"In this corps he remained three years, during which, he had no opportunity of seeing actual service, except at the affair of Glensheel; and this life of insipid quiet, must have hung heavy upon a youth of M---'s active disposition, had not he found exercise for the mind, in'reading books of amusement, history, voyages, and geography, together with those that treated of the art of war ancient and modern, for which he contracted such an eager appetite, that he used to spend sixteen hours a day in this employment."
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.
33 entries in ESTC (1751, 1758, 1763, 1765, 1769, 1773, 1775, 1776, 1778, 1779, 1781, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1791, 1793, 1794, 1798, 1799, 1800).<br>
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Smollett, Tobias. <u>The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle. In which are included, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality.</u>, 4 vols. (London: printed for the author, 1751). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T55344">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;