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    M ~ Ut and cursory relation . Still , written by a soldier of conspicuous rank , ^ o share 4 " n ^ l 7 tS peril * and Watched all ' the vicissitudes of the defence Se diary is ntrinsically valuable , especiall y ^* it bears out in every respect the adSrable statement transmitted" to the military authorities at Calcutta by Brigadier Inglis . Of course , it enters ^ into explanations which could find no room in an official despatch . Indeed , this brief but graphic account of events at the capital of Oude , the four months of the Lucknow ffege deserves to pass from hand to hand wherever an eve has glistened ovfr the record of the conflict sustained by Inglis , and the victories achieved by Havelock . Early in May , the writer says , Sir Henry Lawrence , anticipating an outbreak , busied himself with precautions ^ and when the revolt occurred it was scarcely a surprise ; but the gratuitous brutality of the ieu ™™ . Pxasnerated the Europeans , recently their companions , and from the

    firsthour of the mutiny it was felt that the rebels had committed themselves beyond the possibility of pardon . Savage and pitiless , however , they were anything but barbarous in their method of warfare ; it may be said that Lucknow was as much besieged underground as above , for during eighty days the site of the Residency was perpetuall y approached by galleries from every point of the compass , the garrison being compelled to countermine day and night , to maintain incessant watch in their listening galleries , to explode one mine after another , and to block up subterranean lines of attack which had no sooner been interrupted on the north and south than they were pushed forward from the east and west . The engineering genius displayed during the defence reflected the highest credit upon every officer and man employed . But the grand test of courage was the endurance with which the garrison sustained during an entire season the fire of a hostile army . It was as though one of the British squares at Waterloo , with its hollow crowded by women and children , had stood under arms from May to September ; for there was not a sheltered building in the fort ; ladies voun « - "iris , and infants , were struck down in their private rooms ;

    3 J ^ 3 ^ 3 - m . 4 ^ . ^ . ^ ' Alii _ ? J _ T- ^ A dyino- ' soldiers were shot in the hospital ; the garrison were totally without casemates , and were compelled to erect solid buttresses of clay against the walls of their powder-magazine , and block over the roof with two feet _ of earth and a layer of heavy beams . This constituted , perhaps , the distinguishing characteristic of the defence . And yet nothing could surpass the courage and conduct of the garrison when summoned to repel an attack Frequently with mines springing on all sides , enormous ladders planted against the walls , and ten thousand soldiers fighting and yelling to gam an entrance , a few clusters of Europeans , backed by loyal Indian detachments , drove them back , literally blowing off or hewing to pieces the heads of the assaulting columns ; every man doing the work of a battalion * every detachment signalizing itself as a Legion of Honour . IVe might adduce these as that human fortitude withstood

    the noblest episodes in the Indian Iliad but even a more formidable trial . Struggling like demigods , the garrison were fed upon worse than pauper rations ; a stench such as Dante would have appreciated filled the Residency to suffocation ; the hospital breathed forth a volume of disease ; children died almost daily , and for the dead there was but insuflicient burial . We hear of no vain lamentations , no wild outbursts of < n-ief to dishearten the survivors , no suggestions of surrender ; even the children above ten years of age worked at the cornmills ; the women were amon" the most Undaunted ; and even after the sound of friendly cannon had died away , and it was known that the reinforcements had retreated , there was no repining ; every one returned to the work of war , and when the last hour appeared to have arrived , not a voice spoke of surrender . reflect this le

    It is good for the English people to read and upon simp narrative . Two or three passages we quote ; but the story must be read without a pause—r . s it may easily be—in order that the light may shine full upon the defenders of Lucknow . The Sepoys imagined various devices of attack : — The enemy threw in soveral shells , also a number of stink-pots , which were a very curious composition of large pieces of our exploded iron shell sewn up in canvas , and snrrounded by flax and resin , with dry powder in the centre : these , from the commencement of the siege , had been thrown in daily from a howitzer ; they matte a fearful hissing noise and great stench , and finally exploded . They were not very dangerous , unless they exploded very close to a person . We also had a few rockets thrown in , but not many ; and lately a number of shrapnel shells , fired apparently from a howitzer with a very great elevation . The garrison retorted by inventing new means of annoyance : — which it discovered commanded

