jected embroidery; and, modestly consider-' earl giving a sign, the two young men steping the uncertainty of his birth, it was with ped into the centre of the arena. There was some difficulty that Glenmore could even get a firmness in the manner and a confidence him to assume the double cock's feather in in the look of both, which was exceedingly his bonnet, by the argument that he could gratifying to the opposing parties who had not stand before such an opponent without formed their expectations of victory for the wearing the assumed badge of a gentleman. combatants respectively. A profound silence now reigned over the whole assemblage, as the swords of the young men crossed each other, and eye began to watch eye with that intensity of perception, and quickness of inference and effort, that makes the skill, and gives the success, in a trial like the present.

ther scream of the bagpipes seconded the hold up his sword in the air, as if appealing
impatience of the people, and to it our com- to his noble audience, while shouts of False
batants went for the ultimate trial, as if play!' and 'The brave youth in the trews!'
determined to end the contest with little loss drowned the first mistaken murmur, her
of time. Crombie went in upon our youth blood returned with so sudden a revulsion,
with looks of vengeance, and obvious evi- of such delight and admiration, that she was
dence of secret mortification at the unex-hardly able to support herself on her seat.
pected skill and agility that he found in his
opponent; while Hector held him at bay
with the same coolness as formerly, and
with an evident increase of manly confi.
dence.

holding its fire until the more advanced regiments, namely, the English guards and the royal Scotch, &c., under Lord Albemarle, General Campbell, and General Churchill, a natural son of the famous Marlborough, arrived within forty paces of the French beyond the height, which they saw now ranged in Again, again! Spare him not!' shouted line to oppose them. A cluster of French the crowd, and, without waiting for a word officers, dressed in splendid doublets of blue from the astonished umpires, Hector, now and gold, several wearing short embroidered in earnest, sprang upon his adversary. A cloaks on the left shoulder, according to the few passes more showed the mastery that our fanciful magnificence of Louis the Fifteenth's "The general scene of this encounter now hero was obtaining, both over the weapon fashions, appeared in front; consisting of the presented to the admiring audience in the and the spirit of his adversary. Crombie Duke de Biron, the Counts d'Auteroche and tent a perfect picture. The opposite decli-now fought with a wild malignity that be- Chabannes, the commandant of the Swiss vities, thronged to a considerable distance came quite reckless, but, his despairing | guards in his showy dress of many colours, with Highlanders of various ranks, with a energy being still unsuccessful, he found and others; while several of the king's pages, thin sprinkling of women intermixed, and a himself, after a few vigorous efforts, obliged in the sumptuous costume of the court, could few vehicles and horses on the exterior to assume the defensive, which was by no now be seen galloping along the field, carryflanks, presented an imposing and amphi- means his forte, and Hector now pressed ing intelligence to his majesty of the progress theatrical appearance; for those in the front him round the arena in a style which elicited of the engagement. having seated themselves on the sward, to loud, almost tumultuous, shouts of applause. allow of the others seeing over their heads, While doing this, the animated eye of the whole, notwithstanding their eager in- Hector seemed frequently to glance to a large terest in what was going forward, stood cockade of scarlet ribbon, which, with conperfectly at rest, and thus the arena was sistent taste, the honourable young man had kept clear without the slightest confusion. stuck on the side of his bonnet, just over But it was the active combatants who strug- his right ear. While Crombie's arm was gled within the circle upon whom every eye now extended in almost powerless defence, was intently fixed, and who, contrasted as Hector, watching his opportunity, with a | they were in figure and costume, presented of clean stroke cut this ornament from its course the most interesting part of the pic-place, upon which a shout was set up that ture. Animated as he was in the eagerness the contest was gained; but Crombie, with of the encounter, of Hector it was remarked, particularly by the females, that, merely in the artless freedom of nature, his stripling figure uniformly presented attitudes of the most perfect grace, and occasionally some which would have charmed a sculptor, even still more perhaps than they did the aristocratic personages within the marque.

glaring eyes and clenched teeth, still conti-
nuing his efforts for one cut at his adversary,
a cry from several voices of Let him have
it! Give him the steel!' emboldened Hector
to another aim, and, avoiding a blow of the
exasperated young man, he returned its in-
tention by a dexterous touch of his point at
the inside joint of Crombie's shoulder. This
was the last thrust he was required to make.
The sword fell powerless from the hand of
him of the philebeg, while shouts of victory
deafened the ears of the bystanders."

