the army. He is waving his helmet with one hand, and
pointing to the sea with the other, mounted on a skew-bald charger.

"Below the army are rushing up--in the centre is an officer, on a blood
Arab, carrying his wife. A veteran soldier on his left is supporting an
exhausted youth who has sunk on his shield, and pointing out the path to
the army. On the right, is a young man carrying up on his back his aged
father who has lost his helmet--the trumpeter lower down, is blowing a
blast to collect the rear guard which are mounting behind him, while near
the mare's head is the Greek band with trumpets and cymbals encouraging
the men. The army is rushing up under an opening of the rock to the left,
while the advanced guard of cavalry are trotting down the shelving top of
a precipice, the horses excited and snuffing up the sea air with ecstasy."

It would, however, be difficult to convey, by description, the
overpowering energy and mighty struggle of the scene before us, or the
masterly skill with which the painter has brought within a few square feet
of canvass, one of the most astounding events in the history of man. Its
moral tendency should be a lasting lesson of the secret spring of
honourable success in life--decision of character and well-directed
energies to accomplish great ends--though applicable to every station of
life, however humble.

Xenophon is a distant figure in this effective picture: his action, as
well as that of the cavalry, about him is admirably expressed: he appears
on the pinnacle of triumph; his charger snuffs the very gale of glory, and
the uncurbed energy of exultation seems to animate those immediately
around him. The eye descends to the checkered toil beneath: the brawny
soldier bearing the delicate form of his lovely wife, which is well
contrasted with the bold, muscular figure of the former: the exhausted
youth, and the veteran directing the army, but especially the former, are
finely drawn and painted: the bare head of the aged man, with his few last
locks fluttering in the wind, contrasts with the burly-headed trumpeter,
whose thick throat and outblown cheeks denote the energy which he is
throwing into this last inspiring call to victory over difficulty. The
head of the soldier's blood Arab is one of the finest studies of the group:
you almost see the breath of his nostrils; the hinder parts and tail of
the horse are not quite of equal merit. These are but a few of the points
of excellence i