BOOKS.

MUSGRAVE'S RA.MBEE THROUGH NORIIA.NDT..

MB. MusexavE is favourably known by The Parson, the Pen, and the Pencil, a book which gave a lively and informing though somewhat diffuse account of a trip to Paris and a tour into the provinces in search of agricultural knowledge. His present Ram- ble is confined to a more limited field of observation; being as re- gards great towns almost restricted to Caen, though he notices Bonen and a few other cities. His country tours were probably as extensive as formerly, regard being only had to distance ; but they had less purpose and less definite results. Normandy is a district very interesting to Englishmen, not only for its historical associations, but for the strong resemblance of the style of its landscape to that of England, and the strong contrast to Eng- land which the appearance and costumes of its peasantry furnish. External features or historical associations, however, require to be broadly and briefly handled in order to be effective; for mere de- scription is apt to weary, and the artifice of varying and expand- ing travel by allusions to archieology or history has been abused to a nauseating extent. Mr. Musgrave falls into the error of push- ing casual subjects into long discussions, or of writing his musings at length. His former work was not free from this fault of undue expansion. It seems to have grown upon the author in this ramble ; or perhaps it is more perceptible from the provincial nature of his subject, and a kind of repetition : the routes are not the same, but they are both French, and of a similar kind.

Except in the discursive parts and historical resumes, the jour- ney is interesting, or informing, or both. Mr. Musgrave has his eyes open to the agriculture of the country he passes through, and bears witness to its improvement among the French. His skill as an amateur artist, which is considerable, leads him to the pic- turesque, and enables him to present it to the eye of the reader, His taste for music furnishes him with another subject, which he treats con amore, whether it be religious, martial, or festive, though also with fulness of discussion. His strongest points are public institutions or the practical business of life : how men live and carry on their affairs ; what are the prices paid for general articles of consumption ; how public establishments for education,. the sick, the insane, the poor and impotent; are managed. Mr. Musgrave's turn this way gives a real and informing character to his book ; though even on subjects of this kind he rarely adheres• to the rule " of not too much."

Men of inquisitive mind and active pursuits generally have a liking for gossip, when it consists of facts. They must accumu- late something even in relaxing. Our traveller has this taste, and he picks up pieces of social history when opportunity serves. In a.- visit he paid to the extensive and magnificent institution at Caen where Brummell was received in his destitution and help- lessness, he gathered some traits of the fatuous Beau that had es- caped his biographer.

"Brummell, through the intervention of the most benevolent of strangen, rather than by any direct act of his few remaining friends, became an in- mate of this enviable Asylum in the year 1838, and remained in it the greater part of two years, in fact to the day of his decease. I conversed for some time with thp gardener, Pierre Dubois, who acts as an overlooker and attendant among the patients lodged in the section of St. Joseph, as this part is called. He said Brummell was so paralyzed in body as to require the arms of two persons to support him when walking about the garden; that he always appeared to be totally unconscious of his melancholy condi- tion, and spoke of himself as the owner of large possessions. He would oc- casionally intimate to each of the attendants, who waited upon him by turns, that be had made ample provision for them in his will, and that through. his application at head-quarters every one of them would find himself promoted to situations of distinguished trust in England. His animal spirits appear to have been generally good. His voracious appetite never failed ; but he drank barley-water only, mixed with a very small quantity of wine as his usual beverage. "While I was listening to Pierre Dubois's account, an elderly sister joined us, who remembered Brummell well, and had often tended him during his last illness. She mentioned him as un bon enfant; which would lead one to infer he had ingratiated himself, fatuous as he was, with those who had access to him in his depressing solitude."

"Even in our ashes live their wonted fires " : was it keen and interested selfishness surviving reason, or was it that love of pain- ful and mischievous mystification that characterized the wit of the Beau ?

As Mr. Musgrave's visit was in August last, he saw something of the French army both at Boulogne and moving about on the march. This is one of the occasions.

