The Trumpet - Major - A Soldier in the War with Buonaparte and Robert His Brother First Mate in the Merchant Service - A Tale

Sep 27, 2026

John Loveday, a soldier in the war with Buonaparte, and Robert, his brother, a first mate in the merchant service, form the core of Thomas Hardy’s narrative, framed as a tale rooted in testimony and remembered incidents. The preface emphasizes how oral recollections, period newspapers, and consulted documents help establish a credible sequence of events. Early chapters introduce Wessex coastal life and the observations from a window overlooking the down, where local relics and traditions vividly recall impending danger.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages223

Reading Time5 h 43 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

I. What Was Seen from the Window Overlooking the Down

The Trumpet–Major *** Thomas Hardy JOHN LOVEDAY A Soldier in the War with Buonaparte and ROBERT HIS BROTHER First Mate in the Merchant Service A TALE With a Map of Wessex COPYRIGHT First Edition (3 vols.) 1880. New Edition (1 vol.) and reprints 1881–1893 New Edition and reprints 1896–1900 First published by Macmillan and Co., Crown 8vo, 1903. Reprinted 1906, 1910, 1914 Pocket Edition 1907. Reprinted 1909, 1912, 1915, 1917, 1919, 1920 St. Martin's Street, London Macmillan and Co., Limited Originally Published 1920 [epubBooks.com](epubBooks.com) [Provided for free by epubBooks.com. Not](Provided for free by epubBooks.com. Not) for commercial use. This EPUB eBook is released under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND/3 .0) Licence.([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)) Source text and images taken from the Public Domain. [www.epubbooks.com](www.epubbooks.com) Support epubBooks [and make a PayPal donation by visiting](and make a PayPal donation by visiting epubBooks.com/donations)[ ](and make a PayPal donation by visiting epubBooks.com/donations)[epubBooks.com/donations](and make a PayPal donation by visiting epubBooks.com/donations). PREFACE The present tale is founded more largely on testimony—oral and written—than any other in this series. The external incidents which direct its course are mostly an unexaggerated reproduction of therecollections of old persons well known to the author in childhood, but now long dead, who were eye–witnesses of those scenes. If wholly transcribed their recollections would have filled a volume thrice the length of 'The Trumpet–Major.' Down to the middle of this century, and later, there were not wanting, in the neighbourhood of the places more or less clearly indicated herein, casual relics of the circumstances amid which the action moves—our preparations for defence against the threatened invasion of England by Buonaparte. An outhouse door riddled with bullet–holes, which had been extemporized by a solitary man as a target for firelock practice when the landing was hourly expected, a heap of bricks and clods on a beacon– hill, which had formed the chimney and walls of the hut occupied by the beacon–keeper, worm–eaten shafts and iron heads of pikes for the use of those who had no better weapons, ridges on the down thrown up during the encampment, fragments of volunteer uniform, and other such lingering remains, brought to my imagination in early childhood the state of affairs at the date of the war more vividly than volumes of history could have done. Those who have attempted to construct a coherent narrative of past times from the fragmentary information furnished by survivors, are aware of the difficulty of ascertaining the true sequence of events indiscriminately recalled. For this purpose the newspapers of the date were indispensable. Of other documents consulted I may mention, for the satisfaction of those who love a true story, that the'Address to all Ranks and Descriptions of Englishmen' was transcribed from an original copy in a local museum; that the hieroglyphic portrait of Napoleon existed as a print down to the present day inan old woman’s cottage near 'Overcombe;' that the particulars of the King’s doings at his favourite watering–place were augmented by details from records of the time. The drilling scene of the local militia received some additions from an account given in so grave a work as Gifford’s 'History of the Wars of the French Revolution' (London, 1817) . But on reference to the History I find I was mistaken in supposing the account to be advanced as authentic, or to refer to rural England. However, it does ina large degree accord with the local traditions of such scenes that I have heard recounted, times without number, and the system of drill was tested by reference to the Army Regulations of 1801, and other military handbooks. Almost the whole narrative of the su

FAQs

What is the basis for the narrative in the preface?

The preface states that the tale is founded more largely on testimony—oral and written—than on any other source in the series.

How does the author approach verifying the sequence of events?

The author notes the difficulty of reconstructing true chronology from fragmentary survivor memories and relies on period newspapers and other consulted documents.

What scene is introduced at the start of Chapter I?

Chapter I begins by describing two ladies in a village near the Wessex coast and frames their world through what could be seen from a window overlooking the down.

Sep 27, 2026

Uploaded by PakDamar76