Barry Lindon Read online

  Is it a towel of your wife's washing, Mr. Toole? I'm told she wiped your face often with one.

  LINK-BOY

  (whispers)

  Ask him why he wouldn't see her yesterday, when she came to the ship.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  And so I put to him some other foolish jokes about soapsuds, hen-pecking, and flat-irons, which set the man into a fury, and succeeded in raising a quarrel between us.

  Roderick and Toole fight with cudgels. Roderick gives him a thump across his head which lays him lifeless on the floor.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  This victory over the cock of the vile dunghill obtained me respect among the wretches among whom I formed part.

  EXT. MILITARY DRILL FIELD - CUXHAVEN - DAY

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  Our passage was very favorable, and in two days we landed at Cuxhaven, and before I had been a month in the Electorate, I was transported into a tall and proper young soldier, and, having a natural aptitude for military exercise, was soon as accomplished at the drill as the oldest sergeant in the regiment.

  Various cuts.

  Roderick learning the soldierly arts, musket drill, manual of arms, bayonet, marching.

  EXT. MILITARY COURTYARD - CUXHAVEN - DAY

  The Cuxhaven troops are drawn up to receive a new regiment, arrived from England.

  Roderick sees, marching at the head of his company, his old friend, Captain Grogan, who gives him a wink.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  Six weeks after we arrived in Cuxhaven, we were reinforced by Gales regiment of foot from England, and I promise you the sight of Grogan's face was most welcome to me, for it assured me that a friend was near me.

  INT. GROGAN'S QUARTERS - DAY

  Roderick and Grogan.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  Grogan gave me a wink of recognition, but offered no public token of acquaintance and it was not until two days afterwards that he called me into his quarters, and then, shaking hands with me cordially, gave me news which I wanted, of my family.

  CAPTAIN GROGAN

  I had news of you in Dublin. Faith, you've begun early, like your father's son, but I think you could not do better than as you have done. But why did you not write home to your poor mother? She has sent half-a-dozen letters to you in Dublin.

  RODERICK

  I suppose she addressed them to me in my real name, by which I never thought to ask for them at the post office.

  CAPTAIN GROGAN

  We must write to her today, and you can tell her that you are safe and married to "Brown Bess."

  Roderick sighs when Grogan says the word "married," on which Grogan says with a laugh:

  CAPTAIN GROGAN

  I see you are thinking of a certain young lady at Duganstown.

  RODERICK

  Is Miss Dugan well?

  CAPTAIN GROGAN

  There's only six Miss Dugans now... poor Dorothy.

  RODERICK

  Good heavens! Whatever? Has she died of grief?

  CAPTAIN GROGAN

  She took on so at your going away that she was obliged to console herself with a husband. She is now Mrs. John Best.

  RODERICK

  Mrs. John Best! Was there another Mr. John Best?!

  CAPTAIN GROGAN

  No, the very same one, my boy. He recovered from his wound. The ball you hit him with was not likely to hurt him. It was only made of tow. Do you think the Dugans would let you kill fifteen hundred a-year out of the family? The plan of the duel was all arranged in order to get you out of the way, for the cowardly Englishman could never be brought to marry from fear of you. But hit him you certainly did, Roderick, and with a fine thick plugget of tow, and the fellow was so frightened that he was an hour in coming to. We told your mother the story afterwards, and a pretty scene she made.

  RODERICK

  The coward!

  CAPTAIN GROGAN

  He has paid off your uncle's mortgage. He gave Dorothy a coach-and-six. That coward of a fellow has been making of your uncle's family. Faith, the business was well done. Your cousins, Michael and Harry, never let him out of their sight, though he was for deserting to England, until the marriage was completed, and the happy couple off on their road to Dublin. Are you in want of cash, my boy? You may draw upon me, for I got a couple of hundred out of Master Best for my share and, while they last, you shall never want.

