LITERARY CRITICISM.

Twelve Years' Military Adventure in Three Quarters of the Globe; or Memoirs of an Officer who served in the Armies of his Majesty and of the East India Company, between the years 1802 and 1814, in which are contained the campaigns of the Duke of Wellington in India, and his last in Spain and the South of France. In two volumes. London. Henry Colburn. 1829. 8vo. Pp. 403 and 381.

THESE military adventures seem all to be amazingly pleasant things, and the military adventurers exceedingly good sort of fellows. They all tell us in the preface, that, being soldiers, they must not be criticised very severely for what they write; and then they go on to spin a yarn of two or three volumes' length, and, by the time we come to the conclusion, we rise perfectly satisfied that the hero of the story, who performed so many exploits "i' the eminent deadly breach," ought to have been a generalissimo, though hard fate may have fixed him only a captain, and put him on the half-pay list. But if the reader be satisfied that the half-pay captain conducted himself gallantly, we presume that the main purpose for which he wrote his book is answered. We are no great patrons of these personal military narratives. We suspect they tend to nourish conceit, and to engender Munchausenism; whilst it is altogether impossible that they should ever be able to convey any comprehensive and useful knowledge. An inferior officer in the army is like a fly on the spoke of a wheel; he sees that the machine is in motion, but he does not know why or wherefore. He may write in a lively, agreeable, anecdotal sort of style, and his book may be made to bear a considerable resemblance to a novel; but if we look for any thing deeper than this mere surface-work, we shall invariably be disappointed. One such book, therefore, is as good as a thousand; for they must all necessarily bear a very close resemblance to each other, seeing that the duties, battles, marches, and counter-marches of all our young military friends must be as like each other as possible.

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were before we heard them. He was present at the battle of Assaye, and a variety of other smaller affairs. As soon as peace was concluded with the Mahratta powers he returned to Madras, and was afterwards present at the mutiny at Vellore. He subsequently accompanied different expeditions to the Islands of Bourbon and Java; and at length, getting tired of India, he returned to England in time to share the glories of Wellington's victorious campaigns in Spain and the south of France. He does not appear to have been present at Waterloo; and the peace which succeeded having rendered his sword useless, he has betaken himself to his pen.

The best way of conveying an idea of the nature of this book, is to select some of the most amusing stories it contains, and string them together. Its value seems to us principally to depend upon its anecdotes, and the lively manner in which they are for the most part told. Without farther preface, therefore, we present our readers with the following:

A JOKE ON BOARD SHIP." I shall not dwell upon the manner in which we passed our time on board ship how we panted under the line-how we rolled round the Cape, frequently with more soup in our laps than we could keep on our stomachs how the backgammonboard rattled from morning till night-how we paced the quarter-deck, when the judge and general did not take it all to themselves-how we fished for sharkshow we speared dolphins, porpoises, and albacores ;nor shall I attempt to paint the pictured agonies of the dying dolphins, already so beautifully described by Falconer; nor the nobler and more potent struggles of the greedy, daring shark, to do justice to which would require the pen of a Homer. Neither shall I swell my pages with an account of the visit we received from Father Neptune on crossing the line, with the ceremonial attending it, as the subject is stale; nor detail all the jokes, practical and verbal, which we played upon each other, except one of the former; and, if it amuses the reader half as much as it did me, I shall be content. There was a lazy fat fellow amongst us, who was always lolling or sleeping on the hen-coops, upon whom we resolved to play a trick; so, seizing an opportunity when he was snug on his customary roost, we planted ourselves with buckets of water just over him. At a signal given, he was jerked off the coop, and soused from head to foot with such a full and successive torrent of the briny fluid, accompanied by a cry of 'Man overboard! Rope! rope! Down with the helm!' &c., that he actually struck out, as if swimming for his life till a failure in the supply of water, succeeded by peals of laughter, brought him to a sense of his situation.". Vol. I. p. 23-5.

