The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-06 00:00:00

IITER47'UItE.

The Life and Correspondence of Admiral Sir
Charles Napier, K.Cdr. By Major-General
Elers Napier, author of " Reminiscences of
Syria." Two Vols. Hurst and. Blackett.
These volumes will probably be received with
cordiality by a public that is always attracted by
deeds of naval daring, and which generally makes
amends to its naval heroes for the coldness of
officials or the jealously of rivals by the readiness
of its approval and the warmth of its admiration.
Sir Charles Napier, the subject of these volumes,
had many of the qualities which fit a man to shine in
the profession which he chose, and had circumstances
been more favourable to him in the earlier part of
his career, there is little doubt that ho would have
won even greater distinction. The victor of Cape
St. Vincent, Boharsef, and Acre was no common
commander, and it must always be a matter of
regret that seventeen of the best years of his life
were passed in retirement and inaction. It was,
indeed, impossible for so energetic and fiery a spirit
to remain in total idleness, and, unfortunately
for himself, he became engaged in a pro-
ject for establishing iron steamboats on the Seine,
which resulted in the loss of the greatest part of
his private property. Even in his early years the
same energy and daring were remarkable. When
only twenty-two he was in command of a small
frigate in the West Indies, and was mainly in-
strumental in capturing a French line-of-battle ship.
The French Admiral, on surrendering his sword,
asked the name of the little vessel that had ham-
pered his movements so much, and on being told
that it was the " Recruit," replied with a melan-
choly smile, " Recruit ! no, that no conscript, that
one very old soldier !" In testimony to his ser-
vices on that occasion, Captain Napier was imme-
diately removed into the captured "D'Haupoult"
by Sir Alexander Cochrane, but the Admiralty, as
usual, undid the work, and suspended him iu his
command, although confirming him in his rank.
This was the first of many similar mortifications. In
later years Sir Charles provoked the antagonism of
a large and prejudiced party by the invaluable
assistance he rendered to the constitutional cause in
Portugal. His brilliant services on that occasion
form one of the brightest pages in his history, and
excited the warmest enthusiasm among the Portu-
guese. Many years later the gallant sailor was
appointed to command the expedition to Syria,
where he won fresh laurels at Boharsef and Acre.
These memorable days rank him among our naval
heroes, and, whatever mistakes or faults of temper
may have chequered his later career, they must
render his name illustrious in those annals of
triumphs on the deep that are among an English-
man's proudest possessions. After the conclusion
of the Syrian expedition, Admiral Napier added but
little to his fame. He entered Parliament, where
he did good service in exposing the corruptions of
the navy, until 1854 when he accepted the com-
mand of the Baltic fleet. Upon this vexed question
we will not enter, since it reflects but little credit
on any of the parties concerned. The editor of these
volumes, Major-Gen. Napier, the stepson of the
lamented Admiral, is well qualified to enter upon a
somewhat arduous undertaking. With a sincere
admiration and affection for his adopted father, he
combines an intimate acquaintance with all the in-
cidents of his career and a pcwer of narrating
events with true soldierlike simplicity and straight-
forwardness. The daring " Black Charles" who
was a terror to the enemy., is shown to have been
as remarkable for his kindness and affectionate care
at home as for his dashing courage abroad. In one
respect these memoirs fully'realise the popular idea
of the Napiers, who are generally as quick with
the pen as with the sword, and carry out their
famous motto, " Ready, aye Ready," in literary
controversy as well as in the field of battle. Gen.
Napier admits that his hero was always quick to
resent an insult whether real or imaginary, and
some of the extracts from his correspondence prove
hire a formidable antagonist on foolscap no less than
on board a ship of the line. It may be questioned,
however, whether Sir Charles always did himself
justico on these occasions, or, whether the substan-
tial merits of his cause did not sometimes suffer
from injudicious advocacy. Many of the most
important events in these volumes are narrated in
his own words, and we learn from the appendix
that the editor has been compelled to omit much
interesting material. Some of these papers he has
inserted in the appendix, and others he hopes to
introduce in a future edition. The official letters
are often highly important. The Premier's gay
style and unfailing tact carry him safely even
through a correspondence with a Napier. We trust
he will act upon one of his own observations. While
writing to the Admiral be compliments him upon
the efficiency of his squadron. "While our ships
are in such good order," he goes on to say, " and
we have enough of them at sea, our neighbours
across the Channel will take care to keep quiet.
Diplomatists and protocols are very good things,
but there are no better peace-keepers than well-
appointed three-deckers." The work is one of great
interest, and can scarcely fail to meet with the
attention it deserves. Unfortunately for Sir
Charles Napier, the last years of his life were not
the most brilliant. Had he died after securing
Donna, Maria on the throne, or fallen during the
Syrian expedition, the winner of the action off
Capo St. Vincent, or, still more, the captor of Acre
would have been bewailed as the worthy successor
of Nelson and Dundonald. But though his latter
days were passed in a mismanaged and ill-fitted ex-
pedition and in angry controversy with officials, we
must not forget that it was the same old sea lion
who once established constitutional government in
Portugal, and dictated terms to the terrible Mehe-
met Ali. We must pay him the honour due to those
exploits, and it must be a matter of gratification to
all interested in our naval history that one who was
so great an ornament to his profession has now a
worthy chronicle of his achievements.

