with the lady of fashion than with the child of the cottage. Nature is ever at work; Nature is always powerful. In the existence of a thousand religious sects, in the active progress of ten thousand wordly pursuits, she proves that the human mind is ever grasping after nourishment. She sometimes locks one up in a dungeon, to show that out of a simple flower a human heart can create a world of thoughts and a universe of hopes. Whatever the writers of fashionable novels may tell us, then, let us not believe that any soul passes through the world without learning more or less of the language of the stars-without hearing some of the secrets which are whispered in every zephyr's breath. We will accept "The Lady of Fashion," and kindred works, not as artistic-pictures of human life, but as chromo-lithographs, which pleasantly remind us of things we do not wish to forget.

THE MEMOIRS OF BRITISH GENERALS DISTINGUISHED DURING THE PENIN

SULAR WAR.*

ARMIES are the angriest arguments of contending nations, and generals are their calmest reasonings. An army

is the embodied violation of all natural order it draws the ploughman from his plough, and the workman from his loom; it deprives hearths of hearts, and hearts of hearths; it gathers fate from accidents, and makes what is accidental fatal. But a general is a law of method; his genius is a prophecy of the subjection of strife; the people look through his keen eyes at peace. The trooper glories in matching one against two; all the general's plans are directed towards arranging two against one. To the soldier, the country-side is an interval of so many days' march between himself and his foe; to the general, it is a book of problems, the solution of which genius undertakes with the aid of the axioms of history, and the definitions of experience. The soldier is a machine, of which the motive power is the heart, and discipline the engineer;

the general is a musician, who out of the various notes of circumstance creates melody, and sets the commands of his country to the music of musketry.

On looking back upon any great war, we find diplomacy, valour, and generalship contending with each other for the merit of victory, and it would be difficult to decide which was the most convincing advocate for peace. But whilst diplomacy, from its very nature, professes a willingness to resign advantages on one side, in order that it may gain greater ones on another, and valour knows that it can only obtain its ends by the destruction of some of Glory's own children, generalship ever preserves the hope of an unbought success. In theory, at least, the foe shrinks from the superiority of its skill, and its manœuvres conquer territories without bloodshed; in theory it ignores the enthusiasm of war, and takes the courage of friend and foe equally for granted. But if generalship be essentially a science, generals are but men; and we must not forget that if Philip II. turned war into a kind of state-craft, it was in the hands of Charles V. very like a charge of dragoons.

It would be difficult to predicate the kind of disposition, or to dictate the species of training, which are most likely to produce the successful leader of armies. At thirteen years of age Sir John Moore showed his father how he would attack Geneva, and was able to point out the weak part of the fortifications; Sir David Baird seemed to have been born a soldier; Lord Lynedoch was forty-three years of age when he first joined as a volunteer the British troops, sent in 1793 to assist the royalists of Toulon in holding that important port and arsenal against the revolutionary government; Sir Edward Pakenham was ten years younger, when he had already attained the rank of Major-General. Lord Hill, in appearance and manners, resembled a quiet country gentleman; the Marquis of Anglesea had the bearing of one of the heroes of chivalry, and delighted in the theatrical display of brilliant costumes.

But

there is one qualification which all great generals appear to have possessed in the midst of very various characteristics, and that is the faculty of combination-a faculty, which in some seems to have been cold and formal, and to deserve the title of prudence; and in others to have been so warm and quick, as almost to claim the name of imagination.

We have no record of any war which offered a wider field for the exercise of this faculty, than the great European struggle which ushered in the present century; and though the two great chieftains who held the foremost place in the conflict were possessed of genius, whose brilliance paled the talent which was grouped about it, we do not fail to find in the generals of that day, both on the English side and on that of their opponents, men whose strength of character forced them, as it were, into an originality of conception. The hot spirits of the Beresfords and Massenas, the Pictons, Craufords, and Soults of those days, caused the science of war to blossom as the hundred-leaved rose. Each of Napoleon's, each of Wellington's generals was an artist, and painted such pictures as the world can never lose sight of: for canvass, they had a few thousand square miles of country; for easels, the thrones of kings; for colour, the blood of nations. The men themselves are of such gigantic stature, and so fill the mind's eye, that we seek relief in the contemplation of the details of their lives. Herein lies the secret of our pleasure in the perusal of all those biographies which are worth the reading.

For obvious reasons we momentarily turn, at the present day, to the remembrance of these heroes, and wish not only that those who lived for us then were again alive, but that those who were then our foes might now live to be our friends. We love to brood over the accidents of each of those great lives, in the hope of finding out the secret of its realities. Who were their ancestors? we ask. Did they rise from the ranks? In what schools were they trained? Was it their youth or their more advanced age which produced their most brilliant efforts? The volumes before us, in pleasant, unassuming narrative, give us the information necessary to answer these questions;

and are full, besides, of matter which suggests questions of more importance and greater interest. It is scarcely credible that they should bear on their title-pages the date of the present year. We can scarcely imagine the reasons which have induced authors and publishers to allow forty years to pass by without the publication of a work of such obvious utility and interest, as the "Memoirs of British Generals distinguished during the Peninsular War."