Bravo, Hector! We like this fashion of
making a real, thorough-bred Grandison
hero, and cannot but participate in the feel-

"The allied column was now in advance of the cross-fire; the rage of the battle, and the roar of the canonnade, was at this moment entirely behind them, and the absence of smoke in front and the regularity of the enemy's squadrons, enabled Hector to obtain a clear glance of the whole before him. Over the heads of the French columns in front of the British, and crowning a pretty height behind them, near an ancient sacristy, called the Chapel of Our Lady in the Wood, the white and richly blazoned standard of France was seen floating before the green foliage of the wood, over as imposing a company as ever stood on a field of battle. This was his majesty Louis the Fifteenth himself, in buckler and breast-plate, military Spanish cap and long feather, accompanied by the dauphin his son, in light blue richly embroidered, the latter surrounded by twelve noble youths of about his own age, of the first families in France; and the whole presenting an array that well might, by the captivating illusions of high rank and splendour, reconcile the ardent imaginations of such as Hector and the Highlanders to the royal game of death and carnage. Behind them, Hector

could see the boughs of the trees towards the the king and hanging on the French camp, Scheldt covered with persons, who, following

"But the struggle was now becoming rapidly too serious even for remarks like these; for, the object being to cut off with the sword some slight portion of the dress, or at most to touch lightly some part of the body, to show by inference a reserved power over life itself, and every attempt of this sort being skilfully met by the sword and shieldings of Helen, who of Hector, Crombie's dark eyes began to flash was wound up to such a pitch that the with a malignant scowl of disappointment: sight left her eyes, and her ears were insen-had climbed to the highest branches to witprovocation upon provocation seemed to have turned the trial of skill to a serious sible to whom the shout of victory really combat, and strokes began to be given, and | applied. When she saw, however, our lunges to be made, which looked extremely youth of the doublet and trews come forlike a mutual effort for life or death. The ward, sword in hand, between the portly figures of Glenmore and the other Highland gentlemen, who had now entered the arena, and, bowing gracefully to the company in

ness the battle.

"The English generals, now somewhat in front, saluted the gay group of French nobility before mentioned, by taking off their hats. The Duke de Biron and the Count de Chabannes advanced, and returned the com

assembled company were so taken by surprise by this change, that no one had the power to utter an exclamation, until a sudden spring the tent, drew near to herself, the film left Pliment. The whole of the officers then reof Crombie, aud an attempt to grapple, her eyes, a tumult of emotion raised the turned to the head of their respective obliged Hector to avoid a mortal thrust by quickly dropping on one knee.

conspicuous part, came fully to her aid."

blood into her cheeks, and, by the time he had knelt before her, the graceful tact and "A wild shout now burst from the people, unable to interpret the meaning of this move-bred female character, when called to play a presence of mind inseparable from the highment in any other way than as victory for the philebeg,' and the cry that was raised throughout the multitude smote to the heart of the fair spectatress in the tent, with the painful meaning that he whom she watched so intently had suffered a defeat. When she saw him spring to his feet, however, and, turning his face to the earl and his friends,

Among other scenes in which our hero acts a part, he is present at the battle of Fontenoy, a fight on which English historians are marvellously silent. It is thus described by Mr. Picken.

"Still this great column marched on,

this courtly politeness had, to witnesses as regiments, and the pause that followed all well as actors in this scene, a strauge and impressive effect.

"Too gallant to be the first to begin the work of death, each seemed to wait for the other, when Lord Charles Hay, then a captain of the English guards, called out in French, Gentlemen of the French guard, fire! One of the French counts before named answered with a loud voice as Voltaire relates the circumstance- Gentle

men, we never fire first: fire you first.' Lord Charles then gave the word in English, 'Fire!' which beginning at the right, went rapidly along the line in divisions; and thus the running fire went on with terrific celerity.

