638 Notes for the Month . [ j u x E, 



is to pass the night. The clothes are thrown off; and, covered only with their 

 long cloaks, the soldiers run in search of provisions, wood, water, straw what- 

 ever is wanting. Fires are lighted; the pot is soon on, and boils ; trees brought 

 in from the forest are rudely fashioned into huts , and the air rings with the fall of 

 the hatchet and the cry of the labourers. While the meat is dressing, the men, 

 impatient of inactivity, repair their clothes and shoes, and clean their arms and 

 accoutrements. The soup is presently ready, and it is eaten. If there is no wine, 

 the conversation is calm, without being sad ; and an early retirement to sleep ensures 

 the recovery of strength against next day. If, on the contrary, liquor is to be 

 obtained, the evening is prolonged. The veterans relate to the recruits, drawn 

 round their watch-fires, where here or there the regiment of each has acquired 

 its glory. They start up with joy even at the recollection of how the Emperor, 

 at such or such a place, when he was supposed to be far off, suddenly appeared in 

 front of the grenadiers, mounted upon his white horse, and followed by his Mame- 

 luke. " Oh ! how we should have cut up the Russians and Prussians, if the regi- 

 ment on our right had fought that day as we did! if the cavalry had been ready 

 at the moment when they began to give way ! if the reserve had behaved as the 

 vanguard did not one of the ragged rascals not one of them would have 

 escaped!" "* 



The above is the French side of the field. We now come to the 

 British : 



" Now turn your eyes upon the opposite camp. See the English, fatigued, ill- 

 tempered, and almost immoveable. They seem to wait, like the spectres of tha 

 Turkish armies, till slaves set up their tents and prepare their dinners. And yet they 

 have only made a short march ; and it is but two hours after noon when they reach 

 the ground upon which they are to pass the night. Bread and wine is served out 

 to them. The sergeant distributes the work and the various duties. He shews 

 where the water is and the wood, points out which trees are to be cut down, and 

 even the place where every stick is to be used. Notwithstanding all which, the 

 work goes on slowly, clumsily, and is very incomplete when it is done. What 

 has become, then, of the industrious, enterprising spirit of this nation, which sur- 

 passes all others in the mechanic arts ? It is that the soldiers are used to do nothing 

 but ihat which they are commanded. Once put out of their routine, all is embarrass- 

 ment to them and disappointment. Once liberated from the control of discipline, they 

 abandon themselves to excesses which would disgust even Cossacks: they get drunk 

 with all possible expedition ; and their intoxication is cold, apathetic, and stupify- 

 ing. Subordination is the sine qua non of the existence of an English army. It 

 is composed of men who are incapable of moderation in abundance, and it would 

 disband in a time of scarcity." 



The excellent general has a partisan's and a patriot's title to speak 

 favourably of his own countrymen and fellow-soldiers; and he has not let 

 this privilege lie idle. Nothing can be more true than the superior address 

 of the French soldier in hutting himself and foraging. Some considera- 

 tion, however, should be made as to the last point, from the circumstance 

 that he is accustomed to supply (in the campaign) all his daily wants by 

 plunder a habit which, in the British army, is not permitted. But, with 

 the admission of his superior dexterity in these operations, and of his supe- 

 rior gaiety arid good manners, our agreement with the general ceases. The 

 " amiable simplicity " in the French soldier, which he so strongly con- 

 trasts with the indolent sluggishness and ready love of intoxication peculiar 

 to our jolter-beaded English, will be a little too much for the patience of 

 those of our military readers who have lived among the French, either as 

 allies or prisoners; or who have even merely known their habits by pass- 

 ing over a country which they have possessed and abandoned. The Eng- 

 lish soldier is like a bear heavy enough in appearance, and dangerous 

 when baited ; but the Frenchman is like a monkey, who, with a consti- 

 tutional, amusing sort of mischievous grimace, has even more of ferocity 

 than his growling opponent, and fifty times more of dirt, and obscenity, 



