form of those monstrous queues, the ambition of warriors' hearts being the cultivation of "clubbed pigtails" of abnormal length and thickness, while, as among the Celestial tail-bearers, the greatest ignominy was inflicted when these appendages were cut off. The French may be credited with having introduced this fashion in its full extravagance, and it is related in an early author as a peculiarly audacious instance of highway robbery : "Puis après lui avoir coupé la bourse, il lui coupe la queue."

The valour of a veteran was presumably measured by the inches of his pigtail. Sterne relates how a dwarf, being incommoded by a huge monster of a man, relieved his outraged feelings by slicing his queue; and to lose the pigtail was a mark of degradation. No doubt Mr. Dadd has good authority for the subject of his picture as regards the practice in the army; we are incidentally enlightened on the prevalence of the same custom in the navy and the marines. George Cruikshank has drawn one of the latter in a strangled condition owing to the malice of a sailor, who has tied his pigtail in so tightly strained a fashion that the victim cannot close his eyes, which threaten to drop out of their sockets from the tension. Heavy pigtails were borne by the British tars at the Nile and Trafalgar, and tender sentiments surrounded the ribbons gifts of sweethearts-which enrolled them.

--

Corporal Trim had much dexterity in the dressing of hair and queues, and among a soldier's duties that of hair-dressing formed an important part, the privates acting as perruquiers to their officers. The pigtail-dressing and hair-curling, according to the humourists of the time, formed, together with the copious showering of powder from the appliance shown in Mr. Dadd's picture, the chief employment among both officers and men in French barracks. Our neighbours, who carried this fashion to the extreme, were the first to discontinue its use. The French Revolution, and that national barber, the public executioner, swept the extravagance, and hair was worn à la Brutus and à la Guillotine in grim significance of the changed times.

Apart from the military bucks, the elaborate beaux of the early Georges rejoiced in extensive hair-dressing vagaries. A poem of 1731 relates:

"The hair of one is tied behind,

And plaited like a womankind."

The much satirised generation of Macaronis adopted monstrous queues, which, according to contemporaneous caricaturists, it was the freak of unfashionable roughs to "dock" unceremoniously, especially in the vicinities where butchers congregated. A poem on the Macaronis of the third George's reign declares:

"Five pounds of hair they wear behind, The ladies to delight O,

Their senses give unto the wind,

To make themselves a fright O.'

The pigtail was first adopted as an appendage

to periwigs in the reign of George 11, and Hogarth has given some eccentric diagrams of these excrescences in his Five Orders of Periwigs." The pigtail proper, a queue of the wearer's hair, was introduced early in the reign of George III. As hair-powder generally a composition of chinaclay ground fine-was worn almost universally by all but the lower classes during the reigns of the first two Georges, a word on the adoption and disappearance of this fashion may not be out of place. Its actual reign, it may be remarked, was brief, being scarcely known before the Revolution of 1688, and the minute diarist, Pepys, it has been pointed out, does not mention its use. The French Revolution scattered hair-powder to the winds; it was looked upon as a menial badge, and as such it still survives on the heads of liveried servants, where it represents a once general fashion. The Whig party-whose sympathies were at first warmly expressed on the 'side of the revolutionary propagandists, for awhile regarded as emancipators-began by discarding hair-powder, and wore their own locks à la Brissot, while the Tories expressed their Conservative principles by continuing its use; yet it was reserved to the Tory chieftain to deal the final blow to the use of hair-powder. Owing to the profuse war expenditure necessitated by Pitt's active Continental policy, the great question of the day, after the chances of securing peace and Parliamentary reform, was the means of raising money to defray the subsidies to foreign Powers to support them in their exertions against France. Recourse was had to every expedient to obtain supplies, and taxes were levied upon articles which no one ever thought of taxing before. Pitt, who later invaded the cook's salt-box, made an attempt to right his financial balance by an incursion into the perruquier's powder-puff. On February 23rd, 1795, the Minister brought forward his hair-powder tax, which was accepted by Parliament the same session. It was a remarkable impost of its kind, the fashion of wearing hairpowder being almost universal amongst persons of fashion and those of the Tory party who laid claim to respectability in society. The tax was a guinea a head, and could hardly be considered a burden-or even a grievance; but it was objected to in an unexpected manner as touching the heads of the people, and was chiefly remarkable as an extraordinary misconception on the part of the Premier, who prematurely congratulated his adherents on the great addition it was to bring the revenue, for the use of hair-powder was immediately discontinued, and the produce of the tax was hardly worth the expense of collection. The Opposition did not feel the impost, and as far as concerned the Whigs it was totally unproductive. The Duke of Norfolk-who himself wore "cropped head," as it was then designated-at once ordered the powder to be brushed out of the hair of "his four-and-twenty footmen."