The chief difficulty in writing a connected series of the lives of Moore, Baird, Anglesea, Paget, Beresford, Crauford, Cole, Picton, Lynedoch, Hopetoun, Hill, Le Marchant, Ross, and Pakenham, lies, of course, in the fact, that they were engaged for the most part in the same operations, and that the writer has to choose between a wearisome repetition, or the breaking up into scattered parts of the narrative of events, which owe their chief grandeur and importance to the harmony with which genius arranged their details. But Mr. Cole has avoided this difficulty as far as it could be avoided, and carries on the story with an earnestness which frequently gives the dignity of a campaign to the forced march of a division.

The following extracts, referring to some of the chief Peninsular battles, are fair specimens of our author's style, and will show that if he has not written an original, he has at least produced an interesting work.

was

The Battle of Corunna.-" It was late on the 16th, about two o'clock in the afternoon, when General Hope gave notice that the enemy's line getting under arms, and an immediate attack appeared to be in contemplation. It appears strange that Soult did not commence earlier in the day, since he resolved to fight, and the approaching darkness would certainly favour the retreat of the British, should they, as the French commander confidently expected, be driven in under the walls of Corunna, and compelled to embark during the night. Moore, on the contrary, expressed to Colonel Graham his intense satisfaction, when convinced that Soult had made up his mind to assail him. He only regretted the lateness of the hour, lest daylight should fail before he could sufficiently profit by the victory he anticipated. The battle began, and was fiercely fought on both sides. The enemy occupied, with great advantage, a commanding eminence towards their left cen

tre, from whence a forioidable field battery enfiladed the greater portion of the English line. From this battery the shots were fired by which the British com mander and his second were struck down. There was little manoeuvring throughout this stubborn fight, beyond attack and resistance. The dispositions were simple; everybody understood them; and the French, beaten on all points, fell back as night came on. Their loss amounted to between two and three thousand men, That of the English was never officially returned, but was estimated loosely at about eight hundred. Their arms were new, their ammunition fresh, and their fire more steady and destructive than that of their opponents. The corps chiefly engaged were the brigades under Major, Generals Lord William Bentinck, Manningham and Leith, and the Guards, under Major-General Warde. These men were specially commended in the official report. Major-General Hill and Colonel Catlin Crauford, with the brigades on the left, ably supported the advanced posts. The brunt of the action fell upon the 4th, 42nd, 50th, and 31st Regiments, with parts of the brigades of Guards, and the 28th. If the French had been closely pursued, as their left was turned by Paget's reserve, their ammunition exhausted, and the river Mero in full tide behind them, with only one bridge for retreat, it appears almost certain that their repulse night (as at Vimiera, if similar advantages had been seized on the instant,) have been converted into a most signal overthrow. But Sir John Moore was killed, his second in command, Sir David Baird, disabled by a severe wound, and General Hope, on whom the charge devolved, knowing that it had always been intended to embark during that night, withdrew the troops from the field of their victory, without difficulty or confusion. Hill's division, which covered the movement, followed on the 17th from the citadel, and Beresford, with the rear-guard, and the wounded, were the last who departed on the following day. The transports sailed, and thus ended the first British campaign in the Spanish portion of the Peninsula."

The Siege and Capture of Ciudad Rodrigo." On the 8th of January, 1812, the trenches were opened, and on the same night an important outwork, the redoubt of Francisco, was stormed by select companies of the light division, under the command of Colonel Colborne, (now Lord Seaton). On the 14th the batteries opened, and on the 19th two breaches were reported practicable. Lord Wellington examined them in person, and he issued the order for attack, concluding with these memorable words, Ciudad Rodrigo must be stormed this evening.' The larger

1

breach was to be assailed by the third, and the lesser by the light division. At seven in the evening the town clock struck, the signal was given by a rocket, and the columns rushed forward. The garrison were prepared for a desperate resistance; a mine was sprung in the principal breach by which many brave men perished; but in less than an hour the place was won. The stormers of the light division consisted of three hundred volunteers, led by Major George Napier (afterwards Lieutenant-General Sir G. Napier), with a forlorn hope, under Lieutenant Gurwood. General Crauford accompanied them, and fell, pierced through the body by one of the first shots fired.

