The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-19 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

llistoire du Due de Wellington. Par A. Brial.;
moot. Tome Premier. Bruxelles :E. Guyot
et Stapleaux, File. Paris : Charles Tanera. Lon.
don : Dulau and Company.
A very remarkable work is here commenced. A
biography, of Arthur Wellesley—emphatically the
Duke of Wellington—written by one neither on.
the side of the victors nor on the side of the eau.
quished The author, we miry briefly mention at
once, is an officer in the 'Belgian army, Captain A.
Brialmont--a writer professionally as well as iota..
lectually qualified for the task of narrating-the
history of one of the most extraordinary Generals of
modern times. In the course of his scholarly and,
soldiery Preface, Captain Brialmont observes that '
the object which ought constantly to be kept is
view by every_ man of letters undertaking to in...
struct the community through his productigns.
may be simply and i.en.tentionaly expressed as fol.,
lows—truth in the details, impartiality in the
ductions--" la verity dans les faits et l'impartielite
dans les jugPments." The comprehensive volume,.
now substantially beforeus, the inaugurative moiety,
of Brialmont's " Histoire du Due do Wellington,"
sufficiently attests the conscientious zeal with which .
its laborious and enterprising writer has endea-i
voured throughout to realise this noble design in.
his self-assumed capacity as a historical biographer.
He explains, we cannot but think quite unanswer,
ably, the fact of the hiatus his ambitious narrative
is intended to fill up. Reminding his reader to this
end, that hitherto the career of the Great Duke'
has been penned for the most part, either by de--
preciators or by panegyrists. The English bio-
graphers almost invariably viewing the life and
actions of their hero from a single point of view,--e
while the French biographers, of the same remark.:
able min, have almost as invariably written of him
in a manner the most unsatisfactory, either from its
bias or from its incompleteness. If we may adopt a
metaphor expressive of the want hitherto existing
in this particular branch of historical lore, and its
supply at last in the literary performance of Cap-
tain A. Brialmont, if we may adopt a metaphor
iilu-trative of this from the beautiful optical theory
of the stereoscope, we would say that a binocular view
of tube Duke of Wellingten was needed to "bring
out the wand heroic figure in full relief before
the "mind's eyes"—so that it might stand forth
clealy, distinctly, solidly, Hui stantially to the be-
holdzeti imagination. To effect which most effec-
tually, we have only, of course (as the lovely con-
ttivanca of Wheatstone has recently taught the
world), to look at any object simultaneously on both
sides ! Thia, at least, Captain Brialmont enables
the student of History t 3 do in regard to the Duke
cf Wellington. His historico-biographical perform-
ance, in point of fact, placing the image of the
Duke, as it were, under the double focus of what
may be called the Stereoscope of Literature. •
There—consequently—appears before us, vividly
as he was, the Great Land Captain of Great Bri-
tain, as vividly as her Great Sea Captain had
been revealed to observation, by the earlier and-
more compact view of him through Dr. Southey's
exquisite biography-in-miniature. The introduc-
tory volume before us, extending to upwards of 480
large octavo pages, carries the narrative of the Duke's
Life down to the close of the Fourth Campaign in •
Portugal, the campaign of 1811, the memorable .
campaign emblazoning upon the pages of history, in
indelible characters of blood and flame, the 'Me-
mory of the siege of Badajoz, of the battle of
Albuera, and of the storming and capture of Ciu-
dad Rodrigo
.As we close the first volume, our
minds are absorbed in the contemplation of the
dread disasters about to result from Napoleon's
gigantic preparations for the conquest of Russi‘
The work is admirably " got up," well printed, pro- •
fusely embellished with maps and plans, and adorned. •
with effigies of Wellington, after Sir Thomas Law-
rence, and of Napoleon, after Paul Delaroche. The
ingenious biographer has wisely availed himself of
all the scattered lights that could possibly be con-
centrated upon the one prominent figure upon his -
canvass, that of the theme of his narrative, Arthur
Prince of Waterloo and Duke of Wellington. He
has consulted alike the "Lives" of the
Great Duke already given to the world
by Maxwell, and S.herer, and Clarke, and Elliot,
and Scutt, and Jackson, and Vieusseux, and
Macfarlane, and Stocqueler, and last, but not least,
"un publicists du Times," evidently a mystery to
Captain Brialrnont, but the mask of whose " ano-
nyme," snatched off, shows to us what ought to
have been the face of Napier, but what was the face
of Macaulay ! Due regard is also hal by Captain
Brialmont to such authorities as Nicholls, Malcolm,
Harris, Welsch, Wellesley, Napier, Foy, Jomirn,
Sachet, Napoleon himself, his brother King Joseph,
and numerous other writers, several of whom
we observe are not mentioned, such for example
as the late gallant and accomplished- Charles
William, Marquess of Londonderry. A more accu-
rate idea of the work before us may be arrived at,
of course, when in the fulness of time we may hap-
pily witness its completion, by the pen of Captain
Brialmont. Even now, however, we may speak of
it co,fiiently without overmuch rashness. For,
with the 600 and odd pages actually in our hands,
we cannot be deemed to be estimating the work,
merely ex pede Herculern. It is, at the very least
the Colossal Torso—wanting only the addition . of
the feet, and the arms, and the head to stand before
us—as we yet hope to see it stand before ui—com-
plee in bulk and in symmetry.