It is true, no doubt, that some dull rogues have published their Memoirs, and some clever ones have done the same thing; and this makes a variety. Our present author we rank among the latter class. He is a goodhumoured, slashing, dashing, hop-step-and-leap kind of writer. His general stock of knowledge seems to be as limited as could well be desired; but all he needed was a good memory and a tolerable flow of language to set down his own reminiscences. He went out to India at an early age as a cadet, remained a short time at SOMETHING RATHER DIFFICULT TO SWALLOW, Madras, and then joined the army under General Wel-"Here I cannot omit mentioning a curious circumlesley. He there, of course, proceeds to recount a num-stance which I witnessed about this time, a consequence ber of minute incidents with which he himself was personally connected, amusing enough in their way, but very little calculated to make us much wiser than we

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of the privation undergone by these unfortunate bullocks. Lolling one day in my tent, ruminating on the hardships of a soldier's life, and on the shifts to which he is

often reduced, my eyes and my thoughts were naturally other officer, strolling among some buildings, which, attracted to my poor cattle, who stood picketed at a short from their superior order, appeared to have belonged to distance, with nothing to chew but the cud of disap- the Killedar, or some functionary of note in the garripointment, having waited since morning in eager expec- son; when some groans, proceeding from some of the tation of the return of a foraging party. I observed one houses, caught our ears. We entered, and to our asof these, whose well-defined ribs bore testimony to the tonishment beheld a large room full of women, many of scantiness of his fare, gradually stretching out his head them young and beautiful, dreadfully mangled, most of to a turban, belonging to one of my servants, which hap- them dead, but some of them still in the agonies of dispened to be within the length of his tether. After gi- solution. Every tender, every manly feeling of the heart, ving it a turn or two with his nose, I suppose to ascer- was shocked at such a sight. It could not be our soltain the possibility of its being masticated, he seized the diers that had done such a deed. No! the suspicion loose end in his mouth, and actually began to swallow could not be harboured an instant. No human motive it. He swallowed, and swallowed; and, as the volu. alone could have urged such an act. And so it proved; minous folds of the turban unrolled, so fast did they dis for, on questioning the survivors, we learned that the appear down the throat of the bullock, until, of at least Rajpoots composing the garrison, who had their famiten yards of stuff, there remained only a small bit pen- lies with them, finding all hopes of saving the place to dent from his jaws. I was so amused with the whole be vain, had collected their wives and daughters, and process, that I could not find it in my heart to stop him; having butchered them in the manner above described, but lay on my couch observing his operations for at least sallied forth, with no earthly hope left, but that of sellan hour. Another minute, and the turban, which had ing their lives dearly. Although so completely in opnearly reached its latter end, would have been safely de- position to christian principles, we cannot blame the posited in the stomach of the bullock, to be brought up deed; horrid and barbarous as it was, still it had in it for examination at a favourable opportunity. Just at something of a noble character. It was in consonance this critical moment the owner returned, when, looking with their religious principles; and it was to save their about for his turban, he beheld the end dangling from wives and daughters from pollution. The men who perthe mouth of the animal. With an oath he flew at the petrated this deed of horror, were the same who after. bullock, and, seizing the only visible portion of his gar-wards precipitated themselves with such desperation on ment, pulled and pulled, hand over hand, and oath upon oath, while the tattered but still connected cloth came forth, like a measuring tape out of its case. The man's rage and gestures at the destruction of his turban, the beast's astonishment at the novel kind of emetic he was undergoing, and the attitudes of both, formed a scene absolutely irresistible."—Vol. I. p. 93-5.

MILITARY MUSIC." This was the first time I had ever heard the whistling of balls. The reader will perhaps expect that I should exultingly exclaim, with Charles the Twelfth, Henceforth this shall be my music!' But candour obliges me to confess that such a noble idea did not enter my thoughts; for, however harmonious the balls may have sounded in the ears of the Swedish hero, to me they certainly did not convey the same degree of pleasure that I have since experienced from the voice of a Catalani, or from the bow of Linley; on the contrary, the noise which they made, as they glanced past my head, raised about the precincts of my heart a kind of awkward sensation, not at all allied to pleasure, and partaking more of what is vulgarly called fear, but which, as a military man, I dare not designate by that name."-Vol. I. p. 130-1.

