at Brighton on the 29th of August, 1850. His | Come! let us clear our honour and our cause memoirs were published by his son in 1860. Ottley, in his Dictionary of Painters, says, "It would be a mistake to attribute Sir Martin Shee's success in his profession, and above all the high official position to which he was elected, to his merit as an artist. The latter, at least, may be more truly assigned as a tribute to his literary attainments and to his courteous manners, combined with certain gifts in diplomacy, which qualified him in an eminent degree to act as the champion [of the Royal Academy]. If he did not achieve anything great as a painter, he was always ready, to use his own words, 'to break a lance with the vandalism of the day.'"] EXTRACT FROM "ALASCO." [A meeting of Poles resolved to strike for freedom. Alasco, their leader, reproaches the At once from this foul taint; let each man here (The chiefs all draw their swords, kneel So may our wishes prosper. Alasco. (Kneels also.) Record it, Heaven! Whate'er of comment harsh in heat has passed Rienski. The fault is ours-we own it, and our chiefs for harbouring projects of private To-morrow shall redeem it on the foe. revenge.] Alasco. Then to our work like men who are fit Fierce in the field as tigers for our rights; And firm for law and justice. NAPOLEON AND DAVID THE PAINTER.1 October, 1802. Proceeded with Messrs. Vincent and Meranee to the Consular Palace. Introduced into the presence chamber, where I saw the medals distributed to the different candidates, and had the pleasure of standing for an hour and twenty minutes within six feet of Bonaparte, and without any other person intervening to obstruct my view, being one of the front line in a circle composed of the three consuls, the generals, senators, and councillors of state, with the members of the Institute, forming the jury which decided the distribution of the prizes. This long and complete view of Bonaparte is a favour which no other strangers, no matter how high their rank, have been able to obtain. A regular introduction to him would have only given the opportunity of a short observation or a slight bow; but to stand 1 This and the following extract are from the Paris journal in Life of Sir Martin Archer Shee, by his son. London, 2 vols. 1860. for more than an hour face to face with him, to | more splendid, more magnificent than London, examine him from head to foot with perfect but by no means so neat, so comfortable, or convenience and leisure, to hear him talk, and so large,-more populous for its size, more study his character through all its pacific crowded in its streets, more numerous and changes, was an advantage for which many gorgeous in its palaces and public buildings, curious strangers here would have given five and more liberal and extensive in all its public hundred pounds. Bonaparte is scarcely taller establishments. The whole city built of stone than I am, and much thinner. His figure is or stuccoed to resemble it; the people exhinot very good. His face is in my eyes hand- biting the ludicrous in all its varieties, at once some, sedate, steady, and determined. The elegant and outré, carrying fashion to its exprints of him do him no sort of justice. treme, and setting caricature at defiance. An When you see him you are satisfied that such inconsistent mixture of meanness and magnia man may be Bonaparte, the conqueror of ficence runs through the whole nation that Italy, the grand monarch of France, and the alternately excites our ridicule and our adpacificator of Europe. In short nothing could miration. The rage of ornament is the pasbe more impressive and interesting than the sion of the place. It pervades all ranks, and whole scene. spreads over the whole country in a torrent of false taste and frippery profusion. Hotels splendid as palaces; palaces filthy as pigsties; every man with earrings, and whiskers meeting under his chin; every woman, from Madame Bonaparte at St. Cloud to the oyster-wench who attends the tables of an eating-house, with pendants reaching to her shoulders, a sparkling cross or locket on her breast, and her hair turned up à la grecque. The plunder of the world has enriched Paris with treasures of art beyond number and above praise. In short Italy is now in Paris. Politically speaking, there is about as much freedom in France as in Algiers. The word of the little great man is law and gospel. Saturday. In the museum at eight. Met Lat one to go and see David's pictures of the "Horatii,” his “Brutus,” and portrait of Bonaparte. David has no feeling of the higher art, no eye for colour, and no power of execution. He draws well, however, and has, I think, a good knowledge of composition. His merit as an artist is, I think, always overrated or underrated; I find him neither so good nor so bad a painter as I have heard him described. As a portrait-painter he is almost contemp tible. IMPRESSIONS OF PARIS. 13th October, 1802. My dear Aunt,-I dare say you were somewhat surprised to learn that I had set off for Paris, and indeed I have often been surprised at it myself. Mary and George were my instigators, and allowed me no peace till they persuaded me to a step which they thought was essential to my consequence as an artist, and my character as a man of taste. Indeed, the emigration of the whole Academy, with the president at their head, and particularly the visits to Paris made about this time by my competitors in portrait-painting, made it a sort of necessity on my part, as not to have visited the treasures of art in Paris will be a sort of stigma on the character of a painter or a connoisseur. I therefore set out in company with a Mr. Rogers, a banker and celebrated poet here, and after a pleasant journey of five days (two hours and three-quarters of which were spent in the passage from Dover to Calais), arrived safe in Paris. Paris, as to its houses, its habits, and its inhabitants, is a kind of new world to a stranger from our islands, "His smile is fortune, and his frown is fate." All ranks