"Its effects were soon felt on the opposite ranks of these gallant men. At the very first fire, the two colonels of the Swiss guards and four of their officers, with seventy-five rank and file, dropped down. Eleven more officers were wounded in the same regiment, and in some of the neighbouring battalions nearly the whole of the front ranks were swept away, while the ears of the remainder were almost stunned by a running fire, which the survivors described afterwards as absolutely infernal. On still marched this great and compact triple line, firing regularly as it advanced with the steady coolness of a review day, and so close did they frequently come upon the enemy's infantry, that, it being then the custom for English officers to carry canes, the French could see the majors laying them over the soldiers' muskets, to make them fire low and straight. Unable long to stand before this murderous column, the remains of the Swiss guards and of several other regiments successively abandoned their ground. New columns came up and attacked in suc-ments, hastily ordered from the St. Antoine cession, sheltering themselves often, while they fired, behind the heaped rows of their dead comrades.

Looking frequently behind for a sight of their own dragoons, to aid them against the incessant attacks of the troopers, the officers receiving no orders, and the victorious men no support, they began to look at each other with a blank uncertainty; near five thousand of those who originally crossed the ravine being by this sime dead on the field behind them.

6

at Fontenoy the shot, deficiently supplied in
the confusion of the morning, was all ex-
pended, and its numerous guns were only
firing powder to keep up appearances.
Everything now, on the French side, wore
the worst aspect, and a renewal of the disas-
trous day of Dettingen seemed almost in-
evitable. The youthful dauphin is said at
this crisis to have drawn his sword, and to
have only been prevented from joining in the "At this moment, while Marshal Saxe
charge, by the strongest representations of looked impatiently towards the mill for the
the value of his life to the French nation. concerted signal, and suffered the most
Still, from courage or hope, the royal per- dreadful apprehensions lest he should not
sonages refused to move, although the shot only lose the battle, but lest the royal hopes
from the British cannon was coming so close of France themselves should fall into the
as to sink into the ground at their feet, and hands of their enemies, the Duke of
to cover some of the royal attendants with Richelieu, a familiar favourite of the king's,
earth; at which, say his complaisant cour-proposed to his majesty to try the effect of
tiers, the courageous monarch was pleased, four of the field-pieces, then coming in from
amidst all the danger, to laugh exceedingly.the front, upon the angle of the great
"Marshal Saxe, now weak as he was, English square; for,' said he,' should we
getting mounted on his horse, with a quilted be able to break the columns there, and
buckler of stitched taffeta fastened on his body, throw the square into any disorder, if we
to protect him from the balls, and supported come upon it vigorously with your majesty's
on each side by a man at arms, rode forward | household troops, and attack simultaneously
to try what could be done against the allied in other places, I'll lay my life that the day
square, by the help of a brigade of Scotch is our own still.'
and Irish, at that time in the French service, "In a short time the four cannon were
under Lord Clare, with some other regi-brought to the proper spot, and, being
pointed with accuracy, completely shot away
the close-wedged angle of the square, mak-
ing a double breach clear through it even in
the opposite side. This mode of attack was
so unexpected, and its effects so appalling,
at this moment of alarming uncertainty, that
the men hesitated to step into those frightful
gaps, instant destruction appearing to be
the penalty. The French household troops,
hitherto forming the reserve in the rear of
his majesty, now advancing with fury, rushed
into the breach like a stream, filled the
square, to the consternation of the columns,
and the carabineers attacking at the same
moment, and, after pouring in their fire at
the muzzles of the English guns, drawing
their short swords, and stooping low to the
charge, went hand to hand with the asto-
nished allies. The musketeers, with their
long guns and bayonets, now came up with
other squadrons, and a struggle took place,
such as the whole day had not yet wit-
nessed.

