sions and wine to the soldiers. Many persons of the most unquestionable veracity in Sarragossa declare, that they have frequently seen this young, delicate, and beautiful woman coolly attending to the duties she had prescribed to herself, in the midst of the most tremendous fire of shot and shells; nor were they even able to perceive, from the first moment that she entered into these novel scenes, that the idea of personal danger could produce upon her the slightest effect, or bend her from her benevolent and patriotic purpose.

A RAGGED REGIMENT.

In 1690, the French attacked and defeated the Prince of Waldeck at Fleurus. During this action, a lieutenant-colonel of a French regiment, whose name well merited preservation, was on the point of charging. Not knowing how to animate his men, who were very discontented with having commenced the campaign without being clothed, he said to them, friends, I congratulate you, that you have the good fortune to be in the presence of a regiment newly clothed. Charge them vigorously, and we will clothe ourselves." This pleasantry so inspirited the soldiers, that they rushed on the regiment, destroyed it, and completely dressed themselves on the field of battle.

ADMIRAL KING.

My

In the engagement between Sir Edward Hughes and M. de Suffrein in 1781, the Exeter was almost reduced to a complete wreck, having at times from three to five ships upon her. Commodore King, who commanded her, displayed the most unshaken fortitude and presence of mind. Toward the close of the action, as two of the enemy's ships were bearing down to attack the Exeter, already a wreck, the master asked the commodore what he should do with the ship? To which he bravely replied, There is nothing to be done but to fight till she sinks."

him with great agitation, that the ship was on fire near the magazine. "If that be the case," said he, rising leisurely to put on his clothes, "we shall soon hear a further report of the matter." The lieutenant flew back to the scene of danger, and almost instantly exclaimed, "You need not, sir, be afraid, the fire is extinguished." "Afraid?" exclaimed Howe, "what do you mean by that, sir? I never was afraid in my life; and looking the lieutenant full in the face, he added, "Pray, how does a man feel, sir, when he is afraid? I need not ask how he looks."

MILITARY DEVOTION.

In 1760, the Prince of Brunswick, Commander-in-Chief of the Hanoverian army, had made every disposition to surprise, by night, the French army. Louis d'Assas, captain in the regiment of Auvergne, was posted with his regi ment near the wood of Klostercamp, in the De partment of Roer; and, wishing to assure himself of the position of the enemy, he went alone to explore the wood. He had not advanced many steps when he was surrounded by a troop of the enemy, who pointing their bayonets at him, threatened to kill him on the spot if he uttered a word. D'Assas, superior to all personal considerations when duty called, cried out with all his might, "A moi d'Auvergne ! The enemy are at hand." He was on the instant bayoneted to death; but his last words, by giving the alarm, saved the army.

An instance of similar devotion occurred at the siege of Dantzic, in 1807. One Fortunas, a private in the 12th French light infantry, happened to stray in the dark into the midst of a column of Russians, who cried out to an advancing body of French, "Do not fire; we are Frenchmen!" Although threatened with instant death if he spoke, he boldly called out, "Fire, fire, my captain; they are not French, but Russians !"

FORTUNATE TEMERITY.

The Portuguese being besieged by a body of Indians in Brazil, one of them of the name of Rodriquez took a barrel of gun-powder in his arms, and called out to his companions, "Stand out of the way. I carry my own death and that of others." He then threw it in the middle of his enemies with a match so lighted, as to explode the moment he threw it down. It burst immediately, and blew to atoms more than a hundred Indians. It is most surprising, that Rodriquez escaped unhurt, and continued to distinguish himself by similar actions of valor.

LORD HOWE.

Admiral Lord Howe, when a captain, was once hastily awakened in the middle of the night ||

GENERAL DESAIX.

At the battle of Marengo, General Desaix was struck by a ball, at the first charge of his division, and died almost instantly. He had only time to say to the young Le Brun, his aide-decamp, "Go, and tell the first consul, that my only regret in dying is, that I have done nothing for posterity." Thus modest to the last was one of the bravest and best of men the French revolution has produced. The Austrians were wont to call him the brave, the indefatigable general. The Germans, over whom it was his frequent lot to exercise the rights of conquest, reverenced him as the good Desaix; and the ferocious Arabs, subjugated not more by his valor than his wisdom, decreed him the sublime title of the Just Sultan.

The day before the battle in which his race of glory was thus so early terminated, he observed,

somewhat prophetically, to one of his aides-decamp, "It is a long time since I fought in Europe. The bullets won't know me again; something will happen."

