The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 9, 1858.

soldiers. I alighted, and taking the horses, thought it the
best way to go blundering in among them, and lead them
through the middle of the soldiers into the stable ; which
did, and they were very angry with me for my rudeness.
As soon as I came into the stable I took the bridle of
the horses, and called the hostler to me to help me, and
to give the horses some oats. And as the hostler was
helping me to feed the horses, " Sure, sir," says the
hostler, " I know your face ? " which was no very pleasant
question to me. But I thought the best way was to ask
him where he had lived—whether he had always lived
there or no? He told me that he was but newly come
thither ; that he was born in Exeter, and had been hostler
in an inn there, hard by one Mr. Potter's, a merchant, in
whose house I had lain in the time of the vier : so I
thought it best to give the fellow no further occasion of
thinking where he had seen me, for fear he should guess
right at last; therefore I told him, " Friend, certainly you
have seen me then at Mr. Potter's, for I served him a
good while, above a year." " Oh ! " says he, " then I re-
member you a boy there ; " and with that was put off from
thinking any more nu it, but desired that we might drink
a pot of beer together, which I excused by saying that I
must go wait on my master, and get his dinner ready for
him.

And several other pictures of a similar kind
are to be found in these pages. But the inte-
rest in this second edition has been rather
forestalled by the publication of a portion of
the tracts in one of Mr. Bohn's volumes a few
years since along with the valuable notes of
Sir Walter Scott.

Concerning the " Royal Oak," we extract
the following :

The demesne, with its adjacent woods, stands on the
sheltered side of a wild, sandy common, a mile to the
south of the small inn of fvetsey Bank, on the road from
Lichfield to Shrewsbury. The house itself presents the
appearance of an old•fashinned forest lodge, as in days of
yore. A few hundred yards to the south-west of it, in a
field commanding a fine distant view of the Wrekin and
Cley Hills, stands the present representative of the Royal
Oak, itself a tree of some antiquity. It was planted many
years ago on the original spot, from an acorn of the parent
tree, which soon fell a sacrifice to the destructive zeal of
the loyal during Charles's brief popularity. The wall
erected by Sir Basil Fitzherbert, with which it was sur-
rounded until the year 1814, has been replaced in better
taste, by the present owner, with a high iron railing. The
brass plate with Sir Basil's inscription, formerly fixed on
the tree, as well as the two halves of the stone table in
the king's arbour (one of them forming the threshold),
are still shown at the house. From hence, a walk of
about two miles to the south will include Spring Coppice
and the ruin of the Cistercian monastery at White Ladies,
which was standing at a recent date.

The fact of the real tree having been destroyed
ditninishea vastly the interest in the present
" Royal Oak."

Letters from Head-Quarters ; or, the Realities
of the War in the Crimea. By an Officer on
the Staff. London: Murray.
A THIRD and condensed edition of those
valuable letters from head-quarters, letters so
full of interesting detail and important fact,
will meet with a welcome reception from the
public. In this edition the Staff Officer has
pruned down all superfluous detail, and has
given us one of the most complete and com-
pact, as well as authentic and comprehensive,
histories of the war in the Crimea.

As this work on its previous appearance was
reviewed at length in these columns, we shall
only upon this occasion call attention to the
one or two important corrections and additions
made in the present edition.
And first for that often discussed question,
the services of Sir De Lacy Evans at Inker-
mann. It will be readily recalled by our
readers that the Staff Officer, in the
original edition of his work, stated the ser-
vices of Sir De Lacy Evans at the battle of
Inkermann were not of that value or extent
represented in the despatch of General
Pennefather. Sir De Lacy Evans flatly con-
tradicted the statement of the Staff Officer in
a letter to the Times, and appealed to the
report of General Pennefather, dated 6th
Nov., 1854, which described Sir De Lacy Evans
as "arising from his sick-bed on hearing the
" cannonade, and riding to the field," where
his " advice and directions " were " most
" valuable and cheering" during the action.
The Staff Officer upon this very properly
withdrew the remark in question, " pending
" further inquiry." The result of this inquiry
we have in the following note to the descrip-
tion of the battle of Inkermann

Lord Raglan, in his despatch of the battle of Inkermann,
states that "he " (Sir De Lacy Evans) " did not fail to
give him" (General Pennetuher) " his best advice and
assistance." This appears to have been an error on tho
part of his lordship.

On the 31st of December, ISM, there appeared in the
Times newspaper a letter from Lieutenant-General Sir be
Lacy Evans, impugning, in unmeasured epithets, the
veracity of the author of "Letters from Head Quarters,"
for having stated, in the first edition of this work, that at
the battle of lnkermann Sir De Lacy Evans did not give
to General Pennefather any " advice or assistance." (in
reading the letter, the author considered it due to Sir lt.,
Lacy Evans, as well as to himself, to write without delay to
Sir John Pennefather, to ascertain whether, as regarded
the statement in question, he had been correct or incorrect.
The author had the honour to receive subsequently from
Sir John Pennefather the following

note
" Malta, 15th February, 1857.
" My DEMOVAJOR,-T have had the pleasure to receive
your letter of the sth inst., and I no time in replying
to it.

" You are correct in your recollection of a conversation
at Head•ivarters soon after my return to the Crimea from
sick leave, about the end of February, 18.'55. Sir De Lacy
Evans never did give me any directions or advice at tho
battle of Inkermann.

" When Sir De Lacy Evans came to the field, his
presence gave the troops heart, they knew he was ill, and
I looked at his arrival with admiration, under which feeling
it was that next day, when writing my report to Lord Rag.
lan, as called for, I mentioned Sir De Lacy's name as I
did, exactly influenced as Harding stated to you.—Bolievo
me to be, my dear Major, most faithfully yours,
(Signed) J. L. PENNEFATHER.
" Major the Hon. Somerset Calthorpe."
It must by observed that the conversation alluded to in
the foregoing letter took ulace in the presence of the
author and other officers of the Head-quarter Staff, and
upon it was bayed the assertion contradicted by Sir Do
Lacy Evans. . _

It is also necessary to remark that Colonel Harding
(late aide•de camp to Sir John Pennefather) expressed to
the author his conviction that the eulogy passed by the
Lieutenant• General on Sir De Lacy Evans in his report on
the battle of Inkermann to Lord Raglan was intended only
as a chivalrous and generous compliment to his chief; and
in this opinion Sir John Pennefather appears also to coin-
cide. It must be gratifying to Sir John Pennefather to
feel that his own brilliant services are such that he can
afford to give to another the praise which is due to himself.
The author has only to add that he has received permission
from Lieutenant• General Sir John Pennefather to publish