every indication of rank, and was as much a boy as the youngest of them-playing marbles, quoits, or snowball, with perfect abandon and enjoyment. Most charming of all in the eyes of those gentlemen was the fact that he would not hesitate to decline invitations to entertainments, on the plainly stated ground that "his staff were not included"-after which I need give myself no further trouble to explain why he was the most beloved of generals!

I have spoken of his reckless exposure of his person in battle. It would convey a better idea of his demeanour under fire to say that he seemed unaware of the presence of danger. This air of indifference was unmistakable. When brave men were moving restlessly, or unconsciously "ducking" to avoid the bullets showering around them, Stuart sat his horse, full front to the fire, with head up, form unmoved-a statue of unconsciousness. It would be difficult to conceive of a greater coolness and indifference than he exhibited. The hiss of balls, striking down men around him, or cutting off locks of his hair and piercing his clothes, as at Fredericksburg, did not seem to attract his attention. With shell bursting right in his face and maddening his horse, he appeared to be thinking of something else. In other men what is called "gallantry" is generally seen to be the effect of a strong will; in Stuart it seemed the result of indifference. A stouter-hearted cavalier could not be imagined; and if his indifference gave way, it was generally succeeded by gaiety. Sometimes, however, all the tiger was aroused in him. His face flushed; his eyes darted flame; his voice grew hoarse and strident. This occurred in the hot fight of Fleetwood Hill, in June, 1863, when he was almost surrounded by the heavy masses of the enemy's cavalry, and very nearly cut off; and again near Upperville, later in the same year, when he was driven back, foot by foot, to the Blue Ridge. Stuart's face was stormy at such moments, and his eyes like "a devouring fire." His voice was curt, harsh, imperious, admitting no reply. The veins in his forehead grew black, and the man looked "dangerous." If an officer failed him at such moments, he never forgave him; as the man who attracted his attention, or who volunteered for a

forlorn hope, was never forgotten. In his tenacious memory, Stuart registered everybody; and in his command, his word, bad or good, largely set up or pulled down.

To dwell still for a few moments upon the private and personal character of the man-he possessed some accomplishments unusual in famous soldiers. He was an excellent writer, and his general orders were frequently very striking for their point and eloquence. That in which he called on his men after the ride around McClellan to "avenge Latanè!" and that on the death of Major Pelham, his chief of artillery, are good examples. There was something of the Napoleonic fervour in these compositions, and, though dashed off rapidly, they were pointed, correct, and without bombast. His letters, when collected, will be found clear, forcible, and often full of grace, elegance, and wit. He occasionally wrote verses, especially parodies, for which he had a decided turn. Some of these were excellent. His letters, verses, and orders, were the genuine utterances of the man; not laboured or "stiff," but spontaneous, flowing, and natural. He had in conversation some humour, but more wit; and of badinage it might almost be said that he was a master. His repartee was excellent, his address ever gay and buoyant, and in whatever society he was thrown he never seemed to lose that unaffected mirthfulness which charms us more perhaps than all other qualities in an associate. I need scarcely add that this uniform gaiety was never the result of the use of stimulants. Stuart never drank a single drop of any intoxicating liquid in his whole life, except when he touched to his lips the cup of sacramental wine at the communion. He made that promise to his mother in his childhood, and never broke it. "If ever I am wounded," he said to me one day, "don't let them give me any whiskey or brandy." His other habits were as exemplary. I never saw him touch a card, and he never dreamed of uttering an oath under any provocation-nor would he permit it at his quarters. He attended church whenever he could, and sometimes, though not often, had service at his headquarters. One day a thoughtless officer, who did not "know his man," sneered at preachers in his presence, and laughed at some one who had entered the minis

try. Stuart's face flushed; he exhibited unmistakable displeasure, and said: "I regard the calling of a clergyman as the noblest in which any human being can engage." This was the frivolous, irreverent, hard-drinking personage of some people's fancies the man who was sneered at as little better than a reprobate by those whom he had punished, and who, therefore, hated and slandered him!

IV.

Such, in brief outline, was this "Flower of Cavaliers," as he moved in private, before the eyes of friends, and lived his life of gentleman. An estimate of the military and intellectual calibre of the man remains to be made-a rapid delineation of those traits of brain and nerve combined which made him the first cavalry officer of his epoch-I had nearly written of any epoch.

