By General Count Philip de Segur. 2 Vols.
The established interest created by Count Segur’s history renders any commendation vain—any anticipation of its contents of no value. When those recollections of the most disastrous campaign ever undertaken were first published, they were charged with exaggeration, if not falsehood; but a severe scrutiny has shown that, with the exception of a few unimportant errors, every statement in this extraordinary production is entitled to public confidence. The translation made for the Family Library exhibits evidence of the utmost care, and the misstatements into which the author inadvertently fell are corrected by the translator.
THE
LIFE OF JOHN, DUKE OF MARLBORO’.
By Charles Bucke.
Editorial ingenuity, and economy in printing, have reduced the varied annals of the great Marlborough within the grasp of moderate literary industry. The editor has drawn a fair and truthful picture of the martial Duke, lauding his political and public virtues without concealing those blemishes that his warmest advocates confess to be equivocal. When the balance betwixt good and evil is struck, Marlborough stands out in bold relief in the picture of history; and had his brilliant victories been followed by firm and honest treaties, their effects, like those of Waterloo, would have been felt in the happiness of the British dominions.
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA.
With Literary and Historical Illustrations by Thos. Roscoe, Esq.
It is not strange that the writings of Cervantes, with the exception of Don Quixote, should have so long remained unknown, since it was generally asserted that “the Spaniards had but one good book, that one which had made all the others ridiculous.” The chef-d’œuvre is translated into every language of Europe, while the same author’s plays and novels are sealed against all but Spanish scholars; and his chivalrous life, previous to this publication, buried in oblivion to which the anarchy of Spain had consigned it. Cervantes flourished in the reign of Philip II., and was contemporary with Lope de Vega.
THE LIFE OF NELSON.
By Robert Southey, Esq., LL.D., Poet Laureate, &c.