In an unnamed town sometime in the 1790s, poor Mrs. Neville lay dying. Her husband had preceded her to the grave by some months, leaving her destitute; six of her children had died long since. All that remained to her was her young son Edward, who, too young to understand his mother’s condition and his own plight, begged her for a crust of bread, promising to share it with his faithful dog. Her devoted servant, Nelly, was by her side, and so was the equally loyal friend of her late husband, Mr. Melburne: to them she imparted the highlights of...

From this point in time our view of Alexander Lesassier shifts from distance to foreground, for he found a new friend, “One in whom we can confide our inmost thoughts, whilst we remain assured that they will never be revealed—One who is impartial and uninterested [he meant disinterested] and can listen to our anxieties & misfortunes and afford us consolation & in our perplexities direct us in that line of conduct the most eligible—One who may serve as a memorial of where we formerly have erred; by reviewing which, ourselves, or others may, in similar circumstances avoid those breakers on...

On 3 November 1805, Alexander Lesassier set out on the two day journey to “Edinburgh my native place” for medical improvement, sitting up with the coachman to catch his first view of the city, the moon shining “with a most vivid splendor” and “the entrance to town ... beautiful just like going through a garden.” His arrival was a kind of homecoming. He was greeted warmly by his uncle, who “ran forwards & got hold of my hand—& said he was very happy to see me.” His grandmother “ran to me & embraced me repeatedly & wept very much”; his three aunts, Jean,...

His warrant received, Alexander Lesassier’s immediate future was assured: he was now a military man with a gorgeous new uniform, “scarlet coat—with black velvet collar—epaulet of gold on black velvet—A cocked hat with black feathers—& blue pantaloons & boots—regulation sword and black waist belt.” Lesassier had never been so well dressed in his life; “Zounds,” he wrote with satisfaction, “how fine I shall look with my grand sword.” The only question was where he would be posted, for that was “completely uncertain.” “Choose wherever I go,” he wrote cheerfully, now that the dreaded examinations were past, “I...

On 24 March 1808, after five weeks in London, Lesassier boarded the packet boat bound for Aberdeen to join his regiment at Fort George. “Fare thee well great city!” he wrote, “I have by the Divine Providence met with such good fortune that I never before enjoyed such happiness. Completely my own master, I rose when I liked—read—walked—went to the theatre or played many an hour with one of the pretty maids at the house where I always dine.” He left behind three young women, private milliners, “handsome and well-informed,” and also a small debt to his...

On 2 July 1809, Lesassier had his first view of Lisbon: “a most pleasing spectacle,” he wrote. “The houses appear very well built & are supplied with gardens. Many superb edifices rear their heads above the surrounding buildings.” He also received his first concrete war news: army headquarters was at Abrantes, eighty miles north of Lisbon on the Tagus River, and Wellington was pursuing the French army through southern Spain, “whither this Brigade must hasten with all possible dispatch.” The 42nd, and the rest of their brigade, had in fact arrived just too late to take part in the bloody and...

Lesassier spent his three months’ leave with Ella, much of it in Manchester to make sure no rumors of their affair could reach her husband. He had not been the least bit faithful: in addition to Rita and the three Portuguese women from whom he thought he had caught venereal disease, there were a host of others whose names he had written down on the back cover of one of the journals, keeping track of them as he kept track of each town or village he passed through. None of this made a difference to him or to Ella. He...

The allied army was successful in its drive to the northwest. The French force holding Salamanca had to retreat on 24 May 1813, falling back with the main army to Burgos; Burgos in turn had to be abandoned on 13 June for the city of Vitoria; the allied victory at the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June turned the French retreat into a rout and left the allied army in control of Spain. The extended blockade of Pamplona in the first two weeks of July was, Lesassier wrote, “of infinite service to me; for it had afforded me time to...

The war was now over. At 6 a.m. on 10 June 1814, “the two English brigades” of the Third Division “were formed in the great square, & the Portuguese brigade”—preparatory to beginning the long march home—“filed through them whilst the air was rent with huzzas & mingled with the mellow sounds of music and thus we parted,” Lesassier wrote. “It was an affecting scene.... The very soldiers were in tears—Not a single division had done this except ours.” Lesassier himself moved on to follow his brigade at 7 a.m. It was not a particularly difficult march for him: he...

Lesassier commenced practice on his own shortly after his marriage in 1817. Through the Lying-In Hospital, he had made contacts among the poor, and it was through them, as he had thought, that he was able to ultimately obtain more reputable practice. He had delivered the wife of a poor cobbler without charge, through whom he met a young gentlewoman, Mrs. Veitch, who “had been accidentally affording charitable assistance” to her. Mrs. Veitch, in turn, recommended him to his first paying patient, Mrs. Cleland, the wife of “an obscure house-painter”; more important to Lesassier, she also recommended him to her...

By 1822, Lesassier realized that his establishment on Picardy Place was too expensive, and he made the decision to move to a cheaper one in the Old Town, in Argyll Square. It was a prudent decision, for he reviewed his “affairs; & I find to my infinite satisfaction, that they promise to be completely redeemed by our change of residence.” If he could also have brought himself to reduce his establishment to two female servants, while cultivating the middle classes rather more assiduously, he might eventually have freed himself from all financial embarrassments. If he had, in other words, been able...

If Lesassier were a novel’s villain, he would have died here, as a just reward for his ill behavior; if he were its hero, his uncle and Catherine’s mother, repenting on their deathbeds, would have left him a fortune. He himself looked for a speedy change: either he would sell everything and leave Edinburgh, or Catherine would inherit her mother’s money—by now increased to £1,000 per year by her grandmother’s death—or he his uncle’s practice. It was inconceivable that things could go on as they were. “One thing is quite clear,” he wrote, “my affairs have obtained their...

The Hamiltons probably arrived in Moulmein by the fall of 1831, but they resided there as man and wife only until April 1832. Initially there seems to have been no doubt in either of their minds that they would stay together on foreign service: Lesassier had never hinted at leaving Catherine behind, and Catherine had decided to learn guitar, a more portable instrument than a piano, if they were to go on full pay. But once in India, any constraints on Lesassier’s behavior seem to have evaporated. His “great object,” he had written in Edinburgh during one of their bad...