particularly uneasy to hear it from lips that he revered, and answered with warmth—
"I have heard his courage doubted, Madam. At Saratoga, where he so madly defied danger, he was known to have been intoxicated. I recollect how angry he was. It the battle of Bemis-heights, because the command was not given to him instead of General Gates. He came upon the field in very ill-humour, and brandished his sword so carelessly, that he wounded in the head an officer who stood near. Then plunging foolishly into the most peril ous scenes of action, he had his leg fractured; and I heard the surgeon of the hospital say, that he was so peevish, and furious at his confinement, and pain, that no one liked to be near him."
Madam L———, perceiving that the object of honest Anderson's aversion bade fair to monopolize his whole visit, made an attempt to change the current of his thought
"There is a story," she said, "which 1 always hear from you, with peculiar satisfaction. I refer to the battle of Bunker-hiil, which you may perhaps recollect you have not described to me for a very long time."
The expression of the soldier's face suddenly changed.
