The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-29 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

VIQISSITUDES OF A SCOTTISH SOLDIER'.
London: 1827.

No Highland spirit 'dictated this volume,
which is penned from first to laSt in a wrong
,style of feeling,' with here and there a dash of
small sarcasm running through 'it, like aschili
vein in marble. The thing is manifestly a ,
make up ; the production of some jobbing
workman, who has drawn many of his de-
tails from the journals of the 'tithe; and jaundiced
them with his own diseased imagination. He
rarely, for instance, loses a chance of larding the
French, to the detriment of his own countrymen ;
(which he does by ingenions but indirect paral-
lels, . thrust in whenever even the ghost of an
opportunity occurs of ridiculing his superior
Officers ; of .discussing, in conventional terms,
the injustice of the Peninsular war ; and of turn-
ing into a joke--,-and a remarkably dull one his
best is, having nothing but its bad taste to re-
commend it----Lthe attitudes of a wounded com-
panion. Shame on the cold heart that can thus
find subject for merriment, in the last convulsive
throes of a friend, with whom, perhaps, but the
night before it has passed the wine cup—and
/deeper shame on the malignant depravity of taste
that, however sincere may be its brutality, can'
intrude such scenes upon the public ! But the
book; as we observed before; is the composition
of neither Scotch nor English soldier. It is the
offspring of dyspepsia and a bad disposition, both
of which have combined at the same time to
quicken into rancour the Boeotian intellects of
some hacknied book-maker. We subjoin an ac-
count of the embarkation of Sir John Moore's
troops at Corunna, as the must favourable sample
of the volume :
", On the following day, the 16th of January, 1809, the
battle of Corwrina took price; but it so happened that we
had little to do with the :ligasgement, only four of our com-
panies being engaged, and those hut partially. Towards
the close of• the day, we were strdered to relieve some of the
regiments which had suffered most; in marching across a
road to effect this, we saw Sir John Moore carried by
wounded. The coming s.O of night put an end to the
action,—so that we had, to retrace our steps to onr old poai-
tion, having fortunately suffered only the loss of one man
kined, an officer and some others wounded. .
" The history of shooting the cavalry horses is well
known; but I unifine myself to our own transactions.
We bivouacked on the night of the battle, after kindling
numerous fires. The ships having arrived, we rose silently
in the dead of the night, and leaving some men to keep. up
the firye, in order to deceive the enemy, we marched off
" tri din," through the town of. Corunsa,,aud from
thence to the,sea side. It. -,as a dark and stormy night;
numerous small boats lay pitching and rolling on the
troubled waters; and our only light came from ‘...!e flambeaux
held by some naval officers. The scene of confusion that
• took place baffles all description ; nearly the whole of our
army was assembled here, in the most tumultuous manner,
, and eve,ry one rushed indiscriminately into the boats, reckless
of danger. All control and order were now lost, every one
shifting for hirosslf, without regarding the order to keep by
his own particular regiment : as usual in such cases, we
Followed the example, and were soon scattered among the
crowd. The confusion was much increased by the turning
loose the baggage mules as soon as they were unloaded.,
" Haeju& with infinite difficulty, forced, toy way into a
crowded boat, we pulled off from the shore. Already many
of the nien were asleep at thebottom of the boat—such had
been their excessive fatigue. The sailors who rowed us,
anxious to get rid of their laborious work, put us on board
the vessel nearest to the shore, and the consequence of this
was, that the vesselsWliieh lay-farthest out were not half so
mach incommoded by numbers as our ship war."