side of the field, where the Dutch by this time were giving the French right but little trouble. The marshal rode about in dreadful "But the great columu still moved on, anxiety, in the midst of the fire, directing deepening and becoming more compact as it everything, and encouraging the bravery of advanced, the men stepping over the dead the young French nobility; but, though terbodies of their comrades, as they still boldly rible charges were still made on every side faced the enemy, and, whenever their men by the flower of their chivalrous aristocracy, dropped, filling up the breach with a coolness animated by the presence of their king; as if individually emulous of expected death. though they again breasted with their horses Soon the open ground began to be narrowed the bayonets of the English, and though in by the projecting wood, and, afraid of being one of these charges a whole squadron was taken in the rear, the two extremes of the cut in pieces in the midst of the British column folded back on each flank, this put- ranks, except fourteen troopers, who at one ting the whole into the form of a hollow place broke through the entire column, square, open at the rear, now just above the eight of these last being killed before they ravine which the column had passed some got through the last line, and six only being time before. The front still advanced like a made prisoners, and, though prodigies of thick beam of men, supported at the extre-valour were performed, every vacancy in the mities by two strong pillars, and upon these, on each side, the successive charges of the French could make no impression. In vain did the Bavarian hulans, with their long lances and grim black costume, or the heavy

ranks was instantly filled up, and the whole
still moved forward, over numberless dead
bodies, until they found themselves almost
in the midst of the French camp."

would have indulged in accounts far more

circumstantial: but,

The battle now seemed won; and, no doubt, plates and pot helmets, with the fan-shaped Normandy dragoons, clad in steel breast-had it ended at this moment, our historiaus feather in front, raise their startling huzza in the face of the Royal Scots, or breast up their horses to the points of the bayonets of the English guards. The same terrific fire was poured in among them; the same steady resistance met their successive charges; until, spent with continued efforts, and the flower of their officers, including the brave Duke of Grammont, being successively cut down, they retired in dismay from a body of infantry that seemed absolutely impregnable. "Marshal Saxe now became seriously alarmed, and entreated the royal princes to repass the bridge, for fear of the worst. But no representations could induce his majesty to move, although accounts now came in, that

"From some extraordinary infatuation or incapacity, the Duke of Cumberland, at this time far in the rear of the victorious column, stood looking on, unsuspectingly, at the empty powder firing from the French redoubts, and never sent a single one of his reserve squadrons, either of infantry, to take the village, now exhausted of ammunition, or of cavalry, or other support, to that brave body who were now fast gaining him the battle. The front line of the great square, therefore, seeing themselves in the middle of the French position, halted, and began to imagine they had proceeded too far.

"Great numbers were trampled to death,

when they came up; for these, now whea particularly in repassing the ravine; many even among the feet of the allied cavalry,

too late, were hastily ordered to advance to their support. Not less painful to the ears of Hector, as he watched the flying crowd scatter itself in the plain, was a distant sound which his ear could catch over the confusion,-namely, what the Earl of Crawford, with soldierly bluntness and gallant shame, called a damned drum,' which went about beating the retreat to British troops, without being ordered or authorised (as the earl characteristically asserts,) by any one whatever, as far as he could ever learn. But, when the whole of the vanquished go: fairly into the valley, the remains of the Highlanders and other Scotch regiments were

The author then describes an operation, wonderful in point of delicacy and conception. Rose-leaves are applied to her feet:

rallied to cover the retreat; and the men of same delicate and varied nature as those the Watch were cheered for their bravery, which figure in the police reports; and yet even by the duke in person, they having had "the writer has hoped that a slight picture the honour to be first in the frout ranks, of the less tragic and more frequent follies "She now removed her feet from the and last in the rear, on this memorable day. and foibles of existing life may not he found vase, and Mademoiselles Desirée and Adèle "Though the day was uot far advanced, wholly incapable of sustaining attention." proceeded to submit them to a gentle friction; it being only two in the afternoon when the Follies and foibles such as exist in Drury then selecting eight of the purest rose-leaves great square was broken, Marshal Saxe was lane or the Seven Dials, dialogues such as from the choicest blossoms on several plants, too glad of his unexpected success to be occur between tipsy apprentices and the they inserted one between each of the ten very zealous in the pursuit; so, after a little casual companions of their evening walks, toes of her feet, which certainly were, to skirmishing by the cavalry with the British are certainly fit objects for satire and descrip-adopt their felicitous phrase, white, round, rear in the plain, and the taking of a few tion; pleasing studies for mothers of families; dimpled, and perfect in form as an infant's.' prisoners and more cannon, the old marshal excellent reading for timid young ladies; “Suddenly her ladyship uttered a faint and the elated French officers crowded round for, if we mistake not, the author of the the king and the dauphin, as, followed by" Coquette" has been in his former productheir splendid suites, they rode forward from tions, and even attempts it in his present Our Lady in the Wood, to congratulate his work, to be decidedly a lady's man. majesty on his great and hard-won victory."

