military career, made acquainted with the service in Portugal; and that until wounded in the battle of the Pyrenees, was constantly attached to the second battalion of his brave regiment from the time he joined it. He has also served in the West Indies. In Jamaica, he says, that more of their men and officers fell victims to a fever, than had been cut off in battle.

We now must cite a few paragraphs that describe particular incidents and personal characters. Alas! these chiefly have to tell of the horrors of war.

"Soon after nightfall, and when the clash of arms was no longer heard, an interment of the dead took place, and many a poor fellow, who had a few hours before been full of life and strength, was now deposited in his narrow bed. The remains of Major Stanhope were lowered to the grave by his brother officers and comrades, with their sashes. He had worn this day a suit of new uniform and a pair of bright silver epaulettes; in which, with his military cloak around him, upon the same hour as his lamented chief, he was consigned to an honourable tomb.

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“While we were engaged in the performance of this melancholy duty. the Honourable Captain Stanhope of the Guards, aide-de-camp to Sir John Moore, rode up, directed by the torch-light, to the mournful group. It was the first intimation which he received of his brave relation's fate. Dismounting, and overcome with grief, he took a last farewell; and having obtained his ring, together with a lock of hair, he tore himself hastily away from the heart-rending scene. "On our march across this ground, an incident occurred which made a deep impression on the minds of those who happened to be present at the time. Across the pathway, and on either side, men and officers were lying; and one of the latter was extended on his face among the heath and brushwood, so close to where we passed, that Major Malcolm Mackenzie of the Seventieth, prompted as it were by intuition, suddenly dismounted to ascertain who was the individual. Stooping to observe the features, that were partly concealed by the long broom, he started back with grief and consternation, on perceiving that the young soldier who had thus fallen an early victim, was his brother, Lieutenant Colin Mackenzie, of the same regiment. "A party of the officers of the Fiftieth, who were collected in a knot discussing the affairs of the eventful day, were quickly seen by those marksmen, who, from behind the rocks, dispatched with deadly aim a few rifle missiles, each with its billet; and the balls were so faithful to their errand, that the congress was soon dissolved, some of the members being sent to that bourne from which no traveller returns,' and the remainder wounded. Among those who fell on this occasion, was Lieutenant Hugh Birchall, of the fourth battalion company, which he had commanded for some time. Having fallen ill, he was in his bed at Elisonda when the battle commenced; and hearing the noise of musketry, he thought that something was going forward in the lines in which he ought to bear a part. With a mind endued with strength superior to that of his weakly frame, he arose from the couch of sickness, and calling all the vigour that he could muster to his aid, totttered with feeble pace to the

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field of action, arriving at a late hour upon the hill. Exhausted, pale, and like one risen from the dead, he resumed bis former place; and scarcely had he joined the group assembled in the front, when, by a fatal bullet, this spirited young man was numbered with the slain."

The military profession affords peculiar opportunities for ascertaining the eccentricities of individual characters. The exigencies of war call forth every latent singularity, as in the following case:

"There was a company of the Sixtieth Rifles attached to our brigade, who were all Germans. They were commanded by Captain Philip Blassiere, a singularly active and zealous officer. Throughout the whole period of our warfare he never was absent from his station. With unwearied perseverance he braved the hardest weather and the roughest service; his athletic frame and iron constitution enabling him to withstand it all, holding out with stubborn tenacity while hundreds gave way around him. Undergoing all hardships in common with his men, he walked by their side, partook of the same fare, and shared not only with them the dangerous trade of fighting, but all the miseries of cold and famine, with their attendant train of horrors. He was foremost on all occasions where shot and shell abounded, and was at the rendezvous before a man of the brigade was assembled; and long before the march commenced, there was Blassiere ready with his Germans for any thing that might be wanted.