a

The tax gave rise to party distinctions; those Tories who loyally continued the use of hairpowder were designated "guinea-pigs," in aliusion to the amount of the tax, while the Whigs, who elected to wear their hair cut short behind

and discarded powder, were described as "cropped à la guillotine." Such a tax naturally gave rise to many songs and jeux d'esprit, together with numerous caricatures. Directly the tax was canvassed Gillray produced a pictorial and prophetic view of the anticipated effects of the muchridiculed impost, entitled, "Leaving Off Powder; or, a Frugal Family Saving a Guinea," representing the entire members and household .with cropped hair, à la Brutus, as it was termed with the revived quondam classic modes. A little later the Minister Pitt was exhibited as a "guineapig," and his rival Fox even less respectfully as a "pig without a guinea." In spite of its failure as a financial measure the tax upon hair-powder was continued until 1869, although its use in the army had been abolished early in the century by royal proclamation, and it was stated by one who was present when the order was read at Chatham that the rejoicings thereat were great.

Like the French mousquetaires, gardes, and those unfortunate Suisses" who fell in the terrible days of the subversion of the French monarchy, our own Household troops excelled majestically in the item of" queues;" and when their proportions were curtailed and the pigtails finally were sheared off by the relentless scissors of fate, the wags had something to say on the subject

"We hail the Guards, though worsted Gallia scoff, And eke their pigtails, though they're now cut off."

It is related in the pages of the "Graphic (September 6th), where the subject is similarly treated, that Mr. Dadd's clever transcript from the relegated usages of the past suggests a grisly custom which used to prevail in the forces. On the faith of a surgeon, who related the circumstance to the narrator, the army pensioners in the bad old Sangrado days were "blooded" periodically. They were ranged in a row, and each man held in one hand a pole to keep the arm stretched and facilitate the flow of blood, and in the other a basin to catch the blood from his neighbour's

arm.

Anterior to the great French Revolution, and before the decapitation mania had seized the Parisians, a poet produced the following jeu d'esprit on the respective customs in England and France on the subject of tails versus heads :

"Ye barbarous English dock, amongst other things, Tails of men and of steeds, and the heads of your kings. While in more polished France it the opposite course is, Το spare heads of kings, 'queues' of men and of horses."

F the Majuba Hill had been retaken by British troops the whole world would have rung with the exploit. The Boers had no "special correspondents," with ready pens to celebrate their victory. The Dutch newspapers are not much read or quoted in other lands, and therefore this affair in the remote Transvaal will find scant record amongst famous fights. Yet it was one of the decisive battles of recent times and a turningpoint in the history of South Africa. The story will be told from father to son in the homes and camps of the Boer people, and will be long remembered as having secured the independence of the Transvaal. Let us also remember that day, even when we know how disastrous it was to English arms. It is useful to recall past defeats as well as victories, especially when they afford warnings and lessons for the future.

A brief statement will suffice to explain the circumstances which led to the conflict, and to describe the previous course of events.

The people of the Transvaal are chiefly farmers of Dutch descent, who have moved northwards, not merely to occupy new homes and lands, but to be beyond the control of British laws and usages. Nominally Christians, of the Dutch Reformed Church, their religion has much of the Old Testament type, especially in their relation to

the native races. Repudiating the charge of being slave-traders or slave-holders, they yet maintain "the domestic institution," with small regard to the rights or requirements of the people held in subjection. A kind master may treat them kindly, but throughout the wide territory each man does much as it seems good in his own eyes. There is little authority of law or police, and much impatience of taxation or other interference with personal independence. For any central Government, however simply and economically managed, supplies are necessary, and many of the traders and the inhabitants of the towns and villages had come to desire a more settled and stronger administration. Protection of person and property against lawless men requires magistrates, judges, police, and prisons; while beyond the frontier there loomed a few years ago the power of the Zulus and other warlike tribes. The Boer Government, without credit, trade being checked by the unsettled state of the country, and taxes not easily levied; afraid also of being overwhelmed by the hordes of Cetewayo and of Sekukuni, threw out hints of a desire for annexation by the British Crown. Mr. Burgers, the President at that time, affirmed that British rule was indispensable to the very existence of the people.

Whatever other leading men may have thought,

there was no open opposition when the Transvaal was annexed by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in the name of the Queen.

The Colonial Minister, the Earl of Carnarvon, began his despatch thus: "Knowing as I do how much the Boers and the people of the Transvaal desire to come under British rule," etc. This was in 1877.

