Life and Times of General Sir Edward Cecil, Viscount Wimbledon,
by Charles Dalton, F.R.G.S. (Sampson Low and Co.), is a monu- ment of industry, and of patient and careful historical research: Mr. Dalton has had access to the Cecil MSS. in Hatfield, and other docu- ments bearing on the career of the soldier of fortune who is best known as commander of the ill-starred expedition to Cadiz in 1625. At the same time, be has committed the mistake of producing a work too large for the importance of its subject. Two thick volumes axe, indeed, just one volume too many to pnbliah about a man of whom their author says that" be did not occupy a high position as an able General, an able speaker, or an able statesman ; but as a soldier, a Member of Parliament, and a Privy Councillor, he associated on equal terms with the most notable men of the day." Edward Cecil was a brave man, no doubt, and in point of political morale certainly not worse than the bulk of his rivals and contemporaries. He displayed con- spicuous gallantry when he was in the Dutch service, more especially in the cavalry charge at the Battle of Niouport, and perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he was unfortunate than that he was undeserving. Even on Mr. Dalton's own showing, however, he was deficient in that moral strength which is often exhibited to most advantage in declining a perilous position. Speaking of the Cadiz expedition, he says :—" Far better for Edward Cecil if he had followed the example of Colonel Ralph Hopton, the future Cavalier leader in the Civil Wars, who, though expressly sent for from Mansfield's army to go with the fleet, and who accepted the command offered him by his King, and came to England, yet at the eleventh hour, had the moral courage to resign hie command and stay at home." Better condensed, this work would have been much more valuable than it is now likely to be, as a picture of Dutch military service in the days of Charles I., and as giving a portrait of one of those English military adventurers who were versatile enough to become Generals- at-sea at a moment's notice.
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