The third volume of The British Army : its Origin,
Progress, and Equipment, by Sir Sibbald David Scott, Bart. (Cassell and Co.), com- prises the period from the death of Cromwell to the Revolution of 1683. It was a period during which nothing of great moment in our military history abroad occurred. Its chief incidents, the operations against the Covenanters in Scotland, and the brief campaign which ended in the battle of Sedgemoor, are not of a kind which present any great attraction. Still, the time is an important one for the growth of the Army as a regularly constituted force. This growth may be traced to the best advantage in Sir Sibbald Scott's pages. It is difficult to say, when every detail has a certain importance, and when details are peculiarly interesting, that compression is necessary. Yet it must be asked whether we can hope for a completion of the work, if the present scale is adhered to. Our great Indian and Con- tinental wars, and the dismal record of the American War of Inde- pendence yet remain ; and who can hope to see the cud of the story ?
We have received from Messrs. Bell and Sons several volumes of their " Grammar-school Classics." The excellent abridgments of Professor Coniogtou's edition have been divided more conveniently into small volumes, the" Eclogues" being contained in one, the "Georgics" in two more, and the " 2Eneid " in six. The first four of these we owe to that excellent scholar, the late Dr. Shepherd, of Kidder- minster; the fifth, to Professor Nettleship ; the sixth, seventh, and eighth, to another scholar of eminence, now unhappily lost to us, Dr. Wilhelm Wagner. Mr. J. F. Macmichael's edition of Xenophon's Anabasis has been divided in the same way.
Previous page
