52 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
Could anything be worse from Lee's point of view? But it does put some life into an official report. Or take this Homeric picture of a charge, which rushes like a half- dozen stanzas of " Chevy Chase " : " Lieutenant Rob- bins, handling it in the most skilful manner, managed to clear the way for the march with little delay, and infused by a sudden dash at a picket such a wholesome terror that it never paused to take a second look. . . . On, on dashed Robbins, here skirting a field, there leaping a fence or ditch, and clearing the woods beyond." ^^
When I read these things, I cannot but remember Madame de Sevigne's fascinating comment on the his- torical novels of her day. "The style of La Calprenede is detestable in a thousand ways ; long-winded, romantic phrases, ill-chosen words, I admit it all. I agree that it is detestable ; yet it holds me like glue. The beauty of the sentiments, the violence of the passions, the grandeur of the events, and the miraculous success of the hero's re- doubtable sword — it sweeps me away as if I were a child."
And Stuart's was a real sword !
Then, too, as in Shakespearean tragedy or modern melodrama, the tension, in Stuart's case, is constantly relieved by hearty, wholesome, cheery laughter, which shook his broad shoulders and sparkled in his blue eyes. See what a strange comedy his report makes of this lurid night scene, in which another might have found only shadow and death: *'It so far succeeded as to get pos-
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