CHELSEA HOSPITAL.

OF all ME. GLEIG'S books, we consider Chelsea Hotpital as the worst. It is heavy, tame, and unreal; having neither the exact truth of history, nor the larger truth and spirit of fiction, whilst it wants the strength and vigour of execution which distinguish his other works.

The causes of this are on the surface. In his Country Curate„ his Subaltern, and even in the better parts of the Chronicles of Waltham, Mr. GLE1G wrote from a full knowledge of his subjects. He had seen the originals he professed to describe ; and though the particular instances might be varied to suit the nature of the work and the storied framework into which he introduced them, yet the general character was a transcript of nature. The volumes before us are, with a few exceptions, made up of tradition, so expanded by the author to suit his purposes and fill his space, as to lose all appearance of traditional authority, and to acquire very much of the air of pure invention. The other and mole valuable parts are gathered from the archives of the Hospital and the State Paper Office, or from the mouths of the Pensioners; but even of this, much is out of place, or commonplace.

Chelsea Hospital is divided into four books. The first con- tains an historical sketch of the origin, internal economy, manage- ment, and resources of the institution, horn its foundation by Dr. SUTCLIFFE, in the reign of JAMES the First, as a theolo- gical college, and its subsequent conversion to a military hospital by CHARLES the Second, at the instance Of NELL GWVNNE. Part of this rests upon tradition, expounded as we have described by Mr. GLEIG,—part upon historical archives, chiefly existing in the College; and the particulars which they furnish as to the numbers, classes, and rates of pay of the Pensioners, are amongst the most valuable parts of the took, though of more interest to the statist or politician than to the novel-reader. The second, and by far the largest book, consists of traditions, injudiciously con- ceived and very badly executed, and smacking less of the learned leisure of a well-appointed divine, than of the crude and hasty pro- ductions of a litt C.rateur supplying a periodical. An entry in the Hospital books, of February I6S7, records the admission to the in-pension of JAMES BEAUMONT, " a brave man who fought steutly in the last siege of Pontefract Castle." Upon this hint Mr. G LEM spins out a long story of the siege. The name of JOE SAVINE gives occasion to another diluted historical episode, about a Kentish insurrection during the Civil Wars. Then conies a lostary of our possession of Tangier ; whiclei though minute and wearisome enough, has some reality about it, for Mr. GLEIG quotes a good deal from the original despatches of the different Governors. Interest, however, it has none, unless for those whose previous historical acquaintance with the subject may impart some attraction to the details of a colonial war, the cruelties of which are supposed by Ill-ME to have brutalized KIRKE. The campaign that ended in the battle of Blenheim succeeds to the account of Tangier ; but has neither the stirring, lifelike interest of personal adventure, nor the greatness of histo- rical narrative. MARLBOROUGH'S original despatches are voted. and here and there an incidental point of his character is brought cut ; but as a whole, it is as dull as a gazette. A tradition of the War of Succession in Spain is very much better : there is indeed a foiced and tuade-up air about it : but the interest is individual, the incidents are more interesting, and the national circumstances more true. Mr. GLEIG has drawn upon his own experience in WEaLl NcToëabipaigns, and transferred Ho the days cf PETER- BOROUGH. The entry," 19th November l717—St r ir's Dragoons : Catherine Welch, a fatt, jolly-breast, woman, received several wound. in the service, in the habit of a man," gives rise to a sup- posititious biography of the, female heroine, which has a Mime- ne air of reality. The Taking of Quebec is a narrative of WOLFE'S glorious campaign ; and, often as it has been told, we suspect it -never has been done worse.

The third book, beginning the third volume, forms a sort of guide to Chelsea Hospital as it now is ; giving a description of the isuilding, and what may be seen there, an inmate's funeral in. 'eluded. The fotuth contains some passages from the lives of varims Pensioners, part serious, part comic. They are said to be taken from the mouths of the men ; but the style, at all events, is that ef Mr. GLEIG. However, they are the most amusing, if not the most valuable parts of the book; though more fitted for a magazine than a book.

Where the matter k of so very equivo:.al a kind, it is unneces- sary to say more of the composition, than that it exhibits the author's usual plainness ; mixed, however, with some expressions which show a strange perversity of moral perception. Thus, the zevereod author mildly describes that beanie's and profligate scoundrel, CHARLES the Seemd, as "aweless, but not wholly destitute of heart ; " and alluding to the atrecities of soldiers, when sacking cities, talks of their being ruthless enough in " the hurry if a storm." His Toryism is palrahle everywhere; and put for- v aid with that smooth, easy, nod bold assumption of having the Tight on one's side, which marks the sound divine. The only hesitation is a personal one—he bears strong testimony to the propriety of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S appointments to the Hospital, and to the exedlence of his general management when Pay- master of the Forces.