A RESURRECTIONIST." As a set-off to this affecting circumstance, I must describe a ludicrous scene which occurred about the same time, and which for a moment caused a ray of hilarity to cheer the gloom of the battle field. A surgeon, whose bandages had been exhausted by the number of patients, espying one of the enemy's horsemen lying, as he supposed, dead on the ground, with a fine long girdle of cotton cloth round his waist, seized the end of it, and, rolling over the body, began to loose the folds. Just as he had nearly accomplished his purpose, up sprang the dead man, and away ran the doctor, both taking to their heels on the opposite tacks, to the infinite amusement of the bystanders. This extraordinary instance of a doctor bringing a man to life, so opposite to the usual practice of the faculty, became the subject of a caricature; while the story, as may be supposed, long clung to this unfortunate son of Galen, who afterwards went by the name of the resurrection doctor.'"-Vol. I. p. 180-1.

A DREADFUL ALTERNATIVE.-"A horrid scene which I witnessed at this time, made such a lively impression on my youthful mind, that the very recollection of it, even at this distance of time, makes my blood run cold. When the fort was completely in our possession, and all firing had ceased, I was, in company with an.

our Europeans, and not one of whom would accept quarter."-Vol. I. p. 230-1.

POWERS OF THE TELESCOPE." It may amuse the reader to be informed, that among my mathematical instruments, I had an inverting telescope, which I used sometimes to let my servants look through, that I might enjoy their surprise at seeing the world turned upside down, and, in particular, the astonishment they expressed, when they saw men and women walking on their heads, without their clothes falling down. It got about in the cantonment, that the engineer saheb, had a telescope which could turn people upside down; without the latter part of the phenomenon being generally known, so I used sometimes to amuse myself by pointing my glass at the women as they passed my window; upon which they would run as fast as they could, holding their clothes down with both their hands."-Vol. I. p. 327.

A DUELLIST." He used to tell a story of one of his affairs, which, though not at all creditable to himself, was the best satire on the practice of duelling that can well be imagined. I was in the theatre one night,' said he, and seeing a fellow cating apples in the box where there were some ladies, I took the liberty of poking one into his throat with my finger. The man struck me I knocked him down, and gave him a sound drubbing,' (for the Colonel was a famous bruiser.) He called me out, I shot him through the arm; and the fool called that satisfaction.' One of the few instances in which he was known to have been right, was on the occasion which proved fatal to him. On receiving his antago nist's shot, which took effect in his body, he staggered a few paces; then, recovering himself, he presented his pistol deliberately at his opponent, and said, 'I could kill him,' (for he was a capital shot;) but the last act of my life shall not be an act of revenge!' Words sufficient to redeem a life of error !"-Vol. I. p. 336-7.

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COME UP." Having passed a pleasant evening with our friends of the artillery, we retired to rest in a room situated over one of the stables of the gun-horses. Here, owing to a litle over-indulgence at table, not feeling readily disposed to sleep, we amused ourselves with counting the number of Come ups!' which reached our ears.through the crevices of the floor. Whenever a horse stirred, so as to disturb the slumbers of his not much more human bed-fellow, it was Come up!* If the beast snorted, it was 'Come up!' If he lay down, it was Come up!' If he rose on his legs, it was equal

ly Come up!' This Come up' is almost the only phrase which an English groom addresses to his horse. Though generally used as a term of rebuke, it is an unmeaning expression; and I do not see in what it could have originated, unless in the frequent necessity of cautioning the animal against that too great propensity of English horses to come down."-Vol. II. p. 155.

cation of this kind. Sermons, like other compositions, have appeared under various titles. Some have merely "Sermons ;" others," Sermons on Important Subjects;" others, again, "Discourses," preached at some particular place, and so on ad infinitum. Mr Gleig has had the ingenuity to discover a new cognomen, and his are "Sermons for Plain People."

