The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-07 00:00:00

`T..ITERATURE

.. >, ;;.

; THOMAS-MOORE.
(num) NOTICE.)
Memoirs, srournals, ancf Correspondence. of Thomas
Moore; dite&bY the Right Hen. Lord
Russell,'' 11 I'Vels. I. to VI. Longman and
Company,- _
Arrived in London, Torn Moore was very soon
indeed the.favourite ;of; the 'fashionablei= and the
pet of the petticoats. It mattered little in his in-
stance, oven in those preposterous days..when
H.R.H. George, Pr i tiCe, of Wales, was the •exam-
ple and the arch-leader of Snobbism Rampant—:-
that the yotinglrish„,poet had a father over in
Dublin wii&'was'smart shopkeeper. Anaereon
Moore, with his sparkling eyes, his .aniMated fear
tures, iris tongue. f fascination, his exhilirating
companionship, his wit, his melodious songs trem-
bling 'or' flashing out - into ; sudden
laughter 7-- carried everything ' before him- in
the "great world," as it is called.. (mean,
ing the little one)—Bucks Beautiful
women'.all?of them dangled after. hins,-. indiscri-
minately; wondering and bewitched, 'from' his Mat
jesty's seryant. the;poor play-actor to the aristo-
cratic " raT' attendant upon hiS Royal Highness.
/kis a strange spectacle enough that motley cori-
course. traTersed by Moore --almost . immediately
upon his arrival-in the metropolis. The Strangest
spectacle ! = As-motley in- its way, nearly, as the
crowd grouped by Ilegarth'apeneil in his farnous
picture of The Cockpit. ..Blackguards and. Princes
jumbled together so very..confusedli that one could
hardly tell the Prince from. the Blackguard. Yet
Moore co4ived tic.get through the crush someliew
triumphantly, without receiving the faintest soil
or smutch by his forced. contact with so
.mady (to
say the le4t.ofthem) "'questionable" reputations;
and with only thiS to be regretted hiS regi,rd;-.1
ildw that we Jcp-15-1-back upon his entrance- into
‘l.life!!,,,thatiiils'lrertebOe (by just, 'of course, the
smallest defleathn in the world from the perpen
dicular) proved :4 little too supple in—
• "Bowing down, and bowing, down"- -
according to Charles Mackayos`sareasni,- . .
" The way to get on in London town !"
Already we have seen how this fell out by the way
in reference wire Tafticularly to H. R. H. of
Wales, poor little Tom MOore sleekly rubbing hiS
hands with a gratified air as ho writes to his
"dearest mother" about the Prince's affability in
addressing him with: How.do you do Moore? I
I,arn glad to see 4p :in ;" And such-like royal small,
talk—" buttered thunder," as Mr. Festus Bailey
miglif call it, frtun the Jovian 'IiPS High
Migfrtiness !' It;fs plea.'sant to turn from him in his
court suit, spindling (rVith a sword between his legs)
over the carpets of St. Janies's—and find him erect
j and manly in his natural attitude' arid' homelier
tire—driving up t - town in a coach with. Ctirran
"in au uninterrupted fit 9f laughter all tile way,"
or dining at Incledon's, and there, getting ',very,
great" with Irish- Johnsen, or attending a " beauti-:
fel little fête champetre " at Mrs. Siddons's cottage,:
or (yet a little biter on) touching in one day, a's he
I says himself; "'the two extremes of anorchy and
law," dining with Sir Francis Burdett,. and going
in the evening to Lord Ellenborough's. What,
glimpses we obtain, too, both of small and'iarge
• celebrities-•-ineidentallY—as we turn over these
pages of garrulous Diary, and gossipping. Correa.;
• pondence ! Here, in 1799, we come,. for example,.
• upon big, burly; beastly-old Peter Pindar, not feel,
ing at all surprised to find that Moore thinks him.
"coarse both 'in mariners and conversation."
Here, again, in.,1812,._.we. are, brought, not by,
any means for ate_ only time rin these pleasant
volumes, face to face with Sir John Steven-
' son the Melddist, the exquisite composer, for
instance,. of " Oft in' the Stilly Night," who is
here said 11..ir ;Moore to hay° shown hianSelf "as
hojish and para4Oxical: as ever, making, the grave,
matter-of-fact grglishinen stare wherever he goes!"
At another moment our diarist is recording the
fact of his haiing once 'upon a 'time been placed
under the tuition, at Trinity College, Dublin, of
; • he Rev. Biirrewes, author of the celebrated:
flash song, " The Night before Larry was stretched"
—meaning hanged ! Or awing us with the an-1-
nouncernent of a-visit paid to him in 1799;in Lon-.,
don—" by a very -famous and very respeotable
man," a Mr. Biggin—Moore adding, as lie an-
nounces the circumstance to dais inother--" By
the-bye, it is from him the coffee biggins take their
name, and from, them he has taken his Money:"
An incident, at once recalling to mind that on
iderful fellow whb once introduced, himself te'Dr.
';Johnson with 'afflourishoas the great Twahnley,'',
who had invented fiat-irons or some such rubbish
lAr&occurrence, we take it; pretty familiar to every
reader of Boswell, and not to be remembered 'w!ithl.
out a smile by any one amongst them, even those
the least susceptible-to ajoke. Writing from New
York in the May of 1804—not long before Napo-
leon changed his consular fasces into a sceptre,
and girt his. brows with the imperial dia-
dem we find 'Moore writing to his rno-
ther—" The. 'oddest things 'I have seen yet
are young Bonaparte and his bride"— a note
explaining thes4 ;same, odd things to be no other:
than M. Jeroine Bonaparte 'and Miss Pattersori
the former but just -now happily recovered in 1851}°.
from an alarming'
illness, and,knOwn and regardect,
;with profound iaterestAar and wide, throughouiA
Europe as his Imperial Highness the Prince Jerome.
Napoleon. Writing to LAdy:Donegal ayear later
in Londo4t YwObserve Moore recording then; in
1/805, that he. likes Rogers'better every tiiio he
'sees him—thatsame Rogers, the-n a man in middle
life, having sullived until only the other day, a
memorable nonogenariaff remarkablein many Ways, .
but in none more remarkable than in that of being'
—strangest of '''stang,9 paracloXes !..—a cynical
philanthropisti 'HoW wondrously the people Moore.-
;met, too, contrast witkeach.other, 1841 he is;
staying at DOunington -Park " in clover," While
Monsieur is a guest of My LOrd Moira's,' and, with
'.Monsieur, the.Prjnce:,de Conde and the Due de
'Bourbon. Not many..yeara previously he had
been-sitting -in-his Dublin- chambers with :poor
Robert Emmett, playing,, the
piano. Here is a little miniature memento of his,

