and highly diplomatic, to be well with the quarter-master of the regiment, or on intimate terms with the butcher of the brigade. They were the chiefs, the masters of the ceremonies, and distributors of the delicacies of provender (such as oxtails and lumps of suet from the well-marched and hastily killed cattle) to the numerous hungry applicants. These, on being paid for, might, as a favour, be added to the rations of the officers; "but what was this among so many?" Our good old quarter-master H- was a character; a perfect specimen of this class. He had risen by his merit, and by weight, rotundity, and respectability he maintained the dignity of his position. Possessed of great matter-offact good sense, he was an honest, bright-faced, downright old soldier. He always had the best fire in all our bivouacs, and had become the oracle of all the ensigns. The "idle club" of the camp would frequently assemble around his merry bonfire to hear or communicate the current news or reports of the day, yclept in Peninsular language, "shaves." Those handicraftsmen of our corps, the pioneers, were his attendants, and under his orders they were the cutters of wood, the shoers of horses, and dispensers of liquor, when such was received for distribution from the commissaries. The well-known sound of K, the cooper, singing out in his shrill, squeaky voice, "Cucks (cooks) for wine!"* may still tingle in the ears and rest in the memories of those who heard them in "auld lang syne," and the joyous buzz and commotion created amongst our men by so welcome an announcement, may still be remembered.

In Soult's hasty retreat from Oporto, in May 1809, our Brigade came suddenly on the enemy's rear-guard near Salamonde, and turned their retreat into a flight, taking from them baggage and all kinds of material. Two very powerful nags, one black and the other white, such as drag diligences in France, fell to the lot of that "tun of man," old H, the quarter-master. He contrived always to keep these cattle, out of compliment to himself, I suppose, in an unusual state of rotund condition. Unwieldly as he appeared, he was a perfect picture on horse-back, . for the combination was complete of the "Elephant and Castle," a goodly sign warmly greeted wherever met with. On the march he always headed the baggage of the Brigade, and far, far off in the winding distance might be seen his portly figure, on the milk-white steed, as unlike as possible to "Death on the pale horse!"

The distributions of camp delicacies from the above cavalier, or from Jones the butcher, added in no small degree to eke out the rations of the separate messes and pic-nics of the officers. Seldom more than two of us messed together, chiefly those belonging to the same company or the one next in line to it. We found from experience that, however well masters might agree, it was difficult to get servants to do so, for which reason I preferred the pic-nic plan, instead of having a mess in common. Two

*The pioneer's duty, under the superintendence of the Quarter-MasterSergeant, was to distribute the liquor amongst the cooks of the different messes of the men.

or three would thus club their provender and dine together, each bringing their plates, knives, forks, and drinking cups. I well remember my friend B― joined us frequently in this way. He always brought his convert, as the French call it, but deuce the thing else in the shape of comestible or beverage. When rallied on the absence of these most essential contributions to a pic-nic, and accused of providing nothing, he would reply that we cruelly maligned him, for he always brought his knife, fork, and an excellent appetite.

At this bivouac near Albuera, and on the 6th of April, towards evening, a reinforcement of detachments, from England, reached our Brigade, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel B-, afterwards D. A., Adjutant-General to our Division. The rest of the draft was composed of 400 men, together with two young Ensigns H- and K-, belonging to our regiment. The first of these made a right good soldier, and was severely wounded later at Salamanca. He now sits in the House of Commons, being an Irish Peer. With this detachment I received an English spaniel, six shirts, and a groom-boy. We made our recruits as welcome and comfortable as we could, by offering such hospitality as the field afforded, and did our best to make them forget the luxuries of beef, porter, iced champagne and sugar-plums. Their round fresh English faces bore strong contrast with the copper-coloured, weather-beaten, visages of our old hands. Recent news from dear England, brought by these blooming fellows, was very acceptable, and was received at all times with pleasure, whether coming in verbal, printed, or written shape. After sunset, and the convivial hour of the evening meal had passed, most of us in time and due course retired to our tents and to rest. The night was dry, though mild and cloudy; everything was still save the customary croaking of frogs, or the low murmur of conversation round some bivouac fire; all but the sentries and camp guards had sunk to sleep, the occasional sound of a distant gun alone broke the silence, when at once, and as if from a volcano, explosions, like thunder, rolled and bounded along the surface of the earth, and trembled through the air of night. Salvo after salvo in continued succession reached the ear of the sleeping soldier, and roused him in his bivouac lair to the consciousness of the living struggle carried on by his far. distant comrades.-Lord Wellington was storming Badajos.

