The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-25
lie Fought and wrote.

! In -The Chronicles OF an Old Cam
! pa gner, translated from the French by
! Walter C. Horsley " p Dutton Coz, We
! have the memoirs Of NJ de Ia Colonie. a
French officer of dragons who fought
against Marlborough and the noble Prince
Eugene Mr. Horaley thinks 1t reasonable
TO suppose that this worl, has been over
looked 10y English transators hitherto
If this is so. n good deal has been over
looked in the respect OF quantity. Our
chronicler il difTusa. His powers Of con-
densation. il he had any. are not here dis
PLAYED. and we do not discover that he had
any great genius in the art of selection.
The reader will attend to his narrative with
difficulty at times. He calls for patience;
and yet there is plenty here that is curious
and interesting, and we dare say that there
are searchers in history who are qualified
to tackle it without terrors aud gratefully.
1t has much Of general and historical
nature. including maps and much that is
purely personal.
At page 2Ss we have marked a passa &c
describing duel between the author and
a swordsman Of great distinction. We
should not dream Of quoting the whole OF
il. for VI de Ia Colone is diffuse. as We
have said. We may quote little, how
ever for the sake of illustration. We read:
I'VE had some grounds 20 fear each other;
Bosmorel was the most apt and skilful
man in France in the use Of arms, and
was about his match. although bred in
part Of the country which, owing TO our bring
ing upandi the rude surroundings, makes for
clumsiness. However, having left home very
Young. | had since breathed a purer air,
or perhaps nature had worked somewhat
in my favor 30 Boismorel was aware that
he had quite "a much 10 fear Of me as |
Of him We had each made many thrusts
and tried all the ruses without scoring
a hit on either side. though once thought
I had noticed slight resistance to the point
Of my sword but there was nothing 10 show
this in nv ndversarv's expression. aud our
combat became fercer and hercer until
we came 70 close quarters. Then each did
his best to trip up his opponent, hut so
stilful were we both in this art that we
found ourselves forced to grapple with each
other arm TO arm. | proved myself here
the stronger and at the second attempt
| grassed my man and presented the point
of my sword 10 the pit Of his stomach to
force him to give up his arms and cry for
mercy; but our two seconds separated us,
telling me that as he had his life in my
hands had ended the affair more gloriously
than il l killed him outright, and they
allowed Boismorel to keep his sword
Shame upon that celebrated person, no
sooner had he got upon his feet than he
lunged treacherously and quite unex-
pectedly at our chronicler and nearly ran
him through. THE blade says NJ. de la
Colonie. pierced my coat and waistcoat
Just over the navel, and passed between
my skin and shirt He threw Boismorel
down again after that and egain spared
his life: but we are almost glad to say that
this treacherous man had received three
wounds and needed to go into the hands
OF a surgeon.
We should like to give more Of this chron-
icle. but perhaps II il not necessary. A
proverb says that there Is no call to drink
the whole cask in order to learn the taste
of the wine. A curious az well as an ample
hook