HISTORIANS, ETC. with which she hastily covered her arms: and thus she stood on the black scaffold with the black figures all around her, blood-red from head to foot. Her reasons for adopting so extraordinary a costume must be left to conjecture. It is only certain that it must have been carefully studied, and that the pictorial effect must have been appalling. The women, whose firmness had hitherto borne the trial, began now to give way, spasmodic sobs bursting from them which they could not check. 'Ne criez vous,' she said, 'j'ay promis pour vous.' Struggling bravely, they crossed their breasts again and again, she crossing them in turn, and bidding them pray for her. Then she knelt on the cushion. Barbara Mowbray bound her eyes with a handkerchief. 'Adieu,' she said, smiling for the last time, and waving her hand to them; 'adieu, au revoir.' They stepped back from off the scaffold, and left her alone. On her knees she repeated the psalm, "In te, Domine, confido,' 'In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust.' Her shoulders being exposed, two scars became visible, one on either side, and the earls being now a little behind her, Kent pointed to them with his white hand, and looked inquiringly at his companion. Shrewsbury whispered that they were the remains of two abscesses from which she had suffered while living with him at Sheffield. When the psalm was finished she felt for the block, and, laying down her head, muttered: 'In manus, Domine, tuas, commendo animam meam.' The hard wood seemed to hurt her, for she placed her hands under her neck. The executioners gently removed them, lest they should deaden the blow, and then one of them holding her slightly, the other raised the axe and struck. The scene had been too trying even for the practised headsman of the tower. His arm wandered. The blow fell on the knot of the handkerchief, and scarcely broke the skin. She neither spoke nor moved. He struck again, this time effectively. The head hung by a shred of skin, which he divided without withdrawing the axe; and at once a metamorphosis was witnessed, strange as was ever wrought by wand of fabled enchanter. The coif fell off and the false plaits. The laboured illusion vanished. The lady who had knelt before the block was in the maturity of grace and loveliness. The executioner, when he raised the head, as usual, to shew to the crowd, exposed the withered features of a grizzled, wrinkled old woman. "So perish all enemies of the Queen,' said the Dean of Peterborough. A loud amen rose over the hall. Such end,' said the Earl of Kent, rising and standing over the body, 'to the Queen's and the Gospel's enemies.' W. H. LECKY. survive his own defeat, was an honourable characteristic. He proclaimed himself the first apostle of that sect whose first doctrine was, that no political change was worth shedding a drop of blood, and that all might be attained by moral force.' 'The more I dwell upon the subject, the more I am convinced of the splendour and originality of the genius and of the sterling character of the patriotism of O'Connell, in spite of the calumnies that surround his memory, and the many and grievous faults that obscured his life. But when to the good services he rendered to his country, we oppose the sectarian and class warfare that resulted from his policy, the fearful elements of discord he evoked, and which he alone could in some degree control, it may be questioned whether his life was a blessing or a curse to Ireland.' The aim of every statesman should be, as Mr Lecky justly conceives, to give to Ireland the greatest amount of self-government that is compatible with the union and the security of the empire. Difficulties of no ordinary kind surround this duty, but influences are in operation which must tend towards its realisation. Improved Prospect of Affairs in Ireland. In spite of frequent and menacing reactions, it is probable that sectarian animosity will diminish in Ireland. The general intellectual tendencies of the age are certainly hostile to it. With the increase of wealth and knowledge there must in time grow up among the Catholics an independent lay public opinion, and the tendency of their politics will cease to be purely sacerdotal. The establishment of perfect religious equality and the settlement of the question of the temporal Power of the Pope have removed grave causes of irritation, and united education, if it be steadily maintained and honestly carried out, will at length assuage the bitterness of sects, and perhaps secure for Ireland the inestimable benefit of real union. The division of classes is at present perhaps a graver danger than the division of sects. But the Land Bill of Mr Gladstone cannot fail to do much to cure it. If it be possible in a society like our own to create a yeoman class intervening between landlords and