Literature.

himself , seems to have destroyed the boom which ran across the mouth of the harbour , but Lord Cochrane's design was completely effected . Thc French were so panicstruck that they ran their vessels nearly all on shore , where the ebb tide left them the next morning with their bottoms so exposed to the shot that they could easily have been rendered unfit to float . In this dilemma Lord Cochrane made signal after signal to the Admiral , ivho was fourteen miles off , that thc enemy was ashore and at his mercy , for , —

"At daylight observing seven of the nearest enemy ' s ships ashore , amongst which was the admiral's ship L'Ocean , and a group of four others lying near her in a most favourable position for attack without the possibility of returning it , at ( 5 a . m . we signalised the admiral to that effect . As the Impcrieuse at this time lay just within range of the batteries on Aix , which had commenced to fire upon us , we weighed , and stood in the direction of the fleet , letting go our anchor as soon as the ship was out of range . At 7 a . m . we signalised again , ' All the enemy's ships , except

two , are on shore ; ' this signal , as well as the former one , being merely acknowledged by the answering pennant ; but , to our surprise , no movement was visible in any part of the fleet indicating an intention to take advantage ofthe success gained . " Reflecting that , from the distance of the British , force , from the stranded enemy ' s ships—viz ., from twelve to fourteen miles , the commander-in-chief could not clearly be acquainted with their helpless condition , I directed the signal to be run up , 'The enemy ' s ships can be

destroyed ; ' this also meeting with the same cool acknowledgment of the answering pennant . " Not knowing what to make ' of such a reply , another signal was hoisted , ' Half the fleet can destroy the enemy . ' This signal was again acknowledged by the answering pennant , the whole fleet still remaining motionless as before . On this I made several telegraph signals , one of which was probably regarded as impertinent—viz ., ' The frigates alone can destroy the enemy' though it was true enoughtheir ships aground

, , being perfectly helpless , to my astonishment , the answering pennant was still the only reply vouchsafed . " Eight and nine o ' clock passed without any indication of movement on the part of the fleet , though the tide was now fast rising , so that any ships sent to the attack of the stranded vessels would have had the flood-tide to go in and the ebb to return , after having accomplished their destruction ; whilst- it was evident that if not attacked , the same floodtide would enable the French ships aground to float and escapewith

, which view some were heaving their guns and stores overboard .. On ascertaining this , I again signalised , ' The enemy is preparing- to heave off ; ' ancl entertaining no doubt that the commander-in-chief would not permit such a catastrophe , the Imperieu . se . dropped her anchor close to the Boyart Shoal , in readiness for any service that might be required . "

Lord Cochrane confident that neither forts , ships , or shoals offered any danger , still Lord Gambier would not venture ; and then in order to force the Admiral , Lord Cochrane adopted a characteristic device which hacl the effect of bringing some of the fleet to his aid , for he remembered Lord Jtulgrave's words , which he says ran in his ears , and they were , " The Admiralty is bent on destroying that fleet before it can get out to the West Indies ;" so lie resolved to put his ship in such a position that she must be either backed by others or lost ,

and"In despair , lest the ships still aground should also effect their escape , at 1 p . m . I ordered the anchor of the Impcrieuse to be hove atrip , ancl thus we drifted stern foremost towards the enemy . I say ' drifted , ' for I clid not venture to make sail , lest the movement might be seen from the flag-ship , and a signal of recall should defeat my purpose of making an attack with the Impcrieuse ; the object of this being to compel the commander-in-chief to send vessels to our assistance , in which case I knew their captains would at once attack the ships which hacl not been

allowed to heave off ancl escape . " Had this means not been resorted to , not a single enemy ' s ship would have been destroyed , for all could have hove off almost without damage , and that , to all appearance , without the slightest attempt at molestation on the part of the British fleet . It was better to risk the frigate , or even my commission , than to suffer such a disgraceful termination to the expectations of the Admiralty , after having driven ashore the enemy ' s fleet ; ancl therefore we drifted bthe wind and tide slowlpast the

y y fortifications on Isle d'Aix , about which the commander-in-chief hacl expressed so many fears in his last letter to the board ; but though they fired at us with every gun that could be brought to bear , the distance was too great to inflict damage . " Proceeding thus till 1 . 30 p . m ., and then suddenly making sail after the nearest of the enemy ' s ves-sels escaping , at 1 . 10 p . m . the signal was run up to the peak of the Impcrieuse , ' Enemy superior to chasing ship , but inferior to the fleet . ' No attention being paid to this signal , at 1 . 45

p . m . I again signalled , ' In want of assistance , ' which was true enough , being in a single frigate , close to several enemy's ships of the line . "As this signal , according to the code then in use , was coupled with the one signifying 'in distress , ' the signal officer on boarcl the flag ship thus interpreted it to the commander-in-chief , a circumstance which will require brief explanation . ' In order to divert ouv attention from the vessels we were pursuiu g these having thrown their guns overboard , the Calcutta , which ' , vas st i