if that account in the
was
be true ! A. vast
w
deal more than " that" as true in regard to the
unparalleled romance of the "Return from Elba"
a, deesi of surpassing glory whi:h made Byron
w.rAte,..(thuch about the same time) in one, of
his Jotters (dated-March,' 1815)—" 1 can forgive
the Togne for utterly falsifying every line of
,irtine Ode—which I take to be the last and
;uttermost stretch of human magnanimity." No
wonder, Tom Moore years before, in a note to his
mother, dated November 2, 1805, alluding to the.
;then recent death of Nelson, could exclaim—
those two men (Donaparte and he) divided the
',world between them—the land and the water: We.
have lost ours meaning our Napoleon.
It is amusing; while we turn over these gossiping
memoranda jotted down from day to day curreute
calamo by the Poot-Fribble, to note with what a
ileqe,rous touch of the pencil he dashes down `on
the instant'the most life-like portraiture of all soits
Ovetfatliable,characters. DO we not at once re-
cognise the haughty carriage of that head of Grecian
beauty, the insolent-curl of those exquisitely chi-
Selled lips, the 'flash of those cold grey eyes, the
Pride of the noble contour making up the glory of
the face of Byron, in. that astounding revelation
made to thethish.Vlelo list .one ..day in 1819, when
Lord 13,yron suddenly exclaimed ". What do you
thiftik !IV" Wi,Oveare; Moore ? I TRElic tam A
DAMNED' TiLire is the man instantane-
ously before us—with all his pride, all his daring,
all his vanity, all, his folly, all his arrogant and
audacious impulsiveness. Wordsworth again—what
a wonderfully truthful peep we have of him in that
brief but all-sufficient note in Moore's Diary,, Oct.
25th, 1820, " Wordsworth rather dull:!". The
very inns—to a T ! A portrait, in three word.,
full length,' living and breathing—a speaking 'like-
ness I " Words Worth rather dull 1" "I see, adds
Moore (and the italics aro his o.vn), "be is a than
to hold forthc; and who does not understand the
give and take Of Conversation." Two days later,
Oct. 27th, hiStouthes the dull fellow up again, thus:
is Wordsworth came at half-past eight, aud stopped
to brelAfasgt; Taiked a- pod deal [about 'himself,
always]. Spoke .13yroWs plagiarisms,rom', him ;
the whole third canto of Ohilde Harold' founded
on his style. and sentiments." Ha I Ha the

