Quite recently Mr. W. E. Woodward, the American novelist, .published
a study of Washington (reviewed in our columns) :which tended to belittle the quality of that great man as a soldier. In the novelist's opinion Washington was a pretty ordinary man and as a military commander not very dis- tinguished. Professional and instructed opinion, however, tells another story. Major H. L. Aubrey-Fletcher, D.S.O., in A History of the Foot Guards to 1856 (Constable, 31s. 6d.), writes that " the great-hearted courage and genius of one -man piloted the country through all its difficulties." So far as the Guards had any hand in the American War, the book furnishes an entirely satisfying and extremely interesting account of that campaign. But that is but one part of this fine piece of military and general history. We have here the -whole history, told vividly and with as little technical detail as may be, of the battle career of the Guards. The book is surely a complete answer to the old-time opinion (only finally killed by the Great War) that the Guards " do not fight." They have fought everywhere, except in India and the West ' Indies, and even at sea, and only a " very, very few times in their long career " have they done badly-in fact, " the ' history of the British Army is the history of the Foot Guards." As the working motto of the Guards is " Thorough," it need , hardly be said that this book lives up to it. A particular and ' a very special cOmmendation is demanded for the admirable maps and plans which enable the reader (and there should be m any of him) to follow every turn of the narrative.
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