tenants, the facilities now given to tenants to purchase their tenancies will create it; and if, as is probable, it is economically impossible that such a class should now exist to any considerable extent, the tenant class have at least been given an unexampled security-they have been rooted to the soil, and their A series of Irish biographies by an intellectual interests have been more than ever identified with those and studious Irishman, WILLIAM E. H. LECKY, of their landlords. The division between rich and poor may be considered as supplementary to Mr is also rapidly ceasing to coincide with that between Froude's history of The English in Ireland in the Protestant and Catholic, and thus the old lines of Eighteenth Century. Mr Lecky's volume is entitled demarcation are being gradually effaced. A considerThe Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland: Swift, able time must elapse before the full effect of these Flood, Grattan, and O'Connell. Of the four lives, changes is felt, but sooner or later they must exercise that of Swift is the least valuable, as using only a profound influence on opinion; and if they do not the old familiar materials, and occasionally inac-extinguish the desire of the people for national institucurate in detail. Flood and Grattan he views tions, they will greatly increase the probability of their obtaining them. more favourably than Mr Froude, and like them he condemns the manner in which the Union was accomplished. The career of O'Connell is carefully traced, and forms an interesting narrative. Mr Lecky conceives that the great agitator was sincere in his belief that it was possible to carry Repeal. 'The occupation of his life for many years was to throw the repeal arguments into the most fascinating and imposing light; and in doing so his own belief rose to fanaticism.' His support of peaceful agitation, though it did not Mr Lecky is author of more elaborate works than his Irish volume. His History of Rationalism in Europe, 1865, and History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne, 1869, are contributions to philosophical history, in which the narrative or historical parts are clear and spirited. Their author was born in the neighbourhood of Dublin in 1838, and educated at Trinity College. 617 SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER. A valuable addition to our knowledge of the reigns of James I. and Charles I. has been made by a series of historical works by MR SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER. These are-History of England, from the Accession of James I. to 1616; Prince Charles and the Spanish Marriage (16171623); History of England, under the Duke of Buckingham and Charles I. (1624-1628). Mr Gardiner is more favourable to the character of James I., in point of learning and acuteness, than most historians, but agrees with all previous writers as to the king's want of resolution, dignity, and prudence. It was the great misfortune of James' character that while, both in his domestic and foreign policy, he was far in advance of his age in his desire to put a final end to religious strife, he was utterly unfit to judge what were the proper measures to be taken for the attainment of his object.' SIR JOHN W. KAYE-LADY SALE, ETC. A number of military narratives and memoirs has been called forth by the wars in India, in Russia, and on the continent. Among the most important of these are the History of the War in Afghanistan in 1841-42, by JOHN WILLIAM KAYE (afterwards Sir John), and a History of the Sepoy War in India in 1857-58, of which three volumes have been published (1876), and a fourth is to follow. The author says: "There is no such thing as the easy writing of history. If it be not truth it is not history, and truth lies far below the surface. It is a long and laborious task to exhume it. Rapid production is a proof of the total absence of conscientious investigation. For history is not the growth of inspiration, but of evidence.' Sir John Kaye (born in 1814) served for some time in India, as a lieutenant of artillery, but returning to England in 1845, devoted himself to literature. Previous to his histories of the disastrous events in India, he had written memoirs of Lord Metcalfe and Sir John Malcolm, and an account of Christianity in India. He died July 24, 1876. Besides the careful, elaborate work of Sir John Kaye on Afghanistan, we have a Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan, by LADY FLORENTIA SALE (a woman who shed lustre on her sex,' as Sir Robert Peel said); and Lady Sale's husband, SIR ROBERT HENRY SALE, published a Defence of Fellelabad; LIEUTENANT VINCENT EYRE wrote Military Operations in Cabul; J. HARLAN, Memoirs of India and Afghanistan; MR C. NASH, a History of the War in Afghanistan; and there were also published-Five Years in India, by