pudent varlet—the miserable prig—Fancy Byron
(Ye Godsj),plagiccrising from Wordsworth ! Fancy'
Phcebug hollowing new sunbeams from a cuctini-
her- bed ! Verily, as. Dogberry bath it, " bat:-
ble " like this: is—" very tolerable and not to
be endure." Turning -to features more pleasant
eo look tiptin with-" the mind's'eye" than those of
our dull friend Who---.--
. . pankts so well the Idiot to his glory
One thinks the bard the hero of the story"—
turning from the dull solemn egotism of William
Wordsworth—it .is agreeable to meet with really
attractive beings, such, for example; as Washington
Irving or General Lafayette: Lafayette, Moore
describes, iii so.m.a.ny words, as c‘.a fine interesting
Old man"—and Irving he speaks of as," good-look-
ing and intelligent-mannered." In Madame de
Genlis he finds "a lively little old woman, but by
tio means so fantastic a person as 'Lady MOrgan
niakes her." Schlegel he sp:.aks Of as appearing
him "full aliterary e,oxeolubry." Lavalette he
mentions as "a.very gentle, interesting little man."
Boissy d'AnglaS shines upon us from his note-book
" with his white hair spread out Upon his 'shoul-
ders' a most' extraordinary figure." Beresford, the
author of about the drollest book ever penned by
Mortal, viz., " The Miseries 'of Human Life," he
speaks of, just exactly as we should expect him to
be spoken of—i.e., as " a groti- slue-minded person,
very amusing." Hear, ton, how it-is he talks of
Charles Lamb, dear, old,oquaint, delightful, incor-
rigible Charles Lamb—Elia to the life Letnftez
Charles
,Limb, a Clever fellow certainly ;
but full,.f,Of - 'Villainous and abortive puns
which he mfioarries of every minute." C. Lamb,
he informs Us, 8106 .afterciards told him he had got
1701. for his two years' coUtributions ("Eisays of
Elia") to this/:Loitdon. Afetgazin6.- Glancing over
a few more pages' of the Diary, what a very odd
little memento we come upon about Bryan Waller
Proctor, better known by his 110171 de plume of
" Barry Cornwall".--of whom-,Moore writes, April
12th, 1823—"`a gentle, amiable-mannered person
in very ill health [Barry Cornwall still• living, April,
1856, a grey-beaded but' halo Cbinmissioner de
Lunatic° Ipcittirendo, notwithstanding his 33 years'
bygone very ill health], which has delayed his mar-
riage with a Person he has long been in love with ;
she, too, an invalid ; and somebody, the other day,
described the two lovers supping together at nine
o'clock on - water.. gruel." A very different
picture to that robust one (not to say that
picture of rude, health) delineative of -James
Flogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, who " yelled
out savagely two or three Scotch songs, and
accompanied =the burden of one 'of them by labour-
ing away ontho bare shoulders of the ladies who
sat on each side of him !" Wonderfully miscella-
neous, indeed, is-the company to which we aro in-
troduced by Moore, as we follow him tbroug,ll all
the vagaries and whimsicalities commemorated in
his amusing Diary-Lone' while going behind the
scenes of Drury-lane Theatre, where he has " some
talk with Kean" then and there playing Sir Giles
Overreach=Edroutid Kean already spoken of in an
earlier volume as " this ektraordinary phenomenon."
At another
,moment (in 1818) being caught
,by the
button-hole in the street 'by Taylor, Elltor of
The Sun, who, thereupon, tells him this very
characteristic anecdote of Sheridan :

