distinction, to keep constantly in view, not the life of the common people as contrasted with that of their rulers, but much of their private life as contrasted with their public life. The result is the most interesting history of the United States that has yet appeared.

He purposes to cover the ground from the close of the Revolution to the opening of the war for the Union. It is a great comfort that we have not to go back to the discovery of America by Columbus, which has been taken as the point of departure by most American historians, as the old chroniclers began with the creation of the world. Bancroft will probably remain as the chief historian of our early and colonial period. The present writer substantially clears Bancroft's domain, and has chosen a time of very great interest. His task is to show how, out of a loose aggregation of jealous colonies, there has grown up a strong and consolidated republic. It is a noble theme.

Professor McMaster has evidently taken Macaulay as his model. His opening passages bear a strong resemblance to the introduction of Macaulay's history, and his first chapter reminds us of Macaulay's famous third chapter; while the influence of the great English historian is seen in the short, clear, vivid, and epigrammatic sentences of the American writer.

The two volumes, so far issued, take us from the close of the Revolution to Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana, in 1803.

The helplessness of the old Confederation, the failure of revenue, the troubles with the Tories, the difficulties with the army, the formation of the order of the Cincinnati, means for the founding of new States, the constitutional convention, and the ratification of the constitution, the starting of the new government, the difficulty with France, the Whisky Rebellion, the troubles with the Barbary States, the exploration of the West, Washington's, Adams's, and Jefferson's administrations, are some of the subjects of these two volumes. They have been treated before; with most of them the readers of American history are familiar; but whether familiar or not, they are pictured with such fullness, vividness, and clearness, that they will be read with the utmost pleasure. Professor McMaster's work has the prime requisite of a readable history,-interestingness. By the way, one venerable illustration of republican simplicity must go by the board,-the story of Jefferson's inauguration. "It has long been popularly believed that at noon Jefferson, unattended by a living soul, rode up the capitol hill, tied his horse to the picket-fence, entered the chamber of the Senate, and took the oath of office. The story, unhappily, is not true. Surrounded by a crowd of citizens and a troop of militia, beating drums and bearing flags, he ambled slowly on to the capitol and mounted the steps, with the shouts of a multitude and the roar of cannon ringing

in his ears"

While the course of public affairs is described with great thoroughness and accuracy, the passages most interesting to the general reader are those which describe the private and ordinary life of the American people. The size and population of the cities best known in the latter part of the last century, the appearance of the houses, the names of streets, furniture, dress, food, and roads, ferries, letters, newspapers, and a thousand things beside, are pictured in the most attractive man

ner.

These are just the things which are usually passed over in the ordinary histories; but they are matters on which we often want information exceedingly difficult to be obtained. Countless old diaries, newspapers, letters, and books of travel must have been examined to supply this information, and we are sure that this work will be the great storehouse hereafter for facts of this kind. As a specimen-page, we give a description of French fashions as used in America about the year 1800: "The folly of the French dress was a source of never-ending amusement. Satire, raillery, invective, the lamentations of the weeping philosopher, and the exhortations of the preacher, were exhausted in vain. Dress became every season more and more hideous, more and more uncomfortable, more and more devoid of good sense and good taste. Use and beauty ceased to be combined. The

pantaloons of a beau went up to his arm-pits; to get into them was a morning's work, and when in, to sit down was impossible. His hat was too small to contain his handkerchief, and was not expected to stay on his head. His hair was brushed from the crown of his head toward his forehead, and looked, as a satirist of that day truly said, as if he had been fighting an old-fashioned hurricane backwards. About his neck was a spotted linen handkerchief, the skirts of his green coat were cut away to a mathematical point behind, his favorite drink was brandy, and his favorite talk of the last French play. Then there was the 'dapper beau,' who .carried a stick much too short to reach the ground, twisted his Brutus-cropped hair into curls, and, upon the very crown of his head, wore a hat of snuff-box size. But the politest man on earth was the shop-keeping beau. He would jump over a counter four feet high to pick up a lady's handkerchief, made the handsomest bows, said the best things, and could talk on any subject, from the odor of a roll of pomatum to the vulgarity of not wearing wigs."

man.