H. G. FANE, Esq., late aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief; Narrative of the Campaign of the Army of the Indus in Scinde and Cabul, by MR R. H. KENNEDY; Scenes and Adventures in Afghanistan, by MR W. TAYLOR; Letters, by COLONEL DENNIE; Personal Observations on Scinde, by CAPTAIN T. POSTANS, &c. ALEXANDER WILLIAM KINGLAKE. The Invasion of the Crimea, its Origin, and an Account of its Progress down to the Death of Lord Raglan (June 28, 1855), has been described by ALEXANDER WILLIAM KINGLAKE, sometime M.P. for Bridgewater, in an elaborate work, of which five volumes have been published (1875)Mr Kinglake's history is a clear, animated, and Spirited narrative, written with a strong animus against Louis Napoleon of France, but forming literature. Its author is a native of Taunton, a valuable addition to our modern historical born in 1811, educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1837, but retired from the legal profession in 1856. In 1844 Mr Kinglake the title of Eothen, a work which instantly became published his experiences of Eastern travel under popular, and was justly admired for its vivid In the discursive style of Sterne, Mr Kinglake description and eloquent expression of sentiment. rambles over the East, setting down, as he says, not those impressions which ought to have been produced upon any well-constituted mind,' but those which were really and truly received at the time. We subjoin his account of The Sphynx. And near the Pyramids, more wondrous and more awful than all else in the land of Egypt, there sits the lonely Sphynx. Comely the creature is, but the comeliness is not of this world; the once worshipped beast is a deformity and a monster to this generation, and yet you can see that those lips, so thick and heavy, were fashioned according to some ancient mould of beauty -some mould of beauty now forgotten-forgotten because that Greece drew forth Cytherea from the flashing foam of the Ægean, and in her image created new forms of beauty, and made it a law among men for the sign and the main condition of loveliness through that the short and proudly wreathed lip should stand all generations to come. Yet still there lives on the race of those who were beautiful in the fashion of the elder world, and Christian girls of Coptic blood will look on you with the sad, serious gaze, and kiss your charitable hand with the big pouting lips of the very Sphynx. Laugh and mock if you will at the worship of stone idols; but mark ye this, ye breakers of images, that in one regard the stone idol bears awful semblance of Deity-unchangefulness in the midst of change-the same seeming will, and intent for ever and ever inexorable! Upon ancient dynasties of Ethiopian and Egyptian kings-upon Greek and Roman, upon Arab of an Eastern empire-upon battle and pestilence-upon and Ottoman conquerors-upon Napoleon dreaming the ceaseless misery of the Egyptian race-upon keeneyed travellers-Herodotus yesterday, and Warburton to-day-upon all and more this unworldly Sphynx has watched, and watched like a Providence with the same earnest eyes, and the same sad, tranquil mien. we, we shall die, and Islam will wither away, and the Englishman straining far over to hold his loved India, will plant a firm foot on the banks of the Nile, and sit in the seats of the Faithful, and still that sleepless rock will lie watching and watching the works of the new busy race, with those same sad, earnest eyes, and mock at the Sphynx! the same tranquil mien everlasting. And You dare not The Beginning of the Crimean War. Looking back upon the troubles which ended in the outbreak of war, one sees the nations at first swaying backward and forward like a throng so vast as to be helpless, but afterwards falling slowly into warlike array. And when one begins to search for the man or the men whose volition was governing the crowd, the eye falls upon the towering form of the Emperor Nicholas. He was not single-minded, and therefore his will was unstable, but it had a huge force; and, since he was armed with the whole authority of his empire, it seemed plain that it was this man-and only he-who was bringing danger from the north. And at first, too, it seemed that within his range of action there was none who could be his equal: but in a little while the looks of men were turned to the Bosphorus, for thither his ancient adversary was slowly bending his way. To fit him for the encounter, the Englishman was clothed with little authority except what he could draw from the resources of his own mind and from the strength of his own wilful nature. Yet it was presently seen that those who were near him fell under his dominion, and did as he bid them, and that the circle of deference to his will was always increasing around him; and soon it appeared that, though he moved gently, he began to have mastery