Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

Gastronomy; or, The Bon-Vivant's Guide. A Poem in four Cantos. From the French of J. Berchoux. 4to. pp. 42. 5s. 1810.

THE original poem here translated, is a kind of offspring of the Almanac des Gourmands, and has been very favourably received in France. The translator has executed his work with spirit; but in some places he seems to have thought that the difference of manners would not allow of more than a kind of remote imitation. The following which we will give in each passage, language, is a proof of this assertion:

Que j'aime cependant l'admirable silence,

Que je vois observer, quand le repas com

mence!

Abstenez-vous sourtout de ces discours bourgeois,

Lieux-communs ennuyeux, répétés tant de fois:

'Monsieur ne mange point; monsieur est il malade?

Peut-etre, trouvez-vous ce ragoût un peu fade?

J'avors recommandés de le bien apprêter: Celui-ci vaudra mieux; ah! daignez en goûter,

Ou vous m'offenserez. La saison est ingrate,

On ne sait que donner, messieurs; mais je me flatte,

Que si j'ai quelque jour l'honneur de vous revoir,

J'aurait tous les moyens de vous mieux recevoir." Chant. 2. p. 9.

This passage is thus rendered in the English edition:

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Thus equipped, I set off; who'd not pity my plight?

O'erwhelmed with regret, and half dying with fright;

Farewell! lovely dinners, where flowed wit and wine,

And gay parties, embellished by beauty divine!

Adieu Fricandeaux, and perdrix aux choux,

With all the nice cooking, at home, that I knew." P. 32.

If the translator had allowed the writer to be still a Frenchman, he would have avoided a little inconsistency in this passage, which we

have concealed, by omitting the four first words. Altogether, however, the Gastronomy, makes a pleasant trifle, even in its English form.

Berchoux is an author of talent, and some of his fugitive poems have considerable humour, particularly that beginning, "Qui me delivra des Grecs et des Romans?" "Le Troubadour emigre," is also pleasant. The notes on his Gostronomie deserved in general to be translated, but the English translator has thought otherwise.

FROM THE BRITISH CRITICK.

Wieland; or the Transformation: an American Tale. By C. B. Brown, author of Ormond, or the Secret Witness. 3 vols. 12mo. 128. 1811.

THIS is one of the most extraordinary compositions of the kind which have of late come before us, and to which we certainly cannot deny the praise of ingenious contrivance. They who delight in the marvellous, may here be gratified even to satiety. Yet amidst all the triumphs which are here recorded of artifice and fraud, over simplicity and innocence, it is made to appear, that the sufferers had to blame themselves for an excess of credulity, and a want of proper re

flection on the consequences of their actions. This, we presume, is the moral which the writer intended to inculcate; but it is with so much intricacy enfolded in tales and incidents of wonder, that it requires great pains and patience to disentangle it Many of the deceptions represented as practised successfully on various unsuspecting objects of both sexes, are effected by ventrilocution. We doubt, however, whether it could ever be carried to the extent which is here depictured.

SPIRIT OF THE MAGAZINES.

MILITARY CATECHISM OF GENERAL SUVOROF.

THE following curious document is extracted from Dr. Clarke's Travels in Russia: it is a series of instructions drawn up by the celebrated general Suvorof (or Suwarrow) for the use of the army under his command, after the Turkish war, and was transmitted by order of the Russian government to every regiment in the service. The line is supposed to be drawn out, the soldiers resting their pieces, and the general inspecting and addressing the troops; hence it is called

A DISCOURSE UNDER THE TRIGGER.

Heels close-knees straight. A soldier must stand like a dart!-I see the fourth-the fifth I don't see ! A soldier's step is twenty eight inches in wheeling, forty two. Keep your distance well!

Soldiers, join elbows in front! First rank three steps from the second-in marching, two!

Give the drum room!

Keep your ball three days:-it may happen for a whole campaign, when lead* cannot he had!

Fire seldom, but fire sure!

Push hard with the bayonet!The ball will lose its way-the bayonet never! The ball is a fool-the bayonet a hero

VOL. V.

Stab once! and off with the Turk from the bayonet! Even when he's dead, you may get a scratch from his sabre.

If the sabre is near your neck, dodge back one step, and push on again.

Stab the second!-stab the third! A hero will stab half a dozen.

!

Be sure your ball's in your gun If three attack you, stab the first, fire on the second, and bayonet the third!-This seldom happens.

In the attack there's no time to load again.

When you fire, take aim at their guts; and fire about twenty balls.Buy lead from your economy-it costs little !

We fire sure-we lose not one ball in thirty. In the light artillery and heavy artillery, not one in ten.

If you see the match upon a gun, run up to it instantly-the ball will fly over your head-The guns are yours the people are yours! Down with 'em, upon the spot! pursue 'em! stab 'em!-To the remainder give quarter-it's a sin to kill without reason; they are men like you.

Die for the honour of the Virgin Mary-for your mother‡— for all the royal family! The church

The Russian soldiers buy their own lead.
The treasury of the mess.

The name given by the Russians to the empress.

3 F

prays for those that die; and those who survive have honour and reward.

Offend not the peaceable inhabitant-he gives us meat and drink -the soldier is not a robber.Booty is a holy thing! If you take a camp it is all your's! if you take a fortress, it is all your's! At Ismael, besides other things, the soldiers shared gold and silver by handfuls; and so in other places; but, without order, never go to booty!

