most competent to do it justice, and who, it is to be regretted, has left the story of Ireland unsung amidst the emanations of his genius; but the accomplished baronet was otherwise occupied. The character and career of Montluc would have afforded ample materials to the plastic hand of Scott, who would not have forgotten the adventures of this singular man's son-the fruit of his marriage, while aberrant from his faith and profession, but who was legitimised, and eventually honoured with a marshal's staff, like his uncle, though it would appear, little worthy of that distinction. Another member of the family, I may add, grandson to the Marshal, Adrien de Montluc, Comte de Cramail, has left a rare volume, "La Comédie des Proverbes," (1634, 8vo.) The names of persons and places are greatly perverted in M. de Fourquevaux's recital, as we have seen, and there we additionally meet-Figaret, for Fitzgerald;-Aonhardy, for Dogherty, &c. Hirois and Hirlandois are indiscriminately used for Irlandois; and the final syllable, ois, pronounced waw, was then not very euphonious. The first attempt to soften that broadsounding diphthong, it is known, was by the Italian followers of Catherine de Medicis, whose affectation (so considered,) is thus derided by H. Estienne, the great lexicographer, in his strange jumble of vindicated reform, and indecent anecdotes-" L'Apologie d' Hérodote." ..... "On a veu une secte de certains contrefaiseurs de petite bouche, qui faisans conscience de dire François, Anglois, disoyent Francés, Anglés ...... ceci est venu premièrement des femmes qui avoyent peur d'ouvrir la bouche en disant François et Anglois," &c.-(page 371, original edition, 1566, 8vo.) The whole chapter (xxviii.) is curious; but it is too foreign to our direct purpose to dwell on; and we shall therefore only add that, as names became more familiar to the ear, they were mitigated in sound. But, without proceeding further with antecedent subjects, however interesting, and though apparently digressive, still not wholly unassociated with our more immediate topic, we will now revert to Mr. O'Conor's narrative. The various services of the Irish, during the war for the succession of Spain, are told in appropriate, often, too, in glowing language, which, in phrase or purpose, seldom demands critical stricture. At page 297, however, the etymology of the term Camisard, by which the persecuted fanatics of the Cevennes were designated, is erroneous. Its obvious origin was camise, the patois for shirt, with which, to facilitate mutual recognition, they covered themselves, as the Irish insurgents, thence called Whiteboys, did during the past century. In Du Cange's "Glossarium ad Scriptores Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis," Camisa will also be found in the same sense. The regiments of Burke, Dillon, and Berwick are stated at page 250, to have served under "Marshal de Berons, a misnomer for Bezons, as is Monnedel (page 377,) for Montrevel. The elevation of various Irishmen in this narrative, to high military degrees, will occur; but one only to that of Marshal-Lord Clare, who in 1741, on the demise of Henry O'Bryen, the last direct Earl, assumed the title, and became Marshal Thomond. The bravery of his regiment is thus celebrated by Voltaire in his poem on the Battle of Fontenoy, in May 1745one of the weakest of his productions "Clare avec l'Irlandais, qu' animent nos exemples, a rather subdued praise, when it is undeniable that the Irish decided the battle of the day. Clare's regiment afterwards became Walsh's, from the colonel proprietor of that name, the son of a merchant at Nantes, as we learn from Lord Mahon's History, vol. iii., p. 339. Marshal Thomond died the 9th September, 1761; but his two sons never married, and the daughter was united to the Duke of Choiseuil-Praslin, grandfather of the miscreant, who murdered his wife in 1847. It is well known that the Marshal's staff was destined for Count O'Connell, by Charles X., whose life he had saved in 1782, at the siege of Gibraltar, and only stopped in execution by that sovereign's dethronement. No one could be worthier of that, or any elevation. Louis XVIII. too, would most willingly have conferred the honor, as so many of the continental sovereigns have done, on Wellington; but he durst not encounter the unpopularity of the act, much as he owed to our Duke. Two Englishmen have also attained that rank, John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, in Henry the Fifth's wars, and the Duke of Berwick, natural son of James II., by Marlborough's sister. His victory in 1707, at Almanza, over Ruvigny, a Protestant refugee, contributed to secure the throne of Spain, the object, in fact, of the contest, for the house of Bourbon, or, as the Princess des Ursins wrote to Madame de Maintenon, on the 4th of March, 1709, it saved Spain for the French. "Nous étions perdus en Espagne sans cet événement," are her emphatic words; and no better authority existed, for she governed Spain, through the Queen, as Madame After de Maintenon did France, in a great measure. this victory, the Austrians attempted little, until 1710, when, on the 30th of August, they gained the battle of Saragossa, which raised their spirits; but the triumph was of short duration, for they were signally defeated by the Duke of Vendôme at Villa Viciosa, on the 9th of the ensuing December. This misfortune they never recovered; and at the peace of Utrecht in 1713, the crown of Spain was conceded to Philip V., by England and Holland, and finally by Austria soon after. The circumstance of the French being led by an Englishman in exile, while a Huguenot commanded the English, at Almanza, is singular; (See vol. i., p. 404,) but we are assured by Saint Simon (tome i., p. 452,) that Ruvigny and Schomberg, had been promised full immunity from the penal consequences of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, if they remained in France, a seductive offer which they nobly rejected, rather than abandon their persecuted brethren. Alas, that "Si sic omnia" is so appliant to Louis! Relative to him, we must, however, rectify a mis-statement, at page 197, where under the year 1691, "mistresses are said to direct his councils, and too often minions without merit headed his armies." There may be some truth in this latter assertion, but there is none in the former. He then had no mistresses; for Madame de Maintenon, as we have seen, was his wife; and history does not reproach him with a persevering tenor of profligacy, like his successor, to this period. Nor at the age of fifty-three (1638-1691,) was it necessary to suppose, that "the vigour and wisdom of his youth were impaired by the imbecility of declining years." Our author, called to the bar in 1817, was fast approaching, or had reached the same age, when he unconsciously indited these lines; for he surely did not intend to pass a sentence of imbecility on himself; but he, in truth, forgot to calculate the monarch's years. In the general events of the War of Succession, as connected with our brigade, nothing more glorious to our arms occurred than Mahony's repulse of Eugene at Cremona, in 1702. The exploit is vividly related; but in its main circumstances and issue, it must be too fondly impressed on our Irish reader's memory to require repetition. It is likewise honourably acknowledged by the French writers. The Duke of Saint Simon appropriates more than one paragraph of his Mémoires, the most interesting probably that exist of that species of historical composition, to the praise of our countryman, whose death he announces under the year 1714, (tome xi., page 122,) and thus adds"Mahoni Irlandais, lieutenant-général, avait beaucoup d'esprit, d'honneur et de talens: il s'était fort distingué à la guerre, surtout à la journée de Crémone, dont il apporta la nouvelle au roi il mourut en Espagne, où il avait acquis des biens. Il avait épousé la sœur de la duchesse de Berwick, veuve et mère des Comtes (Vicomtes) de Clare; et le duc de Berwick, vivait avec lui avec beaucoup d'estime et d'amitié. Il laissa des enfans qui sont aussi devenus officiers généraux avec distinction." The Président Hénault also renders him justice, under the years 1707, 1708, &c. Another Irishman though of a later period, and not of the brigade, but in the Spanish service, deserves mention, and, before we close our reference to Spain and her wars, may find no unfitting place here.-At |