Napier gave up sporting, because he could not bear to hurt dumb
creatures. The same gentleness and tenderness characterised his brother,
Sir William, the historian of the Peninsular War. [1410] Such also was the
character of Sir James Outram, pronounced by Sir Charles Napier to be
"the Bayard of India, SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE"--one of the bravest
and yet gentlest of men; respectful and reverent to women, tender to
children, helpful of the weak, stern to the corrupt, but kindly as
summer to the honest and deserving. Moreover, he was himself as honest
as day, and as pure as virtue. Of him it might be said with truth, what
Fulke Greville said of Sidney: "He was a true model of worth--a man
fit for conquest, reformation, plantation, or what action soever is the
greatest and hardest among men; his chief ends withal being above all
things the good of his fellows, and the service of his sovereign and
country."

When Edward the Black Prince won the Battle of Poictiers, in which he
took prisoner the French king and his son, he entertained them in the
evening at a banquet, when he insisted on waiting upon and serving them
at table. The gallant prince's knightly courtesy and demeanour won
the hearts of his captives as completely as his valour had won their
persons; for, notwithstanding his youth, Edward was a true knight, the
first and bravest of his time--a noble pattern and example of chivalry;
his two mottoes, 'Hochmuth' and 'Ich dien' [14high spirit and reverent
service] not inaptly expressing his prominent and pervading qualities.

It is the courageous man who can best afford to be generous; or rather,
it is his nature to be so. When Fairfax, at the Battle of Naseby, seized
the colours from an ensign whom he had struck down in the fight, he
handed them to a common soldier to take care of. The soldier, unable
to resist the temptation, boasted to his comrades that he had himself
seized the colours, and the boast was repeated to Fairfax. "Let him
retain the honour," said the commander; "I have enough beside."

So when Douglas, at the Battle of Bannockburn, saw Randolph, his rival,
outnumbered and apparently overpowered by the enemy, he prepared to
hasten to his assistance; but, seeing that Randolph was already driving
them back, he cried out, "Hold and halt! We are come too late to aid
them; let us not lessen the victory they have won by affecting to claim
a share in it."

Quite as chivalrous, though in a very different f