"When soma's Revere charges against Min (relatiug, Tay
jar said, to his affair:with Matthews) appeared in the Bath
Chronicle; he called upon Woodfall, the printer of the
Lsihronicle, a,,d requested him to insert them, in order
that they might gain universal circulation, and that his
an,wer' wh;cb.. be meant soon to prepare,, might be uu•
derstood as universally. Woodfall complied with his
request, but the :refutation never was written ; so that •
the rumour was !by this means spread, and•his indolence
prevented him from ever supplying the antidote."
As most happily illustrative of the kind of life
led by Moore in his best days, when in London,
take this record of the 23d of May, 1828, when be
was mtat, forty-Dine, a` date he signalises, by the
Way, as "Dot a bad d4y, altogether."' Here it' is
-,L."Waltei Scott, Rociers, and Chantrey at break-.
fast ; music andMisslailey at luncheon ; dinner
bt Lausainifie Honse, .with the Venus of Canova
efore my eyes [remember, he'had kissed the band
and felt the foot of thd original l], and Sontag in.
the evening.? To which le adds, "Taking it with
all its et ee'eras.of genius, beady, feeling, and
Magnificence; no other country but England could
furnish out such a day." So that our dear little
parlandet; after all,
,was very John-Bullish in his
prejudices' ! And so too, again, in his instance, the
divine Ipvxn of _the Poet, roving from flowker,l 74.;
flower, from sweet to sweet, sipping the 4,614 of,
,
adulation, ancl baskin„on 'the sunshine of popti-..
larity, lived thegay life of the butterfly.