  EXT. VARIOUS LOCATIONS - BRITISH ON THE MARCH - DAY

  Roderick on the march.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  Our regiment, which was quartered about Stade and Luneberg, speedily had got orders to march southwards towards the Rhine, where we would fight the famous battle of Minden. It would require a greater philosopher and historian than I am to explain the causes of the famous Seven Years' War in which Europe was engaged, and, indeed, its origin has always appeared to me to be so complicated, and the books written about it so amazingly hard to understand, that I have seldom been much wiser at the end of a chapter than at the beginning, and so shall not trouble you with any personal disquisitions concerning the matter.

  Various cuts featuring Roderick; marching, cooking at open fires, gambling, resting in a farm yard, officers riding by; shivering in his blanket.

  EXT. BATTLEFIELD OF MINDEN - BATTLE FRAGMENT - DAY

  Roderick and his company.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  Were these memoirs not characterized by truth, I might easily make myself the hero of some strange and popular adventures.

  EXT. MINDEN - BATTLE FRAGMENTS - DAY

  Officers ride by in smoke. Troops marching to the attack.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  But I saw no one of the higher ranks that day than my colonel and a couple of orderly officers riding by in the smoke -- no one on our side, that is. A poor corporal is not generally invited into the company of commanders and the great.

  Roderick advancing.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  But, in revenge, I saw, I promise you, some very good company on the French part, for their regiments of Lorraine and Royal Cravate were charging us all day; and in the sort of melee high and low are pretty equally received. I hate bragging, but I cannot help saying that I made a very close acquaintance with the colonel of the Cravates.

  Roderick firing his musket. He bayonets a French colonel, amidst shouts and curses.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  And finished off a poor little ensign, so young, slender, and small, that a blow from my pigtail would have dispatched him.

  Roderick kills a French ensign with a blows from the butt of his musket.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  And in the poor ensign's pocket found a purse of fourteen louis d'or, and a silver box of sugar­plums, of which the former present was very agreeable to me.

  Roderick taking money and the box of sugar-plums from the ensign.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  If people would tell their stories of battles in this simple way, I think the cause of truth would not suffer by it. All I know of this famous fight of Minden, except from books, is told here above.

  Captain Grogan is shot, cries out, and falls.

  A brother captain turns to Lieutenant Lakenham.

  CAPTAIN

  Grogan's down; Lakenham, there's your company.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  That was all the epitaph my brave patron got.

  Roderick kneels above Grogan.

  CAPTAIN GROGAN

  I should have left you a hundred guineas, Roderick, but for a cursed run of ill-luck last night at faro.

  He gives Roderick a faint squeeze of the hand; and, as the word is given to advance, Roderick leaves him.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  When we came back to our ground, which we presently did, he was lying still, but he was dead. Some of our people had already torn off his epaulets, and, no doubt, had rifled his purse.

  EXT. VARIOUS ROUGH RURAL LOCATIONS - DAY

  Short cuts to voice over.

  Roderick and British troop
s rape, pillage and burn.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  After the death of my protector, Captain Grogan, I am forced to confess that I fell into the very worst of courses and company. In a foreign country, with the enemy before us, and the people continually under contribution from one side or the other, numberless irregularities were permitted to the troops. It is well for gentlemen to talk of the age of chivalry; but remember the starving brutes whom they lead -- men nursed in poverty, entirely ignorant, made to take pride in deeds of blood -- men who can have no amusement but in drunkenness, debauch, and plunder. It is with these shocking instruments that your great warriors and kings have been doing their murderous work in the world.

  EXT. BATTLEFIELD - WARBURG - BATTLE FRAGMENTS - DAY

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  The year in which George II died, our regiment had the honor to be present at the Battle of Warburg, where Prince Ferdinand once more completely defeated the Frenchmen.

  Lieutenant Lakenham is shot, falls, and cries for help.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  During the action, my lieutenant, Mr. Lakenham, of Lakenham, was struck by a musket-ball in the side. He had shown no want of courage in this or any other occasion where he had been called upon to act against the French; but this was his first wound, and the young gentleman was exceedingly frightened by it.