When the tidings of his death were brought to the first consul, in the midst of the hottest of the engagement, he was much affected; and it was one of his earliest commands after the victory, that a splendid monument should be erected to the fallen hero, on the top of Mont St. Bernard.

GENERAL VALHUBERT.

At the battle of Austerlitz, it was the French order of the day not to weaken the ranks, in order to give assistance to the wounded. General Valhubert was among those who fell, severely wounded by a cannon shot in the thigh. His soldiers stopped to raise him up. The gallant general waved to them to be gone, exclaiming, "Remember the order of the day; you can pick me up after the victory!" He was afterwards removed, and met death with the most heroic tranquillity. "In an hour," he wrote to the emperor, "I shall be no more. I do not regret life, since I have participated in a victory which will ensure you a happy reign. When you think of the brave, who were devoted to your service, remember Valhubert."

SCOTCH PIRATE.

A Scotch corsair, of the name of Le Breton, having been attacked by some English vessels in 1512, defended himself with extraordinary courage; but being at last mortally wounded, and no longer able to contend with the enemy, he bade one of his men bring him his hautboy, or flute, on which he played for their encouragement, as long as his breath would permit him.

SINGULAR CAPTURE.

English history does not record a more daring action than that of Edward Stanley, an English officer, at the attack on one of the forts of Zutphen in the low countries, in the year 1586. Three hundred Spaniards, defended this fort, and when Stanley approached it, one of them thrust a pike at him to kill him; he seized hold of it with both his hands, and held it with such force, that the Spaniards, unable to wrest it from him, drew him up into the fort. He instantly drew his sword, and dispersed all that were present. This so astonished the garrison, that it gave Stanley's followers time to storm the fort, and establish themselves in their conquest.

VICE ADMIRAL DE VIC. Dominique de Vic, governor of Amiens and Calais, and Vice-Admiral of France, lost the calf of his right leg by a gun-shot wound in the year 1586, and though the part was well cured, yet he could not attempt to ride on horseback

without experiencing the most excruciating pain. In consequence of this, he retired from public life and settled at Guyenne. He had lived there about three years, when he was informed of the death of Henry the Third, and the embarrassments of Henry the Fourth, and the great need in which he stood of all his good servants. directly had his wounded leg amputated, sold part of his estates, entered into the king's service once more, and rendered him the most signal service at the battle of Ivri.

He

Two days after Henry the Fourth was assassinated, de Vic going through the Rue de la Ferronerie, and seeing the spot on which this horrid murder was committed, fell senseless to the ground, and died next morning.

CONSTANCE DE CEZELLI.

During the troubles of the League in 1590, Barri de Saint Aunez, governor of Leucate for Henry IV. left the garrison to communicate a project to the Duc de Montmorenci, who commanded in Languedoc. He was taken prisoner on the road by the Leaguers, who immediately marched with the Spaniards towards Leucate. They pressed the governor to deliver up the place. They threatened, at the same time, to kill him, if he did not persuade Constance de Cezelli, his wife, who had put herself at the head of the garrison, to open the gates. He was immoveable. Constance, informed of the danger of her husband, replied, "that if the Leaguers would do an act of injustice, she could not restrain them, but that she would never purchase the life of her husband, by giving up a fortress for the preservation of which he would glory to die." The besiegers made several other attempts to persuade her, which were ineffectual. ted at this courageous resistance, which a generous enemy would have admired, they put in execution their cruel threat, and then raised the siege. The garrison wished to retaliate on the Seigneur de Loupain, who was of the party of the League, and who had been made prisoner; but our heroine opposed it. Henry IV. who knew how to recompense great actions, sent her the brevet as governor of Leucate, with the reversion of it to her son.

AGED INDIAN.

Irrita

The French, in the year 1696, attacked the Iroquois Indians in Canada, whom they surprised and dispersed. An illustrious warrior of that nation, who was more than a hundred years old, disdaining to fly, or unable to do it, was taken prisoner, and abandoned to the savages attached to the French force, who, following their barbarous customs, made him suffer the most horrible torments. The old man never suffered a sigh to escape him, but boldly reproached his countrymen with rendering themselves slaves to the Europeans, of whom he spoke with great contempt. These invectives aggravated one of the spectators, who gave him three or four blows with his sword to finish him. "Thou art wrong,"

said the prisoner coolly, "to shorten my life; thou wouldst have had more time to learn how to die like a man."

EMPEROR SIGISMUND.