over a foe who was consuming his strength in mere anger. When he had conquered, he stood, as it were, with folded arms, and seemed willing to desist from strife. But also in the west there had been seen a knot of men possessed for the time of the mighty engine of the French State, and striving so to use it as to be able to keep their hold, and to shelter themselves from a cruel fate. The volitions of these men were active enough, because they were toiling for their lives. Their efforts seemed to interest and to please the lustiest man of those days, for he watched them from over the Channel with approving smile, and began to declare, in his good-humoured, boisterous way, that so long as they should be suffered to have the handling of France, so long as they would execute for him his policy, so long as they would take care not to deceive him, they ought to be encouraged, they ought to be made use of, they ought to have the shelter they wanted; and, the Frenchmen agreeing to his conditions, he was willing to level the barrier-he called it perhaps false pride which divided the government of the Queen from the venturers of the 2d of December. In this thought, at the moment, he stood almost alone; but he abided his time. At length he saw the spring of 1853, bringing with it grave peril to the Ottoman State. Then, throwing aside with a laugh some papers which belonged to the Home Office, he gave his strong shoulder to the levelling work. Under the weight of his touch the barrier fell. Thenceforth the hindrances that met him were but slight. As he from the first had willed it, so moved the two great nations of the West. The March. [Both in Turkey and in the Crimea, the left was nearest to the enemy, whilst the right was nearest to the sea.] Lord Raglan had observed all this, but he had observed in silence; and finding the right always seized by our allies, he had quietly put up with the left. Yet he was not without humour; and now, when he saw that in this hazardous movement along the coast the French were still taking the right, there was something like archness in his way of remarking that, although the French were bent upon taking precedence of him, their courtesy still gave him the post of danger. This he well might say, for, so far as concerned the duty of covering the venturesome march which was about to be undertaken, the whole stress of the enterprise was thrown upon the English army. The French force was covered on its right flank by the sea, on its front and rear by the fire from the steamers, and on its left by the English army. On the other hand, the English army, though covered on its right flank by the French, was exposed in front, and in rear, and on its whole left flank, to the full brunt of the enemy's attacks. Thus marched the strength of the Western Powers. The sun shone hotly as on a summer's day in England, but breezes springing fresh from the sea floated briskly along the hills. The ground was an undulating steppe alluring to cavalry. It was rankly covered with a herb like southernwood; and when the stems were crushed under foot by the advancing columns, the whole air became laden with bitter fragrance. The aroma was new to some. To men of the western counties of England it was so familiar that it carried them back to childhood and the village church; they remembered the nosegay of 'boy's love' that used to be set by the prayer-book of the Sunday maiden too demure for the vanity of flowers. In each of the close massed columns which were formed by our four complete divisions there were more than five thousand foot soldiers. The colours were flying; the bands at first were playing; and once more the time had come round when in all this armed pride there was nothing of false majesty; for already videttes could be seen on the hillocks, and (except at the spots where our horsemen were marching) there was nothing but air and sunshine, and at intervals, the dark form of a single rifleman, to divide our columns from the enemy. But more warlike than trumpet and drum was the grave quiet which followed the ceasing of the bands. The pain of weariness had begun. Few spoke. All toiled. Waves break upon the shore; and though they are many, still distance will gather their numberless cadences into one. So also it was with one ceaseless hissing sound that a wilderness of tall crisping herbage bent under the tramp of the coming thousands. As each mighty column marched on, one hardly remembered at first the weary frames, the aching limbs which composed it; for-instinct with its own proper soul and purpose, absorbing the volitions of thousands of men, and bearing no likeness to the mere sum of the human beings out of whom it was made-the column itself was the living thing, the slow, monstrous unit of strength which walks the modern earth where empire is brought into question. But