There is a great deal of character-drawing. Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Samuel Adams, Tom Paine, Rufus King, George Clinton, and Patrick Henry are some of the most prominent figures in this portrait-gallery. The sketch of Washington will be likely to be received with some surprise: "He died in his sixtyeighth year, and in the heyday of his glory and his fame. Time has since dealt gently with his memory, and he has come down to us as the greatest of all leaders and the most immaculate of all men. No other face is so familiar to us. His name is written all over the map of our country. We have made of his birthday a national feast. The outlines of his biography are known to every school-boy in the land. Yet his true biography is still to be prepared. General Washington is known to us, and President Washington; but George Washington is an unknown When at last he is set before us in his habit as he lived, we shall read less of the cherry-tree and more of the man. Naught surely that is heroic will be omitted, but side by side with what is heroic will appear much that is commonplace. We shall behold the great commander repairing defeat with marvelous celerity, healing the dissensions of his officers, and calming the passions of his mutinous troops. But we shall also hear his oaths, and see him in those terrible outbursts of passion to which Mr. Jefferson has alluded, and one of which Mr. Lear has described. We shall see him refusing to be paid for his services by Congress, yet exacting from the family of the poor mason the shilling that was his due. We shall know him as the cold and forbidding character with whom no fellow-man ever ventured to live on close and familiar terms. We shall respect and honor him for being, not the greatest of generals, not the wisest of statesmen, not the most saintly of his race, but a man with many human frailties and much common sense, who rose in the fullness of time to be the political deliverer of our country."

Into the controversy which has already begun over this view of Washington, we do not propose to enter. Meanwhile, we must express our thanks to Professor McMaster for the delight which the reading of these two volumes of his history has given us, and our confidence that the volumes yet to come will be not less entertaining and instructive. W. C. M.

THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY MARLINE; OR, NOTES FROM AN AMERICAN MIDSHIPMAN'S LUCKY-BAG. By ADMIRAL PORTER. D. Appleton & Co., New

York.

Admiral Porter, apparently encouraged by the reception accorded to "Allan Dare and Robert le Diable," has put forth the present volume. These "adventures," however, the Admiral says, were written thirty years ago for the amusement of his boys, and were lent about the navy in manuscript with accompanying illustrations, which were lost. The manuscript, having disappeared some twenty years, was returned, without the illustrations, about ten years ago.

At the request of Mr. L. R. Hamersly, at that time editor of THE UNITED

SERVICE Magazine, the "adventures" were published in this periodical. Hence they got into print, and are now issued in book form.

Harry Marline, proving to his grandfather, with whom he lived, to be an inconvenient boy, is sent away as midshipman on board the "Thunderbum," of the United States Navy. The pages which follow describe the life of a midshipman at that time. The narrative shows that the author is at home in his descriptions. The life is thoroughly that of a man-of-war; the characters are every inch sailors; and there is an odor of tar in the atmosphere. The practical jokes which made up so much of the fun on an old-fashioned naval vessel are characterized by a variety, originality, jocoseness, and spiciness which show Admiral Porter as possessed of a great wealth of invention. With all these lively proceedings there are interwoven the most wonderful "yarns" ever heard of.

Mr. Spicy's narrative of his experience in Africa is to be commended as furnishing some information in natural history not easily obtainable elsewhere; and the same remark may be made as to the snake stories throughout the book, especially "The Captain's Sea-Serpent Story." It is a great comfort, after the many stories of the sea-serpent in which that interesting monster slides away so tantalizingly, to have a "yarn" where he appears of satisfactory length of body and breadth of jaw, and makes a direct and sanguinary attack on a United States shipof-war. "The Story of Jocko and a Long Tail" may also be mentioned as a remarkable study in the Simian department of natural history,-a most wonderful ape, indeed. In the "Pirate Parricidio" the reader will find a piratical story of the most approved style. Nothing could very well be more harrowing in its details, and nothing could be more satisfactory than the way in which the murderous miscreants are disposed of at the end.

Very amusing are the scenes on the Bay of Naples,-Mr. Bluff's love-making to the countess," and the extraordinary visit of the commodore to King Bomba.

In fact, the book is crowded with incidents of a most entertaining character, with puns, jokes, etc., innumerable. To get the same amount of enjoyment elsewhere, the reader would be obliged to take some of "Robinson Crusoe," Smollett's and Cooper's novels, the "Bab Ballads," "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Mr. Burnand's "New Sandford and Merton," the "Pirate's Own Book," etc.

Although "Harry Marline" is written for boys, we have no doubt that their elders will derive much amusement from its pages. W. C. M.

SERVICE LITERATURE.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE UNITED SERVICE:"

The first contribution in THE UNITED SERVICE for July contains references to myself by name; and as the writer, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Dodge, United States Army, is not entirely correct in his statements, the following brief explanation and correction is submitted.

I find the following misstatements: first, on page 17,-"Under cover of the guns, Pickett formed his five thousand men in double line of battle. On his right, Wilcox was to march in support, and on his left, Pettigrew, each in column by battalion. The whole body was fourteen thousand men. And second, on page 18,-" Wilcox's column, for some unknown reason, had obliqued too much to the right, as Pickett had to the left, and as it later passed by Stanard's wooded salient was, by another change in front, in similar fashion." Pickett, he had previously stated, had been taken in flank by Stanard-" taken in flank upon the opposite side. Deploying his command, Wilcox opened fire, but was speedily repulsed with heavy loss in prisoners and battle-flags."