THE IRISH CAMILLE DESMOULINS..
"Ile was alto4ether a noble fellow, and as full °lima-
igination and tend4ness of heart asof manly daring, Ile
used freqeently to sit by me at the pianoforte while I
!played over the airs from Bunting's collection ; and -I
;remember orici (la.y when we were thus employe I, his
,starting up as if ftom a reverie -while Lives playing the
spirited air ' Let Erin remember the Day,' amid exclaisn'f
!ing pas,siona,tely, ' Oh, that I ',were at the head ol
'twenty tbousanci.nien unarchine• to that • ' ' "
. ,, Alr.
- Several years later we come upon Moore's sketet
,of an EngiishaVmagogne—Sir Francis Burdett=
whom he defines ac " a moat amiable man,"'witti
_ -,
"something particularlyattaching iu hismanner"— •
.
Old Glory ! can we- believe it of him ? when Moore Journal of Adventures with the British Army. By
: .
adds,—" his gentleness and almost bashfulness G. Cavendish -;Taylor, late 93th Regiment.
forming such a contrast to the violenee•of his pub-
2 Vols. Hurst and Blackett.
he career." .A 'glimpse of calm home-life in- the j This work possesses many qualifications which
midst ofithe turbulence of demagogy, reminding shout)/ cause it to be widely circulated and generally
;one of Rbbespierre's slacking oran•,;es.placidly over popular. It is remarkable as being the production
the workshcip ofthe Paris carpenter. - • • --' ''' of a military amateur ; that is to say, of an officer
Already we have noted Moore's mentiotrof his ;who had recently quitted the 'army, and who went
having caught a glimpse,to the Crimea simply to ' obtain information. The
at New York, of yOung
Jerome Bonaparte—in-1819 we. volumes before us chiefly consist of a diary written
find at Viter
bo, gazing with interest at the,"liandsome &Pe" of jon the spot from time to time. He has tried, he
Lucien Btsnaparte, the recusant brother of (thethAn tells us, to write of things as they are, and has not
still living but exiled) Napoleon. ArriVed at 'Rome distorted facts in order to make his information
soon afterwardg he iB., amused . with an interview more agreeable. This book is written in a fair and
with the lovely
,Sister of the ' Gallic Caasar, the open spirit, without any of that prejudice and par-
Venus of ca,floa- oth • Pauline
3 otherwise, Princess
~.
j Borghese, lifc Bonaparte—a "fine creature in her this kitid,. ~ -He 'makes no attacks. Upon • inclivi-
,, way,' says' the fastidiotie Celtic Anacreon, to whoin duals, though; he totally ' condemns the culpable
j• the Borgluik cf Showed her .beautiful little hands' mismanagefrient which produced stieh deplorable,
.—whiehXsitith ' Moore, with a reliSh), " I had the results. Pio -the very commencement the same'
;honour of kissing_ tWice," adding, anil From
• " let Want of method was observed :
me feel her foot, which is matchless." 0 .those " For the reception of the troops soon to arrive some
Bonapartes —creatures formed, one might say, conipenint) general should have boon out there, at least
-
out of the red -earth of. -Mesopotamia I 'What_ twuolinntleo,n, t\hvi-ib et fhoer el, saol.
locality,
s tt oh
ogive u himot ry
,t time tot eb become a
peoplee he
was-Irst'afitaiii Basil.l-1911 remarked about the ?red
to deal with ;eaensi Ywith fell power and authority to
Bonaparte, yhen he saw him at St. Helena! mak, every requisite provision for- the reception of - our
—that ill& skin of his - hoe - was "of that 'infi:. army.
nicely beantiful delicacy:' and ' finenesS that it As it was. ono cold, snowy morning, the 14th of April,
, '• . seemed in lts texture less like flesh. than like soma. being Good Friday, a large steam was unexpectedly
rare seen to enter the, Bosphorus, no one knew what sho was
Parian marble !At ,52 -too ft years of agef —aer. or where from; brit her decks were covered with wonder: .etteit ittlifivlL-ndli the fainteat tracery of one single sing
soldiers, for whieh no barrack accommodation or cum_
wrinkle
p 4 i the; face.; : not one . silvered ' hair' missariat arrangements had yet been made. :It Was. the
among the?ddrie.silken "Chesnut' ! ' What tales Moore' Himalaya, with .General Adams and staff; and the 33,1
tell . .. . .
•
s, more 4nd ,there- in. his Diary; of the al_' nts-on- hoard, -When the general a ' .
h. re ,lia was' to go -or what to d doe some
;wonder- wor
king Nap6leon I , 'At -One moment a time elapsed _before_ _any responsible person coulde b:
.eompanion anecdote to the old classic legend of the found. The large barracks at Scutari had been assigned
if 'alarm vehis ! To wit--" When Napoleon was to us by the: Turks, but they wore-still full of Turkish,
I:ribarkipg.; rom,;Ellsa ;his four 'hundred . veterans.
soldiers: • '',
_wished 'tfi'te '&beard'the same shit) with
,hira.''
~3 The same story which aroused so much indignation
but the captain of the vessel
-remonstrated _ with two winters ago, the same old story of suffering
tirn and said, that if there came the slightest breath and neglect is reiterated here in- all its..,ehief lea-
of wind, they would upset'-with so many on boa_ rd; tures, chronicled on the•spotitself on the authority
and that heinifsrt at most take -but half• of the I of an eye-witness. Thus, writing on Novensiber
:
:guard ; upon' which Bonaparte answered; II Percy3d , 18a4,, lit, says of the clothing of the•troops :•••—•
beau ; aqd. 01- (1?..itl that all should aceompany hirn.?. "Therein a great falling off in. the appearance of our sot-
With what" niiractilons. consequences afterwards,' diers.
iTthe French exhibit a great contrast to us. Of course
the world knovte—in the record of that bloddless their
well,
c.modhittiligteshow-. wear anct
theyfi lhaenYdieeci)linnT aurrikYe a'3
tear, 'uttett,
and meteoric: reconquest of au empire, of which'
„ Even ‘4he.t/11_prkaa7T:illorti-jecil'otees.t for rough work than
Tom Mocirennen the Very merrow of it . (March . oat' men. = Thefigregt coats are thick, warm, and service-
:l7, 1815) writesAhtle amazedly to Lady Donegal able; while ours are thin, made of most rotten materials,
!" What do you: think now .of my• supernatural- l and gnito inadequate for keeping men warm in snow or
friend tho Emperor ? If ever tyrant deserved to be winter weather."
'worshipped it is ho Milton's
.Satan is nothing to Again on Jan. 2d : -
him for portentous magnificenee—for sublimity of I " From every one coming down from Balaklava one
mischief ! If that account in the papers be true,_ hears different accounts as to what .is going on; but all
ho ' army is n as 'wretched
of his driving'down in his carriage like lightning. :8'
rceoe il
'Yana lhact-ant be , and the idaily average of
,towards the royal artny embattled against him, ' sick Ildift!osat
~..farlscrolising.
At' Balaklava there is plenty.
bareheaded, unguarded, in, all the confidence of ire,., of warm ClOtliing J'
-'and- some nuti; but from wrong
:resistibility—itis a fact far more sublime than any management they have not yet got them. up to the camp.
that •fietion- has:ever iniented, and lam not at all The French, on thQ other ban.d, are partially hutted and
snug, with abe?datice
.c,f provisions. . French countess
surprised at the dumt-foundsd fascination that . d
merle s, 'and she said the other day—.
In staying at! M
seizes people at such daring. For my rart I could .
1 Wasin England sett are very rich, and you buy expensive
lain fancied that Rite herseifiyao in that car ,age," 1 lazoriee and and them out to your troop', but they do

not get thnt n France, we are not so'rich—we buy
common things for our soldiers, and they do get them-
and that is what makes the difference.' "