"The external appearance of this man was well calculated to excite surprise, and corresponded with his character for self-denial. His wardrobe was of the most scanty nature; the jacket and other parts of his attire, the original colour of which could not be distinguished by the most microscopic eye, were worn out, patched, and threadbare, and were pieced in various places; and the whole of his costume seemed at least for the last seven years to have retained its original situation on the person of its owner. Thus accoutred, he trudged along, indifferent about the elements; as fast as he got wet he got dry again, for he never changed his clothes. His muscular neck was enclosed by a hard leatherstock and brass clasp to match, and all his trappings were of the same coarse materials as those worn by his men. The haversack, manufactured of rough canvas, sometimes proved a treacherous friend; for, through many rents and breaches made by the hand of time, the mouldy and crumbling biscuit found its way, leaving but the fragments of his bare allowance, The blue canteen, well clasped with iron hoops, afforded him a source of comfort; its contents being to him a certain panacea for all evils.

"With habits somewhat eccentric, he was never known to indulge in any thing beyond the rations; and having no desire for the society of others, he discussed his frugal meal in solitude, avoiding even the luxury of a tent. His good-humoured though weather-beaten countenance was the index of his mind, which was cheerful and contented.

"After buffeting all the storms, roughing it through thick and thin, and standing out the pelting of many a shower of bullets, this gallant veteran fell at last in battle when the army entered France."

We have not met in this volume with a finer and more soldier

like character than that of Major Charles Napier. It is in truth a character that chimes in admirably with the family name. He is said, on the most fatiguing marches, to have frequently given his charger to some poor fellow who could not well get on; and that he might be seen walking before his regiment with a musket and sometimes a brace of them on his shoulder. But the manner in which he applied the power of music, was of still more extensive benefit, while it evinced the accuracy of his judgment, and the ingenuity of his taste. The author states, that in order to keep the men alive, the major would occasionally order some well-known national quick step to be played, when in a moment as if by magic, those who were almost worn out, would spring up, and seem endowed with additional life, giving the knapsack a cast upon the shoulder, and stepping out once more with spirit.

The extracts now selected, will afford a fair idea of Captain Patterson's Adventures. The strange and awful scenes which he witnessed, are, however, very various, and some of them highly dramatic. Did a tithe of our surviving half-pay officers turn their thoughts to the completion of a record of this description, much that is far more wonderful and instructive than the great mass of novels and romances deal in, would be laid before the public. As it is, our military literature, belonging to the last war, is abundant and rich, and the present volume adds considerably to the store. One extract more, and we close the book; the anecdote is somewhat extravagant, but still it shows how strangely habit and peculiar temperament may affect even our physical sensibilities. We have heard of men who pretended to be fire-eaters, but few of these could compete with him whose nonchalance is thus described.

"While employed in some hot work upon the hill, I observed an instance of taking things coolly,' even in the midst of fire, which is worthy of noticing here.

"One of our captains, a brave, intrepid soldier from the other side of the Tweed, (who had been so often in the smoke that he seemed only in his proper element when the balls were whizzing past his grisly locks, and the music of great guns was sounding in his ears,) happened to get a crack in the arm, of so violent a nature as to fracture the bone. Regardless of the wound, while the blood was streaming fast, he looked down sorrowfully on the damage effected on his precious garment, the object of his tenderest care, which had so often been wheeled to the right about. that with respect to it, the old adage of one good turn deserves another' was virtually attended to, and, after eyeing wistfully the awful breach, with greater horror than he would the breach of Badajos, or any other he was about to storm, he cast an angry glance towards that quarter from whence the missile was sent, and exclaimed, in none of the softest tones, as though he wished the whole French army might hear his voice, Dom the fellows, they've spoil'd my cott!" "