Pickett did not form in double line of battle, nor did Wilcox form on his right, as would be inferred from the quotation made; and Pettigrew, in command of Heth's division of four brigades, formed on another part of the field. Neither Pettigrew nor Wilcox was formed in column by battalion, but each in single line of battle.

Before sunrise of the 3d, my brigade was formed in line between Spangler's house and the Emmittsburg turnpike, about two hundred yards from, and nearly parallel to, the latter. It was so placed to be near a number of Confederate batteries, being posted on and near that road, upon ground won from the enemy late in the afternoon of the 2d of July. About 10 A.M. Pickett's three brigades appeared upon the field in this advanced position, preparatory to the attack in which they were to take part. They were brought to a halt about twenty yards in rear of my brigade, the brigade of Garnett being directly in rear, covering mine, Kemper on the right, and Armistead on the left of Garnett. When these three brigades reached their positions there was no artillery fire, nor had there been any on that part of the field up to that hour.

Pickett's three brigade-commanders knew they had been posted preparatory to the attack to be made, and in which they were to participate. I had no such knowledge. It was not intended that I should join in the attack, as I had been heavily engaged the afternoon preceding, and had sustained serious loss. I did not know against what point the attack was to be directed, but supposed Pickett would move directly to the front across the turnpike, and assail the enemy only six or seven hundred yards distant. At least I estimated that to be the distance between the two lines on this part of the field.

During the heavy cannonading1 that preceded the advance, Armistead withdrew his brigade to a ravine close in the rear, to be under cover; when the artillery ceased 2

1 Which commenced about 2 P.M.

2 The cannonading continued about fifty minutes.

firing, the Confederates first and then the Federals, several staff-officers came with orders for Pickett's brigade to advance. Armistead was soon reformed, and instead of marching to the front, as I had supposed, they moved but a short distance in that direction, and then made a change to the left by a wheel. In executing this difficult tactical movement, one brigade was thrown in rear; the change made was not quite ninety degrees; the direction then taken was towards what was called by the Confederates on that part of the lines, the Cemetery. Heth's division, under Brigadier-General Pettigrew,-Heth being wounded,-soon joined in the advance on the left, and two brigades of Pender's division, under Brigadier-General Trimble, marched in rear, nearly opposite the interval between Pettigrew and Pickett.

I had seen Pettigrew and Trimble join Pickett, when three staff-officers in quick succession came to me,—three had been sent, as the firing was very heavy, to insure my getting the order, with orders to advance on the right of Pickett. In the battle of the afternoon of the 2d, my brigade had advanced four or five hundred yards beyond the Emmittsburg turnpike, and I had learned something of the enemy's position and the direction of his line of battle; and as the wheel to the left by Pickett's division had thrown the greater portion of it beyond the turnpike, I regarded it as impossible to get on his right without having my own right flank exposed to a close infantry fire, and possibly in contact with the enemy. I therefore moved to the front, inclining slightly to the left, trusting to aid Pickett by drawing upon my command a portion of the artillery fire to which he was subjected, and creating a diversion, otherwise favoring his attack. The brigade advanced under a very severe artillery fire, and as it approached the enemy in position, an infantry force came out on the left, and at right angles to my line. I rode back at a gallop to the turnpike, and directed several battery-commanders to turn their guns upon this force, which had, instead of advancing, as was expected, and striking my men on the flank, lain down on the ground and opened fire. The artillery captains replied, "We have no ammunition," and I was asked why my command remained so far in front? I replied, "Pickett has gone over the line, and if that force is driven off, my men may cross it also." The surface between the point from which Pickett began his advance, and the town of Gettysburg, rises up into several slight ridges, the direction of which is at right angles to the road; his men had passed over one of these, and were out of sight soon after I had crossed the pike. I was informed by the artillery captains that the attack had been repulsed, none of the assaulting column remaining on the field save dead and wounded. An order was promptly sent recalling my brigade; as it retired it became the target for several batteries. I halted and reformed it on the ground from which it had advanced. No battle-flags were lost; and if prisoners were taken, these must have been very few, as the brigade had not been closely engaged with the enemy's infantry.

With these explanations and corrections we close, quoting the first sentence of Colonel Dodge's article, and giving reasons why we do not concur in the two statements embraced in it. The sentence reads as follows: "Gettysburg is not only one of the greatest battles of modern days, but it is the culminating point of our civil war." Our opinions as to this battle are widely different. I regard it as wanting in elements that enter into what may be properly called a great battle; there was nothing decisive about it. The Confederates were clearly the victors on the 1st of July, the Federals being forced back a mile or two, with the loss of near five thousand prisoners, not counting the wounded; on the second day, the Federal left was

In the summer of 1878, General Pickett informed me that the order for me to advance was given by General Longstreet.

Two hundred and fifty were reported missing; of this number were the wounded left on the most advanced part of the field fought, on the afternoon of the 2d of July. In the engagement of the 3d, the brigade lost two hundred and four killed, wounded, and missing.