Some of the statistics in the first volume would be curious, but they are too analogous in character to the matter of our "Military Expenditure," to draw upon them for the Library : reserving them, to see if' they may not be of future use, we turn to those parts of the volume which have more of active personal attraction. Here is one preparatory step to Chelsea Hospital.

NIGHT rt.:mai AN ATTACK—SCENE, SPAIN; TIME, THE WAR OF THE SUCCESSION.

Tie night before a battle is an anxious one to all men ; and the degree of anxiety is increased fourfold when we are aware that we must contend against feat ful odds, and that our resources are limited to the weapons which we catty in our hands, and to the powder and ball that may be about our persons. Neither is it any impeachment on the courage of my hero if I assume that, when he walked that night lhi lonely round on the rampart, and cast his eye over the Urc'e of fires that hemmed him and his comrades in, he may have wished with more than common earnestness that they had at least a wider field to manoeuvre upon, and a better chaace than seemed at that moterait to be theirs or receiving support in time. Tor there was not a prieme in the British army who was ignorant of the conformation of the minds of those by whom their movements were regulated ; indeed, in such knowledge I have always found that British soldiers ate singularly well versed. Neil, for example, knew per- fectly well that Marshal Staremberg, though brave as hie own sword, was methodical and calculating, slow in making up his mind to any measure, and not over-active in carrying it into execution' provided it fell not in with the we:y letter of established usages. Now, such a man might waver and hesitate even in this caw, %here hesitation must be fatal ; and if so, what would be. name of them? However, Neil ended hie tact:duns, as men in subordinate etatious are at to do, with this grave remark—" It is no busines of mine ; I have but to fight. Let those who are answerable for the results of the ar- rangements fret and fume, lest these arrangements should prove to be unfortu- nate."

Slowly and heavily the night wore on ; its progress being little enlivened to the inhabitants of Brehuega by the sounds which continually reached them of the heavy roll of cart iage wheels, and by other noises indicative of the work of the morrow. Anxiously the sentries looked up from time to time, as the clatter of chains and the ringing of entrenching tools disturbed the quiet. But no one came near their posts. They felt, indeed, that an active enemy was around them ; but on their own personal vigilanze during the hours of darkness little demand was made. At last the day bloke; and, as if a train had been laid, and torch applied to it, there opened front hill and plain a fire of artillery, which told with orodieious effect upon the miserable fortifications and exposed

• condition of the defenders.

Another stage in tl e a) proacles to Chelsea.

MILITANT HOSPITALS.

Gentle reader, has it ever been thy fate to be carried helpless and wounded to a military hospital, while the fight is going on? If it have, then thou wilt • and in no need of instruction from me; if not, peradventure thy respect for th ,so whom honour and duty render liable every day to such a mode of treat- ment may not be lessened if I tell thee, in few words how, under such circum- -stances, it fares with them. Behold, then, the soldier struck down by some unseen hand, faint, arid alionst without pain, when his wound first reaches him, conscious only of the preseace of a burning seusation in the part that is in- jured, arid el a numbness that spreads through the rest of his limbs, and a parching thirst that chokes up his throat ; see him, after lying for a moment urotionlese, lift up his heavy head, and turn an imploting look towards his comrades that are near him, two or more of whom immediately raise him from the earth, and lead or car m- hint to the rear. Ile is conducted to some house, scarcely out of reach of the enemy's artillety, into an apartment of which, where, ranged in rows along each wall, multitudes that preceded him are stretched aflength, his conductors deposit hint. If there be straw on which -Is rest the poor invalid, a fortunate titan is he; if a tnattrass, then may kings on their down beds envy him ; if neither of these comforts be near, why, then, he stretches himself' at length on the bare beanie, and waits' with what patience he can Cl/MUM:A d till it shall be his turn to be attende to. How bitter are the groans that now fall upon his ear ! fur though a wound when first received be seldom painful, the limb no artener begins to stiffen and Mullins. Coo to come on, than the agony is excruciating. And if the ball have struck

delicate part, such as the instep or the ankle, or any other part where the nerves and sluews are frequent, then God help the poor sufferer !

And last we come to the place itself.

Chehea Hospital is of course, designed to furnish an asylum for those ambers of the regular army ion., whom wounds, or sickness, or old age may have totally disabled. Its inmates are, therefore, from the first to the last, in valids, tbat is to say, men affected by some infirmity or other ; which though not visible to the eye of the common spectator is by the patient Ihbasself, abundantly felt. Even in the "depths" of Chelsea Hospital, however, there is "a deeper still," so that out of the five hundred and fifty individuals that make up the weak. ness r.f the garrison, there are generally front sixty to one hundred cases of eaitreme debt i y. For their reception an infirmary has been erected ; and he who is really anxious to behold the perfection of such establishments, cannot do better than seek for it here.