If "the people of the Transvaal" referred to the native population, this was true enough; but the real feeling of the Boers was not understood in England. They felt that by the Sand River Convention of 1852 they were entitled to independence as much as their kinsfolk of the Orange Free State. They declared that annexation had been made without the authority of the Volksraad or any expression of the popular will. The discontent increased, some of the protestors actuated by patriotic motives, and others—such as Aylward, alias Murphy, a Fenian writer for the Transvaal press-actuated by hatred of British power. A deputation sent to England received no encouragement, and could hardly obtain an audience at the Colonial Office. They returned to South Africa, disappointed and disaffected, with firmer purpose to obtain the freedom of their Republic.

It is not necessary to go into details as to the events of the succeeding years. Sir Owen Lanyon, Sir Bartle Frere, and Sir Garnet Wolseley were successively sent to the Transvaal to effect a satisfactory settlement. The latter declared firmly that the Queen's sovereignty could never be revoked. This decided declaration provoked equal decision in the Boers to regain their independence. Circumstances favoured and increased this resolution. The result of the Zulu War had removed one cause of anxiety. The accession of Mr. Gladstone to power led them to hope that there would be reversal of the policy of his predecessors. A declaration of independence received the signature of a large majority of the people. There could no longer be misunderstanding as to the popular will in regard to annexation.

But before steps had been taken to arrange a new settlement the defiant attitude of the Boers provoked the attempt to put down by force what was regarded as rebellion. As large a force as could be spared from other parts of South Africa was ordered to strengthen the military stations in the Transvaal. The Boers then declared that an advance would be met by armed resistance. The crisis came on the 20th December, 1880. Three hundred men of the 94th Regiment, marching from Middleburg towards Pretoria, were attacked by the Boers at Bronkhurst Spruit. Colonel Anstruther, being told that his advance would be the signal for attack, replied that his orders were to go to Pretoria. A murderous fire was opened from the cover where a Boer force was concealed. The British column, advancing in the usual straggling way, their baggage waggons drawn by sixteen or eighteen oxen, stretching more than a mile and a half on the road, had no time to concentrate. Colonel Anstruther and half the officers and men were killed or wounded, and the survivors, seeing that resistance was vain, gave signal

of surrender, and became the prisoners of these Boer irregulars.

There was no room for negotiation now, and all available British troops were advanced towards the Transvaal, where a few posts were still occupied. It was soon found that the advance was difficult, if not impossible. There was only one road by which the troops could pass, and on this road, at Laing's Nek, the Boers had entrenched themselves behind defences which proved impregnable. Twice the assault was made by some of the best troops in the service, and on both occasions the assailants were repulsed with terrible loss. After the defeat on the Ingogo Heights there was nothing for it but that Sir George Colley, the British commander, should entrench himself in the camp at Prospect Mount till Sir Evelyn Wood could bring further reinforcements from Natal. In the camp the British force remained, defeated and dispirited, now more afraid of being attacked by the Boers than of venturing on another assault on the position at Laing's Nek.

Such was the state of affairs on the 26th of February, 1881. Towards the evening of that day a Kaffir from a farm near Laing's Nek came into camp, and being taken to the general had a long conversation with him through an interpreter. He brought the information that he had been on the top of the Majuba Hill the previous night, and not one Boer was posted there, although sometimes they had been seen in daylight reconnoitring. The Majuba, above 2,500 feet in height, was the loftiest of a range of hills bounding the pass of Laing's Nek. If artillery could have been planted on that height the pass could no longer be held. Sir George Colley thought that if it were occupied by a force with rifles only the position of the enemy would be turned, or at all events a diversion made in aid of an advance from the camp. An expedition was arranged for that very night, the Kaffir, who knew every step of the ground, offering to be conductor.

No sooner had " "lights out" sounded at the usual hour, 8.30 p.m., than an order was passed round by word of mouth for detachments of the 58th, the 3rd-60th Rifles, the 92nd Highlanders, and the Naval Brigade, to parade with three days' rations. The destination of this force was kept a profound secret. The general and his aide, Colonel Stewart, alone knew it. Colonel Stewart gave notice to the "war correspondents," Cameron, Hay, and Carter,* then the only ones in camp, that if they wished to accompany an expedition they would have to take a servant each to hold their horses, as past a certain point every one would have to march on foot. The force numbered about 600 in all, including the medical staff and attendants, about 560 rifles, of whom sixty-four were of the Naval Brigade under Commander Romilly.