Here Hector Monro is taken prisoner: he is afterwards carried to Paris, introduced to the chevalier and the French court, returns to Scotland, finds a father with a handsome fortune, marries, and is happy ever after.

The Coquette. By the Author of "Miser

rimus." London: 1834. Hookham.

|

scream.

66

"Oh, barbarous!' she exclaimed. ‘Adèle, Desirée, you excruciate me! Surely you are using the leaves of the holly, not the leaves of the rose; positively you have irremediably injured my foot.'

"The soubrettes in their defence exhibited the offending leaf.

"Well,' replied Lady Houndslow, 'it is a rose-leaf, I admit, but do you not see that there is a crease in it ?'"

Now for a specimen of his powers: 'Opposite to the central window, in a spacious recess, stood her ladyship's bed, of which the canopy and draperies were of a beautiful pale rose-coloured silk, trimmed with golden fringe. All the hangings in the room too were of this hue, and from them was reflected and diffused the softest light imaginable, and the one most favorable to female beauty. Within the recess the entire wall was lined with one single plate of glass of an enormous magnitude, which, as she lay in her bed, her inquisitive ladyship, by pulling a golden cord, could so adjust as to make it exhibit a representation of all that Now for a specimen of the man's learnpassed in the extensive promenade beneathing. The heroine has erected a statue, her window. described very minutely by the author, but offensive, as well it might be, to the delicacy of the hero.

A CRITIC, says the author of " Miserrimus,"
recommended him, after the publication of
that work, to quit his German absurdities,
and turn into the paths of pleasantness
and peace. He has endeavoured to follow
this advice; and this novel, "The Coquette,"
shows how far he has prefited by the sage "In the centre of the chamber stood her
counsel.
toilet, of which all the appurtenances were
The only thing remarkable in "Miserri-of massive gold, and the majority of them
mus" was the extreme absurdity and pre-fashioned into forms somewhat superior to
tension of the book, and the great skill and the usual standard of our jewellers' taste.
energy employed by the publisher in puffing On another table of the richest ormolu, and
it. As for the author's present performance, of which the summit was one unequalled
we do not hesitate to pronounce it as foolish, slab of malachite, were an ewer and vase,
as flippant, and as vulgar a production, as likewise of gold.
ever was sold for a guinea and a half.

"In other parts of the room was scattered

Here is a description equally graceful and original,-a fair specimen of the author's powers, and an excellent exposition of his ways of thinking: he can no more conceal a vulgar thought by clothing it in pretty language than he can elevate the nature of a footbath by calling it a Warwick vase!

inquired Belton, addressing his wife.
"And what do you say is its name?'
"Galilea,' she replied.

་

I wish you would not be so excessively ig"Ellen,' rejoined her husband gravely, noraut. Have you never read your bible? Galilee is a country; Galathea, I suppose,

The author's only object, he says, is to every possible species of decorative furniture. You mean to be the name of yonder mass of

raise a laugh. He must have a very mean opinion of the sense of the public, to suppose that their mirth will be excited by the poor wit and the gross and grovelling indecency with which these three volumes abound. There never was a miserable devil tied to the critical whipping-post who so richly deserved his punishment-not a gentle and wholesome tickling, but a vigorous application of the rod to the back part of the sufferer, until his sides were so weakened by the exercise of flagellation that he could not utter a roar, -until his back was so thoroughly flayed, that he should slink away to hide his wounds, and cure them if he might; at least, never to return to the world where his punishment was inflicted, and his disgrace was known.