A battle in the field has three modes of attack:

1. On the Wing Which is weakest. If a wing is covered by wood, it is nothing; a soldier will get through. Through a morass, it is more difficult. Through a river you cannot run. All kind of intrenchment you may jump over.

[ocr errors]

2. The Attack in the Centre Is not profitable, except for cavalry, to cut them in pieces, or else they'll crush you

3. The Attack Behind

Is very good. Only for a small corps to get round. Heavy battle in the field against regular troops. In squares, against Turks, and not in columns. It may happen against Turks, that a square of 500 men will be compelled to force its way through a troop of 6 or 7,000 with the help of small squares on the flank. In such a case, it will extend in a column; but till now we had no need of it. There are the God-forgetting, windy, light-headed Frenchmen; if it should ever happen to us to march against them, we must beat them in columns.

The Battle, upon Intrenchments, in the Field.

The ditch is not deep-the rampart is not high-Down in the ditch! Jump over the wall! work with your bayonet! Stab! Drive! Take them prisoners! Be sure to cut off the cavalry, if any are at hand!-At Prague, the infantry cut off the cavalry: and there were three fold,

and more intrenchments, and a whole fortress; therefore we attacked in columns.

The Storm.

Break down the fence! Throw wattles over the holes! Run as fast as you can! Jump over the palisades! Cast your faggots (into the ditch). Leap into the ditch! Lay on your ladders! Scour the columns! Fire at their heads! fly over the walls! Stab them on the ramparts! Draw out your line! Put a guard to the powder cellars! Open one of the gates! The cavalry will enter on the enemy! Turn his guns against him! fire down the streets! Fire briskly! There's no time to run after them! When the order is given, enter the town! Kill every enemy in the streets! Let the cavalry hack them! Enter no houses! Storm them in the open places where they are gathering. Take possession of the open places! Put a capital guard! Instantly put piquets to the gates, to the powder-cellars, and to the magazines! When the enemy has surrendered, give him quarter! When the inner wall is occupied, go to plunder!

There are three military talents: 1. The Coup dœil.

How to place a camp-How to march-Where to attack-to chace and to beat the enemy.

2. Swiftness.

The field artillery must march half, or a whole verst in front, on the rising ground, that it may not impede the march of the columns. When the column arrives, it will find its place again. Down hill, and on even ground, let it go in a trot. Soldiers march in files, or four abreast, on account of narrow roads, streets, narrow bridges, and narrow passes through marshy and swampy places; and only when ready for attack draw up in platoons, to shorten the rear. When you march four abreast, leave a space between the companies. Never slacken your pace. Walk on! Play! Sing your

songs! Beat the drum! When you have broken off* ten versts, the first company cast off their load and lie down. After them, the second company, and so forth, one after the other. But the first never wait for the rest! A line in columns will, on the march, always draw out. At four abreast, it will draw out one and a half more than its length. At two abreast, it will draw out double. A line one verst in length will draw out two; two versts will draw out four; so the first companies would have to wait for the others half an hour to no purpose. After the first ten

versts, an hour's rest. The first division that arrived (upon the coming up of the second) takes up its baggage, and moves forward ten or fifteen paces; and if it passes through defiles on the march, fifteen or twenty paces. And in this manner, division after division that the hindmost may get rest. The second ten versts, another hour's rest or more. If the third distance is less than ten versts, halve it, and rest three quarters, half, or a quarter of an hour, that the childrent may soon get to their kettles. So much for infantry.

The cavalry marches before. They alight from their horses and rest a short time, and march more than ten versts in one stage, that the horses may rest in the camp. The kettle-wagons and the tentwagons go on before. When the brotherst arrive, the kettle is ready. The master of the mess instantly serves out the kettle. For breakfast, four hours rest; and six or eight hours at night, according as the road proves. When you draw near the enemy, the kettle-wagons

remain with the tent-wagons, and wood must be prepared for beforehand.

By this manner of marching, soldiers suffer no fatigue. The enemy does not expect us. He reckons us at least a hundred versts distant; and when we come from far, two hundred, or three hundred, or more. We fall all at once upon him, like snow on the head. His head turns. Attack instantly with whatever arrivest; with what God sends. The cavalry instantly fall to work; hack and slash! stab and drive! Cut them off! Don't give them a moment's rest!

3. Energy.

One leg strengthens the other! One hand fortifies the other! By firing many men are killed! The enemy has also hands; but he knows not the Russian bayonet! (alluding to the Turks.) Draw out the line immediately; and instantly attack with cold arms! (the bayonet.) If there is not time to draw out the line, attack, from the defile, the infantry, with the bayonet; and the cavalry will be at hand. If there be a defile for a verst, and cartridges over your head, the guns will be yours! Commonly the cavalry makes the first attack, and the infantry follows. In general cavalry must attack like infantry, except in swampy ground; and there they must lead their horses by the bridle. Cossacks will go through any thing. When the battle is gained, the cavalry pursue and hack the enemy, and the infantry are not to remain behind. In two files there is strength; in three files, strength and a half.S The first tears; the second throws

This is a Russian mode of expression. To proceed ten versts, they say, To break off ten.

Children and Brothers. Appellations given by Suvorof to his troops.

Whatever arrives. Suvorof began the attack as soon as the colours arrived; even if he had but half a regiment advanced.

§ Strength and a haif. A common mode of expression in Russia. Suvorof aimed at the style and language of the common soldiers, which renders his composition often obscure.

« ZurückWeiter »