e qualities of the man are very recognisable to me;
his subtle, piercing intellect turned all to the practical, giving
him just insight into men and into things; his inexhaustible adroit
contrivances; his fiery valour; sharp promptitude to seize the good
moment that will not return. A lynx-eyed, fiery man, with the spirit
of an old knight in him; more of a hero than any modern I have seen
for a long time.

"A singular veracity one finds in him; not in his words alone--which,
however, I like much for their fine rough _naivete_--but in his
actions, judgments, aims; in all that he thinks, and does, and
says--which, indeed, I have observed is the root of all greatness or
real worth in human creatures, and properly the first (and also the
rarest) attribute of what we call _genius_ among men.

"The path of such a man through the foul jungle of this world--the
struggle of Heaven's inspiration against the terrestrial fooleries,
cupidities, and cowardices--cannot be other than tragical: but the man
does tear out a bit of way for himself too; strives towards the good
goal, inflexibly persistent till his long rest come: the man does
leave his mark behind him, ineffaceable, beneficent to all good men,
maleficent to none: and we must not complain. The British nation of
this time, in India or elsewhere--God knows no nation ever had more
need of such men, in every region of its affairs! But also perhaps no
nation ever had a much worse chance to get hold of them, to recognise
and loyally second them, even when they are there.

"Anarchic stupidity is wide as the night; victorious wisdom is but as
a lamp in it shining here and there. Contrast a Napier even in Scinde
with, for example, a Lally at Pondicherry or on the Place de Greve;
one has to admit that it is the common lot, that it might have been
far worse!

"There is great talent in this book apart from its subject. The
narrative moves on with strong, weighty step, like a marching phalanx,
with the gleam of clear steel in it--sheers down the opponent objects
and tramples them out of sight in a very potent manner. The writer,
it is evident, had in him a lively, glowing image, complete in all its
parts, of the transaction to be told; and that is his grand secret
of giving the reader so lively a conception of it. I was surprised to
find how much I had carried away with me, even of the Hill campaign
and of Trukkee itself; though without a map the attempt to understand
such a thing s