Forest Creatures. By Charles Boner, author of
" Chamois Hunting in Mountains of Bavaria."
Longman and Co.
This volume contains some very curious particu-
lars concerning certain deniiens of the woods with
which the author has been on intimate, though per-
haps not friendly terms, The animals treated of are
few, but then they are those of note, and rank among
the highest order of game. The first on the list is
the boar, which is allowed by all to be one of, if not
the boldest and most gallant animals of the chase,
both in the extensive forests of Northern Europe
and in the tangled jungles of tropical India. After
describing the habits of the Knight of Bristles,
and the mode in which he is hunted in Ger-
many, the author goes on to describe certain pecu-
liarities which are not very creditable to the
" Knightly beast," as he has always been termed
by true lovers of wood craft and writers on " the
noble art of venery." Writing of the female, he
informs us, that " she is a good mother, though, on
occasions, she devours her young, and strangely
enough such unnatural conduct grows epidemic.
Hardly has one mother thus trespassed against
nature, when others begin to follow her
example, and litter after litter is
thinned by the like atrocity." The only
way to put a stop to this unnatural depravity
seems to be to exterminate the evil-doers root and
branch, and so end at once the allurement and
example. It would seem that this taste for canni-
balism is not confined to the mothers, for the males
have sometimes a penchant for little porkers. A
forester, who had been watching their proceedings
from his look-out, informed the author that an old
boar would knock down some little sucking-pig and
then bite it, when the rest would join in the scuffle
and devour it. One old boar he observed ap-
proach a troop of young pigs, and taking one in his
mouth, as a pointer would carry a partridge, trot
off with it. As the boar was retreating he fired
and wounded it, but, nothing daunted, it returned
the next night, when another bullet put an end to
its systematic infanticide. The vast forests of
Germany afford excellent shelter, and although at
the present time the boars are very numerous, their
number cannot be compared to what it must have
been a few centuries ago. " From the
ehgAamnnee-
book kept by Duke William the Fourth,
Domini 1545, still preserved
learn
that eighty-
fourin the archives
of Upper Bavaria,
werewe kefilledtte between Easter
astlenr
and t
wildh boarselast dapthe diary kept by Duke Albert the Fifth, 1355-
1579, besides all ofher sorts of game, 51 boars were
shot in one year, in 1576, 107; and in 1577, 104, all
with his own hand. The greater part of the
volume is devotQd to the various species of the deer
tribe, and it is curious to note to what excesses the
mania for field sports carried the princes, nobles and
even the ecclesiastics of olden times. William the
Conqueror enacted that " whosoever should slay
stag, hart or hind, him man should blind." This was,
however, mild punishment, for in Germany death
was the penalty for poaching. The clergy were
not behind hand in vindicatinc,"their rights. "In
1537, the Archbishop Michael of Salzbnrg had a
peasant who took possession of a stag which he
found dead in his own corn, sewed up in the
animals skin and worried to death by his hounds, he
himself looking on the while. In 1562 a poacher
was taken in Hesse. The Landgrave, in his great
mercy, remitted the sentence of death; but the man
was tortured, his right eye put out, and a stag's
antlers branded on his forehead." The above are
but a few of the barbarities practised to ensure the
preservation of game. The stags' antlers possess
a peculiarity not to be found in the bovine race.
Tho stag sheds his antlers annually, and each year
the new ones possess an additional point, the ntuem:
ber of which determines his age and denomini
Thus he is first a brocket, when at two ee
(=hese
receives his brow antlers ; a year later he bars

a staggard, and when another year has pAss.f,:d he is
only a stag. When there are ten points to the
antlers he is a "warrantable stag," and whon
each beam is surmounted by a triple prong the
is denominated a "royal" hart. The weight of ',lie
antlers varies, according to their size and mass."'
ness, from ten, twelve, to fifteen punds, although
sometimes the weight is much greater; those of a
stag of twenty-four killed in Dess-aa weighed
32 pounds.