A SPANISH PRIEST." He was a ruffian-looking But there is no affectation in the volume before us. fellow, whose chief occupation with the army was that of They are truly what their author entitles them, doctria mule-dealer, buying those animals in the country, and nal and practical, on most important subjects; and we selling them in the camp at a great profit. I was told completely agree with Mr Gleig, "that though the shelves by our Colonel, that in the preceding campaign, he was of every book-shop in the kingdom groan under the sitting one day at table with his Padré, when the Patron weight of theological publications, very few have been of the house came to beg that Senhor Padré would go found in all respects fit for domestic use." We have up stairs immediately, to render the last offices of reli- no lack of Sermons; but, unfortunately, too many gion to a dying Spanish officer. He looked sulky on of them, after being "weighed in the balance," have being disturbed at his meal, but could not refuse. The been "found wanting." Many of them, doubtless, Colonel followed; but, instead of a solemn ceremonial, are pious enough and well-meaning, but of such a naas he expected, he saw the Padré take a crucifix out of ture as not to suit exactly the meridian of the parlour his pocket, and thrust it into the face of the dying man, circle. Some are loose declamations; others have neivociferating at the same time, Jesus! Jesus!' Per- ther unity nor design; others are mystical and uninceiving no signs of acknowledgment from the poor offi-structive. From one preacher we have a dull formal cer, whose glazed eye and quick respiration denoted his speedy dissolution, he pocketed his swammy, and descended to finish his beef-steak and his bottle."-Vol. II. p. 278-9.

FRENCH AND ENGLISH APPETITES." On returning to my billet in the morning, as hungry as a hawk, I requested my landlady to prepare me some breakfast. She asked what I should like-I replied, Some eggs and bacon.' So forthwith she prepared a dish, containing full two dozen of the former, with a due proportion of the latter; a pretty good proof of the abundance of the land, and of her opinion of an Englishman's appetite. These French imagine, that because we dine off large joints, we must be great eaters, when, in fact, we do not eat half so much as they do. In France, the providing for the stomach is much more of an affaire than it is in England. When, in French, you talk of a man's having spent his fortune, you say, Il a mangé son bien ;' and the first question a Frenchman asks you, on visiting his country, is, how you like their cuisine. This latter observation reminds me of an answer made to me by an English traveller, to whom, on his expressing his dislike of the French mode of living, I remarked, that I supposed he did not relish their cuisine. "Quizzing, sir!" said he, rather tartly; 'you don't suppose I allowed the fellows to quiz me!" -Vol. II. p. 352-3.

Light reading, spiced à la militaire, will now be perceived a form the staple commodity of the "Twelve Years Military Adventure."

Sermons, Doctrinal and Practical, for Plain People.
By the Rev. G. R. Gleig, M. A. M.R.S.L., &c.
London; John Murray. 1829. Pp. 303.

AT first sight the title of this volume, by the Reverend author of the Subaltern, struck us as savouring not a little of affectation. Much, in these days of literary rivalship, depends on the title of a book; and the public have too often found, to their cost, that the title was the best and only readable part of the volume. We are far, however, from insinuating that this is the case with Mr Gleig's Sermons; on the contrary, they will, in our opinion, add to the literary reputation which he has already so deservedly acquired. But, from the innumerable shoals of sermons which have been, and still are, ushered into the world, which nobody reads, and which it is not likely ever will be read, we have been accustomed to look upon a preacher as more than ordinarily courageous, and a reader as having a more than ordinary stock of patience, who ventures on a new publi

essay, to which the text is a motto; from another we have high-flying fanaticism, visionary speculations, or ranting, unintelligible "orations." Few comparatively are the exceptions; and we are, therefore, glad to find Mr Gleig's Sermons of that description that they will "suit the capacities of the very lowest," whilst they will give "no offence to the taste of the highest circles."