execrate the revolution without ceremony or concealment. The trees of liberty are everywhere either torn up or decayed. The term "citizen," though still retained in their public addresses, is considered almost an affront in private life, as expressive of everything degrading and reminding them of everything disagreeable. The manners, the appearance, the dress of the French-everything, in short, is fast returning to the character of old times; and I am much mistaken if the word liberty will not shortly be as much laughed at in France as the thing itself has been abused there. THE DILETTANTI OF THE DAY. Painting dejected views a vulgar band, From each cold clime of pride that glimmering lies, The dunce, no common calling will endure, In pilfered scraps from Walpole and De Piles; Dug from the tomb of taste-refining time, MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY. BORN 1778-DIED 1854. ment in 1799 he accompanied Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedition to Holland. In 1803 he held for a short time the post of undersecretary of state in the war department. In 1804 he married a daughter of the Earl of Darnley, who died in 1812, leaving an only child. He had the command of a brigade of hussars under Sir John Moore in Portugal, and his gallant conduct repeatedly called forth the commendation of his general. In 1809 he was sent home to report the progress of events, [Charles William Vane, Baron Stewart and | to the 18th Light Dragoons. With this regithird Marquis of Londonderry, was the only son of the first marquis by his second marriage, and half-brother of the celebrated Lord Castlereagh, already noticed in this work. He was born on the 18th of May, 1778, in Mary Street, Dublin. When fourteen years old he entered the 108th Foot as ensign, and accompanied the Earl of Moira to the relief of the Duke of York in Flanders. He afterwards served on the Continent, and was severely wounded at the battle of Donauwörth. During the Irish rebellion he acted as lieutenant-colonel of the 5th Dragoons, and on that regiment being disbanded for insubordination he was changed 1 Vol. ii. p. 169. 2 Ottoboni, a celebrated cardinal collector and connoisseur. Such was the reputation of his taste that for many years after his death no picture was esteemed in the market of Virtù that could not be traced to have been in his collection. but a few months afterwards he returned to the Peninsula as adjutant-general under Sir Arthur Wellesley. For his services, and especially his exertions at Talavera, he received the thanks of the House of Commons on the 5th February, 1810. During the time of his service abroad he had been a member of the House of Commons, having been returned for the county of Londonderry at the elections of 1801, 1802, 1806, 1807, and 1812. In 1813 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of Berlin, and in the following year he was one of the plenipotentiaries, along with Lord Castlereagh, to the Congress of Vienna. In 1819 he married the only daughter and heiress of Sir Harry Vane Tempest, and the management of the immense possessions inherited with this lady opened a new field for the exercise of energies which the cessation of war had thrown into temporary inaction. On the melancholy death of his half-brother in 1822, Lord Stewart succeeded to the marquisate of Londonderry, and the following year he was created Earl Vane and Viscount Seaham in the peerage of the United Kingdom. He died in March, 1854, aged seventy-six years. the enemy were approaching; and troops were seen forming on the heights beyond. Preparations were instantly made to receive them. The regiments assembled at their alarm-posts, and the cavalry, rushing through the gates, descended to the level country, where they could act most conveniently; but neither the one nor the other were called into play. The enemy, satisfied with thus disturbing our repose, melted away, and we returned again to former quarters and original occupations. The best precautions were, however, taken to provide against surprise; the bridge over the Eslar was broken down; and pickets of cavalry were extended all along the bank to watch the fords, and give timely notice of any movement. The night of the 27th passed in quiet, and at daylight the retreat was renewed. The cavalry, however, had not been withdrawn, when movements on the part of the enemy indicated that we should not be permitted to escape thus easily. About nine o'clock a body of 500 or 600 horse were observed to try a ford not far from the ruins of the bridge, and shortly afterwards they crossed and formed on our side of the river. Instantly the rearguard made ready to oppose them; and though they mustered little more than 200 men, they boldly advanced, under the command of Colonel Otway, against the mass, repeatedly The Marquis of Londonderry appeared on several occasions as an author. In 1805 he published his Suggestions for the Improvement of the Force of the British Empire, and in 1828 his Narrative of the Peninsular War, 1808-charging its leading squadrons, and keeping 1813, a work which has enjoyed a most extensive popularity. In 1836 he published Recollections of a Tour in the North of Europe, and Steam Voyage to Constantinople in 1840. Some years later he edited the valuable Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh.] THE RETREAT UPON CORUNNA.1 On the 27th of December the column reached Benevente. Benevente is remarkable for an old baronial castle, which for many generations had been the property of the dukes of Ossuna. Near it runs the little river Eslar, across which, at some distance from the town, a bridge was thrown, commanded by some hills rising abruptly from the opposite bank of the stream. Our people had scarcely entered the place when an alarm was raised that This and the following extract are from The Narrative republished as The Story of the Peninsular War, with continuation by Rev. G. R. Gleig, author of The Story of the Battle of Waterloo. it fairly in check till Lord Paget and the