CURRENT LITE RAT URE.
THE RIFLE BRIGADE.
The Rifle Brigade. By Walter Wood. (Grant Richards. 3s. 6d.)—This is the first of a series of regimental histories, an idea much to be commended from the point of view of popular interest in the Army. Unluckily, the book is too short for a satisfactory account of the many actions in which the Rifle Brigade shared ; in fact, little more can be done than to state that the regiment was engaged, with the totals of the casualties. Nor has the historian avoided the temptation of those who bring their histories up to present date, as he has given an altogether disproportionate space to the Boer War, which is fresh enough in the memory, apart from the fact that it does not compare with the Peninsular or Waterloo Campaign in military interest. More- over, his account is that of the exuberant pressman rather than the judicious military historian. For a like reason it would have been better to give pictures of the old uniforms rather than modern photographs of Major-General Lyttelton, Lieutenant- Colonel Metcalfe, and Captain Congreve. The hold of the Victoria Cross on modern popular imagination is also shown by an undue insistence on the winning of V.C.'s rather than of a description of the doings of the regiment as a whole. The book would also have been improved by a list of commanding officers, but the bibliography is to be commended. More might have been said of the new departure marked by the raising of light infantry, with a more rational drill than the Line, and of the wonderful system of skirmishing developed by the Rifle Brigade in the Peninsula. Something might have been said of Lord Howe's attempt to raise light troops, with a suitable drill, in the Colonial wars of 1768, and also of Sir John Moore's ideas on the same subject and his partial realisation of them at Shorncliffe. Lord Cornwallis's objection to the rifle is characteristic of England, and our author on the conservatism of the Army a hundred years ago is naïve. It is worth noting that the Riflemen were picked men, of slightly superior class, as can be seen by the few punishments in the Peninsula, and that in Sir John Moore's retreat they were amongst the few regiments that retained their discipline. At Copenhagen they gained the praise of Nelson when acting as Marines. The forced march to Talavera, was a fine piece of light infantry marching. More might have been gt,t from Kinc,id s "Random Shots from a Rifleman." which would bear indefinite quotation, but perhaps reader, of this book may be induced to turn to it themselves, as they will find not only instruction but also much entertainment. • Peobably it is impossible for a short book on a big subject to be really satisfactory. and it cannot evein be said that the author has made the most of his space. But if with the help of the bibliography the reader goes further he will at least be grateful to this modest volume for setting him on his way.
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