The Rev. Edward Irving, who is one of the great apostles of Millennarianism, would have entitled this volume "Orations for Plain People." We would recommend the work to his careful perusal, for we can assure him, that this style of preaching will prove a thousand times more beneficial than weekly mystical harangues on the Millennium. It cannot, of course, be expected that we can afford space to investigate at length Mr Gleig's admirable discourses; but few, we are persuaded, whether learned or ignorant, will rise from their perusal without feeling wiser and better. They contain faithful and eloquent expositions of our duty to God, our neighbour, and ourselves, and as such, they ought to be possessed by every family. They are the productions of a man who is, we doubt not, a faithful parish priest.

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Thest Discourse is on "The Redemption of Mankind," a contains a clear and concise statement of the truth, tt, as Mr Gleig observes, "it is in the sacred Scriptus of God alone that we may look, not for the assurance, but for the remotest hint or reference to a resurrection of the body." The Sermons on "Caution in forming Judg.. ents," on "The Divine origin of Christianity," and on "Religious Differences,' would especially recomme. 1. We shall, however, lay before our readers an extrac. from the Sermon on "The object of Public Preaching;" subject which is greatly misunderstood by too many preachers and sermon-hunting hearers, and to which we would call their special attention :

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THE OBJECT OF PUBLIC PREACHING. "No one who has mixed at all in society can be ig. norant that the fashion of the present times runs greatly in opposition to what are termed moral discourses. Á plain straight-forward list of directions how they are to behave in all stations af life, goes not well down with either of two classes of persons: it displeases both those who affect more than an ordinary degree of reverence for religion, and those who are habitually profligate and vicious. The former turn away from such moral harangues with contempt and scorn. They assert that these are nothing more than heathen admonitions; that they have in them none of the spirit of the Gospel, nothing relative to faith, or grace, or regeneration, or I know not how many terms, with which men are too often

in love, without at all comprehending their real import. The others, again, I mean the profligates, equally dislike such a style of preaching. It comes too home to them; it sounds as if every allusion were personal, every attack meant to apply peculiarly to themselves. They will not, therefore, come and listen to rebukes so pointed and so direct. What they desire to hear at church are pleasing discourses, declarations of God's goodness and mercy, of the readiness with which he receives back sinners, whenever they choose to turn to him, and the benevolence of his nature, which leads him to think lightly of those natural failings into which they, alas! are too apt to be led. Such preaching as this is at all seasons acceptable. It keeps all quiet and easy within; it puts to sleep the worm, whose gnawing is so painful; and quenches, for a time, the fire whose burning shall be everlasting. Neither have these men any objection to doctrinal disquisitions. Such topics are interesting; they lay hold of the attention, and, carrying it away in the flood of various arguments, they serve exceedingly well to kill twenty or five-and-twenty minutes every week. Is it not singular that the very good and the very bad should both prefer the same style of preaching?

man life, which, more than all this, deserves to be called grace? Is there no principle,--no principle which lays hold on some, and not on others,-leading the first to worship God in the beauty of holiness, and to believe in his name, to their own salvation and acceptance? Now, then, we come nearer to the point. Unquestionably there is such a principle; but it is very different from what those regard it, who are the fondest of hearing that principle discussed from the pulpit. The grace of God, which leads to repentance, is continually within the reach of every living person. It operates on different persons in different ways; but assuredly it operates upon none to any good effect, unless it be aided by their own cooperation. The grace of God will never take captive the will of any man, or turn a sinner to repentance in spite of himself; but it is always at hand to assist his weak endeavours, and to bring to perfection the feeble efforts which would certainly be useless without it. But what is there in this, which demands that it should be the constant subject of a preacher's discourses ?”— P. 46-50.

We would willingly quote farther from Mr Gleig's Sermons, which our readers will perceive are very superior to the ordinary run of such productions. We must, however, pause, only observing, that Mr Gleig deserves well of the public in this his appearance before them, as an earnest and faithful minister; and, as the work is most moderate in price, we cannot do better than earnestly recommend the "Sermons, Doctrinal and Practical, for Plain People.”

