The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-31 00:00:00

SECOND TO NONE.

In those days—this was in the year before we fought at
Minden—the Greys wore double-breasted scarlet coats,
lined with blue, having slit sleeves ; long slashed pockets
were in each skirt, and a white worsted aiguilete dangled
Irons the right shoulder. We wora long jack-boots, and
tall grenadier caps, with the Scottish Thistle and circle of
St. Andrew in front,

Our cloaks were scarlet lined with blue shaloon, and in
front they had rows of large flat buttons set two and two,
on white frogs, or loops of braid. °your collars we wore
a grenade in memory that at its formation, a portion of the
regiment had been armed with that formidable weapon, the
same as the Sots Horse Grenadier Gusrds.

Everywhere the proud motto of the corps met my eye ;
on the standards and kettledrums, on our caps, carbines
and pistol-barrels, and on the blades of our long straight
broadswords, I read the words—

SECOND TO NONE I
That short sentence seemed lull of haughty spirit ; it gave
me a new life, and fired my heart with lotty inspirations
I repeated it, dreamed and pandered over it, and as our
departure for the seat of war was daily looked tor, I longed
for active service, and for the peril and adventure ever con.,
sequent thereto.

Basil Gauntlett is the disinherited heir to a
baronetcy. His father by his marriage having
offended the imperious Sir Basil the grandfather
of our hero, dies and leaves his orphan son to the
cold charity of the world. One kind friend inter-
cedes with the old baronet, and urges him to re-
member that he has been young himself. " Yes,"
growled the gruff baronet, " but it is so very long
ago that I have forgotten all about it !" So Basil,
friendless and penniless, meets with two jovial
dragoons of the Scots Greys, and enlists as a private
in their regiment. In following the fortunes of the
soldier, whether in the battle-field or the bivouac,
in the warlike onslaught or the peaceful carouse,
Mr. James Grant is always felicitous; he is, par
excellence, the historian of the romance of war.
The principal portion of Basil Gauutletee adven-
tures takes place in France. One incident we are
inclined to quarrel with, a stratagem which not
even the example of Achilles can reader
heroic, namely, the disguise of the young
soldier as a soubrette, or lady's maid.
The sprightly Angelique, the attendant of the fair
Jacqueline de Broglie, can find no other means cf
saving the young soldier than by introducing him
as another attendant in the house of her mistress—
the lady-love of Basil. The scene is ludicrously
unheroic. Imagine the fair lady listening to a
loving; compliment from her soldier lover—in the
dress of a femme de-chambre ! The conclusion of
this episode threatens to be most tragical, and the
fearful retribution in the hut in the forest is " sen-
sational "in the extreme. Here, taken almost at
hazard, is a specimen of Mr. Grant's spirited
style

THE POST OF DANGER.
" Ride fast I" said the captain, briefly.
Charters shortened his reins, gave his grey the spurs,
and departed at once. As he proceeded towards Querque-
ville Point, the French cunnoniers redoubled their efforts to
bring him down, Ho frequently waved his sword as if in
defiance, and escaped as if by a miracle. Then on his de-
scending to the beach, where some rocks protected him, the
battery tutted its round shot and grape on the advancing
boat.

Suddenly there rose from the sea and pierced the sky,
the mingled yell of many voices. A 24-pound shct had
dashed the buat to pieces, and 12 seamen and a little mid-
shipman were seen struggling and sinking amid the debris
of oars, thwarts and plinks, while the French sent dose
after dose of grape to kill the drowning men.
The middy struggled bravely—being light, the waves
bore him towards the rocks, but Charters saw that unless
succoured, the poor lad would certainly perish amid the surf
that boiled over the ridge.

He sheathed his sword, shook his gloved hand fiercely at
the battery, and urging his horse into the sea, even while
the hissing grape sowed it thick with tiny waterspouts
around him, succeeded in grasping the sinking lad by the
collar, and turning the head of his gallant grey toward the
shore, he brkvely battled with the surf, the long wanes of
which, reddened by the suL shine, seemed to boil in fiery
foam upon the beach, and rolled over his shoulders, so that
at times the nostrils of his charger were only visible, yet he
succeeded in landing the half-drowned midshipman, and
rode twice afterwards into the sea to succour the seamen,
but succeeded in saving only one.
This was done in the presence of the whole loft wing of
the army, which gave bite three tremendous cheers, and a
few minutes afterwards the grenadiers of Richmond's corps
with the light troop of the Greys made a dash at the fort,
which immediately surrendered.

With such scenes and incidents the narrative is, as
may bo imagined, singularly animated. Of the
love stories we shall only say that the hero has no
less than three Lidy loves, the gentle little Ruth
the fascinating Jacqu,:line, and the amiable Aurora:
but which of the three w:os the first place i❑ his
affections we shall not reveal. Suffice it to say that
ultimately the heroine like the hero becomes—
Second to None."

Raised to the Woolsack. By Langton Lockhart.
3 vols. J. C. Newby.
It is satisfactory to the readers of the history of
Mr. Henry Gilmo:e, barrister•at-law, to know at the
very outset of his career, that he ultimately obtains
the legitimate obj:2ct of every barrister's ambition—
a seat on the woolsack! As the baton of a marshal
of France is said t, be contained in every French
soldier's knapsack, so great seal of England is
supposed to be hidden away LI every English barris-
ter's brief bag. This novel idea b.
f revealing on the
title page the ultimate destiny of his 11r0 is the only
noticeable feature of Mr. Langton Lockha:rt's ro-
mance. As a story it possesses no particular atti.:'e*
tions, and its heroes and heroines are in no way
interesting or remarkable.

-
Infamous Treatment of Polish Women

by Russia,

The Siecle of yesterday says it has received a
private letter respecting the treatment to which
Polish women are subjected by the Russians, which
contains such terrible details that it does not dare
to publish them. The Polish women referred to
are the wives and daughters of those who have taken
part in the insurrection. " They are torn from their
families and transported to Siberia," says the
Siecle. "They are given, like the saves of old, to
pitiless masters, who. force them to contract fresh
unions. Their marriage ties are broken. The
ancient barbarism which Christianity destroyed is
revived by this abominable transportation of women,
and the language of indignation has no terms suffi-
ciently strong for such means of repression. The
letter we have before us does not confille itself to
vague allegations ; it cites persons and names.
When will some in power take pity upon a nation
subjected to such ignominies ? The person who
brought us this document wrung his hands in
despair and invoked the justice of God. It is only,
in fact, that justice which can punish such crimes.
If Russia continues her system of transporting the
Polish women, let her remember that Roman Em-
pire which, after having also covered the world
with its violence, was in turn overthrown amid vio-
lence and barbarism."

MARKETS—This Day.

HAY MARKZTS.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, £2 lOs to £4 lOs Od ; clover,
£4 Os to La lOs Od ; and straw, £1 43 to £1 lOs per load.
Trade dull.
C MBE IILAND..—MCIPIOW hay, £2 lOs to £4 lOs ; clover,
£4 Os to £5 10.4 Od ; and straw, £1 4s to 103 per load.
A slow demand.
WHITECHAPEL --Meadow hay, £2los to £4 103; clover'
£4 Os to £5 103 Od; and straw, £1 4s to £1 103 per load,
Trade inactive.