VOL. XXXV.

Р

MARGARET OF NAVARRE.*

FOR Several years past the character and writings of Margaret, Queen of Navarre, the sister of Francis the First, have considerably occupied the attention of scholars and literary men as a contemporary of the Renaissance, in which she took an active part, and with which she endeavoured to become thoroughly acquainted, and to follow out in all its branches, she would alone present herself in an interesting point of view; but as the constant companion and much-loved sister of Francis the First, all that concerns her awakens a lively curiosity.

Marguerite de Valois, the first of the three Margarets who figured in the sixteenth century, was not altogether the person she has been generally represented to be. She was born at the château Angoulême, the 11th of April, 1492, two years before her brother Francis, and under her mother Louise de Savoie's care, received a solid and virtuous education. She learnt Spanish, Italian, and Latin, and, at a later period, Hebrew and Greek. But all these languages were not acquired at the same time, or when she was a mere child. Brantome describes her as a Princess of great intelligence, and remarks that her natural abilities were quite equal to her attainments. She continued eagerly to cull information as long as she lived; with her whole heart and influence she sought to patronise genius and men of letters of all sorts and classes, while, for her own pleasure, she cultivated their intimacy, so that we find her at one time entering the lists with Marot the poet, and at another time corresponding with Erasmus upon the most learned and important subjects. We must be careful, however, to avoid exaggeration, and fortunately Margaret's writings are sufficiently numerous to afford us abundant means of justly discriminating between what is original in them and what is the work of simple intelligence. As a poet and prose-writer, Margaret's originality is not remarkable, or, to speak more plainly, she is totally deficient in this quality; her intelligence, on the contrary, is great, active, eager, and comprehensive. In her time a wonderful change began to operate in men's minds, an inquiring literary spirit was abroad, which produced in all hearts and minds the same enthusiasm and excitement which politics created at a later period. Margaret, who was then young, and readily impressed by all that was good and noble, eagerly took up the cause, and, when her brother came to the throne, she said to herself that it should be her office to be his good genius, to show herself the patron and protector of all those men who brought down upon themselves pedantic ridicule and anger by their learned innovations.

* Adapted from the "Causeries du Lundi."

It was in this way that she took up and became gradually imbued with the principles of the reformers, to whom her attention was first directed in a literary point of view. As translators of the Scriptures, it appeared to her that they were only anxious to breathe forth their true spirit, as well as to render them better understood by pious minds. She enjoyed considerable intercourse with the reformers, bestowing her favour on them as on learned men, as lovers of literature, as well as faithful worshippers of Jesus Christ, and she would not allow herself to dream of any unlawful inroads in the back-ground; indeed, even when she did become a little undeceived as to the whole bearing of the subject, she continued earnestly to intercede with her brother for those persons who moved in this cause.