"I was up and stirring early enough, too ; and saw the greater part of Bayeux before ten o'clock. It is a goodly city, containing some delightful residences; five miles distant from the coast, un peu triste, and rather too lifeless for any but reading men, painters, and other sedentary subjects; but well worth the eight hours' ramble I devoted to its streets and suburbs. The two principal streets, and most others, run up from the lower town to the large grassy place or castle square, agreeably planted with trees ; across which I soon saw the band of the Sixty-ninth coming off their march. These were followed by the rear-guard. I soon fell into conversation with one or two of these dapper, sturdy, and ' plucky' fellows, and heard the ac- count they gave of their sensations of ease or distress on march. Each man carries about sixty-six pounds' weight. He wears, on march, a long light bluish-grey greatcoat, the corners of which are supplied with a button-hole, which enables him to fasten them at will to a button in the fore-part of the skirt, or to one quite at the back. Above his havresack, containing body- linen and brushes, he carries a pair of red trousers, rolled fiat, in a canvass case; above that a tick-case, made in a roll form, containing his dress-jacket, and the strap which secures these two packages to the havresack passes across his soup-tin. Besides all this, in winter he carries a stout grey great-

• AtRamble through Normandy, or Scenes, Characters, and Incidents in a Sketch- ing Excursion through Calvados. By George M. Musgrave, MA., Author of •• The Parson, the Pen, and the Pencil," Published by Bogue.

coat. The cartouche-box, of course, is below, on the left. The French sol- dier discards stockings on Larch, and wears a short black-leather gaiter over a stout shoe. Some few of the regiment I saw on this occasion came in very lame ,• but the generality walked remarkably well, and seemed in high health and spirits. Their officers, with the exception of the Major and Colo- nel, had walked the .twenty-one miles, and exhibited not a symptom of fatigue."

The fete-day of the Emperor was celebrated at Caen by a variety of shows and ceremonies, including boat-races. The capital ar- rangements on this occasion, and the way in which the whole "went off" give rise to a reflection on the superiority of the French to the English in all that concerns arrangement.

" The proceedings were admirably ordered. Not the slightest confusion or bungling interfered with the regulations distinctly laid down by the Com- mittee for acting on their programme to entire satisfaction. The faculty of organizing and fully developing all the means, appliances, and methods of carrying into execution their design, seems to characterize the genius of the French. I have heard it remarked that in all matters of minute detail the ingenuity of the Germans is not easily rivalled. In classical studies, their indagatory research and laborious analysis have long since placed them in the first rank of scholiasts; but for painstaking and suooessful management in the conduct of public ceremony, festival, or spectacle and entertainment, and, what is infinitely, more momentous of all public measures, national de- monstrations, and military or civil expeditions, the French have always proved themselves infinitely more expert than our countrymen ; and the same talent comes into play, even to cause a picnic, a fate champetre, a steeple-chase, or a boat-race, to ' go off well,' that built streets and coffee- houses, jetties, and landing-places, at Scutari,—established homes of positive comfort and enjoyment in the camps of Honvault and Wimereux, and pro- vided the proper complement of surgeons, ambulances, linen-rags and lint, in abundance for the army in the Crimea, without leaving that most essen- tial supply to be furnished from the distant Bosphorus, or from the preca- rious source of individual benevolence at home. Their men in office take thought for minutiae as well as for widely comprehensive designs, and, as old Napoleon used to say, pay due regard to the combinations' indispen- sably requisite for successful action. Applying such wariness to the execu- tion of every scheme and counsel, these sharp-witted agents overlook nothing that can contribute in any degree to complete and perfectionate the adopted design ; and their vigilance in this respect does its work as faithfully in a little as in much. Accordingly, even for a regatta, there had been consti- • tuted a committee, consisting of the Mayor, as president," &c.