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30

ART. IV. Correspondence of Lady Mary Wortley Montague. Edited by Lord Wharncliffe. 3 Vols. 8vo. London: 1836. Bentley. LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE is a name that every one has been accustomed to associate with the ideas of beauty, eleverness, wit, and talent. Scandal too, which either her imprudence or her misfortune exposed her to, has been busy with her name. In a word, she was the perfect Sapho of her day-the virulence of the "wicked wasp of Twickenham," propagating some of the most offensive reports to her prejudice. We are led to presume from the present volumes, however, that she has been much abused; and that in many respects her's has been an unlucky celebrity. All know that she was a reinarkable benefactress to society, by having first introduced to civilized Europe the practice of inoculation for the small-pox, which was one of the direst scourges of mankind at that time. The literary works usually attributed to her contain, besides the finest specimens of sparkling vivacity, the first faithful pictures of the Turkish character, especially of the women and their harems. But the reports which attached to her virtual separation at one period from her husband, and her visit to the seraglio, have been the themes of far more frequent suspicion and injurious construction, than the power of her satire and epigrammatic songs, or her vast contribution to the interests of humanity. But, as we have already hinted, Lord Wharncliffe, has by the Memoir prefixed to the present edition of her letters, and the introduction of many anecdotes of her, as well as new matter from her pen, done much to revive her fame, and to rescue her history from uncharitable constructions. At any rate, we have not for a long time perused a work that is more engaging, or, in many respects more valuable than the one now before us; not merely because it throws a great deal of new light upon an extraordinary character, but because of its illustrative notices of persons and periods which are particularly interesting on account of the development thus afforded of a state of society that was distinct from that which is witnessed in our day, but with which we are closely connected. And while the reflecting reader cannot but perceive that humanity is the same at all times, in its great and characteristic lineaments, only diversified by the shades which custom lends-these volumes will also, we think, render it manifest that the period when Lady Mary flourished, (she was born in 1690,) cannot compete with the present time, either as regards refinement of manners, or purity and dignity of public principles.

Every reader of biography knows that Lady Mary was the daughter of the Earl, afterwards Duke of Kingston; that somehow or other she acquired a knowledge of the Latin tongue, and was deeply learned, that she married Mr. Wortley Montague, who

became ambassador at Constantinople; that Pope's professed admiration of her at one time, was only surpassed by the bitterness of his subsequent abuse; and that her letters and fugitive pieces were remarkable for their ease, liveliness, and wit. The present edition, however, gives us a great number of new anecdotes, notices of her ladyship's contemporaries, and a portion of a history of her own times, which the editor is of opinion she was in the habit of writing merely to please herself, and then to burn-the portion now published having somehow escaped the fire. If this account be true, the loss has been a serious one indeed, to judge by the fragment; for, as we are about to see, there never was more life and entertainment thrust into any sketches, which accurate observation and a ready pen have bequeathed to posterity.

From Lord Wharncliffe's pleasant and communicative Introduction we shall first extract some miscellaneous notices. Here is an account of Lady Mary's first appearance as a toast :—

"Accordingly, a trifling incident, which Lady Mary loved to recall, will prove how much she was the object of Lord Kingston's pride and fondness in her childhood. As a leader of the fashionable world, and a strenuous Whig in party, he, of course, belonged to the Kit-cat club. One day, at a meeting to choose toasts for the year, a whim seized him to nominate her, then not eight years old, a candidate; alleging that she was far prettier than any lady on their list. The other men bers demurred, because the rules of the club forbade them to elect a beauty whom they had never seen. Then you shall see her,' cried he; and, in the gaiety of the moment, sent orders home to have her finely dressed, and brought to him at the tavern; where she was received with acclamations, her claim unanimously allowed, her health drunk by every one present, and her name engraved in due form upon a drinking glass. The company, consisting of some of the most eminent men in England, she went from the lap of one poet, or patriot, or statesman, to the arms of another-was feasted with sweetmeats, overwhelmed with caresses, and, what perhaps already pleased her better than either, heard her wit and beauty loudly extolled on every side. Pleasure, she said, was too poor a word to express her sensations; they amounted to ecstacy: never again, throughout her whole future life, did she pass so happy a day. Nor, indeed, could she; for the love of admiration, which this scene was calculated to excite or increase, could never again be so fully gratified: there is always some allaying ingredient in the cup, some drawback upon the triumphs of grown people. Her father carried on the frolic, and, we may conclude, confirmed the taste, by having her picture painted for the club-room, that she might be enrolled a regular toast."

We learn that in those days the mistress of a country mansion was not only, when presiding at table, to invite-that is, urge and tease her company to eat immoderately, but she had to carve every dish, when chosen, with her own hands; and that the greater the lady the more indispensable the duty. Each joint was carried up to her in its turn, to be operated upon by her alone; nor would the