Margaret's love for her brother, which almost amounted to adoration, completely overruled all other feelings. She was about two years and a half older than he, and the young widow, Louise de Savoie, was only fifteen or sixteen years older than her daughter. Both these women possessed the most devoted attachment for Francis the First; they looked upon him as the future prop and crown of their noble house, as the Dauphin who was soon to be a glorious and conquering Cæsar.

was

"On the day of Saint Paul's conversion (25th of January, 1515)," says Madame Louise, in her journal, "my son anointed and crowned, in the Cathedral of Rheims, for which I consider myself deeply indebted to the Divine mercy, by whom I have been amply recompensed for all the adversity and annoyances which I endured in my early years, in the bloom of my youth; humility kept me company, and patience never deserted me." A few months afterwards, the jour de Marignan, in the transport of her feeling, she writes as follows: "On the 13th of September, which was Thursday, 1515, my son conquered and defeated the Swiss, near Milan. The battle commenced at five o'clock in the afternoon, lasted all night and the following morning, till eleven o'clock, and on this very day I left Amboise, and set out on foot to Nôtre Dame de Fontaines, to recommend to her protection what I love more than myself, that is my son, a glorious and conquering Cæsar, and vanquisher of the Helvetians." She adds, "moreover, on this same 13th of September, 1515, a flame of fire, of the length of a lance, was seen in the heavens, in several places in Flanders, between seven and eight in the evening; it appeared as if it must fall on the houses, and was so brilliant that a hundred torches would not have given so much light."

Margaret, clever and enlightened as she was, seems also to have believed in this omen, and wrote nearly the same words on the subject as her mother. She kept her whole heart and idolizing affection for her brother, for, at seventeen, she was married to the Duc d'Alençon, a Prince of feeble and uninteresting character. When, therefore, the unfortunate defeat at Pavia occurred, in the tenth year of Francis' reign (25th of February, 1525,) and Margaret and her mother heard of the total destruction of the French army, and of the King's captivity, it will easily be imagined what

a frightful blow it was to them both. While we find Madame Louise who was made Regent of the kingdom, displaying all her courage and strength of mind, we may gather Margaret's thoughts from the series of letters which she wrote to her brother, and which M. Genin has published. Her first idea is to console the captive and to give him confidence. "Madame (Louise de Savoie) appears endowed with so much additional strength that, as long as the day and evening last, there is not a minute wasted with regard to your affairs, so that your kingdom and children need have no concern nor care about them." She then proceeds to say, “how pleased she is that he has fallen into the hands of so good and generous a conqueror as the Viceroy of Naples, Charles de Lannoy; she begs him, for her mother's sake, to take care of his health; she (Madame) has learnt that you intend to eat neither eggs nor meat during the whole of Lent, and sometimes to abstain from all food, in God's honour: Monseigneur, as far as so very humble a person as your sister may be allowed to entreat you, let me beg of you not to do anything of the sort, and bear in mind that fish does not agree with you, and remember that, if you persist in this course, she (Louise de Savoie) has declared that she will follow your example, and, if this be the case, I shall then see you both pine away."

About this time Margaret attends her husband's death-bed at Lyons, he was one of the fugitives of Pavia, she mourns for him, but after the first few days, during which it was impossible for her to master her grief, she endeavours to disguise it before the Regent, for not being able to be of use herself, she says, "she should consider herself most unfortunate were she to harass the mind of the person who was rendering such great services."

When it is arranged that Margaret shall visit her brother in Spain, and work out his deliverance (September 1525) her joy is unbounded. At length, then, she can assist this brother, whom she views as the only one left her by God, in this world, to be her father, brother, and husband. She intersperses and varies many many times in her letters the names of master, brother, and king, and heaps them upon him, though these do not half express her sincere and ardent attachment to him. "Whatever may be ordained, even if my bones were to be scattered in cinders to the wind for your good, nothing would be too much, too difficult, or too painful for me, but on the contrary, consolation, repose, and honour."

These expressions which in some persons would bear the appearance of exaggeration are perfectly truthful as coming from Margaret. Her mission to Spain was not attended, however, with much success, wherever she attempted to awaken generosity and to arouse the spirit of honour, she met with nothing but dissimulation and political manoeuvres. She is only allowed to see her brother for a short time, he himself desires her to shorten her stay as much as possible, and to travel homeward, because he thinks she may better serve his interests in France, "She tears herself from him with much grief, especially as she sees him suffering, and very much out of health. Oh! how much she longs to return to him, to remain