aground , broadside ou , began tiring at us . Before proceeding further it became , therefore , necessary tu attack her , and at 1 ' 50 wo shortened sail and returned the lire . At 2 the lmpcricv . se . came to anchor in five fathoms , and , veering to half a cable , kept fast the spring , firing upon the Calcutta with our broadside , and at the same time upon the Agmlon . and the Yille de Varsorie ivith our forecastle and bow guns , both these ships being aground , stern on , in an opposite direction . " This proceeding—though there could be no doubt of our being jhi

want of assistance , ' seeing that our single frigate , unaided , was engaging three line-of-batt ! e ships—did not look much like being ' in distress , ' as tho signal officer of thc Caledonia had interpreted the signal ; the nature of which could not , however , have deceived the coinniaiiclcr-iu-chief , who must have witnessed the circumstances under which the signal had been made by the Impcrieuse . After engaging the Calcutta for some time , and . simultaneously firing had at th

into the sterns of the two grounded line-of-battle ships , wc leng the satisfaction of observing several ships sent to our assistance—viz ., Emerald , Unicorn , Indefatigable , Valiant . Jierr . nge , Pulluz , and Ai ' jle . On seeing this , the captain ancl crew of the Calcutta abandoned their vessel , of which the boats of the Impcrieuse took possession before the vessels sent to our ' assistance' came down . " So , with the assistance of these additional ships , the work was partially completed which might have been done effectually if

there had been corresponding energy on the part of the admiral . If Lord Cochrane ' s representation of the matter is the true one , he certainly may be excused for the warmth with which he at the time denounced , and still is indignant at , the stupidity and incapacity of his chief . The English government was anxious to make the best of it , and , according to Lord Cochrane , attempted to bribe him off for telling the truth , by the offer of an

independent squadron—to his rejection of which offer he ascribes the ruin of his prospects . Lord Gambier was acquitted by an English courtmartial . But it is to be noted that the hig hest French authorities entirely support Lord Cochrane ' s assertion that nothing but the English admiral ' s inconceivable hesitation saved a relic of the French fleet . "The French admiral was an imbecile , " said Napoleon , " and yours was as bad . " If Cochrane had been supof not onl

ported he would have taken every one the ships . He y could have destroyed them , but he mig ht and would have taken them out . " And " a more competent witness even than Napoleon , Admiral Jurieu de la Graviere , who was present at the action , after describing the " esprit de vertige" wliich had seized the whole French fleet , involving the most heroic in the common weakness , gives his judgment that "to mollesse cle Lord Gambier le courage and le sang fraid de quelques wis de uos qfficiers , preserverent seitls I'escadre Francaisc d ' une mine tolale . "

¦ NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , At \ lJ ) ART . LOED MACATJL . VT had fixed , in his own mind , the extreme limit to which time and his vast store of materials would enable him , under favourable circumstances , to carry his history—that is , if wo are to place any reliance in the following statement of the Inverness Advertiser : — " "We have seen a letter to a gentleman from the great historian , dated Holly Lodge , 13 th October , 1 S 58 , in which he says : ' I have long given

up the hope that I shall lie able to bring the history of England down to the time of the Porteons mob . I have , therefore , no motive for investing minutely the circumstances of that affair , ancl I should not wish to engage in an inquiry which , however curious and amusing it might be , must divert me from more useful researches . '" Mr . Thomas Adolphus Trollope ( a brother of the well known novelist , and the author of " A Decade of Italian AVomen , " & e . ) has in prepara - tion a new work entitled " Tha Merchant Princes of Florence . " Jlr .

Trollope has resided in Florence for some years . ""SYe hear , " says the Publishers' Circular , "that JSo . 5 of the Cornhill Magazine will contain an article by Mr . Herman Merivale , under secretary of the colonial department , giving some curious interesting details respecting Lord Macaulay and the Junius controversy ; also an article by Rusk ' ui . Miss Adelaide Procter contributes a lyric poem ; the editor another Roundabout Paper . "

M . Alexandre Dumas has favoured the world with the commencement of a translation of "Au Autobiography of Horace , discovered by M . Dumas iu the Library of the Vatican . " The opening portions tell us all about Horace ' s boyhood , and give a graphic account of his first visit to Rome , ancl his being placed by his father under the care of the terrible pedagogue , plagosus Orbilius . The opinion of the literary world upon Mr . Dumas ' s new production may be guessed from the following extract

from one of the best written papers in Paris : — " Dumas must have exhausted all the imagination with which nature endowed him—must have run short of old books and of all kind assistants—to have resorted to such a profanation of one of the most celebrated names of antiquity , '