  LAKENHAM

  Here, you, Roderick James. I will pay you five guineas if you will carry me into the town which is hard by those woods.

  Roderick and another man take him up in a cloak, and carry him towards the nearby town of Warburg.

  EXT. A FARMHOUSE - GERMAN STREET - WARBURG - DAY

  In order to get into the house, Roderick and the other man are obliged to fire into the locks with their pieces, which summons brings the inhabitants of the house to the door; a very pretty and black-eyed, young woman, and her old, half-blinded father.

  They are at first unwilling to accommodate the guest, but Mr. Lakenham, speaking to them in German, and taking a couple of guineas out of a very full purse, speedily convinces the people that they have only to deal with a person of honor.

  INT. WARBURG FARMHOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY

  They carry Lieutenant Lakenham to bed and receive their five guineas.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  We put the patient to bed, and he paid me the stipulated reward. A young surgeon, who desired nothing better than to take himself out of the fire of the musketry, came presently to dress the wound.

  In his German jargon, Roderick pays some deserved compliments to the black-eyed beauty of Warburg, thinking, with no small envy, how comfortable it would be to be billeted there.

  EXT. STREET - WARBURG - OUTSIDE THE FARMHOUSE - DAY

  He starts back to the regiment, with his comrade, when the man interrupts his reverie by suggesting they divide the five guineas.

  PRIVATE

  I should get half.

  RODERICK

  Your share is one guinea. Roderick gives him one guinea.

  PRIVATE

  He gave you five guineas, and I bloody well expect half.

  RODERICK

  Go to the devil.

  The private lifting his musket, hits Roderick a blow with the butt-end of it, which sends him stunned to the ground, allowing his comrade to take the other four guineas from his pocket.

  Recovering his senses, Roderick bleeding, with a large wound in the head, has barely time to stagger back to the house where he had just left the lieutenant, when he falls fainting at the door, just as the surgeon exits.

  INT. WARBURG FARMHOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY

  Roderick is carried by the surgeon and the black-eyed girl, into another bed in the room where the Lieutenant has been laid.

  LAKENHAM

  (languidly, in pain)

  Who are you putting into that bed?

  LISCHEN

  We have the Corporal, wounded, to you bringing.

  LAKENHAM

  A corporal? Turn him out. Schicken sie Herrn Koporal weg!

  INT. WARBURG FARMHOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT AND DAY

  Lischen brings Roderick a refreshing drink; and, as he takes it, he presses the kind hand that gave it to him; nor does this token of his gratitude seem unwelcome.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  I found Lischen the tenderest of nurses. Whenever any delicacy was to be provided for the wounded lieutenant, a share was always sent to the bed opposite his, and to the avaricious man's no small annoyance.

  Lischen serving food.

  Various cuts, representing different days. Lakenham behaving as rottenly as Roderick describes:

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  Nor was I the only person in the house to whom the worthy gentleman was uncivil. He ordered the fair Lischen hither and thither, made impertinent love to her, abused her soups, quarreled with her omelettes, and grudged the money which was laid out for his maintenance, so that our hostess detested him as much as, I think, without vanity, as she regarded me.

  Roderick making lover to Lischen while Lieutenant Lakenham sulks in the next bed.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  For if truth must be told, I had made very deep love to her during my stay under her roof, as is always my way with women, of whatever age or degree of beauty. Do not think me very cruel and heartless, ladies; this heart of Lischen's was like many a town, which had been stormed and occupied several times before I came to invest it,

  Roderick sitting up in bed. Lischen has just served him his supper.

  Enter a British officer, an aide who carries a notebook, and a surgeon. In a brief scene to be written, we learn that a sudden movement on the part of the French requires the British army to follow them. The town is to be evacuated, except for some Prussian line-of-communication troops, whose surgeons are to visit the wounded in the place; and, when they are well, they are to be drafted to their regiments.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  I began to reflect how pleasant my quarters were to me, and that I was much better here than crawling under an odious tent with a parcel of tipsy soldiers, or going the night-rounds, or rising long before daybreak for drill. I determined that I never would join mine again.