Chairs of the most expensive and fantastic
form and material; buhl, Reisner, and mar-
queterie tables, covered with a thousand
costly trifles; cabinets of the time of Louis
the Fourteenth, elaborately inlaid with every
variety of figure; magnificent Italian bronzes;
old Sevres china; and some of the choicest
specimens of the workmanship of Benvenuto
Cellini.

"Across the chamber, about three feet above the floor, was thrown a silken cord, in such a state of tension that it described a perfect level along its entire length; over it was hung a silken drapery, also of rose colour, which lay in rich folds upon the ground, and extended from one wall to the other, thus dividing the apartment into two equal Now our age does not give us the autho- portions. On one side of this fragile and rity, nor our mild temper the inclination, of fantastic boundary sat Lady Houndslow, and handling the critical knout; but there was a beneath her was a magnificent copy of the certain Roman who was flogged by school-Warwick vase, exquisitely wrought in masboys, and in this modest and youthful cha-sive gold, and half filled with milk of roses, racter we ask leave to take a passing cut at the author of the " Coquette."

The characters and the conversation are such as one would meet with in the saloon of a theatre, and the incidents much of the

in which she bathed her feet, while two of
her maids knelt on either side of her, cach
holding a napkin of the most costly fabric,
and a beautiful moss-rose in its fullest
bloom."

absurdity.'"

Galathæa!

However, in spite of the vulgarities, we must do the author justice, and allow that there are some good things in his book.

This pretty song, for instance:

"THE SONG OF BEAUTY.

"I turn on ev'ry side,

And gaze along the land;
And yet, both far and wide,

The lowly and the grand,
The noble and the clown,

The fallen and the free,
The court, the camp, the crown,
Alike are slaves to me!
The soldier wields his sword,
And glories in the fight;
The miser views his hoard,
And revels in delight;
The statesman's dearest aim

Is rank and high degree;—
Yet power, gold, and fame,
They'd give them all for me!
Let fraud or force obtain
A mastery on earth,

I hold my right to reign
From nature at my birth;

| opportunity of acquiring. Wit is only, as we
expect, the property of persons highly edu-
cated and highly bred; and it will require
some years' reading and knowledge of the
world and its ways, before our author will be
able to handle this weapon of wit, which at
present wounds himself more than others.

We will now quote some more verses,
which, though they absolutely offend the
grammatical proprieties, are still endued
with a genius and feeling that all must ac-
knowledge and admire.
"Reapers had left the smiling plains,

Where harvest wav'd his golden head,
Bending beneath the weighty grains,
Lovers had left the noisy town,
Which sighing gales profusely shed.

And sought the hills or scented fields,
Where health smiled o'er the woodland

In heaven's bright fields, with night's fair Sweetly the drumming pinions rung,

Embosom'd on a snow-white cloud,

That floated o'er the azure scene.
To sleep in Cynthia's glittering arms,
Be pillow'd on her radiant breast,
Gaze when he pleased on nature's charms,
And watch young zephyr to his rest.
To drink the midnight's pearly dew,

And dance with her o'er lake or moor,
Stars, clouds, and comets, to pursue,

And ride in peace when oceans roar. Like her, to wear a silver veil,

And kiss her lips behind some cloud, Then hoist the dazzling, smooth, round sail, And with her bright rays darkness shroud." Will not our readers agree with us in admiring these fanciful and pleasing lines? The author's fault lies in an endeavour to mix humour with his pathos, and we fear that he altogether fails in the trial. This quality of wit requires much more delicacy, more refinement, and more practice, than the author of these songs has as yet had the

These verses, except by offending us by the frequent collision of the perfect tense with the present, are, we think, as delightful a picture of English life, and an English evening, as ever were penned by a poet, and not a cockney. We could name a brilliant describer of rural scenery, who certainly is both one and the other.

Now for a specimen of horrors, which we take from a part of the poein called "The Incantation."

"Bring the lips of a dragon that's parched with fire,

Which he breath'd as he flew over mountain and spire;

Fetch the fat of a martyr just burnt at the stake,

From the lips of a madman the raging foam