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NINETEENTH-CENTURY BALLADS 85
lyrics under the pseudonym of Grace Campbell. It was at the time of the Indian Mutiny, and Britten had been reading in The Times a. letter from a lady who was one of the rescued party at Luck-now, giving the following vivid account of the relief of that place :—
"I had gone out to try and make myself useful in company with Jessie Brown, the wife of a corporal in my husband's regiment. Poor Jessie had been in a state of restless excitement all through the siege, and had fallen away visibly within the last few days. A constant fever consumed her, and her mind wandered occasionally, especially that day, when the recollections of home seemed powerfully present with her. At last, overcome with fatigue, she lay down on the ground wrapped in her plaid. I sat beside her, promising to awaken her when, as she said, ' her father should return from the ploughing.' She fell at length into a profound slumber, motionless, and apparently breathless, her head resting in my lap. I myself could no longer resist the inclination to sleep, in spite of the continual roar of the cannon. Suddenly I was aroused by a wild, unearthly scream close to my ear: my companion stood upright before me, her arms raised, and her head bent forward in the attitude of listening. A look of intense delight broke over her countenance, she grasped my hand, |
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