Crauford's last address to his division, a moment before they moved on, was short and clear, in his usually decisive manner; "Soldiers!' said he, the eyes of your country are upon you, Be steady-be cool-be firm in the assault. The town must be yours this night. Once masters of the wall, let your first duty be to clear the ramparts; and, in doing this, keep well together.' There have been many opinions expressed as to this brave officer's capability of command. It has been even asserted by his admirers, that with the same opportunities he would have equalled Wellington; but such hyperbolical eulogy is as injurious as detraction. Take him on the whole, he was one of the readjest and most dashing executive officers in the service; and his early death must be considered a national loss.

General Lowry Cole and the Battle of Maida." This distinguished officer was the second son of William Willoughby, first Earl of Enniskillen, by Anne, his wife, only daughter of Galbraith Lowry Corry, Esq., and sister of the first Earl of Bel

more.

The antiquity of the family of Cole, and their honourable condition may be traced to a remote period. They are named as holding knightly rank in two deeds of William the Conqueror, and were originally of the county of Devon. By the marriage of Sir John Cole, of Nathway, in Devon, with the daughter and heiress of Sir Nicholas Bodrugan, in 1243, they trace connection with Henry III., through John, Duke of Lancaster, and the Earls of Westmoreland, Salisbury, Arundel, Warren, Surrey, and Oxford.

"From this match lineally descended Sir William Cole, Knight, who, in the reign of James I., settled in Ireland, and obtained large grants of escheated lands in the county of Fermanagh, where he fixed his residence. The family being zealous Protestants, were always remarkable for their steady and active adherence to the principles they professed, in Church and State. During the rebellion of 1643, Sir William Cole raised a regiment at his

own expense, and commanded them in person; when the town of Enniskillen was incorporated, he was elected first provost. In1760, his representative and great-greatgrandson, John Cole, Esq., M.P. for Enniskillen, was elevated to the peerage of Ireland, as Baron Mount Florence of Florence Court. His grandson, William Willoughby, became Viscount and Earl of Enniskillen in 1776 and 1789. Lowry Cole, of whom we are how 'writing, was born in Dublin, on the 1st of May, 1772. Being intended from his ear hest youth for the profession of arms, towards which his boyish predilections strongly pointed, he received a suitable military education, and entered the service before he had arrived at full manhood. He was endowed with a high and manly spirit, well fitted for daring enterprise, and found himself gazetted to a cornetcy in the 12th Light Dragoons before he had completed his fifteenth year; his first commission bearing date March 27th, 1787. Passing through the next grade of lieutenant in the 5th Dragoon Guards, he exchanged into the Infantry, and was promoted to a company in the 70th Foot, in November, 1792. There was nothing particularly rapid in this advance for a young man of good interest, with money and powerful family conneetions. The period was unfavourable for military achievement. The nations of Europe were at peace; except in India, the troops of England had no active employment, beyond home duty and the care of garrisoning the colonies. The ominous clouds of the French revolution were rapidly gathering, but had not yet burst iuto the overwhelming storm, which heralded in more than twenty years of general warfare. Old warriors, who complained that their swords were turned into inglorious ploughshares, and young ambitious soldiers, eager for active service in the field, were soon destined to see their aspirations indulged beyond what either could have expected, and to an extent far greater than the outward appearance of tranquillity rendered probable. So, from au almost imperceptible speck on the horizon, arises the dark hurricane which suddenly sweeps along with overwhelming violence. On the 1st February, 1793, the National Convention of France declared war against Great Britain, and her ally, the United Provinces,-the denunciation being practically followed up by the invasion of Holland two days after. Late in the same year, the English Government despatched a naval and military force, under Sir Charles Grey and Sir John Jervis, for the capture of the French West India Islands. With this expedition Lowry Cole embarked at Cork, and soon afterwards was gazetted a Major in the 102nd Foot. He was present at the taking of