Out of his peculiar sphere he did not display marked ability. His mind was naturally shrewd, and, except in some marked instances, he appeared to possess an instinctive knowledge of men. But the processes of his brain, on ordinary occasions, exhibited rather activity and force than profoundness of insight. His mental organization seemed to be sound and practical rather than deep and comprehensive. He read little when I knew him, and betrayed no evidences of wide culture. His education was that of the gentleman rather than the scholar. "Napoleon's Maxims," a translation of. Jomini's Treatise on War, and one or two similar works, were all in which he appeared to take pleasure. His whole genius evidently lay in the direction of his profession, and even here many persons doubted the versatility of his faculties. It will remain an interesting problem whether he would have made a great infantry commander. He was confident of his own ability; always resented the dictum that he was a mere "cavalry officer;" and I believe, at one time, it was the purpose of the Confederate authorities to place him in command of a corps of infantry. Upon the question of his capacity, in this sphere, there will probably

be many opinions. At Chancellorsville, when he succeeded Jackson, the troops, although quite enthusiastic about him, complained that he had led them too recklessly against artillery; and it is hard for those who knew the man to believe that, as an army commander, he would ever have consented to a strictly defensive campaign. Fighting was a necessity of his blood, and the slow movements of infantry did not suit his genius. With an army under him, it is probable that he would either have achieved magnificent successes or sustained overwhelming defeats. I confess I thought him equal to anything in his profession, but competent judges doubted it. What every one agreed about, however, was his supreme genius for fighting cavalry.

He always seemed to me to be intended by nature for this branch of the service. Some men are born to write great works, others to paint great pictures, others to rule over nations. Stuart was born to fight cavalry. It was only necessary to be with him in important movements or on critical occasions, to realize this. His instinct was unfailing, his coup d'oeil that of the master. He was a trained soldier, and had truly graduated at West Point, but it looked like instinct rather than calculation-that rapid and unerring glance which took in at once every trait of the ground upon which he was operating, and anticipated every movement of his adversary. I never knew him to blunder. His glance was as quick, and reached its mark as surely as the lightning. Action followed like the thunder. In moments of great emergency it was wonderful to see how promptly he swept the whole field, and how quickly his mind was made up. He seemed to penetrate, as by a species of intuition, every design of his opponent, and his dispositions for attack or defence were those of a master-mind. Sometimes nothing but his unconquerable resolution, and a sort of desperation, saved him from destruction; but in almost every critical position which he was placed in during that long and arduous career, it was his wonderful acumen, no less than his unshrinking nerve, which brought him out victorious.

This nerve had in it something splendid and chivalric. It

never failed him for.a moment on occasions which would have paralysed ordinary commanders. An instance was given in October, 1863. Near Auburn his column was surrounded by the whole of General Meade's army, then retiring before General Lee. Stuart massed his command, kept cool, listened hour after hour as the night passed on, to the roll of the Federal artillery and the heavy tramp of their infantry within a few hundred yards of him, and at daylight placed his own guns in position and made a furious attack, under cover of which he safely withdrew. An earlier instance was his raid in rear of General McClellan, in June, 1862, when, on reaching the lower Chickahominy, he found the stream swollen and unfordable, while at every moment an enraged enemy threatened to fall upon his rear with an overpowering force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Although the men were much disheartened, and were gloomy enough at the certain fate which seemed to await them, Stuart remained cool and unmoved. He intended, he said afterwards, to "die game" if attacked, but he believed he could extricate his command. In four hours he had built a bridge, singing as he worked with the men; and his column, with the guns, defiled across just as the enemy rushed on them. A third instance was the second ride around McClellan in Maryland, October, 1862; when coming to the Monocacy he found General Pleasanton, with a heavy force of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, in his path, but unhesitatingly attacked and cut his way through. Still another at Jack's Shop, where he charged both ways-the column in front, and that sent to cut him off-and broke through. Still another at Fleetwood Hill, where he was attacked in front, flank, and rear, by nearly 17,000 infantry and cavalry, but charging from the centre outwards, swept them back, and drove them beyond the Rappahannock.

Upon these occasions and twenty others, nothing but his stout nerve saved him from destruction. This quality, however, would not have served him without the quick military instinct of the born soldier. His great merit as a His great merit as a commander was, that his conception of "the situation" was as rapid and just as his nerve was steady. His execution was unfaltering, but the brain