(the 22nd, 79th, and 93rd); imagine what a splendid sight they will be when deployed into line, they will occupy very nearly one mile in extent. Cavalry and guns will, I suppose, be added to us when they arrive. Officers and men are in first-rate health and spirits, and longing to move to the front. The 93rd gave three cheers when they heard they were to be in the same Division with ourselves (the other two Highland regiments have not arrived), and our own satisfaction was equal; — such troops animated by such good feeling must carry everything before them. How you would like to see our encampment! It is really a beautiful sight and occupies such a beautiful spot! and almost every day small hordes of Bashi-Bazouks, the irregular cavalry \1 pass by], wild, picturesque-looking rascals, but I should think worse than useless. The officers get very fair shooting, they find plenty of quail, which come very handy to the pot; some have gone inland on a four days' excursion, and expect to get deer and wild boars. I am afraid I shall not be able to take very far trips myself, if any; it is all I can do to get away from camp even for a walk, but there is nothing like having plenty to do. Write to me soon, it will give me such pleasure to hear from you. Give my best and kindest love to dear Lou ^^ (don't forget), and to all the girls. I hope Rivers ^^ is well again. God bless you, my dear Melvil. — Ever yours affectionately,
Fredk. Stephenson.
To his Brother, William Henry Stephenson
My dear William, —... The allied army is, I think, now on the verge of commencing active operations. Lord Raglan, in company with Marshal St, Arnaud,^' General Tylden commanding the engineers. General Cator commanding the artillery, and his military secretary, Steele of the Coldstreams, start for Varna next Thursday, the i8th. They will there hold a council of war and decide upon attacking the Russians at once,
either in the Dobrutska or at Sebastopol; they will only remain there twenty-four hours, and then return straight to Scutari. I think we shall move very shortly after their return, much to everybody's delight; we are all most anxious to go forward, as you may well imagine. We shall move to Varna by sea, as there is plenty of tonnage in those waters, and make that the base of our operations. I heard Baraguay d'Hilliers ^^ say the other day that their force in the East was 29,000; our own is, or will be in a day or two, 26,000. The men and officers are in the best health and highest spirits, longing to be on the move. Our camp is formed on the most lovely piece of ground you can imagine, with an excellent view of Constantinople, the Princes Islands, which are perfectly beautiful, and Olympus in the distance covered with snow. On another side is the high road to Broussa, on each side of which is the great Turkish burial-ground, extremely picturesque with its beautiful tall cypress trees and the quaint tombstones topped with fezes painted — the retreat of the plaintive bulbul, which forms at night with the braying and neighing of the baggage-mules and bat horses, the croaking of the frogs, and the howling of the scavenger dogs, the most charming soporific you can imagine. I have been so tied by the leg that I have only once been able to get leave to see Stamboul and the Valley of Sweet Waters. Pera and Galata I have not seen, and probably never shall. I have managed to get away for one day, when, having procured a firman, thirty- two of us started in a body and visited the two great mosques Achmet and St. Sophia, and most beautiful they are; but I do not mean to bore you with a description of them. The religious duties going on inside were as amusing as they were interesting. The seraglio we were all immensely disappointed in, seeing it was dispelling a romantic delusion, a disagreeable operation for sightseers. Stamboul itself is more filthy and stinking than anything you can imagine — the Spanish proverb, " See Seville and die," is more applicable to Constantinople (in a
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