Martinique, March 24, 1794, and also at that of Guadaloupe and St. Lucia, in the month of April following. During the latter operations, he served on the staff as Aide-de-camp to Sir Charles Grey, the general officer commanding. Towards the close of the same year he was promoted to a lieutenant-colonelcy in Ward's regiment, which he afterwards exchanged for a company in the Coldstream Guards. Returning home, his next appointment placed him on the general staff of Ireland, in the Adjutant-General's department, under Sir John Cradock; and subse quently he became Aide-de-camp to the Earl of Carhampton, Commander-in-Chief in that country. In 1801, he accompanied the expedition to Egypt, and served throughout the campaign there on the personal staff of General (afterwards Lord) Hutchinson, who succeeded to the direction of affairs on the death of the lamented Abercromby. The short respite of the peace or truce of Amiens, occupied a feverish interval of one year and a half, at the expiration of which, the rival nations, having drawn a little breath, rushed once more into a mortal encounter. In 1804, the subject of our memoir, who had previously reached the brevet rank of full Colonel in the army (as early as January, 1801) obtained a regimental lieutenant-coloneley in the 27th Foot; and in the year following repaired to the Mediterranean, expecting the appointment of Brigadier-General on his arrival at Malta. He was then in his thirty-third year; his appearance and bearing eminently graceful and aristocratic; his manners cordial and prepossessing. In every respect he conveyed the impression of a gallant leader, who would rise to distinction if the chances presented themselves. During the early part of 1806 the Island of Sicily was held by a British force of 17500 men, under Sir John Stuart. Their principal occupation consisted in watching the French, who, commanded by Regnier, were scattered in no great numbers through the opposite provinces of Lower Calabria. Circumstances seemed to favour an offensive movement on the part of the British General. Accordingly, having taken his resolution and formed his plans with secresy, he embarked 5000 men without cavalry, and only a few light field-pieces and mountain guns. No opposition was offered to their landing, which took place on the 1st of July, in the Bay of St. Eufemia. With dawn on the 4th the troops moved forward, and before they had marched many miles, found themselves in presence of Regnier's army, well posted, superior in numbers, and ready to dispute their further progress. Then followed the battle of Maida, which has been often described, but can never

lose its interest and prominence in the catalogue of soldier-like achievements. In this brilliant action BrigadierGeneral Cole, who, from his seniority happened to be second in command, performed an important part. His brigade consisted of the first battalion of the 27th, his own regiment, and a battalion of grenadiers taken from all the different corps composing that small army. This custom of forming picked flank battalions has since been wisely abandoned. It produced very strong and effective bodies of troops, but crippled and reduced the regular regiments, while it mortified the commanding officers, by depriving them of their most active and available men. Cole's 's brigade was stationed on the left of the British line; and even after the defeat of the French left, who at the commencement of the action gave way and fled before Kempt's light infantry, they found themselves opposed by such superior numbers, including a body of cavalry, that the General was compelled to throw back the left wing of the 27th to secure his flank from being turned. Some inexperienced officers, led away by the success of Kempt's brigade on the right, strongly recommended him to advance headlong against the enemy; but he saw the danger of such inconsiderate movement, and held his ground steadily, until the opportune and unexpected arrival of the 20th, under Colonel Ross, enabled him to assume the offensive, when the last-named gallant regiment came up to his support. The overthrow of Regnier's army then became complete, and if we had been enabled to pursue them with two or three hundred fresh cavalry, very few would have escaped.

"In looking at General Cole's professional career, it is somewhat singular to observe that at Maida he was urged to undertake a precipitate advance, without orders, which might have compromised the army and endangered the fate of the day. This he refused to venture; and, acting on his own judgment, the event proved that he decided wisely. At Albuera he made a movement with his division which won the battle; and in this case also, he acted on his own responsibility, coinciding with the suggestion of Major Hardinge, that here an immediate advance was imperatively called for in the critical position of affairs. After the French had entirely disappeared from the field of battle at Maida, the English troops, by orders from their commander, Sir John Stuart, marched back to the beach, within a few miles of which the action was fought,

for repose, food, and supplies of ammunition. A ludicrous incident then occurred, which is thus related by Sir Henry Bunbury, who was present as QuarterMaster-General: "A permission had been given that the men of each brigade, in turn, might refresh themselves by bathing in the sea, the rest lying by their arms. While the Grenadiers and Enniskillens were in the water, a staff-officer came galloping in from the front, crying aloud that the enemy's cavalry were coming down. In a moment the troops sprang to their arms and formed; and Cole's brawny brigade rushing out of the sea, and throwing their belts on their shoulders, grasped their muskets, and drew up in line, without attempting to assume an article of cloth ing. The alarm was utterly groundless."

LAURA GAY.

A NOVEL.*

WE are not often inclined to urge against a novel, as a cause of blame, the fact that it is contained in two volumes instead of three. If a short book be very good we do not so much find fault with its brevity as attribute to that brevity the secret of a great part of its power. But the perusal of "Laura Gay," leaves an unpleasant impression on the mind that it is in two volumes only because the author lacked energy to write the third; it is a good book spoiled by the want of due development. The want of a third volume reduces its plot to a mere incident, and leaves the characters of the heroes and heroines somewhat too much like cold abstractions. An inferior writer would, no doubt, have found two volumes amply sufficient for his purpose: the space which our author occupies with brilliant colouring, would have afforded to a common-place hand, room for a complete picture.

"Laura Gay" is essentially a novel of "character;" the author appears to have proposed to himself to write a story which should illustrate moral principle as earnestly, and at the same time as amusingly, as Mrs. Bruton's "Self Control", without having recourse to the violence of incident with which that book abounds. In this effort he is not entirely successful, but yet