I dismiss the work with this general and guarded criticism, that the book would have been better had the author taken more pains. he embarked in an insane political project, in | Did Stunning write, say, or do anything which, though he did not, he deserved to which very many other clever young men have lost his life. He married-wandered have not written, said, and done? What about in search of health,- -seems to have demand for such a book was made by the walked, talked, slept, ate, and drank very public? What disappointment would have much like other people-and finally took orbeen manifested had it never appeared?" ders in the Church of England. He is de- But in this enlightened age of discussion, scribed by his biographer as brilliant in con- common sense is the virtue of the slow and versation; though not one humorous or the seedy. Away with it! There is a laudable witty saying of his is recorded. These very desire to know everything about everybody, possibly may have been designedly suppress- which must be indulged, and a craving after ed; and as Mr. Jumbell threatens the world originality, which, however morbid, must be with some posthumous poetry of Mr. Stun- satisfied by the great thinkers. ning's, he may, perhaps, also edit his jokes. A supplement to Joe Miller is a desideratum in literature. On Mr. Stunning's, on one occasion, objecting that some "opinion of Mr. Jumbell's was Pantheism, Mr. J., with his accustomed humor, replied, "What if it were Pottheism?" This, as of course it was highly calculated to do, much amused Stunning, and his appreciation of it shows that he had indeed a very keen sense of the ridiculous. He appears to have been orthodox enough until he was so fortunate as to meet with the philosopher of Chepsea. This great man was so kind as to assist Stunning in shaking off creeds and formularies as improper checks on mental independence. It is, nevertheless, my firm conviction, that in spite of these aids to intellectual emancipation, J. Stunning died, as for the greater portion of his life he had lived, a sincere Christian. Besides the unread Romance and Poetries, he was an occasional contributor to the "Slow and Steady Review," and also to the "Free and Foreignthinking Quarterly." In these articles of his there is a manifest imitation of the style of Mr. Jumbell, which may account for the philosopher's warm adIr iration of the young man. You must have observed, my dear sir, what a baneful influence on literature this system of servile imitation is exercising. Certain small authors, now-a-days, out-Jumbell Jumbell in eccentricities of expression. With them all adjectives may be used in the superlative degree. Everything is "world-wide," every German is a Heaven-sent "great-thinker," or a prophet, or a priest, or something of the sort; and such compound substantives as "timeheights," "fame-temples," &c., meet the reader in every page of their mystic volumes. So much for the servum pecus, who worship and imitate the great thinker. One more remark on the book itself. I have been asked by many friends, in whose sound judgment and good sense I have the greatest confidence Why was this life ever published at all? I must now notice with brevity the "Life of the Duke of Smith." This book I would fain speak gently of; it has been so roughly handled by some of the Reviews. It presents, in some respects, a very strong and pleasing contrast to the lucubration of Philosopher Jumbell. Though the author was one of the chief personages in the scenes described, he is never egotistical, and its tone is so modest and good-natured that, had it been published anonymously, we should have been quite at a loss to know to whom to affiliate this progeny of the brain. Israel Benoni, its brilliant author, has hitherto been so addicted to saying savage things, and is so justly famous as a writer and speaker of the smash and spatter style, that on this occasion his tameness is shocking to me. He is, however, now in a position in which it is somewhat important to be popular. He has in his orations quite abandoned those "Sadler's Wells sarcasms and melodramatic malignities," with which he used to assail his antagonists, and in this work has entirely laid aside that unwary pleasantry which kept friend and foe alike in alarm, and waxed so sweetly amiable on a sudden, that almost any one who consults the book will hear something to his advantage. Many years ago, when the fervor of youth urged him, as it did Horace, in celeres iambos, he published anonymously "the Epistles of Funny-head." They were a dashing imitation of Junius's letters; but with just this difference-that they were scurrilous and less witty. more In these Epistles he lampooned every public man of the day, with the exception of a chosen few, whom he flattered in terms of fulsome adulation. Among the grateful recipients of his panegyric was Sir Magnus Grand. Mr. Benoni had launched his political cock-boat under different auspices, but he for many years showed a strong disposition to attach himself to the party, if not the cabinet, of the great Cotton Baronet. Now, though Sir Magnus had, according to Mr. B., "a dangerous sympathy with the creations of others," he evinced no desire to adopt the theories of Mr. Benoni. The mind of this practical statesman shrank from problems of political economy, propounded in three volumned Romances, in which a chief personage is a Jew millionaire, who is omniscient, if not omnipotent, and in which real live ladies and gentlemen, who are to be met this season at balls in Belgravia, are caricaturel without, of course, any violation