SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of Cu. week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.]
Reminiscences by Captain W. Hay, C.R. Edited by Mrs. C. J Wool. (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 6s.)—Mr. Hay began his military life at the age of sixteen, when he was gazetted to the 52nd Light Infantry. (An officer's additional allowance was not to exceed £100.) In October, 1810, the regiment was ordered to the Peninsula, and saw plenty of fighting. Before long he was transferred to the 12th Dragoons. He seems to have been a glutton for adventure, and to have done his best to make a vacancy for a junior. Ho was present at Vittoria, and at various engagements on and beyond the French frontier. He was at Waterloo, and gives some vivid pictures of that great fight. lie remained for some time after on duty with the Army of Occupa- tion. Later on he served in Canada. After twelve years as a subaltern he purchased his troop, a speculation that might have turned out ill, as the regiment was reduced to half-pay. The Duke of York, however, gave him in exchange a half-pay captaincy in the 37th, thus saving for him £1,300 of the purchase money. In 1823 he retired from the Army. Toe story, which is obviously told with the utmost truthfulness, is worth reading. It suggests some effective contrasts between soldiering as it was then and as it is now. It is clear that some of our soldiers were great scoundrels, but in comparison with the French they were as angels of light. Let any one read the story on pp. 226-27 of the conduct of the French Army when they invaded Prussia, and marvel at the assurance with which the French newspapers, with that and numberless other such records behind them, dare to charge our soldiers in South Africa with inhumanity.
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