    A new loop-hole on the top of the brigade mess , was a distant and much-frequented lane in the city , was made use of by Lieutenant Sewell , armed with his Enfield rifle ; the distance being not above seven hundred and fifty yards , the conical bullets most effectually cleared tlie lanes of the Sepoys as they lounged up it , and quickoncd the paces of the citizens as they crossed and recrossed . When the gallant but too impetuous Lawrence died , his ' supplies were sold by auction : — , _ The brandy realized from 140 to 160 rupees ( 16 ? . ) per dozen ; beer averaged from € 0 to 70 rupees ( 7 / . ); sherry 70 rupees ; hermetically sealed hama from 70 to 75 rupees ( 7 / . 10 s . ) eaoh ; n bottle of honey 45 rupees ( 4 J . 10 s . ); rifle gunpowder , 10 rupees per lb . ( 1 £ 12 e . ) ; small cakoa of chocolate , from 80 to 40 rupees ( 81 . to 4 J . ) ; and other tilings in proportion . Sugar ( had there been any for solo ) would have commanded almost any price . An incident shortly afterwards happened which illustrates the peculiar difficulties of European warfare in India : —

    Thia morning some fresh beef waa accidentally removed from the alaugh tor-yard in ono of the inngassino carts . As thoao carts were used also for transporting grain , it excited remark amongst some Soikha . The cart in question was immediately marked in the presence of the commissariat establishment , and strict orders wore given that it should not bo usod again . Lastly , relief waa announced : — At 4 imm . report was made that somo officers dressed , in shooting coats and solah ¦ cnpSrHT ^ inWrerEuTc ^^^ were seen near Mr . Martin ' a house and the Motee Muhnl . At 6 p . m . volleys of musketry , rapidly growing louder , were heard in the oity . But soon the firing of a Minttball over our heads gave notice of the still nearer approach of our friends , of whom as yet ljMle or nothing had been aeon , though tho enemy wore to boeoeu firing heavily o « k tliem from many of tho rpofa of the housca . Five minutes later , aad our troops woro soon fighting thoir way through ono of tho principal streets ; and , though men Ml a * almost every step , yet nothing could withstand tho headlong gallantry of

    pur reinforcements . Once fairly seen , all our doubts and fears regarding them wera ended : and then the garrison ' s long pent-up feelings of anxiety and . suspense bnxst forth , in . a . succession of deafening cheers ; from every pit , trench , and battery—from behind the sandbags piled on shattered houses—from every post still held by a few gallant spirits , rose cheer on cheer—even from the hospital ! Many of the wounded crawled forth to join in that glad shout of welcome to those who had so bravely come to our assistance . It was a moment never to be forgotten . That was a moment never to be forgotten ; and this is a narrative not to be laid down until the last line has been read . A PersonalJourtial of the Siege of Lucknow . By Capt . J . P . Anderson . Edited by J . Carnegy Anderson . ( Thacker and Co . )—Captain Anderson was among the most distinguished officers who defended Lucknow against the rebel army . He is mentioned -with brilliant commendation in the despatch of Briga , di « r Inglis . This brief narrative is picturesque , and contains accounts of some remarkable incidents not elsewhere described . It may be read with interest as a supplement to the volumes of ' A Staff Officer' and Mr . Rees .

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    THKEE DISCOURSES ON BEAUT 1 T . On Beauty : Three Discourses delivered in the University of Edinburgh . With an Exposition of the Doctrine of the Beautiful according to Plato . By John Stuart Blackie . Simpkin and Marshall . It is difficult to say whether Professor Blackie displays greater enthusiasm in the championship of Plato , or in flinging down the gauntlet to the entire school of Scottish philosophers . Thomas Brown , Reid Stewart ,. Jeffrey , and Alison find no favour in his sight , while of the views of Sir William Hamilton , for whom he professes respect , he remained in ignorance until too late to allude to them , save in the Preface to his volume . Nor is he a whit the more gracious to other national authorities , English , French , or German . Though he declares that " to create for oneself a world of exclusive converse with what is old , as scholars are apt to do , to converse always with Cicero and Aristotlewhile Hamilton and Hegel are not even glanced at , is

    alto-, gether artificial , is an unnatural transplantation of your intellect out of the world to which it does belong , into a world to which it does not belong , " the Professor , repudiating this eclecticism , does not even ' glance _ at ' the discussions of some of the most enthusiastic of modern aesthetical writers , and is content altogether to ignore the inquiries of Burke on Beauty , confessing that he has not perused a single page of that author . The object of these Discourses , however , is neither merely to interpret nor refute * the Professor having a theory of his own to propound , the leading principles of which , though ' orig inally elaborated with perfect independence of all authority , ancient or modern , ' were found singularly enough to be ? substantially-tbesanae as Plato ' s . ' But " all men are plagiarists since Plato , " says Emerson ; and this advantage is derived from the affinity of the Scotch Professor ' s creed with that of the greatest master of antiquity , that its principles are necessarily sound ; and the merit of these Discourses but