Some noblemen of Hungary entered the chamber of Sigismund, Emperor of Germany, with an intention of assassinating him, or at least of taking him prisoner. The emperor advancing towards them with a look of great dignity and intrepidity, exclaimed, "Is any one amongst you bold enough to attempt to lay his hands upon me? What have I done to deserve death? If you want to kill me, let any one of you approach me, and I will defend myself."

RUSSIAN DISCIPLINE.

In September, 1777, there happened at St. Petersburg a sudden inundation of a very considerable extent, The empress seeing from her balcony that the water came within reach of the sentinel placed before the palace, called out to him to retire within doors, which the soldier refused to do. The empress asked him if he knew her; the man replied in the affirmative, and that though he knew her majesty, no one but his corporal could relieve him. The waters increased, and reached the sentinel's knees. The empress sent several messengers to him, but all to no purpose. It now became requisite to call the corporal, who was found asleep in the guard-house, and he was almost obliged to swim to relieve the honest private, who by that time had only his head and shoulders above water, and would composedly have suffered himself to be drowned, notwithstanding the formal and repeated orders of his sovereign.

BATTLE OF CAMPERDOWN.

Dr. Duncan, the chaplain to Lord Duncan, relates the following anecdote of Covey, a marine who lost both his legs on board the Venerable, his lordship's flag ship at the battle of Camperdown: "You are not," says the doctor, "to imagine that I was circumscribed to the narrow bounds of my clerical office; in the day of blood I was on triple duty; alternately acting as a sailor, chaplain, and surgeon's assistant, when the battle might be truly said to bleed in every vein. I was now called to minister to the recoverable, now to the irrecoverable. A marine of the name of Covey was brought down to the Burgery deprived of both his legs; and it was necessary some hours after to amputate still higher. 'I suppose,' says Covey, those scissors will finish the business of the bullet, Master Mate?' Indeed, my brave fellow,' cried the surgeon, there is some fear of it.' 'Well, never mind,' said Covey, I've lost my legs to be sure, and mayhap may lose my life; but we have beat the Dutch, my boy, we have beat the Dutch; this blessed day my legs have been shot off, so I'll have another cheer for it-huzza! huzza !''' Covey recovered, and was cook of one of the

ships in ordinary at Portsmouth, where he died in 1805.

GENERAL DUMOURIER.

Dumourier when a young man, served in the French army, under the command of Marquess de Castries, and was taken prisoner the evening before the battle of Closter Camp, about the year 1760. Being assailed by a score of the enemy's hussars, he defended himself with great bravery, and at the same time called on some of the French troopers who had just fled to come to his assistance. He disabled two of the hussars from continuing the combat; but his horse fell down dead under him; and to increase his misfortune, his left stirrup, which happened to be formed of untempered iron, was bent close to his foot by the weight of his charger. He disengaged his leg, but his foot was still fast; notwithstanding this, he sustained a combat for five minutes against his furious antagonists, until Baron de Behr came up, to whom he surrendered himself a pris

oner.

A SON'S DISGRACE NOBLY REPAIRED.

Jolibois, a veteran, having learnt that his son had deserted the first battalion of Paris, felt so indignant at this disgrace to his name, that he instantly resolved to go and supply the recreant's place. He joined the army just before the battle of Jemappe, in which he fought with great gallantry, exclaiming at every shot he fired, "O my son why should the painful remembrance of thy fault embitter moments so glorious?"

FIGHTING ENTHUSIASM.

During one of the engagements in the late war in Spain, a private soldier, named William Bisket, had his thigh perforated by a musket ball. With his musket in his hand he quitted the field, the blood flowing from his wound as he passed to the rear. He had proceeded about two hundred yards, when, turning round, he beheld his companions supporting the conflict with undiminished ardor. At the sight his bosom was fired anew; he returned to the gory field, to assist his handful of friends against the numerous legions of their enemies. Being asked what motive induced him to rejoin his company, he replied, "To have another shot at the rascals, sir, before I leave you." The gallant soldier fired once, and was in the act of presenting his piece a second time, when another ball penetrated his arm above the elbow, shattered the bone, and compelled the hero to retire from the field of honor, regretted by his admiring countrymen.

In another action in the Peninsula, a private in one of the English companies, of the name of William Dougald, was hit on the thigh by three spent balls in the course of five minutes, and although all of them were severe in their kind, the poor fellow never quitted the field. A few days afterwards, another engagement with the French

seemed inevitable, and Dougald being so lame as to be scarcely able to walk, he was desired to go to the rear. "No," said he, "I will rather die than leave my comrades." With the utmost pain and exertions he kept up with the company; he reached the army, fought bravely, and in fifteen minutes was stretched lifeless on the ground by the side of one of their riflemen.