of taste or good feeling. It was said of two of the Greek dramatists, that one painted men as they ought to be, and another as they Mr. Benoni has eclipsed them both, for he has painted men as they cannot be, which is going a step farther, either in the right or the wrong direction. were. Sir Magnus lived to feel the lash of the man whose services he had not accepted. The rejected friend became the successful foe, and Mr. Benoni at length vanquished Sir Magnus in the very place where he had so long reigned supreme. The progress of that victorious struggle is the main subject of the historical history. He has handed down to posterity the character of the Baronet-leader in sentences which will never be forgotten. They form part of the book whose faults and merits it is my duty to mention. Its good points undoubtedly are, that it is good-natured and candid throughout, in style excellent, and disfigured by no Jumbellite imitations or extravagances. It is pure, racy, idiomatic English. Its faults are that it is over long-too minute in details of Parliamentary transactions -and that it introduces, at least, one of the three-volumned romance theories, which, I hoped, had died simultaneously with the sarcasms. It is presented here with a show of seriousness and argument in a more matured and noxious form of error. Mr. Benoni being himself of the Hebro-Caucasian race, and having, notwithstanding a few failures (I wont mention the thundering epic with its more thundering preface,) a very firm confidence in his own abilities, appears to think that, because inspiration was given to some of his race who were to be the vehicles of truth to the world-that inspiration lasted among them, and that all of the Jew family are Heaven-sent statesmen, Heaven-taught artists, writers, speakers, &c. Indeed, I am afraid he may imagine that he is himself under a divine afflatus when he is setting the House on a roar by the sallies of his wit and fancy. My uncle, who was a quiet orthodox clergyman, not prone to dogmatize, informed me that he thought the Hebro-Caucasian chapter blasphemous, and upon a careful review of it I am inclined to agree with him. Mr. B. is as much attached to races, though in a different sense, as the noble subject of his memoir. The book is too much made up of extracts from the debates. A facetious friend made the following conundrum on it, which you will agree with me is very bad. Why is Benoni's a successful work? Because it's entirely answered (Hansard.) I can only recommend that the next edition be curtailed, and that when next Mr. Benoni favors the world with a book, he will not be less brilliant, quite as amiable, and more orthodox. The knocker is going, and so am I, SIAMESE ROYALTY.-The reigning monarch of Siam, who is in his 48th year, at the pressing solicitation of his council and of the heads of the nobility, has entered into the marriage state, with the view of continuing the succession in the royal line. The princess chosen is the adopted daughter of the late king, and is in her eighteenth year. She rejoices in the high, and, to European ears, singular sounding names, Chaufa Somonass Wadduanawaddi. The nuptials were celebrated with great splendor on the 2d of January, when her name was changed to Phraong Chow Somanat Wathanawasi, and she was elevated to the rank of queen consort, or bartha paricharik, which being interpreted means "a favorite wife taking care of the royal feet." The event is duly chronicled, and the particular ceremonies used on the occasion are narrated, by the king's direction, in the shape of a royal proclamation, printed in English at the royal press, under the direction of Prince Amarity, one of the sons of the late king. From Hogg's Instructor. MARSHAL SOULT. IN 1804, Napoleon created eighteen new marshals of France. In 1851, the most celebrated and the sole survivor of them followed his comrades to the tomb, thirty-six years after his last battle, and thirty after the death of his master. One by one, the actors in the great drama of which Waterloo was the catastrophe, have been disappearing from the stage, and now he also, who for many years had been the only Frenchman of note who had played his part in it from its beginning to its close, is gone. It would seem as if, at the commencement of what is plainly a new era, needs were that the old one should en tirely pass away; On the 2d December, the blow was struck which made a dictator of Louis Bonaparte, and established a tyranny of new pretorians. A week before, on the 26th November, had taken place the death of the old soldier and statesman, Marshal Soult, with whom seemed to have expired at once the great Revolution and the Consulate, and the Empire, the Restoration and the Revolution of July. duct on this occasion, and in other combats The peace of Campo Formio gave to the army of the Rhine-that which Soult and men of his age and stamp least desired-a little repose. But the infamous assassination of the French plenipotentiaries having broken off the negotiations of Rastadt, hostilities began anew, and afforded him an opportunity of signalizing himself, on the 22d of March, 1798, against the Archduke Charles, at the village of Ostroch. He displayed, on this occasion, as much good generalship as he did personal intrepidity. Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult was born at In 1798, Soult was promoted to the rank St. Amans, in the department of the Tarn, of general of division; and the following in 1769, that climaterical year of the world year he made the campaign of Switzerland which, beside him and others that might be under Massena, in which he greatly contrimentioned, produced Napoleon, Cuvier, Cha- buted to the successes of Zurich by a bold teaubriand, Wellington, Canning and Scott. movement, which prevented the junction of His father was a country notary; his rela- the Austrians with the Russians. The year tions, small farmers or peasants. The lad following, Napoleon returned from Egypt to early showed a restless and even turbulent find the fruits of his former victories in Italy disposition-so much so, that it soon was all but lost, little being left except Genoa. evident he would do no good either behind In the memorable and cruel defence of that the plough or over parchments. It was place by Massena, Soult was of all the most therefore resolved to make a soldier of him, conspicuous; and the dashing sorties he and accordingly, in 1785, at the age of six-made were uniformly fortunate, till at Monteteen, he entered, as a private, the regiment of royal infanterie. Here he rose to be serjeant. In 1791, he was made second lieutenant of grenadiers in the first battalion of the Upper Rhine, and soon after, by the election of his comrades, captain in the same. As such he served under Hoche and Jourdan in the army of the Moselle, was present at the battle of Kaiserslautern, and distinguished himself at that of Wissemburg. His con Creto he received a wound in the leg, was In 1806, Soult commanded the right wing at Jena, and after the victory he, with Bernadotte and Murat, pursued the wreck of the Prussian army under Blucher to the town of Lübeck. Here Blucher made a stand, the only result of which was to involve the unfortunate inhabitants in his own ruin. He was driven out with great loss, and Lübeck was sacked for three days. In the Polish campaign of 1807, Soult had important commands at Pultusk and Eylau. At the latter battle, which was really a drawn one, he advised Napoleon to encamp for the night on the field. This counsel being followed, and the Russians retreating, the honor of that bloody day was secured to the French. After the rupture of the peace of Amiens, | of these. His virtue seems to have left him Soult held a high command in the army that at Vienna. was to have invaded England, but which did not, although the column at Boulogne is understood to be meant as commemorative of the event. Trafalgar, where, according to Napoleon in the Moniteur," the French "lost a few ships in the storm," having put an end for ever to his fond dream of crossing the Channel, the army collected on the northern shores of France made that wonderful march which ended at Austerlitz as regards victory, and at Vienna as regards aim. Soult, at Austerlitz, commanded the right wing of the French, and displayed military genius of the highest order. On no other occasion, indeed, were his originality and peculiar qualities as a general brought more prominently into action, and placed in a more brilliant light. The dogged obstinacy with which he maintained a doubtful fight for three hours, the discernment with which he saw when the decisive moment was come, and the amazing promptitude with which he seized on it, with the tremendous and final attack he made on the Russians as they were crossing the frozen lake, showed abundantly what his abilities as a great captain were, and extorted from Napoleon himself on the field of battle such compliments as that jealous chief rarely could bring himself to bestow. "Marshal," said he to his lieutenant, "you are the first manoeuvrer in the world!" "Ask Marshal Soult," was the reply to some aides-de-camp who came for orders; "it is Soult who directs and leads the battle." On the consequent occupation of Vienna, Soult was appointed governor of that capital. Napoleon authorized him to raise for his private purse a contribution of a million of francs (£40,000.) He declined doing so, saying that services such as his were not to be paid in gold-a noble feeling, which unfortunately did not long last. As yet, the stern simplicity, the self-denial, and the disinterestedness which distinguished the early soldiers of the republic had not by any means disappeared; and Soult showed on this occasion that he had served under Hoche, and had been the companion of Marceau. We shall presently see how rapidly a change was effected. How could it well be otherwise? When Napoleon was pillaging and plundering on a large scale, it was but natural that his officers should pillage and plunder too, each to the extent of his means; and, though there were not a few honorable exceptions amongst them, Soult was not one VOL. XXVI. NO. I. After the peace of Tilsit, Soult was created Duke of Dalmatia. He was now at the culminating point of his fortunes as a soldier, for, though he repeatedly afterwards gave proof of the highest military genius, and though he gained not a few brilliant successes, all his efforts were unable to cope with circumstances, and great reverses always followed partial advantages. He was sent into the Peninsula, and there, almost without interruption, he commanded till 1814. The state of Spain had alarmed Napoleon, and with reason, though he certainly little foresaw that it was from that country should emanate the causes of his final ruin and downfall, and that the war he had there so iniquitously provoked should thenceforth have the effect of paralysing the freedom of all his operations elsewhere. As it was, however, he had sufficient ground for apprehension: there was a British army in the Penisula, Dupont's division had laid down its arms at Baylen, Joseph had been forced to leave Madrid. Accordingly Napoleon appeared