Early in June he was reinforced by ten sail of the line, when he proceeded in search of the French fleet to Naples, and thence to Alexandria; but not finding it, he returned to Syracuse, from which place he again sailed for Egypt. His anxiety to discover the enemy and his disappointment at missing them, are the principal subjects of his correspondence, until his exertions were at last rewarded by finding the French fleet at anchor in Aboukir Bay, on the 1st of August, 1798.

The details of the celebrated battle that ensued are well known; but the editor enters at length into the only two disputed points relating to that battle; first, whether the attack on the enemy's fleet from the inside was part of Nelson's own plan, and done in obedience to his orders, or whether it was the spontaneous and unauthorised act of Captain Foley, of the Goliath, the leading ship of the squadron? And secondly, whether L'Orient, the French admiral's ship, actually surrendered before she blew up?

The first of these questions notwithstanding the negative evidence of Captains Berry and Hood, and that furnished by Lord Nelson himself in his letter to Earl Howe, which is decisive in so far as regards the admiral's intention to throw his whole force on the enemy's van, yet in what concerns the passing inside of the Goliath, is settled in favour of Sir Thomas Foley, by the letter given in the Appendix from Rear-admiral Thomas Browne. With regard to the second question, it appears also to be for ever set at rest, by Lord Nelson's letter to Lord Minto, now for the first time published.

As a most honourable life and still more glorious death has not prevented Lord Nelson's integrity and motives being suspected and aspersed, and that chiefly in connexion with the capitulation of the castles Uovo and Nuovo, and the trial and execution of Caraccioli; the editor has very properly accumulated all the evidence that could be brought to bear upon those subjects; and nothing can be more satisfactory than the position in which that evidence places the hero in respect to these supposedly questionable points, and in connexion with which it is shown that many positive mis-statements have been made.

This, the third volume of a truly national work, leaves Nelson in the happy and enviable position of having in his own words "gained two kingdoms, seated two faithful allies of his majesty (the Kings of Naples and Sardinia) on their respective thrones, and restored happiness to millions."

THE MISSION.*

CAPTAIN MARRYAT was never more entertaining, or more felicitous in his subject, than when he commenced writing for young persons. The perspicuity of his language, and his great natural powers of description, make themselves sensibly felt in such works, as they were the cause why his "Masterman Ready" has been so eminently successful, and is in every boy's hands. "Scenes in Africa," with reminiscences of Sparman, Thunberg, Le Vaillant, and others who first disclosed to us its wonders; the land of

The Mission; or, Scenes in Africa. Written for Young People. By Captain Marry at.

enterprise of so many sportsmen, the country of antelopes, spring-boks, gnus, giraffes, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, elephants, and of lions and tigers; and what is of far more importance, the great field of modern missionary enterprise and labour; could not but be full of amusement and instruction, and the skilful author has added to these resources of his subject, a tale of an exploratory journey made by a young gentleman in search of a female relative wrecked on the coast, and over whose subsequent fate there hung some uncertainty. The expedition is, for very appreciable reasons, accompanied by a naturalist, Mr. Swinton, a name evidently not suggested by the real Mr. Swainson; and an ardent sportsman, Major Henderson, therefore not to be confounded with Major Harris, although of the Bengal cavalry.

The history of the colony is given from the time of the Dutch, and the oppressions and wars of the Hottentots, Bushmen, and Caffres, to the establishment of the British, in easy and agreeable conversations, and justice is done to the missionaries, for having, by their own exertions, procured the emancipation of the natives. The difficulties which the missionaries have to fight against are well expressed on the occasion of the visit to the station at Butterworth. The natives require to be made acquainted with the existence of a God before being educated in the knowledge of a Redeemer. "When," said Mr. Swinton, in answer to a question put to him, "I have talked to them about God, their reply is, "Where is he?-show him to me." They oppose Christianity also because it strikes at the root of their sensuality, and because it is adverse to many of their warlike and predatory practices. But notwithstanding all these disadvantages, the good cause prospers, sincere converts are made; and the rudiments of civilization are introduced by the same means, and amidst all kinds of privations, toil, and suffering.

There is a curious remark concerning the pearl-fisheries, which suggests rather unusual reflections.

"When we consider" (says Mr. Swinton) "how many pearl-fisheries have taken place, and how many divers may have been destroyed before a string of fine pearls can be obtained, we might almost say that every pearl on the necklace has cost the life of a human creature."

Sports of the field and anecdotes of animals constitute naturally the largest and the most amusing portion of the "Scenes in Africa." The lion, as the monarch of this region, comes in for an abundant share of the latter, and we shall extract one from among a multitude of examples given of that noble animal's sagacity and magnanimity.