It was about 10 p.m. when the start was made. There was no moon, but the night was not very

*For the facts in this paper we are chiefly indebted to "The Narrative of the Boer War," by Thomas Fortescue Carter (Remington), a book copious in details and impartial in spirit, and worthy of more attention than it has received.

dark. As far as was practicable the general and the staff with other mounted men rode; and before midnight all were scrambling up the steep ascent as best they could. About 3 a.m. the summit was gained, the men terribly fatigued with the effort, heavily laden as they were with their accoutrements, provisions, arms, and ammunition. Entrenching tools and waterproof sheets had also to be carried. The utmost silence was enjoined. When day began to break some of the officers and the non-combatants went to the edge of the ridge to look down on the Boer camp at the Nek. At 4 a.m. only a few lights could be seen, but not long after the whole camp was lighted up and the Boer force was astir, although as yet utterly unconscious of the proximity of the British on the hill. It seemed from the height as if a stone could be thrown into the camp. If a few Gatling guns or rockets had been there it seemed as if death might have been dealt to hundreds of the enemy from the safe vantage ground. Roughly speaking, the top of the hill was about 400 yards long by 300 broad. It was impossible to see the nature of the ground on the slope nearest the Nek, but it was certain that no enemy could ascend by the route taken by the occupying force, as they would be seen by the troops which, it was taken for granted, were by this time far on the way to support the force on the hill.

It was perhaps 5 a.m. before the Boers had any suspicion of the state of matters. Not a shot had been fired, but many of the soldiers had imprudently shown themselves on the ridge looking down on the Boer camp, and clearly visible thence against the sky-line. It was soon evident that the alarm had been given, and the whole camp was in commotion. The leaders were then enforcing on their men the critical nature of the situation, and impressing on them the necessity of recovering the hill, or all would be over with them. For some time they moved cautiously, as if waiting to see what was to be done. They expected no doubt that a storm of shot and shell would assail them. The tents were seen to be struck, and the oxen harnessed to the waggons, as if a retreat might be soon necessary.

Perceiving that no advantage was taken of the commanding position; seeing also no signs of any approach in the direct route to the Nek, the conclusion was arrived at that the hill was occupied only by a small force, and without artillery of any kind. The resolution was at once formed to storm the height. Clouds of riflemen were seen to approach the base of the hill, and soon they were hid from sight by the steepness of the slope.

It was now certain that they were advancing to the assault. In less than an hour occasional shots showed that they were near the summit. They had been creeping steadily up, carrying only the rifles which they could use so well. From various points shots came, and gradually the range was obtained, till our men rapidly fell, without being able to touch their unseen

assailants.

As the morning wore on, the anxiety of the general and his staff increased. The sun now shining hightly, signals were flashed to the camp

at Mount Prospect, but if these were seen, they had no result in causing supports to advance. A well had been dug, and slight shelter provided for the wounded. The men generally remained passive, with an uneasy feeling gaining strength, as it might well do, the direction and force of the Boer assault being unknown, and no plan being arranged for the defence of their position. They talked among themselves, and the prevailing feeling was that when the Boers came on the top they would meet them with the bayonet and drive them down.

But the Boers gave no chance for fighting at close quarters. Availing themselves of every point of cover, they continued to pour in a murderous fire, at first every man as he could take aim, and gradually discharging volleys as they saw our men massed together. Nothing could stand this storm of bullets. The men who were still unwounded stood with bayonets fixed, but no order came for a charge. In fact, it was difficult to see in what direction to advance, for the Boers, lying on the sloping ground, were firing from every point. Some had even crept round the brow of the hill, and their cross-fire increased the confusion. Before Sir George Colley was shot the whole British force was demoralised, and in the panic nothing but safety by flight was thought of. But where could they fly? The Boers were now on the summit, and no enemy was there to face them. They had only to shoot down the fugitives as they ran across the hollow towards the ridge ending the steep ascent up which they had climbed the night before. The Boers followed them, and shot down every one that they saw scrambling down the rugged slope. Mr. Carter in his descent had gained some shelter, and when the firing ceased he came out and surrendered himself to a Dutchman, who promised to give him quarter on hearing he was not a combatant. To Mr. Carter's book we must refer the reader for details of the disastrous day. When he surrendered he was taken to the Boer commander, General Smidt, who treated him courteously. Mr. Carter states that the victors behaved with marked kindness to the prisoners and the wounded, and displayed no boastful exultation at their success, which they ascribed to the Divine help given to a righteous cause. The same tone pervades the despatch of Joubert, in command at Laing's Nek.

