‘It hurts my feelings,’ said he, ’to be obliged to commune with such wretches; but the stern necessities of war demand men continually, and hence these recruiters whom you see market in human flesh.  They get five-and-twenty dollars from our Government for every man they bring in.  For fine men—­for men like you,’ he added, laughing, ’we would go as high as a hundred.  In the old King’s time we would have given a thousand for you, when he had his giant regiment that our present monarch disbanded.’

‘I knew one of them,’ said I, ’who served with you:  we used to call him Morgan Prussia.’

‘Indeed; and who was this Morgan Prussia?’

’Why, a huge grenadier of ours, who was somehow snapped up in Hanover by some of your recruiters.’

‘The rascals!’ said my friend:  ’and did they dare take an Englishman?’

’’Faith this was an Irishman, and a great deal too sharp for them; as you shall hear.  Morgan was taken, then, and drafted into the giant guard, and was the biggest man almost among all the giants there.  Many of these monsters used to complain of their life, and their caning, and their long drills, and their small pay; but Morgan was not one of the grumblers.  “It’s a deal better,” said he, “to get fat here in Berlin, than to starve in rags in Tipperary!"’

‘Where is Tipperary?’ asked my companion.

’That is exactly what Morgan’s friends asked him.  It is a beautiful district in Ireland, the capital of which is the magnificent city of Clonmel:  a city, let me tell you, sir, only inferior to Dublin and London, and far more sumptuous than any on the Continent.  Well, Morgan said that his birthplace was near that city, and the only thing which caused him unhappiness, in his present situation, was the thought that his brothers were still starving at home, when they might be so much better off in His Majesty’s service.

’"’Faith,” says Morgan to the sergeant, to whom he imparted the information, “it’s my brother Bin that would make the fine sergeant of the guards, entirely!”

’"Is Ben as tall as you are?” asked the sergeant.

’"As tall as me, is it?  Why, man, I’m the shortest of my family!  There’s six more of us, but Bin’s the biggest of all.  Oh! out and out the biggest.  Seven feet in his stockin-FUT, as sure as my name’s Morgan!”

’"Can’t we send and fetch them over, these brothers of yours?”

’"Not you.  Ever since I was seduced by one of you gentlemen of the cane, they’ve a mortal aversion to all sergeants,” answered Morgan:  “but it’s a pity they cannot come, too.  What a monster Bin would be in a grenadier’s cap!”

’He said nothing more at the time regarding his brothers, but only sighed as if lamenting their hard fate.  However, the story was told by the sergeant to the officers, and by the officers to the King himself; and His Majesty was so inflamed by curiosity, that he actually consented to let Morgan go home in order to bring back with him his seven enormous brothers.’