British Battles on Land and Sea. By James Grant. Vol.
I. (Cassell and Co.)—Mr. Grant has found here a subject to his heart, and has made what is not only an interesting, but also a valuable book. This first volume begins with the battle of Hastings and carries us down to the battle of Dettingen. It is adorned with copious illustrations, not only of battle-scenes, but of costumes and armour. If among those had been included a plan of every great battle, such as those which Mr. Grant has supplied from contemporary sources of the great conflicts in Marlborough's campaign, the value of the work would have been in- creased. Verbal description, even of the most lucid and graphic kind, is not sufficient for a clear understanding of an engagement, except at the cost of trouble which few readers are willing to take. In some cases, sufficient materials:are scarcely to be found ; in many, much has to be supplied by conjecture, but the intelligent assistance of such a writer as Mr. Grant would always bo extremely useful. What a wonderful list of battles it is, and hardly one which, if wo put the exploits of English, Scotch, and Irish into one common stock, is not a victory I True, there are some things which make us abate our pride a little—sundry exploits of the Dutch, for instance— but no nation, surely, of the ancient world or the modern could show a roll of successes chequered by so few reverses. A Spanish chronicler of the time of Ferdinand and Isabella says of an English detachment who were fighting under Lord Scales against the Moors, "They wore mar- vellous good men in the field, dexterous archers, and powerful with the battle-axe. In their great pride and self-will they always sought to press in advance and take the post of danger, trying to outvie our Spanish chivalry. They did not rush forward fiercely or make a bril- liant onset, like the Moors ; but they ever wont into fight deliberately, and finished obstinately, and were slow to find out when they were beaten." Napoleon, it seems, was not the first to discover this characteristic of English troops. We strongly recommend Mr. Grant's book to readers young and old.
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