THE 
WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
“ ENTOMA QUIDQUID AGENT NOSTHI EST FARRAGO LIBELLI.” 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1862. [Price 2 d . 
RETROSPECTION. 
by a contributor. 
Before another number issues from 
the Press, the old year will have 
ceased to be a thing of the Present. 
To many of us, it will be, we hope, 
a time of honest congratulation — con- 
gratulation which, while it looks with 
a pardonable sense of complacency on 
the difficulties and achievements of the 
Past, will couple with that spirit a 
renewed resolve not to rest idly on 
our laurels, to be “ up and doing,” 
to keep our pace, if not more swiftly 
than before, at least without flagging 
in the race. 
There is an old story of Napoleon 
which we cannot refrain from laying 
before our readers, leaving them to 
extract the point for themselves. A 
battery of eight guns, belonging to 
the enemy had, for some time, been 
an object of strong desire to the minds 
of the restless Erench Officers. Each 
man was ambitious to win the Em- 
peror’s favour, by securing the prize, 
but each man was well aware that, 
to do so, he must run a very great 
risk of “shuffling off this mortal 
coil.” 
At last, a veteran Officer who had 
won a host of honours in his countij s 
service, determined to hazard an as- 
sault, and marking a moment when 
the enemy’s forces were less vigilant 
than usual, he dashed through the 
van guard of bewildered warriors and 
secured, by a magnificent coup-de- 
main, seven of the longwished-for 
guns. 
Ushered into the Emperor’s pre- 
sence, he cried out that the battery 
was stormed and taken. 
“And whom,” said Napoleon 
“ must I thank for such a, splendid 
victory ? ” 
“ Your majesty, it was I who led 
the men.” 
“ And how many guns have you 
brought us ?” continued the Emperor. 
“Seven, your Majesty,” replied 
the old man proudly.” 
“ Go then,” said Napoleon, in a 
stern voice, 
“ Go and return when you can 
report that the eighth is not lost 
to us.” 
Are there not many, who, when 
the cheery bells rang gladly for the 
New Year’s dawning, vowed that 
this should be a year of new and 
sustained effort ? Are there not 
many who vowed that each month 
and week and day should chronicle 
