fortunately, not be denied; and the Duke of Alba, the servant of Philip II., reared up in Spanish notions of kingly absolutism and of Papal supremacy, may, no doubt, have carried severity to the full verge of the unhappy practice of the period; but this, bad enough certainly, can justify no belief in the worthless tales of horror so often related of his cruelty and sanguinary conduct; and the savage boast of having caused 18,000 persons to perish on the scaffold, which so many writers make him utter, is simply worthless falsehood, unsupported by a shadow of proof. The letters and speeches ascribed to him by Spanish writers, all breathe a high and lofty tone of honourable feeling, a scorn of everything like meanness, but nowhere do we find any appearance of harshness or cruelty; and his forbearance in Italy, when Rome was at his mercy, and his recommendation to Philip to extend mercy and liberality to his Belgian subjects, should serve as evidences in his favour, as well as the generous courtesy always shown to officers of rank who fell as prisoners of war into his hands.

His merit as a soldier need not be enlarged upon here. His long career of success, the discipline he maintained in most difficult situations, the tactical improvements he introduced, and the admirable advice he gave the unfortunate Don Sebastian of Portugal, all prove him to have been gifted with high military qualities.

Our space precludes, of course, all possibility of our entering into details on these points. Imperfectly as a mere sketch like the present can do justice to any historical character, there is hardly an eminent man of name and fame whose biography so little admits of being compressed within narrow bounds as even the biography of the Duke of Alba. There is no unity of scene or action in his career; he is constantly hurried from country to country, and he appears on every new scene of action under new and totally different circumstances; and to describe these at length,

and draw the very form and features of his character from his conduct and actions, would require ten times the space we can afford here. We can, unfortunately, give only dry results, and cannot lay bare the working of the many springs that produced them; we can only sketch a meagre outline therefore, but cannot write a biography.

We are led to make these concluding remarks because we think the life of the Duke of Alba offers an admirable subject for a historical biography. The composition of such a work would furnish honourable occupation to some of our half-pay comrades; and as there are many who possess the requisite abilities, and have ample means to visit Spain and examine the archives, the 'Histoire du Duc d'Albe' might serve as a foundation for such a work, and the Letters of Philip II., now publishing at Brussels, would furnish valuable materials. The Germans have a good history of the Smalkaldic War, and the Revolution in the Netherlands has been described by all parties and in all languages, so that materials for the work cannot be war ting.

I

VI.

FIELD-MARSHAL SUWAROFF, AND THE

CAMPAIGN OF 1799.

"Suwarrow chiefly was on the alert,

Surveying, ordering, jesting, pondering;

For the man was, we safely may assert,

A thing o wonder at beyond most wondering."

BYRON.

IF history be philosophy teaching by example, then are her lessons never more impressive than when she traces great events distinctly back to the influence of great character, and when she shows us the noble and the high of heart rising above accumulating difficulties, before which feeble and ordinary men would have sunk prostrate to the earth. The impression is deepened and saddened, when, having exulted in the progress of genius and courage, we are forced, in the end, to see their best efforts marred, even within sight of the goal; and that by the outbursting of some dark passion which had lain dormant, unknown, perhaps, n a gallant breast, till, at the turn of fate, it arose in might to tarnish the glory of years by one moment's fatal influence. The life of Suwaroff illustrates this so strongly, that we shall here give a short sketch of his history, and of the last great events in which he was engaged. We have the more pleasure in doing so, because

the publication of his letters, written during the campaign of 1799, and Schmitt's recent account of his life, enable us to represent this extraordinary person divested of the motley coat in which so many authors have arrayed him. With the exception of the Czar Peter, Suwaroff was the greatest man Russia ever produced: his noble qualities belonged to himself; and what he wanted of real greatness was owing more, perhaps, to the half-barbarous state of the people among whom all but the two last years of his life were passed, than to any actual deficiency of his own.

Alexander Wasilowitch Suwaroff was born in 1722, at the village of Suskoy, on the Dnieper. His father, a man of noble family, served in the army, and rose, during the Seven Years' War, to the rank of lieutenant-general. As education had not, at that period, made any great progress in Russia, it was fortunate for the young Suwaroff that his father had interest enough to get him placed in the military academy founded by Peter the Great. Considering how little was then taught in these seminaries, the young man must have applied with attention to his studies; for he learned at least to speak several languages with great fluency. In 1742 he obtained an ensigncy; the next year he made, against the Swedes in Finland, his first campaign, and from that period his entire life was one continued scene of active exertion. Present in most of the actions fought between the Russians and Prussians during the Seven Years' War, he particularly distinguished himself at the battle of Zorndorf, where he served as major, and was wounded. But, regardless of his wounds, he rallied and brought off, in some sort of order, the remnant of his battalion, which had shared in the overthrow of the Russian infantry, when the intrepid Seidlitz, like an avenging Avater, sent to punish the crimes and misdeeds of which this barbarous soldiery had been guilty, burst upon their devoted masses with the full force of the Prussian cavalry. After the peace Suwaroff was made a brigadier; and when

Russia embraced the cause of Stanislaus Potoky against the confederated Poles, he took the town of Cracow. In 1769 he was made lieutenant-general, and accompanied the armies of Prince Gallizin and Count Romjanzow in their expedition against the Turks. In 1774 he put an end to the rebellion of Pugatcheff, by capturing that adventurer, and dispersing his followers. During the subsequent peace he governed the countries which he had before assisted to conquer; but was again employed in the field on the renewal of the war in 1787. And here the brilliant period of his career may be said to have commenced. He first defeated the Osmanli at Kinburn, though he was himself severely wounded at the commencement of the action. Finding; in 1789, that Prince Coburg was surrounded by the army of the Grand Vizir, and in a very perilous situation, he made a forced march with 10,000 Russians, joined the Austrians, and, in conjunction with them, completely defeated the Turks on the banks of the Rymnick, a rivulet from which he derived his title of Rymniskoy. This victory made Suwaroff a field-marshal, and obtained for him, both from his own sovereign and from the Emperor Joseph, far more rewards than it is here necessary to enumerate. In 1790 he took Ismail by storm. Glorious as the capture of this fortress was to the general and his army, the ruthless manner in which the victory was used cast a deep stain over the honour of both. Upwards of 30,000 men are said to have fallen in the assault and in the carnage that ensued after the place was entered.

It is related that Suwaroff gave out the following order on the evening before the attack :-"To-morrow I shall rise an hour before daylight; I shall wash, dress, and pray; I shall then crow like a cock, when the town will be stormed according to the dispositions already issued." Tales of this kind, like the one which describes him as filling, when a very young man, a sack full of the heads of