writer of these pages arrived; when the former hurried up the 10th Hussars, and the latter put himself at the head of the detachments already in the field. Many charges were now made on both sides, and the squadrons repeatedly intermingled, whilst the pickets still continued to give ground, as it was intended that they should. But the 10th were now in hand; the pickets saw that they had support, and they required no encouragement to dash against the enemy. One cheer was given, and the horses being pressed to their speed, the enemy's line was broken in an instant. They fled in great disorder to the river, and repassed more rapidly than they had passed it, leaving in our hands General Le Fevre, their colonel, with seventy officers and men. This was, however, the most serious affair in which we had as yet been engaged the cavalry opposed to us formed part of the Imperial Guard; they were tried soldiers, and fought in a manner not unworthy of the reputation which they had earned in the north of Europe. They lost in killed and wounded, independently of prisoners, about sixty men, while our casualties fell somewhat short of fifty. It was said that Napoleon himself was an eye-witness of this rencontre from the opposite heights. Whether there be any truth in the report I know not; but one thing is certain, that the enemy did not venture for some days after to oppose themselves hand to hand to our cavalry. The column, accordingly, reached Astorga on the 30th, having been little harassed by its pursuers, and yet seriously disorganized. Another difficulty occurred; Romana, in spite of General Moore's entreaty to the contrary, had fallen back in the same direction with ourselves. The consequence was, that all the houses were filled with his people, among whom typhus fever was raging, and the roads literally choked with men, horses, cars, and all the other accompaniments of an army which had foundered or broken down on the march. It is hardly possible to conceive men bearing less resemblance to soldiers, or having a stronger claim upon compassion, than these wretched creatures. They were almost all in a state bordering upon nudity-they had no provisions; their arms were, for the most part, useless; and of ammunition, either for musketry or cannon, they were entirely destitute. Nor, to say the truth, were our own people in a plight by many degrees superior. With us, as with them, provisions had long been scanty; and our shoes, the most essential article in a soldier's appointments, were, in most instances, worn out. Many officers had, indeed, brought with them from England considerable quantities of apparel; and depots of stores had been formed at various points, one of which chanced to be Astorga; but the mules which carried the baggage of individuals were all knocked up, and of the stores deposited in the town little use could be made. It is true that the Spaniards were supplied with muskets-for of muskets a large quantity had been collected here-and they received as much ammunition as they could carry; but in clothing and provisions they were lamentably deficient, and we could not, therefore, supply their wants. They departed, accordingly, on the following morning by Fonubadon into Galicia, having derived from us none of the refreshments of which they stood in need, and to obtain which they had deserted their post at Mansilla many days earlier than was necessary. The army had hitherto fallen back under the belief Astorga would be its resting-place, and that here, or hereabouts, battle would In have been accepted-and this prospect had hitherto kept the men in something like a state of subordination. True, they had committed various excesses; they had robbed, plundered, got drunk by the way, and many had fallen into the hands of the enemy, or perished from the inclemency of the weather; yet the army was perfectly efficient, and required nothing but provisions and a few hours' rest to restore it to the state of order in which it was at Salamanca. From the moment that preparations were made for a continued retreat from Astorga this state of things terminated. Astorga the blowing up of ammunition-waggons, the destruction of intrenching tools, and the committal of field equipments to the flames for a whole division, gave signal for all the bad passions of those who witnessed them to let loose; and, mortifying as it is to confess it, the fact cannot be denied, that from that hour we no longer resembled a British army. There was still the same bravery in our ranks; but it was only at moments when the enemy were expected to come on that our order and regularity returned; and, except in that single point, we resembled rather a crowd of insubordinate rebels in full flight before victorious soldiers, than a corps of British troops moving in the presence of an enemy. When he began his retreat it was Sir John Moore's intention to fall back upon Vigo, and there embark his army in the transports which had been ordered round to receive him. With this view, when at Benevente he had despatched General Craufurd, with 3000 men, along the nearer but steeper road by Orense, to prevent any attempt of the enemy to gain ground upon him with a light column-he taking the more circuitous but better route by Astorga and Villa Franca. At the former place he was joined by Baird's division. Here, everything, whether private or public property, for the removal of which means were wanting, was destroyed; and the army began its march on the following morning, under circumstances more disheartening than ever. The road from Astorga to Villa Franca leads through the villages of Torre, Benivedre, Pinferrade, and over a country as diversified and striking as will be seen perhaps in Europe. The season was remarkably inclement; the ridges were covered with deep snow, and the fields and roads almost impassable-and it was impossible to pass it by without feelings of the liveliest admiration, with a strong regret that it had not been our fortune to wander here when forests were leafy and hills were |