e distant. M'Carthy and I jumped out of
the carriage, and I ran across the prairie to cut him off, which I just
succeeded in doing by borrowing the spare horse of the last man in the
train.

I galloped up to the front, and found the General riding with a lady who
was introduced to me as Mrs ----, an undeniably pretty woman, wife to an
officer on Magruder's staff, and she is naturally the object of intense
attention to all the good-looking officers who accompany the General
through this desert.

General Magruder, who commands in Texas, is a fine soldierlike man, of
about fifty-five, with broad shoulders, a florid complexion, and bright
eyes. He wears his whiskers and mustaches in the English fashion, and he
was dressed in the Confederate grey uniform. He was kind enough to beg
that I would turn back and accompany him in his tour through Texas. He
had heard of my arrival, and was fully determined I should do this. He
asked after several officers of my regiment whom he had known when he
was on the Canadian frontier. He is a Virginian, a great talker, and has
always been a great ally of English officers.

He insisted that M'Carthy and I should turn and dine with him,
promising to provide us with horses to catch up Mr Sargent.

After we had agreed to do this, I had a long and agreeable conversation
with the General, who spoke of the Puritans with intense disgust, and of
the first importation of them as "_that pestiferous crew of the
Mayflower_;" but he is by no means rancorous against individual Yankees.
He spoke very favourably of M'Clellan, whom he knew to be a gentleman,
clever, and personally brave, though he might lack moral courage to face
responsibility. Magruder had commanded the Confederate troops at
Yorktown which opposed M'Clellan's advance. He told me the different
dodges he had resorted to, to blind and deceive the latter as to his
(Magruder's) strength; and he spoke of the intense relief and amusement
with which he had at length seen M'Clellan with his magnified army begin
to break ground before miserable earthworks, defended only by 8000 men.
Hooker was in his regiment, and was "essentially a mean man and a liar."
Of Lee and Longstreet he spoke in terms of the highest admiration.

Magruder was an artilleryman, and has been a good deal in Europe; and
having been much stationed on the Canadian frontier, he became
acquainted with many British officers, particularly those in the 7th
Hussars and Guards.

He