.. But the English troops have none of
these requisites in any eminent degree. Regularity is by no means part
of their character.' Johnson's _Works_, vi. 150.
[772] See _ante_, i. 348.
[773] In the _Marmor Norfolciense_ (_Works_, vi. 101) he describes the
soldier as 'a red animal, that ranges uncontrolled over the country,
and devours the labours of the trader and the husbandman; that carries
with it corruption, rapine, pollution, and devastation; that threatens
without courage, robs without fear, and is pampered without labour.' In
_The Idler_, No. 21, he makes an imaginary correspondent say:--'I passed
some years in the most contemptible of all human stations, that of a
soldier in time of peace.' 'Soldiers, in time of peace,' he continues,
'long to be delivered from the tyranny of idleness, and restored to the
dignity of active beings.' _Ib_. No. 30, he writes:--'Among the
calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of
truth by the falsehoods which interest dictates, and credulity
encourages. A peace will equally leave the warriour and relater of wars
destitute of employment; and I know not whether more is to be dreaded
from streets filled with soldiers accustomed to plunder, or from garrets
filled with scribblers accustomed to lie.
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