a little while, and then the sickness which had clung to the army began to make it seen that the columns in all their pride were things built with the bodies of suffering mortals. WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL. The Russian war has been brilliantly illustrated by an eye-witness, MR WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL, Special Correspondent' of the Times. Mr Russell accompanied the army to the Crimea, and transmitted from day to day letters descriptive of the progress of the troops, the country through which they passed, the people they met, and all the public incidents and events of that dreadful campaign. His picturesque style and glowing narratives deepened the tragic interest of the war. But the letters told also of grievous mismanagement on the part of the home authorities, and of supineThese details, it is now proved, were in some ness on the part of certain of our commanders. instances exaggerated; the merits of our allies the French were also unduly extolled; but much good was undoubtedly done by the revelations and comments of the fearless and energetic 'Correspondent.' A bad system of official routine was broken in upon, if not entirely uprooted, and a solemn public warning was held out for the future. The benefit of this was subsequently experienced in India, whither Mr Russell also went to record the incidents of the revolt. His Russian battle-pictures and descriptions were collected into two volumes, 1855-56; the first giving an account of the war from the landing of the troops at Gallipoli to the death of Lord Raglan, and the second continuing the history to the evacuation of the Crimea. We give a portion of one of his battle-pieces. 619 The Battle of Balaklava, October 25, 1854. Never did the painter's eye rest on a more beautiful scene than I beheld from the ridge. The fleecy vapours still hung around the mountain-tops, and mingled with the ascending volumes of smoke; the patch of sea sparkled in the rays of the morning sun, but its light was eclipsed by the flashes which gleamed from the masses of armed men below. Looking to the left towards the gorge, we beheld six compact masses of Russian infantry, which had just debouched from the mountain-passes near the Tchernaya, and were slowly advancing with solemn stateliness up the valley. Immediately in their front was a regular line of artillery, of at least twenty pieces strong. Two batteries of light guns were already a mile in advance of them, and were playing with energy on the redoubts, from which feeble puffs of smoke came at long intervals. Behind these guns, in front of the infantry, were enormous bodies of cavalry. They were in six compact squares, three on each flank, moving down en échelon towards us, and the valley was lit up with the blaze of their sabres, and lance points, and gay accoutrements. In their front, and extending along the intervals between each battery of guns, were clouds of mounted skirmishers, wheeling and whirling in the front of their march like autumn leaves tossed by the wind. The Zouaves close to us were lying like tigers at the spring, with ready rifles in hand, | hidden chin-deep by the earthworks which ran along the line of these ridges on our rear; but the quick-eyed Russians were manoeuvring on the other side of the valley, and did not expose their columns to attack. Below the Zouaves we could see the Turkish gunners in the redoubts, all in confusion as the shells burst over them. Just as I came up, the Russians had carried No. 1 Redoubt, the furthest and most elevated of all, and their horsemen were chasing the Turks across the interval which lay between it and Redoubt No. 2. At that moment the cavalry, under Lord Lucan, were formed in glittering masses-the Light Brigade, under Lord Cardigan, in advance; the Heavy Brigade, under Brigadier-general Scarlett, in reserve. They were drawn up just in front of their encampment, and were concealed from the view of the enemy by a slight 'wave' in the plain. Considerably to the rear of their right, the 93d Highlanders were drawn up in line, in front of the approach to Balaklava. Above and behind them, on the heights, the marines were visible through the glass, drawn up under arms, and the gunners could be seen ready in the earthworks, in which were placed the heavy ships' guns. The 93d had originally been advanced somewhat more into the plain, but the instant the Russians got possession of the first redoubt they opened fire on them from our own guns, which inflicted some injury, and Sir Colin Campbell 'retired' his men to a better position. Meantime the enemy advanced his cavalry rapidly. To our inexpressible disgust we saw the Turks in Redoubt No. 2 fly at their approach. They ran in scattered groups across towards Redoubt No. 3, and towards Balaklava; but the horsehoof of the Cossack