A French officer said to the writer, " Your army
is magnificerit—officers and soldiers are first rate:—
but your staff is.good for nothing, and the men are
now perishing from their inability and neglect."
On, the 29th of March,-1855, the -author writes--1
in his note-book, without further comment, ,"
" Green coffee is served out to this day, to 'the
men at Scutari." The author renders frequent tes-
timony tc, the accuracy and utility of Mr. Russell's
information. It would be absurd, he says,,to say
that every detail is correct, but that in such a mass
of, writing there should be so little that can be dis-
proved, he Considers inarvellpits. , The publiCity
given by the newspapers to the sufferings 'of ,the
army, at the time, he considers was of most essen-
tial service. It is unfortunately but too evident
since, that nothing was afterwards done to bring
the offenders to justice. He ridicules the idea of the
papers giving information to the enemy, for he
says the Russians need hardly have procured in-
forrnation of what took place in our camp three
'Weeks later, when they could have, it in a few
hours by means of their own spies, who, it is no-
torious, go in and out of the camp without diffi-
culty. The following passage is an effectual an-
swer to thOse Who deny the hardships the army
had to endure. •
There also some gentlemen who insist that the se'
counts published in the papers of the hardships suffered by
the army during the winter are not only much exaggerated,
but in many instances false. They contend also that such
sufferings as were experienced are inseparable from winter
campaigns. These gentlemen were living during that time
in comparatively good quarters, passed every night in bed,
and were not exposed to fire or weather.' They were
either well-fed by their generals, or had plenty of money
at their command to buy any luxury or necessary at any
price, no' matter how exorbitant ; and as they never stirred
out except when, they could not help it, and then never
went far, they were ignorant of what took place. Know•
ing nothing themselves, and doubting what they heard
and read, they were not likely to give much information
to their superiors.
"I do not believe that the papers contained the beet
exaggeration. The wonder is—not that the men died
during winter, bat that any of there survived IL"
The writer also severely censures the culpable
.neglect that left the heights of Inkerman unde-
fended.

'1 A few days before the battle, some empty barrels were
made to serve as gabions, and filled with earth, and a Jort
of parapet formed by putting sods of turf on the low, wall,
which had been erected soon after the first arrival of the
division. I was present white it was being done, and I
'heard the staff-officer, who was superintending the work,
and who was afterwards killed ridicule it, and call it
Ideibert's' Folly.' Subsequent events pretty plainly
shOwal that it was no folly at all ; and this breastwork,
'alt ouch. paltry , in -it•elf, still did good service • and
Colonel Herbert—or whoever caused it to be done--
mOde it'as strong as the means in his power would per'
itnit him to do. I have heard engineer officers say that
they used frequently to represent the unprotected
state. of our Right; and- many have said that sir
De Lacy Evans and • the Duke of Cambridge used, (151
after day, to go to head-quarters, and beg that something
might be done to fortify it, but all to no purpose, and
that they were even laughed at; so I cannot but think '
that there must rest the blame. Defensivertworks
thought to be unnecessary. Directly after the battle
a strong work was thrown up with(' ridge, and armed with
three iron 18-pounders, and three 8-inch howitzers. Had
this been done before, we might have repulsed the Rug;
iians with small loss to ourselves' for they never eenki,
have established their artillery on the opposite ridge,SPa
there would have been little danger of their breaking int°
the camp at that point."