  EXT. VIEW OUT OF WARBURG FARMHOUSE WINDOW - DAY

  Roderick stands by the window, watching English troops and wagons leaving the town.

  INT. WARBURG FARMHOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY

  Roderick walks into Lakenham's room attired in his full regimentals, and with his hat cocked over his left eye.

  RODERICK

  I'm promoted Lieutenant. I've come to take my leave of you. I intend to have your papers and purse.

  LAKENHAM

  You great scoundrel! You mutinous dog! What do you mean by dressing yourself in my regimentals? As sure as my name's Lakenham, when we get back to the regiment, I'll have your soul cut out of your body.

  With this, Roderick puts his hand under his pillow, at which Lakenham gives a scream that might have called the whole garrison about his ears.

  Roderick threatens him with a knife at his throat.

  RODERICK

  Hark ye, sir! No more noise, or you are a dead man!

  Roderick, taking his handkerchief, binds it tight round his mouth, and, pulling forward the sleeves of his shirt, ties them in a knot together, and so leaves him, removing the papers and the purse, and wishing him politely a good day.

  EXT. WARBURG FARMHOUSE - STREET - DAY

  Lischen, waiting outside the house, with a saddled horse, throws her arms around him, and makes the tenderest adieu.

  Roderick mounts his newly-purchased animal, waves his hat gallantly, and, prances away down the street.

  EXT. ROAD - DAY

  Roderick happily riding along a wooded country road, rounds a blind bend and sees suddenly before him, about two hundred yards away, a company of Prussian infantry resting along the sides of the road, together with a dozen mounted dragoons.

  A quick calculation tells him that is is better to proceed than to turn back, and he rides into their midst
, approaching a group of officers.

  He presents himself as Lieutenant Lakenham and asks for directions to join his regiment. He is told that he is riding in the wrong direction, and is shown a map.

  During the explanation, Captain Galgenstein approaches with an open, smiling countenance, introduces himself, and says he, too, is bound for the same place, and asks if Roderick will honor him with his company.

  To avoid suspicion, Roderick readily accepts the offer, and the two men mount up, and ride off together.

  EXT. ROAD - GERMANY - DAY

  Roderick and Galgenstein riding together.

  Dialogue under voice over.

  RODERICK (V.O.)

  My companion treated me with great civility, and asked me a thousand questions about England, which I answered as best I might. But this best, I am bound to say, was bad enough. I knew nothing about England, and I invented a thousand stories which I told him; described the king and the ministers to him, said the British ambassador in Berlin was my uncle, and promised my acquaintance a letter of recommendation to him.

  CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN

  What is your uncle's name?

  RODERICK

  (slowly)

  O'Grady.

  CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN

  (with a laugh)

  Oh, yes, of course, Ambassador O'Grady...

  EXT. DESOLATE GERMAN ROAD - DAY

  Roderick and Captain Galgenstein. Their horses' heads together, jogging on.

  They pass a party of recruits under the armed guard of a red-coated Hanoverian sergeant.

  He exchanges signs of recognition with Captain Galgenstein.

  CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN

  It hurts my feelings to be obliged to commune with such wretches, but the stern necessities of war demand men continually, and hence these recruiters whom you see market in human flesh. They get five-and-twenty thaler a man from our government for every man they bring in. For fine men -- for men like you.

  (he adds laughing)

  They would go as high as hundred.

  EXT. DESOLATE GERMAN INN - LATE AFTERNOON

  Roderick and Captain Galgenstein approach a very lonely-looking place.

  CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN

  This is a very good inn. Shall we stop for dinner?

  RODERICK

  This may be a very good inn for Germany, but it would not pass in old Ireland. Corbach is only a league off, let us push on for Corbach.