The reproduction of the slag's horn is in itself a pheno-
mena; but it becomes still more curious when we know
that the laws which determine its formation are directly the
reverse of those which
govern the growth of the horn in
other animals—in our domestic cattle, for instance. The
process is a wholly different one. The horns of oxen are
known to be more developed than those of the bull ; while
the stag's antlers aro the emanation of his perfect non-
emasculated state. So intimately is their formation con-
nected with the generative system, that should these organs
be mutilated the antlers suffer in proportion. They either
take an imperfect slanted form, or do not shoot forth at all.
If such injury occur during the period that the stag's head
to use an heraldic term, is "armed," the animal will never
more cast his horn, and as it then is so will it remain here-
after.
The author informs us that a good forester ought
to be able to tell by the " slot" whether a stag or
deer has passed over the ground, and furthermore,
the age of the beast. He explains that the stag
treads clean, leaving a well-defined foot mark, the
sides of the hoofclosing together as he puts his foot
down, and leaving on soft ground a fine ridge across
the centre; while the female treads anyhow, and
leaves a slovenly " slot." In describing the golden
eagle, Mr. Boner gives a most interesting account
of the capture of a young eaglet by Count
Arco at Bohrmoos, in Allgau, an estate be-
longing to Prince Frederick Wildburg-Wolfegg-
Waldose, thirty miles from the Lake of Constance.
After many days of patient watching he succeeded
in shooting the parent birds. When the real diffi-
culty begun, he ultimately reached the eyrie, after
ascending 110 feet on three rickety ladders joined
together. Other adventures of this daring bird
fancier on a grand scale are equally interesting.
Want of space prevents us from giving insertion
to extracts, which are well worthy of perusal; but
for an accurate description of the animals of which
the author has had any experience, among which
are the boar, roe, red deer, fallow deer, capercarle,
black cock, golden eagle, &0., &c., this book may
be considered as an authority.

Israel in Egypt. A Poem. By Edwin Ather-
stone, author of " The Fall of Nineveh." " The
Handwriting on the Wall," &c. Longman.
A poem, in blank verse, consisting of 27 books,
and representing the struggles of mankind under
the influence of Satanic agencies is a somewhat ad-
venturous undertaking. The taste of the age is
not especially poetic, and after Milton's great epic
any modern attempt seems insignificant. Mr.
Atherstone, however, is no inexperienced writer.
His former works have attracted attention and
obtained for him a creditable reputation. His sub-
jects have all been drawn from the inspired pages,
and have been mostly those in which some awful
manifestation of Divine wrath has been called forth
by the wickedness and perversity of man. The
fall of Nineveh and the destruction of Babylon were
subjects of this class, and the volume before 113
concerns a still more striking page in the sacrctl,
history. The mission of Moses, the stubbornm.,q
of Pharoah, the ten terrible plagues, the departure
of the Israelites, and the final overthrow of the
Egyptians in the Red Sea, are all represented in
these pages, while a store human interest is
interwoven in the story of Rachel and her
lover. The spirits of evil play a prominent
part, and since this bears some appearance or
copying the great author of " Paradise Lost," the
writer thus speaks of it in the preface :—" In adopt-
ing a portion of that machinery which was so
Magnificently treated by Milton, the present writer
had assuredly no thought of imitating, far less of
vying with, that sublimest of all poets. Perhaps,
on the contrary, he may be thought more justly
liable to the charge of audacity for having in so
many important points presumed to differ from him.
In one simile will be found the only image which
he has consciously borrowed from him or from any
other poet ; and even in that instance, the variation
is so considerable, that the theft will not, he hopes,
be regarded as a serious crime." There are many
passages of much force and 'vigour in the volume
before us, and it will probably find many admirers
among those who are attracted by works of this
character.