The Press.
London, England, 1854-08-12 00:00:00

should be ascribed whatever blame may be justly attached
to the plans of operations, or of giving battle, the advance
or retreat of the army, or finally of the capitulation. But
much as I loved the Duke personally, muoh as I felt many
good and amiable qualities in his character, much as I owe
to him of gratitude for long kindness to myself, I cannot
but acknowledge that he was not qualified to be even the
ostensible head of a great army on arduous service. At
home he administered the business of our military estab-
lishments sedulously, zealously, clearly, and impartially ;
but he possessed none of the higher qualities which influ-
ence the fate of a campaign, or turn the fortune of a battle.
He was of a cool courage ; he would have stood all day to
be shot at ; but he had no active bravery. With a very fair
understanding, he had little quickness of apprehension,
still less of sagacity in penetrating designs, or forming
large views : painstaking, yet devoid of resources, and easily
di,heartened by difficulties. Even his good nature and
kind temper were injurious ; for it too often happened
that he could not bring himself to say No, when he ought
to have said No. To these defects must be added habits
of indulgence, and a looseness of talking, after dinner,
about individuals, which made him enemies, and which in
this unfortunate campaign probably excited or inflamed
tie rancour of the Russian generals.
Of the lieutenant•generals who were associated to the
control of our military operation Sir Ralph Abercromby
stood foremost. It ought to be unnecessary to speak in
praise of such a man ; but even in this book-making age,
when we are overridden with biographical memoirs, there
has appeared no biography of the good and gallant Aber-
cromby. When Mr. Dundas selected him to lead, and
sent him forward in command of what was the muscle and
sinew of our army, there were but two faults to be found
with the selection. The general was a little too old for
hard service, and he was extremely near-sighted. Allow-
ing for these defects of nature, Abercromby was a noble
chieftain. Mild in manner, resolute in mind, frank,
unassuming, just, inflexible in what he deemed to be right,
valiant Its the Cid, liberal and loyal as the prowest of black
Edward's knights. An honest, fearless, straightforward
man ; and withal sagacious and well skilled in his business
as a soldier. As he looked out from under his thick,
shaggy eyebrows, he gave one the idea of a very good-
natured lion, and he was respected and beloved by all who
served under his command.

The portion of this work which is devoted
to the war in the Mediterranean from 1801 to
1810 will be read with much interest. The
account of the campaign in Egypt contains
several of those anecdotes which are like
touches to a picture. At page 131 it was
hardly necessary to say that Sir Robert Wilson
must have been the ingenious author of the
" white-handkerchief " device.
Of one of the great events of that war the
writer gives us an account for which we are
grateful ; and, as he was himself present at
the brilliant affair, the account is of the greater
interest—we mean the famous battle of Maida,
of which our Scotch neighbours have by some
peculiar process adopted the glory, though the
Irish regiment, the 27th (Enniskillen Foot),
commanded by their feudal leader, Gen. Cole,
mainly contributed to our victory. The fol
lowing anecdote of the Enniskillens—a corps
not less gallant than their mounted namesakes
—is amusing :

When we returned to the beach we found that Sir
Sidney Smith had arrived during the action, and his flag-
ship was anchored abreast of our bivouac. He came ashore
to compliment the general (though there was no great
love between them), and, as he pressed Sir John to sleep
on board the Pomper, the general, taking me and his
aides•de-camp, went off in the evening. But in the mean-
time we were amused with an alerte attended by laughable
circumstances. 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 coining 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 ovt r their shoulders, grasped their muskets and drew
up in line, without attempting to assume an article of
clothing. The alarm was utterly groundless ; a Brest dust
and an imperfect view of a herd of scampering buffaloes
had conjured up a vision of French chasseurs in this noodle
of an officer, one of my assistants.
In taking leave of this work of Sir Henry
Bunbury, it would be unjust not to say that it
is one of the most valuable as well as one (if
the most interesting contributions to modern
history that have appeared for some years.

Firmilian ; or, the Student of Beulojoz. A
Spasmodic Tragedy. By T. Percy Jones.
London : Blackwoods.

This truly tragic performance is a puzzle,
and the more so from its imprint, "William
Blackwood and Sons." It is too dull for bur-
lesque, and too nonsensical for earnest,—too
consistent in absurdity for madness, and too
motional for sanity. The very titlepage
creates a " spasmodic " desire to know whe-
ther, like the work itself, it may or may not
contain any meaning. Is " Firmillan" a name