To the personal element which pervades the volumes great part of their charm is due. The writer never obtrudes himself, but leaves his presence to be discerned by the touches which attest an eye-witness. Through his observant nearness we watch the Chief’s demeanour and hear his words; see him “turn scarlet with shame and anger” when the brutal Zouaves carry outrage into the friendly Crimean village, witness his personal succour of the wounded Russian after Inkerman, hear his arch acceptance of the French courtesy, so careful always to yield the post of danger to the English; his “Go quietly” to the excited aide-de-camp; {63} his good-humoured reception of the scared and breathless messenger from D’Aurelle’s brigade; the “five words” spoken to Airey commanding the long delayed advance across the Alma; the “tranquil low voice” which gave the order rescuing the staff from its unforeseen encounter with the Russian rear. He records Codrington’s leap on his grey Arab into the breast-work of the Great Redoubt; Lacy Yea’s passionate energy in forcing his clustered regiment to open out; Miller’s stentorian “Rally” in reforming the Scots Greys after the Balaclava charge; Clarke losing his helmet in the same charge, and creating amongst the Russians, as he plunged in bareheaded amongst their ranks, the belief that he was sheltered by some Satanic charm. He notes on the Alma the singular pause of sound maintained by both armies just before the cannonade began; the first death—of an artilleryman riding before his gun—a new sight to nine-tenths of those who witnessed it; {64} the weird scream of exploding shells as they rent the air around. He crossed the Alma close behind Lord Raglan, cantering after him to the summit of a conspicuous hillock in the heart of the enemy’s position, whence the mere sight of plumed English officers scared the Russian generals, and, followed soon by guns and troops, governed the issue of the fight. The general’s manner was “the manner of a man enlivened by the progress of a great undertaking without being robbed of his leisure. He spoke to me, I remember, about his horse. He seemed like a man who had a clue of his own and knew his way through the battle.” When the last gun was fired Kinglake followed the Chief back, witnessed the wild burst of cheering accorded to him by the whole British army, a manifestation, Lord Burghersh tells us, which greatly distressed his modesty—and dined alone with him in his tent on the evening of the eventful day.