THE CAMP FIRE. XXIU 



"THE FIELD." 



THE CAMP FIRE. 



By H. A. L., " The Old Shekaert," Author of " The Hunting Grounds 

 of the Old World." 



This is a volume of songs and poems by H. A. L., who is better known by 

 his exploits in flood and field than by his poetry. But in this case war and 

 the rifle are laid aside, and the softer sport of the muses is followed, and 

 with some success. Most of the songs, he says, were written at different 

 periods during the Russian war, when old friends and comrades used to 

 meet nightly in each other's tents, or round the camp fire, and everyone 

 was expected to sing when his turn came round. The poem of " Inker- 

 mann " was written when the author was confined to his couch from severe 

 wounds received at that battle, and when, having but few books and no other 

 means of amusement, time, as may be supposed, hung heavily on his hands. 

 No doubt such a task served to pass away many dull and weary hours, and, 

 besides proving a solace and recreation during a long and irksome confine- 

 ment, it also served to act as a sedative against continual pain, and pre- 

 vented the mind from dwelling upon those heart-rending death-scenes that 

 of necessity were continually taking place in a crowded military hospital. 

 The poem of " Inkermann " is divided into four parts ; it gives a very 

 graphic idea of that great battle, and we notice some very heart-stirring 

 and warlike stanzas in its course. The miscellaneous poems, the " Bashi- 

 Bazouk " and the " Alarm in Camp " especially, have in them plenty of that 

 vigour and fire with which we are well acquainted in the author's hunting 

 sketches, and are far above the average in these things. 



" THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS," Decemler 1st, 1866. 



THE CAMP FIRE. 



By H. A. L., " The Old Shekaeey." 



The gallant author of this volume of poems is well known, both per- 

 sonally and in his literary character, as the hero and historian of many 

 remarkable exploits in warfare and in the chase of wild beasts, whether in 

 Central India or in the valleys of the Himalaya ranges, or in Asiatic Turkey, 



