The Right o' the Lsne. By R. Power Berrey. (Nisbet
and Co. Ss. 6d.)—When the Greeks were being marshalled before the battle of Plataea the Athenians and Tegeans disputed who should be placed on the wing which the Spartans, to whom every one conceded the first choice, did not take. So on a parade the horse batteries of the artillery take the right of the line. Mr. Berrey may be said to give in this volume some reasons for this dis- tinction. He tells us how the regiment came into being. Cannon were used as early as 1338; but they did not play any very important part. In fact, it was not till early in the eighteenth century that any effective organisation of the service was attempted. In 1715 the artillery was not found fit to bring on to the field. Practically the arm owes its being to Marlborough. Mr. Berrey begins his chosen narrative at a still later period. His first detailed story of the valour and skill of English gunners is the defence of Port Mahon, and this is followed by the tale of the great siege of Gibraltar. This siege of between three or four years was, of course, mainly a gunner's affair. From Gibraltar we pass to the Peninsula, and from this, again, to Waterloo. The Crimea, the Mutiny, and the Afghan War of 1880 follow. And then two chapters are given to the " Colenso Crosses" and the Q Battery at Driefonteiti. It was a deplorable affair, it is true, the losing of the guns at Coleus°. Doubtless "some one had blundered," but, as on another historic occasion, the blunder called forth heroic courage. Mr. Berrey might moderate his style a little. Such phrases as "bullet-riven plain" do not really make for effectiveness.
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