and will probably never be possible, to estimate the share of Weygand during that last year, when perfect concord was established between the two. Officers who came into close contact with them had the impression that Weygand thought 'Foch,' but a little farther ahead. And all knew that he brought the organising power, grasp of detail, and lucidity of expression which were an essential complement to the qualities of his chief. It was the irony of fate that Weygand, who was not a Staff College man, should have been doomed to act as a Staff Officer throughout the war. That he proved so perfect in his rôle, not only in his work but in self-effacement, was a grim jest at the expense of the man who, endowed with the cavalry spirit, longed to command troops. Fate must have relented at last when it gave him the belated chance to prove in Poland, against the Bolsheviks, that he had truly the genius for directing great operations.

But however much Foch owed to his collaborator, it is right to recognise that he alone bore the responsibility and that his spirit gave the impetus to the advance of victory. His influence cannot better be expressed than by his own vivid illustration'War is like this. Here is an inclined plane. An attack is like this ball running down it. It goes on gaining momentum and getting faster and faster on condition you do not stop it. If you check it artificially anywhere you lose your momentum and have to begin all over again.' It is true that only the tide of American reinforcements pushed the ball up to and over the crest of the slope, and that the fighting power of the British troops in breaking the Hindenburg Line was vital in maintaining the momentum, but the value of the instruments does not lessen the credit of the guiding hand, which was masterly once the ball had begun rolling, and attack had become a fact and not merely a refrain. Moreover, although advanced in years, he showed the elasticity to profit by experience, and by the end of the war had so widened his horizon that it is difficult to estimate how high he might rank among the Great Captains if the war had continued into 1919. The man who before the war emphasised moral at the expense of material factors, in his post-war utterances gave full weight to the change wrought by science and mechanical invention, revealing a profound appreciation alike of the industrialisation of war and of the effect of material factors upon the morale of the soldier. Even in the moral sphere his understanding widened, and he shed a new light on the great principle of surprise. 'It is necessary, when one has been repulsed

for four or five days, not to change one's objectives, but to give them a new form in the guise of a new operation. Only at this price will you get obedience from men. With his natural élan the French soldier, who loves variety, accepts the idea which appears new to him. The result is that, under a convenient mask, all the forces stealthily converge towards the line, the secret of which has been kept under apparent fluctuations.'

As Foch developed a deeper insight into human nature and the nature of a national war, so he gained a clearer vision of the goal of the war--and he knew when to stop. Thus if he will rank below Napoleon as a strategist, he may be placed higher as a grand strategist, for of such the security and prosperity of the nation after the war are a better test than brilliancy of manœuvre. In his centenary oration on Napoleon Foch himself foreshadowed this verdict He forgot that a man cannot be God; that beyond the individual there is the nation; that beyond men there is morale ; and that war is not the supreme goal, for beyond that there is peace.' Foch himself came through tribulation to triumph not merely because of the turning of the tide of war, but also because his own mental tide had turned, ebbing from the Napoleonic—or, more truly, from his mystical conception of the Napoleonic. Many soldiers study the technique and history of war, a few seek to analyse the moral element, but Foch sought by meditation to grasp the ultimate reality-and in so doing lost hold of earthly reality. Gradually he was brought back from the contemplation of the spirit to knowledge of the facts, from absorption with his own soul to understanding the nation's, from mystic faith in morale to a practical realisation that morale depends on matériel, and that in war a will can only be effective inside a living body. It may be true that Napoleon forgot more than Foch ever knew. But Napoleon forgot, Foch learned.

LITERARY ACROSTICS.

THE Editor of THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE offers prizes to the value of at least £3 to the most successful solvers of this series of four Literary Acrostics. There will also be consolation prizes, two or more in number: the winners of these will be entitled to choose books to the value of £1 from Mr. Murray's catalogue. And, further, every month a similar prize of books will be awarded to the sender of the correct solution that is opened first.

2. 'Fresh as the morn, and beautiful as May.'

1. Only one answer may be sent to each light.

2. Every correct light and upright will score one point.

3. With his answer every solver must send the coupon that is printed on p. x of Book Notes' in the preliminary pages of this issue.

4. At the foot of his answer every solver must write his pseudonym (consisting of one word), and nothing else. His name and address should be written at the

back.

5. Solvers must on no account write either the quotations or the references on the same paper as their answers. It is not necessary, or even desirable, to send them at all.

6. Solvers who write a second letter to correct a previous answer, must send the complete solution as they wish it, and not merely state the desired alteration. 7. Answers to Acrostic No. 51 should be addressed to the Acrostic Editor, THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE, 50A Albemarle Street, London, W. 1, and must arrive not later than November 19.

Acrostic No. 49 (Slings Arrows'): Correct answers were received from 142 solvers, partly correct from 25; there were also 7 answers from competitors who infringed the rules, generally by omitting to send a coupon. Sylvia' is accepted as well as 'Silvia' for the first light, as there is authority for both spellings. The fifth light was the chief difficulty, while the second was the only one answered by all competitors.

The monthly prize is won by 'Gee,' whose answer was the first correct one opened. Mrs. J. Wilkie Scott, 40 The Ropewalk, Nottingham, will choose books to the value of £1 from Mr. Murray's catalogue.

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THE

CORNHILL MAGAZINE.

DECEMBER 1927.

THE 'LIVELY PEGGY.'

BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN.

CHAPTER X.

THE wind was southerly, the sun shone, and the Captain's gig, manned by eight of a crew, danced over the rippling flood-tide that ran a little turbid off the Pill. The middy, seated between the two women in the stern-sheets and proud of his convoy, handled the whitened rudder-lines with dignity, while the elder of the passengers, whose Irish eyes were as bright as the wavelets that plashed against the boat, flattered the boy and quizzed him by turns.

Not that she was lacking in feeling, or unconscious of the anxiety that wrung Peggy's heart and drove the blood from her cheeks, as in dumb suspense she strained her eyes towards the distant jetty. Mrs. Fagan was a kindly as well as a handsome woman. But things were as they were, the girl had taken her own course and must dree it, and though the Captain of the Antiope's sister did not blame her she had too much Irish blood in her veins for that she did not see that she could do more at the moment than divert the middy's attention from the girl's distress.

For neither the fairness of the morning, nor the sparkle on the water, nor the green shore that, beyond it, rose gently up to Durdham Downs could comfort Peggy's heart in this crisis. If he should not be there? If he should not be there to meet her, the girl thought; and the measured rhythm of the oars drummed the doubt again and again into her ears. If anything had happened—and she pictured a hundred accidents-to stay or delay him! So far the plan that he had made for her had worked to a marvel; it had made all tolerable and almost easy. True, the start in the early morning hours and the lonely journey to Plymouth had tested even her courage. She had hidden herself as well as she could among the VOL. LXIII.-NO. 378, N.S.

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