The Duke of Wellington was not only unbeaten during his lifetime, but since his death has made a conquest of all his biographers. This was so with the earlier chroniclers of the Peninsular War ; Philip Guedalla, in The Duke, was almost lyrical in his admiration ; and Elizabeth Longford clearly feels the same way. Sir Arthur Bryant, acknowledging the superior scope of the latter's continuing full-length study, has felt compelled by his own admiration of Wellington to bring together here the material on him collected while he was writing his brilliant studies of The Years of Victory and The Age of Elegance. The limitations Sir Arthur has set himself cause The Great Duke to end a little unsatisfactorily with Waterloo and the few succeeding days. As a monograph on Wellington's military career it is not well enough provided with maps ; neither the strategical nor tactical situations emerge with sufficient clarity from those in the end papers or the text. The book does, however, lavish upon us a rich selection of quotations from Wellington's letters and despatches, all couched in his unmistakable and pungent style ; and also admirable descriptions of the political situations with which the soldier was confronted, whether as the " Sepoy General" or the genius of the Peninsula. Indeed, one is forced to conclude that very often he must have feared the Horse Guards, then in charge of the army, rather more than he did Napoleon's marshals.

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