himself on the scene for a moment: the French were every where successful, Burgos was taken, Santander occupied, and the Spanish army of Estremadura was routed at Reynosa. On this, Napoleon, flattering himself that all was finished, or nearly so, left Soult to consolidate the conquest, and returned to France. The first thing the Duke of Dalmatia was enjoined to do, was "to drive the leopards into the sea." We need not dwell upon Sir John Moore's disastrous retreat, nor upon the noble way in which the honor of British arms was vindicated at Corunna. We shall only note the fact, that the French claim the 2 battle as a victory, on the ground that the British troops embarked after it as if the whole object of the retreat had not been to embark, as if the hopes of the French had not been to prevent their embarking, and to force them to a surrender, and as if, in spite of the efforts of the French, the British did not carry their point, and succeed in embarking. We must, however, in justice to Soult, notice the fact, that he very worthily, though, perhaps, there was a little vanity in the matter, raised a monument at Corunna to Sir John Moore's memory. Soult now (1809) entered Portugal, in pursuance of his instructions, and took Oporto, after an immense slaughter of its defenders. Here his ambition began to be busy. The fortunes of Bernadotte and Murat were before his eyes, and he thought that he too might be a king. Nicolas I., he thought, would sound quite as well as well as Charles-John or Joachim. But his dream was rudely put an end to by Sir Arthur Wellesley. The Douro was crossed-a deed of skill and daring not surpassed during the whole war--in open day, the would-be monarch was surprised in Oporto, and compelled to flee (we use the expression of M. Thiers) into Gallicia, with the loss of his artillery and baggage. Notwithstanding this reverse, Soult was so far from losing the confidence of Napoleon, that he was named by him commander-inchief of the French armies in Spain, the object of the appointment being to put an end to the jealousy, rivalry, and dissensions which existed among the different generals, who, as regarded military rank, had up to that time been on a footing of equality. Beyond all question, the choice was judicious; and, in his operations against the Spaniards, he justified it by the victory of Оcana in 1809, and his campaigns of the three following years. But his occupation of the sunny Andalusia during that time was disgraced by his exactions and abuse of power. The high principles, of which he had given proof at Vienna, not quite five years before, were now extinct with him, so much so, that he not only tolerated extortion and plunder on the part of his troops, but shamelessly plundered on his own private account, and actually became the greatest pillager in the army. His splendid gallery of paintings by the great Spanish masters remains to this day at once the fruit and evidence of his robberies. We cannot go into details with regard to Soult's movements in the protracted Spanish struggle. To do so would be to write a was general history of the whole war. Suffice it to say, that, after the battle of Talavera, he and Ney at the head of superior forces compelled Wellington to retreat. The British commander, to cover Lisbon, which threatened by another force under Massena, retired behind the famous lines of Torres Vedras, of which the French could make nothing. They in their turn retreated; the British followed, and Beresford laid siege to Badajoz. Soult advanced to the relief of the place; and at Albuera was fought that battle, which, if the proportion of the killed and wounded to the number of the combatants be considered, was by far the most murderous of modern times. Soult failed in his object, for the siege was resumed; but Marmont coming up with new forces, the British again recrossed the Tagus. Once more, however, they assumed the offensive, and carried everything before them: Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz fell, the battle of Salamanca was gained; but Burgos made a successful resistance, and Soult's combinations obliged his opponents to fall back for the third, but now for the last, time. But, notwithstanding any momentary gleams of success, the French had in reality lost Spainthe great defeat of Vittoria was at hand. These reverses, however, at least in their full extent, for he himself had been forced to evacuate Andulasia-Soult was not to see. After the destruction of the veteran French army in the retreat from Moscow, Napoleon sent for Soult to aid in organizing his new levies-a species of service in which the marshall pre-eminently shone. He fought at Lützen and Bautzen, commanding the centre in both battles, the former being a drawn one, and the other yielding a very dearlybought success. Napoleon now began to be seriously alarmed at the state of affairs in Spain. Wellington was at last receiving some effectual support from the natives, his army was flushed with victory, the south-western frontier of France was all but uncovered. Soult was immediately despatched to the threatened point. In eight days he arrived at Bayonne, which he fortified, and then began a campaign, in which, on both sides, all the resources of tactics and strategy were put forth. But Soult was fighting a desperate and a losing game: he was beaten from position to position, the Pyrenees were crossed, and France was invaded. At Toulouse, he made a last stand, in a position strong by nature, and extremely formidable from the works he had thrown up. up. He was driven out of it, though only |