. The infirmary, fitted up fur the accommodation of eighty patients, is divided into two departments ; one of which, under charge of the physician, contain* sufferers from such maladies as do not arise from external violence, while within the other the surgeon dresses old hurts, or deale as he heat can, with sores and recent injuries. Not that either physician or surgeon can do much to perfect the recovery of men whose constitutions, long befiwe they came under his care, were thoroughly broken down. But, whatever can be effected by great kindness, by extreme attention, by a generous diet, by the unrestricted Mehl!. gence of every proper wish, to run life's sande out smoothly, and alleviate sufferings that the skill of man may not hope to remove, is here fully accomplished. To the honour of the country be it recorded, that no corn. fort of which his condition stands in need, is denied to the dying veteran. He inhabits a clean, and airy and epacioue chamber. He has nurses tu wait upon him by day and night ; fuel, food, drink, apparel, all are at his command, not only in abundance, but delicately. Tea, coffee, wine, brandy, fresh eggs, mutton, poultry, and the best home-baked bread, brittle+, fish, alt. that the sickly appetite can desire or the feverish imagination fancy, are administered, without one moment's unworthy reference to expense, though never in a spirit of extravagance. And if ever there existed a grateful set of men upon earth, among these poor lidlows you will find them. Fretful they may sometimes be, when the fit of pain is upon them ; impatient and unrea- sonable, when sickness presses them sore; but no one has ever yet conversed with them in their comparative ease, without receiving an impression every way favourable to their tempers as men, and to their feelings as Christians. OR the whole, therefore, the infirmary of Chelsea Hospital may be truly pronounced the noblest portion of a noble institution : becau.e in it not only are the bodily wants of a most deserving class of persons supplied to the uttamost, but senti- ments are generated in their minds out of which it is impossible to conceive that some improvement to their moral nature shall not arise. For the chaplaia, not less than the physician and surgeon, is expected frequently to visit the in- firmary. And he who writes these lines can testify, that nowhere are the visite of one, who comes with a message of peace, more thankfully received, or more gratefully acknowledged. Stteaking of the diet in the infirmary, reminds nie of that which is day by day issued out to the inmates of the wards. Thaugh less diversified, of course, than that afforded to the sick, it ii both abundant in quantity, and excellent in quality. A breakfast of cocoa and bread and butter—a dinner of mutton, or beef, with potatoes and vegetables in abundance, a pint and a half uf the best porter that London can produce, and an allowance of cheese, furnish each man with about forty-eight ounces of nutritious laud daily; a proportion fully adequate to the necessities of the youngest and the most hard.working, and in this case greater than can sometimes be consumed. Yet would it be unkiud to curtail the allowance; for there are comparatively few of these sill men who have not a wife, or a child, or near connexion of some sort, dependent on them ; and the fragments of their food which they are unable or unwilling to consume themselves they rarely omit to divide with their relatives.

VETERANS' TASTES IN READING.

A9 excellent care is thus taken to provide for the bodily wants of the pen. sinners, so are they not left without resources by an appeal to which they can at all times find both an agreeable and useful occupation for their minds. Chelsea Hospital can boast of its library, the exclusive property of the pensioners, which, if it contain neither a very extensive collection of books, nor any curious specimens either of manuscript or typography, serves all the purposes which it was ever meant to serve, and is tolerably well frequented. Except in the event of a severe illness, the pensioners are not usually pet misted to carry books home to their own wards; but a ticket front the chaplain gives to each who chooses to apply for it, a right of admission to the library itself, where benches and tables are always prepared, and a cheerful fire kept burning. There, day after day, may be seen groups of students, not unworthy of the pencil which has already, though under different circumstances, immortalized them, each storing his memory with the peculiar matters which most fill in with his tastes, and improving his mot-al being while he exercises his intellectual faculties. It is worthy of remark that the inmates of Chelsea Hospital are not, in general, devourers of mere trash. Sir Walter Scott's, and a few other novels, such as Captain Marryatt's, are always acceptable to them. But in the main their habits lead them to the perusal first, of woike having a high religion! Cow and bearing, and next, of history, books of travels, voyages, and military narrative.

The work is dedicated to the Queen Dowager, and dated from Dresden; though we should have thought a chaplain to upwards of five hundred aged invalids might have found employment with- out a Continental tour, especially as he tells us there are several deaths weekly.