    is , that they are not merely stated and expounded by illustration , argued lucidly and with power , in diction fervid , close , and masterly . Proessor Blackie finds the essentials of Beauty to consist in a variety of elements . Of these * tbe primary and indispensable are Order and Congruifcy the first elucidated as symmetry in bodies occupying space , and as measure or rhythm in those which move through space . Congruity or Harmony is explained as the innate analogy or unity of things apparently the most diverse . Accessory to these are actuality , expressiveness , moderation , smoothness , variety , novelty , and contrast , all which are discussed more or less successfully . Thus he is not arbitrary in his solution of the Beautiful , nor does he imagine it can be conveyed in an axiom of whatever eompass , from the narrow dogma of Raphael Mengs to the ideal of Schiller , who contends that Beauty is the consummation of Humanity , regarding it with the vision of the sage , who saith that " Beauty is the virtue of the body , as virtue is tbe beauty of the soul . "

    One of the most admirable of Professor Blackie ' s tenets , and one of most healthful influence to receive , is his belief in the human prerogative based on Divine sanction to enjoy the Beautiful , the exquisite garniture of creation teaching men their obligations to follow out , as far as the feeble imitation of man can aspire , the plan of order and symmetry apparent in the universe . The normal type of . Nature he finds to be fashioned in Boauty , after which model the artist should strive with something of apostolic zeal , ns a ' fellowworker with God . ' In spite of this general comeliness , exceptional hideousness occurs , and ' disease is ugly , death is ugly , and tho first of May in Scotland , full of east wind and drizzly mist , is not beautiful . ' In passages earnest and forcible , the Professor pays tribute to the Greeks , the yet unsurpassed worshippers of the Beautiful . He says : — Amid the multifarious errors of their theology against which tho lofty soul of Plato

    so indignantly protested , these ancients had at least thia one good thing to set against tho many good things in which our Christian superiority consists , that . if their religion was less divine than ours , their painting and sculpture , and even tho trivial gurnitnro of their daily life , was more religious . If they had less morality in their- temples , they had more devotion in their pictured porticos and in their statucil streets . To them , religion , whatever might be its faults , never wore u grim and forbidding aspect . . . . To them , pointing and sculpture woro not arts inventod merely or mainly for tho purpose of enabling a rich huntsman to ornament tho vestibule of his mountain-lodge with groups of wild beasts , or that hi * fair lady might look upon herself painted with her favourite parrot on her shoulder , but that our small experience of all that is glorious and beautiful in poor , shrivelled , and crippled humanity might , through the genius of a PhidiaB or an Alcamenes , bo enriched and refreshed by tho daily contemplation of perfect human joy in Apollo , perfect human lovo in Aphrodite , and perfect practical wisdom in Minerva .

    These reflections are made to the detriment of tho modem Briton , more es Pe « iaUy ^ QfJ ; b , « J&or 4 bJ ^^^ ^ coaipHnction in censuring to the full . Indeed , his portraiture , is almost aa repollant aa that sketched by Sidney Smith , who represented ' bandy' with ono hand allaying hb cutaneous irritation while with the other ho grasped tUo Cnlvinistic creed : — We ore in many respeota , I fear , a very utilitarian , a vory vulgar , and a very Gothic race . Nor indeed ia tills surprising , aoolng that ovor and above the materializing influences of the lovo of money natural to a laoroantilo people , and the haxeunoss of

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    l || JBJ ^^^^^ P ^^^^^^ W ? 5 * SWi . < -e- - ' 7 * : e * " ; j * -r " - ;¦ : ¦ * - * cJT- i- ¦ -A ¦ •*¦ ¦•"; . ¦•¦ ¦'•¦ ¦ ' - ' * . ; ¦ * ¦ ¦ - ¦ . ¦ ¦ . . ¦ ¦ ¦ . . ^ . , ¦¦•¦ . ¦ No . 415 , March 6 , 1858 . ] _ THE I 4 E » A D E R . 235

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1858, page 235, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2233/page/19/