COOLNESS.

At the battle of Minden, a Corps of French grenadiers, commanded by M. N. Perer, were exposed to a battery that carried off whole files at once. N. Perer wishing them not to fall back, rode slowly in front of the line with his snuff-box in his hand, and said, "Well, my boys, what's the matter? Eh, cannon! Well, it kills you, it kills you, that's all, my boys; march on, and never mind it."

FAMILY SACRIFICE.

During the French revolution, a Madame Saintmaraule, with her daughter, and a youth, her son, not yet of age, were confined in prison and brought to trial. The mother and daughter behaved with resolution, and were sentenced to die; but of the youth no other notice was taken, except that he was remanded back to prison. "What!" exclaimed the boy, “am I then to be separated from my mother? It cannot be !" and immediately be cried out, "Vive Le Roi !" in consequence of this he was instantly condemned to death, and with his mother and his sister, was led out to execution.

INTREPID BISHOP.

A house in the town of Auch had taken fire; the whole staircase was in flames; and in the highest story there was a feeble old woman, cut off apparently from every way of escape. The bishop of the place offered two thousand francs to any person who would rescue her from destruction. No one presented himself; the flames made rapid progress; the unfortunate victim of years and infirmity was on the point of perishing. The bishop did not stop any longer to deliberate; he wrapped a wet cloth around him; rushed into the midst of the raging element; reached the woman; and brought her down in safety.

UNEXPECTED REWARD.

M. Labat, a merchant of Bayonne, ill in health, had retired in the beginning of the winter, 1803, to a country house on the banks of the Adour. One morning, when promenading in his robe-dechambre, on a terrace elevated a little above the river, he saw a traveller thrown by a furious horse, from the opposite bank, into the midst of the torrent. M. Labat was a good swimmer; he did not stop a moment to reflect on the danger of the attempt, but ill as he was, threw off his robe-de-chambre, leaped into the flood, and caught the drowning stranger at the moment

when, having lost all sensation, he must have otherwise inevitably perished. “Oh, God!” exclaimed M. Labat, clasping him in his arms, and recognizing with a transport of joy the individual he had saved; "sacred humanity! what do I not owe thee? I have saved my son!"

1

LA ROCHEJACQUELEIN.

In the commencement of the Vendéen war, the royalists took Saumur. M. de la Rochejacquelein attacked the republican camp, and turn→ ed it; the ditch was crossed, a wall beyond it thrown down, and the post carried. M. de la Rochejacquelein throwing his hat into the entrenchment, called out, "Who will go and fetch it?" and darting forward the first himself, he was quickly followed by a great number of brave peasants.

This gallant youth, who commanded the Vendéen army, and was always at the post of honor and of danger, fell in the cause he had so ardently espoused, in the twentyfirst year of his age.

D'ELBEE.

When the Vendéen General, M. d'Elbée, was taken prisoner by the republicans, he was at death's door from his wounds. They entered his chamber, saying, "So this is d'Elbée!" "Yes," replied he, “ you see your greatest enemy, and had I strength to fight, you should not have taken Noirmoutier; or at least you should have purchased it dearly." They kept him five days, and loaded him with insults; but he submitted to their examinations with great moderation, until at length exhausted by suffering, he said, "Gentlemen, it is time to conclude; let me die." As he was unable to stand, they placed this brave and virtuous general in an arm chair, where he was shot.

FEMALE VOLUNTEERS.

A Vendéen heroine of the name of Jeanne Robin could not be dissuaded from taking up arms in the cause of royalty. She obtained one of the coarse cottons which were given to the poorest of the soldiers, took the sacrament, and then hastened to the camp. The evening before the battle of Thouars, she sought for M. de Lescure, and addressing him, said, "General, I am a woman! Madame de Lescure knows it, and also that my character is good. To-morrow there is to be a battle; let me but have a pair of shoes, and I am sure I shall fight, so that you will not send me away." She indeed fought under the eye of M. de Lescure, and called to him, "General, you must not pass me, I shall always be nearer the blues (the republicans) than you." She was wounded in the hand, but this only animated her the more; and showing it to him, she said, "This is nothing." Then rushing furiously into the thickest part of the engagement, she perished.