The author's opinion of the Turks is a very 101'
one ; he has scarcely a word to say' in their favour,
though he frequently remarks on their treachery, =,
peculation, &c.
_ln fad, be records it,as his opinion.
that, in defending Constantinople, our aim should
be less "to keep the. Turks in than to keep the
; Russians out." He censidera that it will be news'
sary for the Allies to keep an army of occupation
in Constantinople for some time, to insure the carry'
ing out.of the•proposed reforms. The writer was
among the few English who walked about and plan'
dered Sebastopol, according to a vow of long stand'
ing, which be began to fear would never be fulfilled.
He deserved some peculiar reward for his persever- •
ante, for he says that though hundreds of amateurs
went out for longer or shorter periods none
mained so long or lived so.much in the camp as be
did.. ~He, appears to have been 'especially fortunate
also in immunity from accidents or illness, as be
tells us *that "most of the Volunteers in this caul'
paign have come to grief. Whether they cony
menced as civilians or as volunteers from other re'
giments not engaged in the war, with. few, aver
tions,. they have either died, been killed, or severely
wounded." Full details of the battles are give);
though they are so well known that comment would
be strpertinous.. Among the many books that have
been Written on the subject, few have given a more
forcible and impartial narrative of the events of the
-war, or shown forth more clearly the confusion and
suffering occasioned by official mismanagement'
The easiness and simplicity with which it is written
'will attract many to whom technical terms and dr $
scriptions would be unintelligible. On the whole, '
therefore, it may safely be ranked among the most
successful works on the campaign.

DESTRUCTIVE, FIRE 41', WEST"COWES.

• ,
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.).

COWES, APRIL 6.
• About, 8 o'clock on. Saturday evening a fire was dise
covered in the joiners' shop of Messrs. White's dockyard
at West C,)wes, in or tear. the chip-hole. In a Teri(
few minutes the fire burst through the sides and roof
the building. The dock fire engine and the two belong'
t log to 'the town were got to work with as little delay a
• possible, lout the buildings being wooden ones, and full
of timber, paint, &c.•' all the efforts that could be roads
• had no effect, and the hose of the engines were therefore
I turned on the ships building its the yard. At 9 o'clock,
there appeared to be hardly a chance of saving any 12'
them, nor those in the adjoining building-yard, belong'
mg to Mr. Hansen, and the lone, Royal yacht schooner
of 75 tons, which was on his patent slip repairing, was
then launched. There was such an immense quautitf
of timber and piles of deals and planks in the-yard tket
the engines could not be got isto the most desirati!
positions ; add to which the wind was blowing strot%
directly feem the burning buildings on to the ships, that
it is perfectly a miracle that not only the whole of tek°
ships and mortar vessels, but the gun-boat and steamer,
were not destroyed ; indeed that Hansen's shipyare,'
with the workshops of the Messrs. White and their
.Iwelling-houses bad not fallen a prey to the flames,
ship of 800 tons, in frame, building for w London firm,
was rep:atedly on fire, and she is rnuehimmit amidships.
The fire was greatly subdued bill o'Clock, about which
time a large fit wai brought' down from NLIC:
port: .4.,,,„11..Hwn, Esq., the mayor of Newport, and
largebody of firemen, came down with it. Mr, Mom re
. bibs Cowes agent for the Unity Fire-office, had had
large coach-boat got ready for" the engine, into which IV.'
was immediately taken, and as it was high water it wag
hauled round under the stern of the ship, and efficiently
played on her. The' fire was not wholly got under he:
fore 4 o'cloCk. ' At 6 o'clock the Echo, Government
steamer, arrived from Portsmouth with four fire-enginegems.
The fire was distiectly seen...from Portsmouth and the
neighbouring towns. The damage done is caleulatel,
at between 4,0001. and 5,0001, The buildings an"
Stook destroyed -are fully insured in ths Sun rm..
office. The ship is insured in the Unity, and the amotow
of damage done.to her may probably be about 300/. 4.
The joiners and other workmen will be very serione
sufferers, .from the quantity of their tocis that, are dew
strayed; and very few, if any, of them are,,iiisUrea.„
There are probably 100 men so unfortunately situated,
when for a few Shillings a/ear thiy might home insured
their ialuable articles, which now it will take them
years" to replace.-- -Several men fell overboard in the
confusion, but Sustained only a wetting. A_young ma,„ll-
r named Harris had some of his ribs broken by a plan'
' falling on him. It is wonderful that many serious accv,
dents did not happen to the men, who employed theta'
selves throwing down the burning scaffolding connect'
ing the ship with the burning workshops, the plank°
forming which being at the time on fire.
Mr. John Whit', the head of the firm, was in London
with his family. Mr. Robert White was in the yard all
night, most efficiently directing the men in the working"
of the engines, and he was ably assisted' by the work'
men, tradesmen, police, and the troops from East Cowes
and from Parkhurst Barracks. The commander and
crew of the Stag, revenue cutter, rendered good service*