The long list of members which follows would scarcely, in this country, contribute to efficiency, but facilitate the getting rid of responsibility by shifting it about. But whatever a Frenchman undertakes to do, his amour propre impels him to do well; whereas a Briton is rather inclined to contemn form and display,. perhaps to make a parade of negligence or indifference to appear- ances. The author of A Month in the Camp before Sebastopol described a Colonel reporting to his General, buttonless, ragged, without braces, and with a pipe in his mouth. In the British. Navy, where everything " suffers a sea change," such negligence and disrespect would not be permitted in the very last extremity. In the French army it would only be permitted in that last ex- tremity. The visitor describes the scene as occurring in October, when camp life was well enough borne by a civilian; and though an army cannot have a supply of tailors, no man has any business in a campaign who cannot sew on a button or mend a rent. It must also be said that John Bull is rather inclined to " be above his business," or to stick so rigidly to what is his business that the effect is the same. This foible is visible even when his bread depends upon it. As soon as he gets somewhat before the world, and still more when, as in public function, he can make the world which he snaps his fingers at pay him nolens volens, the disagree- able trait is still more apparent. Our national failings tend to mar completeness in combined action. The failings of the French rather tend to produce it, from the interest which every man feels, in his own part. To which undoubtedly must be added the won- derful quickness of perception and natural aptitude for combined, effects in our allies.

The boat-races at Caen were of several kinds. The one whioh excited most interest was that between some Northmen and four English skippers. It was badly managed on the British part, as. if to substantiate Mr. Musgrave's observations ' • for the boat of the skippers was far too heavy, and by too much oonfidence in the honour of their antagonists they were cheated of the victory.. The nails on the stern that supported the steering-oar (in the ab- sence of a redder) were so placed as to facilitate the propulsion. of the boat. The great feature, however, was the popular fa-• your with which the English were regarded. " The foreigners seemed for a few seconds to be going in to win, as if left to walk over the course ; but before they had proceeded sixty yards our boat. was alongside, and the acclamations of the people rose like the voice of a whole army shouting to the battle : the men and boys waved their hats, the women clapped their hands and flourished their handkerchiefs ; and away shot the Northmen's boat, keeping the right, and again leading for fifty yards, during which interval one could almost see between keel and water ; the- shallow boat resembling a dinner-tray being punted over the liquid surface, while the Englishmen were toiling with a boat requiring six oars, if engaged on service demanding extraordinary speed. But another general shout an- nounced some new advantage gained by our men ; on whose behalf, it was. singular to observe, the universal sympathy seemed to be exclusively awakenedand to our great delight we saw them taking the lead at the re- turn point. From that moment the din became deafening. The populace screamed, roared, stamped, and raved (I verily believe some of them cried outright)—the French never Mora : and though I was familiar with the Oxford Boat Nights,' and had pulled No. 7 from Newnham, and heard the

stunning ' Now Christchurch ! Now, Brasenose !" till the amazed welkin seemed to be filled with one only sound of rabid exultation, I may truly say

the Neustrian voice is still ringing in my ears as I record the most astound-

ins welcome I ever heard given to contending prowess. As for the British Consul, he wore that expression of countenance which Hardy saw in Nel-

son's features as he beheld Collingwood leading his Alps into action at Tra- falgar. And I certainly felt five-and-thirty years younger, for the moment,. as I heard the French officers behind me exclaiming, B.egardez ces braves. Angloia! Quel Azar !'—(what pluck : and it was in turning about toms what the Prefect and Mayor might appear to think of the Brithdr formances in the day's pageant, that I missed the critical moment of the two boats passing under the taut ' hawser ; which, amid the deafening roar of ten thousand united voices, was done so simultaneously that but for this timely sight-line it would have been almost impossible to decide where the disadvantage lay. We thought the victory was ours. The Northman came in nine feet ahead. Palmam qui meruit ferat '—but a cry or two from the bead of the quay removed the meruit ' from that well-known motto. It was shown, by the indignant stroke-oar and his comrades of the British boat, that the steersman of their antagonists had been ' no steersman at all, but aAfth rower '; the nails above mentioned had been set up, not in the direct centre of the stern, but at six and nine inches beyond it, so as to admit of an im- pulsive, not a merely governing action of the oar in the three inches left be- tween the two nails. I examined the boat, and gained ocular evidence of the fact. This was immediately represented to the Committee, and the decision, at one word from our Consul, would have decreed it no race,' but for his reluctance to interrupt the harmony of the scene by subjecting the ' Nord. stiernen ' (North Star) to so public an exposure as the expulsion or at least refitting of their tricky boat."