"A man who belonged to one of the mission stations, on his return home from a visit to his friends, took a circuitous route to pass by a pool of water, at which he hoped to kill an antelope. The sun had risen to some height when he arrived there, and as he could not perceive any game, he laid his gun down on a shelving rock, the back part of which was covered with some brushwood. He went down to the pool and had a hearty drink, returned to the rock, and after smoking his pipe, feeling weary, he lay down and fell fast asleep.

"In a short time, the excessive heat reflected from the rock, awoke him, and opening his eyes, he perceived a large lion about a yard from his feet crouched down, with his eyes glaring on his face. For some minutes he remained motionless with fright, expecting every moment that he would be in the jaws of the monster; at last he recovered his presence of mind, and casting his eye towards his gun, moved his hand slowly towards it, upon which the lion raised up his head and gave a tremendous roar, which induced him hastily to with

draw his hand. With this the lion appeared satisfied, and crouched with his head between his fore-paws as before. After a little while, the man made another attempt to possess himself of his gun; the lion raised his head and gave another roar, and the man desisted; another and another attempt were at intervals made, but always with the same anger shown on the part of the lion."

"Why, the lion must have known what he wanted the gun for."

"Most certainly he did, and therefore would not allow the man to touch it. It is to be presumed that the sagacious creature had been fired at before; but you observe, that he did not wish to harm the man. He appeared to say, you are in my power; you shall not go away; you shall not take your musket to shoot me with, or I will tear you to pieces."

66

It certainly was very curious. Pray how did it end?"

"Why, the heat of the sun on the rock was so overpowering, that the man was in great agony; his naked feet were so burnt, that he was compelled to keep moving them, by placing one upon the other, and changing them every minute. The day passed, and the night also, and the lion never moved from the spot. The sun rose again, and the heat became so intense, that the poor man's feet were past all feeling. At noon, on that day, the lion rose and walked to the pool, was only a few yards distant, looking behind him every moment to see if the man moved; the man once more attempted to reach his gun, and the lion perceiving it, turned in a rage, and was on the point of springing upon him; the man withdrew his hand and the beast was pacified." "How very strange!"

"The animal went to the water and drank; it then returned, and lay down at the same place as before, about a yard from the man's feet. Another night passed away, and the lion kept at his post. The next day, in the forenoon, the animal again went to the water, and while there, he looked as if he heard a noise in an opposite quarter, and then disappeared in the bushes.

"Perceiving this, the man made an effort and seized his gun, but in attempting to rise, he found it was not in his power, as the strength of his ankles was gone. With his gun in his hand he crept to the pool and drank, and looking at his feet, he discovered that his toes had been quite roasted, and the skin torn off as he crawled through the grass. He sat at the pool for a few moments, expecting the lion's return, and resolved to send the contents of his gun through his head; but the lion did not return, so the poor fellow tied his gun on his back, and crawled away on his hands and knees as well as he could. He was quite exhausted, and could have proceeded no farther, when providentially a person fell in with him and assisted him home; but he lost his toes, and was a cripple for life."

"The Mission" is a delightful little book for

young

or old.

A TOUR THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE MEUSE.*

THERE are two facts connected with travelling by railway, which have not been hitherto distinctly noticed. One is, that instead of being adverse by its rapidity, to purposes of observation or of pleasure, it has opened new fields of research and amusement; and the second is, that the narratives of tours and guide books, written since its introduction, have undergone as great a change as the mode of progression itself.

It would be impossible better to illustrate these facts than by reference to Mr. Dudley Costello's pretty little work on the "Valley of the

A Tour Through the Valley of the Meuse, with the Legends of the Walloon Country and the Ardennes. By Dudley Costello.

Meuse," to which the South Eastern Ostend and Liege railways offer great facilities of approach. The mere puffs or denunciations of the old egotistical school of travel, are here superseded by a work of local and legendary amusement, and of high historical and archæological interest.

The history of Liege, whose inhabitants have been always distinguished by an ardent love of liberty, and who in early times were alternately oppressed by the harsh control of their bishops, and the tyranny of the nobles; is the recital of perpetually recurring struggles of the Many against the Few-the Weak against the Strong; and the author has selected the most stirring of these events in illustration of these happily bygone feudal times.

Walloon literature and Walloon superstitions also furnish curious incidents of a more domestic character, as in the case of the goblin, who

Used to amuse himself by playing every night with the hammer and anvil of a smith, and in return for the use of these instruments, was in the habit of filling the smith's pitcher with excellent wine, which he stole from the bishop's cellars hard by; but the bishop discovered the theft, and having exorcised the spirit, succeeded in making him assume the shape of a man, when he had him flogged and put in the pillory, as if he had been a robber.