"At four o'clock I woke every man up to his position, and I commenced a report for General Cronje. I was still sitting writing, and the sun had just risen, when it was reported to me that the troops were coming up the right-hand hill. Then it was to saddle, to saddle,' but to our astonishment we saw that the enemy had entire possession of the hill, and that already a considerable number were on the summit. Apparently one would have thought that everything was lost to us, and so it would actually have been if they had retained possession of the hill; but beyond all our expectations the Lord assisted us, and we all ascribe it to the most wonderful deliverances and help by an all-governing and mighty God. Our men climbed the mountain with a courage and energy beyond description. The troops under the personal command of General Colley would not surrender the position. They fought like true heroes, but our God, who gave us the true victory and protected us, exceeded gloriously all acts of courage and tact. The most wonderful thing to us is that on our side only

one was killed, and, so far as it has come to my knowledge, one severely wounded and four slightly."

In looking back on the events of that day and of previous defeats some obvious lessons may be obtained. All through the brief campaign there was a tendency to underrate the strength and spirit of the enemy. The mode of warfare was unsuitable. The employment of ordinary soldiers against picked volunteer marksmen was wrong, as was seen in the first engagement at Bronkhurst Spruit and again at Laing's Nek and the Ingogo Heights. At Majuba the occupation of the hill was a dashing venture, but it was folly to go there without having arranged for an attack on the Boer front, or for sending supports to the troops on the heights. Some Gatlings and rockets could have been taken up in the early morning with the help of native bearers. When the top of the hill was reached the troops, after brief rest, ought to have spent their time in digging rifle-pits and forming entrenchments. Nothing was done beyond piling up a few stones here and there, without method, and which afforded little shelter against bullets. The entrenching tools were scarcely used. No attempt was made to examine the slope of the hill nearest the camp of the Boers, whose advance was awaited with passive stolidity. When it was evident that they were approaching the crest of the hill no order was given to charge with bayonets, a movement which would have been attended with loss, but might have saved the massacre which followed. The men receiving no orders from the general or his staff, personally brave, but incapable of command, soon became demoralised, and ceased resistance, each seeking safety by flight.

Let us hope that if serious conflicts cannot be

avoided in the new campaign under Sir Charles Warren, the blunders of the former war may not be repeated. A British regiment of the line, hampered with a train of fifty baggage waggons, each drawn by sixteen to twenty oxen, could be destroyed by a hundred Boer assailants. What is wanted for irregular border warfare is a corps like the old Cape Mounted Rifles, ready to go anywhere without heavy impedimenta, and able to meet on equal terms any number of Boer assailants. Had that splendid force been available at the commencement of the South African troubles of recent years there would have been no surprise of the camp at Isandula by the Zulus, nor would time have been given for the Boers to fortify the pass at Laing's Nek and cause such terrible losses to the British army. The reorganisation of a similar force, permanent and strong, by Sir Charles Warren will be the best safeguard for order and peace in South Africa. The Boers of the Transvaal may retain their well-earned independence, like their kinsmen of the Orange Free State, but there would no longer be fear of disturbance and aggression by border bandits and marauders.

It would be wise policy also to enlist native troopers, as in the Cape Mounted Rifles of former times. These black fellows, from various tribes, were excellent soldiers, and were proud to serve under British officers. Their service in a new mounted rifle corps would be heard of far and wide, and would reassure the native races. At present the British power is regarded with distrust, not only as being inferior to that of the Boers, but as being unable to protect or help native allies, who had looked to the Queen of England as the paramount authority in South Africa.

WE

WHEN the Falconer, in the "Complete Angler," comes to speak of the song of the nightingale, he kindles up into enthusiasm, and says, "Lord, what music hast Thou provided for the saints in heaven when Thou affordest bad men such music on earth?" It is beautifully put, and may the "little nimble musicians of the air" never meet with less kindly criticism.

This poet of a falconer has many followers-people who would rather listen to a blackbird inging on a thornbush or to a lark far up in the olue sky than to all the sonatas, quartets, and symphonies of the concert-room. In society, no doubt, such people generally keep their thoughts to themselves or else affect an admiration they do not feel. But their genuine sympathies are in favour of the music of nature-the cheerful utter

ances of the birds and all the varied sounds that enliven our daily existence.

It is easy pointing out that, judged by the artistic standard of a Mozart or Beethoven, the music in question is not worth much. Our enjoyment of it, says some one, depends entirely upon association. It reminds us of freedom and repose, of life and motion, of innocence and joy, of sunshine and the open air. Beyond that it is nothing but noise.

Perhaps. But let not those who delight in it be too anxious to understand the reason why. We search for reasons and bewilder ourselves with explanations, and on returning to our right minds discover, alas! too often, that pleasure has somehow slipped quite away.

A book, under the title of "The Music of