Sketches of Illustrious Soldiers. By James Grant Wilson. (New York:
Putnam).—Mr. Wilson begins with Gonsalvo of Cordova, and ends with Ulysses Grant. As his volume of something less than 500 pages contains twenty-five sketches, including the greatest military names of modern times, he is necessarily brief, and necessarily also raises the question of selection. Something of course must be allowed for the tastes and partialities of readers ; but to include General Scott, when there is no mention of the Earl of Peterborough, certainly one of the most brilliant soldiers that the world has ever seen, is almost a climax of absurdity. Let the reader mark this : "The march of Alexander to the Indus, of Marlborough to the Danube, of Napoleon to Moscow, or of Sherman to the sea, was not more marvellous than Scott's triumphant campaign from Vera Cruz to the halls of the Montezumas, with his little band of heroes." It is by such rubbish that the flatulent vanity of half- educated Americans is produced. Where Mr. Wilson is not national, he is fairly readable and instructive.
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