Quitting Liege, the Château de Gemeppes furnishes us with the diablerie of Ameil, the one-eyed; and the Faubourg St. Laurent, with perhaps the most pathetic legend in the book, that of the young girl known as Paquette the Innocent, who fell a victim to her attachment to the Sieur Jean de Surlet. The picturesque town of Huy contains the tomb of Peter the Hermit, while the neighbouring turrets of Ramioul remind the traveller of their once owner, Godefroy de Bouillon, names which both obtained renown in the same cause.

Huy has witnessed numerous sieges and has been frequently taken. The castle was once singularly surprised in 1595, by the famous Haranguer, renowned for the boldness with which, a few years before, he effected the capture of Breda. At the head of thirty men, having climbed by ropes into a small house beneath the castle walls, he lay in ambuscade in a spot which the inhabitants of the garrison were obliged to pass to go to mass, and seizing upon them as they approached one after the other, he tied their arms and legs, threw them into a deep hollow, and quietly marched into the castle, which offered no resistance.

The ruins of the castle of Moha, the history of the fair Chêtelaine of which-Gertrude of Moha-is a romance in itself, are now difficult to find. Connected with these crumbling fragments, is also the sad story of the two sons of its noble proprietor, killing one another in a tilting match. On the same river, the Mehaigne, stand the castles of Fumal and Fallais in rivalry to one another, a rivalry which obtained its acmé when the lover of Richard, the Knight of Fallais, and of Marie of Fumal, brought down upon the wedded pair the hostility at once of the sire of Fumal, of a slighted lover, and of a church militant, in the person of the intemperate Henry of Gueldres, over all which difficulties the happy pair triumphed.

It was characteristic of the age, that when Henry of Gueldres gave orders for breaking up his camp, the Chêtelain de Fallais appeared at one of the windows of his castle, and, leaning out, exclaimed, in a tone of derision," What, my lord, art going away, leaving Sire Richard to sing in his cage, beside the fair lady whom you covet so much."

The castle of Beaufort brings with it the history of La guerre

de la Vache, which lasted three years, and in which not less than thirty thousand men lost their lives-for the sake of a cow!

Dinant introduces us to the unfortunate hostility of a once wealthy city, against the house of Burgundy, and the strange reception given to Marguerite de Valois. Near to the same place is a singular pointed rock, called the Roche à Bayard, attached to which is a long and characteristic legend taken from the "History of the Four Sons of Aymon," which the author calls the "Legenda Aurea" of Belgium.

The châteaux of Walzen and Freyr, after an excursion to Montaigle (with its legend of "Gilles de Clim"), and a visit to Poilvache, one of the strongest and most formidable castles in the Walloon country, lead the way to the Ardennes, the entrance into which is illustrated by a truly local and characteristic hunting tale of an ancestor of the present Princes of Chimay. Within the renowned forest which, according to Thierry, derives its name from the Celtic Ar-denn, or "the profound;" the castles of Celles, Ardenne, and Ciergnon, conduct us to the cave of Han-surLesse, of which probably the best idea may be formed from an inscription of a Frenchmen, doubtless, says Mr. Costello, of the ecole romantique : Dieu!!! Quelle grotte!!!!!!

H. AMAREL.

And that of a Belgian, but inscribed in the English language.

Nothing can exceed the beauty of the Grot of Han. I am extremely glad to have had the pleasure of have see him to-day.

V. VIGNERON, from Mons.

This natural curiosity isited; Rochefort and the abbey, and abbey church of the ever memorable St. Hubert, still remain as the crowning relics of the long departed "forest of Arden," in which, however, trees enough yet remain for travellers to follow the example of Orlando, albeit their case may not be so bad as his, and marr their fair bark with grotesque initials.

A model of what books of travel ought to be, brief, artistic, elaborate, and yet amusing; Mr. Costello's work will entice many away to the banks of the Meuse; and will be to them, when there, an instructive and indispensable guide-book.

COUNT KONIGSMARK.*

THROUGHOUT the seventeenth century no name stands higher in the military annals of Sweden than that of Königsmark; and from before the end of the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, down nearly to the commencement of that of Charles XII., this name was a passport to every court in Europe.

Charles John, whose strange and eventful history Captain Chamier has recorded in his usual racy and spirited style, was the son of Conrad Christopher, Count Königsmark, the minister-general of the artillery of Sweden, and was nephew of Otho William, who from being a marshal of Louis XIV., became governor of Pomerania, and perished fighting against the Turks with the Venetians.

The spirit of adventure which appears to have been characteristic of

Count Königsmark. An Historical Romance. By Captain Chamier, R.N. 3 vols.

Aug.-VOL. LXXIV. NO. CCXCVI.

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