Personal Narrative of a Journey through Norway, part of Sweden, and the Islands and States of Denmark. By Derwent Conway, Author of "Solitary Walks through Many Lands." Edinburgh; Constable's Miscellany, vol. XXXVIII. 1829.

The truth, however, is, that any style of preaching which harps continually upon one string must be bad. The Gospel, though in its main points plain and perspicuous, is, nevertheless, of very extended signification; and cannot, therefore, be properly expounded by a preacher who constantly confines himself to one or two topics. But of all modes of preaching, that which ties itself down to the exposition of doctrines only, is by far the most unprofitable, as well to the speaker as to the hearer. The doctrines of the Gospel must indeed be explained; but the genuine doctrines of the Gospel are few in number. A general belief in the being and attributes of God, in the blessed Trinity, and in each of the persons of the Godhead individually; a full expectation of a future life, in which we shall receive the things done in the body, whether they be good or bad, these comprise, in fact, a complete abridgement of a Christian's THIS is a very interesting and clever volume, full of faith. Of course, I allude not, at present, to the ne- picturesque descriptions and pleasant narratives. We cessity under which all thinking men feel that they, opened it with rather a prejudice against the subject of and every other servant of Christ, lie, to receive the sa- which it treats; for though we had read a considerable craments; the first of which, indeed, forms the sign, or number of books about Norway, they had all failed to badge, by which the disciples of Christ are distinguished inspire us with any great liking for that cold and outfrom those who are not his disciples. I am speaking of-the-way country. Neither did they give us any very now only of such points as do, and indeed ought, to distinct notions of its scenery, or of the manners and form the subjects of what are termed doctrinal discourses, customs of its inhabitants. We knew very well that inasmuch as almost all others contain more of human there was something peculiar about Norway, but wherethan of divine philosophy. Now, to explain these to a in that peculiarity consisted we could never precisely congregation, whose Bibles are within their reach, is find out. We have often closed large tomes in a most surely a task which may soon be accomplished. Is the unsatisfactory state of mind, for though they told us a preacher, then, to become idle, and to revert again and great deal, they showed us nothing, and this we take to again to his old topics? No, you will say; but are be the leading difference betwixt a matter-of-fact and a there not such doctrines as those of grace and election, picturesque traveller. Derwent Conway ranks among and regeneration and saving faith? My friends and the latter. When we accompany him on his rambles, brethren, rest assured that these phrases, though in very he makes us see the very scenes which he himself saw, frequent use, are not rarely misinterpreted, even by such and we rise from a perusal of his work with a more disas appear most warmly attached to them. For what is tinct impression of what Norway really is, than it was grace? Grace is neither more nor less than the good-ever our lot to possess before. There is a great deal of ness of our Almighty Father. The word itself signifies excellent and powerful writing throughout the volume; favour a favour or feeling of good-will towards any and though we are somewhat hackneyed in these matone, which prompts him who experiences it to do to ters, such was the interest it excited, that we went that person a kindness, without looking for any thing in through the whole, from beginning to end, without stopreturn. When we apply it then to God, I confess that ping. I, for one, know not within what bounds we are to enclose it. It is through God's gce that we live, and move, and breathe, and think. It is through God's grace that we are not hurried off to our graves, in the midst of our sins, by any one of the numerous accidents and calamities to which we are every moment liable. It is by God's grace that our Saviour has come into the world, has died for us upon the cross, has given us his Gospel, and promised us eternal life, if we only obey that Gospel. Nay, but is there not a something connected with hu

Our author has divided his work into three parts ;the first of which embraces an account of an inland journey, performed for the most part on foot and alone, through a solitary and unfrequented part of the country, from the Naze at the western extremity of Norway, to Christiania the capital;-the second part describes his residence at Christiania, and journey farther north to Osterdalen, where he remained some time with a native family, and enjoyed opportunities of becoming fa miliarly acquainted with the national character and do