After a great assault at Ostend, among the heaps of slain was found the body of a young

Spanish woman, who it was conjectured by her wounds had been slain in the assault. She had under her apparel a chain of gold set with precious stones, besides other jewels. It never could be ascertained who she was, or what had induced her to brave the hazards of war, although every inquiry was made on the subject.

MARSHAL NEY.

On the memorable retreat from Portugal, Marshal Ney commanded the rear guard, and had to maintain several conflicts with the English troops. On retreating through Pombal, the moment the English entered the town, the bells were ordered to be rung, and every kind of rejoicing to be made, even it is said, to the burning of Ney and Massena in effigy. Ney being made acquainted with the fact, instantly turned round and drove the British out at the point of the bayonet, and set fire to the town. He then wrote a letter to Lord Wellington, stating that he was sorry to have been compelled to such a measure; but he felt it necessary to prove to his lordship, that it was hunger, and that only, that obliged the French to retreat out of Portugal.

TRAITS OF WATERLOO. Amidst the confusion presented by the fiercest and closest cavalry fight which had ever been seen, many individuals distinguished themselves by feats of personal strength and valor. Even officers of rank and distinction, whom the usual habits of modern war render rather the directors than the actual agents of slaughter, were in this desperate action seen fighting hand to hand, like common soldiers. "You are uncommonly savage to day," said an officer to his friend, a young man of rank, who was arming himself with a third sabre, after two had been broken in his grasp. "What would you have me do?" answered the other, by nature one of the most gentle and humane of men; "we are here to kill the French, and he is the best man to-day, who can kill most of them," and he again threw himself into the midst of the combat.

Sir John Elley requested permission to lead the charge of the heavy brigade, consisting of the Life Guards, the Oxford Blues, and the Scotch Greys. The effect was tremendous. Sir John was at one time surrounded by several of the cuirassiers; but being a tall and uncommonly powerful man, completely master of his horse and sword, he cut his way out, leaving several of his assailants on the grouad, marked with wounds which indicated the strength of the arm which inflicted them.

In the afternoon of this dreadful day, the 92nd regiment, which was reduced to about two hundred men, charged a column of the enemy, which came down on them, of from two to three thousand men; they penetrated into the centre of the column with the bayonet; and the instant they pierced it, the Scotch Greys dashed forward to their support; when they cheered each other,

and cried out, "Scotland forever!" Every man of the enemy was either killed or taken pris. oner; after which the Scots Greys charged through the enemy's second line, and took their eagles.

A division of the enemy having been repulsed, with the loss of their eagles, Lieutenant Deares of the 28th, hurried away by his enthusiasm, accompanied the cavalry in the pursuit on foot, attacking, sword in hand, every Frenchman that came in his way. He had already cut down two, and wounded three others, when being overpowered by a body of infantry, and taken prisoner, he was stripped of all his clothes, except his shirt and trowsers, in which state he joined his regiment during the night.

The bridge at Wavre was repeatedly lost and gained before the French were able to make their footing good beyond it. At length a French colonel snatched the eagle of his regiment, and rushing forward, crossed the bridge, and struck it into the ground on the other side. His corps followed, with an unanimous shout of Vive l' Empereur! and although the gallant officer who thus led them on was slain on the spot, his followers succeeded in carrying the village.

Amidst the fury of the conflict, some traces occurred of military indifference, which deserve to be recorded. The Life Guards coming up in the rear of the 95th, which distinguished regiment acted as sharp-shooters in front of the line, sustaining and repelling a most formidable onset of the French, called out to them, as if it had been on the parade in the Park, "Bravo, 95th! do you lather them, and we'll shave them.”

A Life Guardsman who, from being bald, was known among his comrades by the appellation of the Marquess of Granby, had his horse shot under him, and lost his helmet; but he immediately rose, and though on foot, attacked a cuirassier, whom he killed, mounted his horse, and rode forward, his comrades cheering him, "Well done, Marquess of Granby!'

While Colonel Ponsonby lay bleeding from seven severe wounds, a private soldier of the 40th regiment came up to him late in the evening, whom he entreated to remain with him till the morning. The man begged leave to look for a sword, adding, "And then, your honor, I'll engage the devil himself won't come near you." He soon picked up a French sabre, and then sat quietly down by the colonel until daylight, when he had him conveyed to a place of comfort and security.

A corporal in the Horse Guards, of the name of Shaw, who had distinguished himself as a pugilist, was fighting seven or eight hours, dealing destruction on all around him; at one time he was attacked by six of the French Imperial Guard, four of whom he killed, but was at last slain himself by the remaining two.