was too quick for them, and sword and lance were busily plied among the retreating herd. The yells of the pursuers and pursued were plainly audible. As the lancers and light cavalry of the Russians advanced, they gathered up their skirmishers with great speed and in excellent order-the shifting trails of men, which played all over the valley like moonlight on the water, contracted, gathered up, and the little peloton in a few moments became a solid column. Then up came their guns, in rushed their gunners to the abandoned redoubt, and the guns of No. 2 Redoubt soon played with deadly effect upon the dispirited defenders of No. 3 Redoubt. Two or three shots in return from the earthworks, and all is silent. The Turks swarm over the earthworks, and run in confusion towards the town, firing their muskets at the enemy as they run. Again the solid column of cavalry opens like the height, were spectators of the scene as though they were looking on the stage from the boxes of a theatre. Nearly every one dismounted and sat down, and not a word was said. The Russians advanced down the hill at a slow canter, which they changed to a trot, and at last nearly halted. Their first line was at least double the length of ours-it was three times as deep. Behind them was a similar line, equally strong and compact. They evidently despised their insignificant-looking enemy; but their time was come. The trumpets rang out again through the valley, and the Greys and Enniskilleners went right at the centre of the Russian cavalry. The space between them was only a few hundred yards; it was scarce enough to let the horses 'gather way,' nor had the men quite space sufficient for the full play of their sword-arms. The Russian line brings forward each wing as our cavalry advance, and threatens to annihilate them as they pass on. Turning a little to their left, so as to meet the Russian right, the Greys rush on with a cheer that thrills to every heart-the wild shout of the Enniskilleners rises through the air at the same instant. As lightning flashes through a cloud, the Greys and Enniskilleners pierce through the dark masses of Russians. The shock was but for a moment. There was a clash of steel and a light play of sword-blades in the air, and then the Greys and the redcoats disappear in the midst of the shaken and quivering columns. In another moment we see them emerging and dashing on with diminished numbers, and in broken order, against the second line, which is advancing against them as fast as it can to retrieve the fortune of the charge. It was a terrible moment. 'God help them! they are lost!' was the exclamation of more than one man, and the thought of many. With unabated fire the noble hearts dashed at their enemy. It was a fight of heroes. The first line of Russians, which had been smashed utterly by our charge, and had fled off at one flank and towards the centre, were coming back to swallow up our handful of men. By sheer steel and sheer courage Enniskillener and Scot were winning their desperate way right through the enemy's squadrons, and already grey horses and redcoats had appeared right at the rear of the second mass, when, with irresistible force, like one bolt from a bow, the 1st Royals, the 4th Dragoon Guards, and the 5th Dragoon Guards rushed at the remnants of the first line of the enemy; went through it as though it were made of pasteboard; and, dashing on the second body of Russians as they were still disordered by the terrible assault of the Greys and their companions, put them to utter rout. This Russian horse, in less than five minutes after it met our dragoons, was flying with all its speed before a force certainly not half its strength. A cheer burst from every lip-in the enthusiasm, officers and men took off their caps and shouted with delight, and thus keeping up the scenic character of their position, they clapped their hands again and again. Lord Raglan at once despatched Lieutenant Curzon, aide-decamp, to convey his congratulations to Brigadier-general Scarlett, and to say: 'Well done!' The gallant old officer's face beamed with pleasure when he received the message. 'I beg to thank his lordship very sincerely,' was his reply. The cavalry did not long pursue their enemy. Their loss was very slight, about thirtyfive killed and wounded in both affairs. There were not more than four or five men killed outright, and our most material loss was from the cannon playing on our heavy dragoons afterwards, when covering the retreat of our light cavalry. A disastrous scene followed this triumph-the famous Light Cavalry charge. It had been Lord Raglan's intention that the cavalry should aid in regaining the heights surmounted by the redoubts taken from the Turks, or, in default of this, prevent the Russians from carrying off the guns at those redoubts. Some misconception occurred |