The third part of Hardy's giant (19 act) epic drama starts in 1812 and goes right through to the end of the Battle of Waterloo. It is long and has to convey a lot of history and is consequently a little dull for considerable stretches. Unsurprisingly, the Battles of Borodino and Waterloo (which is given suitably detailed coverage, taking up the entire final act if one includes news of Napoleon's approach and the aftermath) are highlights, but so also are the brief returns to the British Parliament and Wessex. Whilst any Hardy fan knows of the author's skill with Wessex dialect and ability to create brilliantly drawn, lively characters from the region, there is little in the prose fiction to indicate that Hardy would have a talent for turning political debate into impressive oratory. If only the present reality matched Hardy's vision of parliament! It sometimes happens that the climax of a work makes up for earlier slow pace or dullness and certainly Hardy raises his game in the last act, from the ball in Brussels where news of Napoleon's advance was broken to the allies' leading officers, through the skirmishes prior to the main battle to the valiant, stoic resistance of the British as they stood their ground long enough for the decisive arrival and intervention of the Prussian army to an aftermath where Napoleon is taunted by the Spirits who have been our narrators and chorus through-out, to a final metaphysical scene discussing the mechanics and purpose of God's will in the playing out of history.

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797. The Dynasts: A Drama of the Napoleonic Wars... Part Third by Thomas Hardy (read 2 Feb 1965) This work--all three volumes--has aroused in me a great interest in the Napoleonic era, even though I suppose that era had intensest scrutiny by men for 100 years--from 1815 to 1914. I set forth from Napoleon's final speech, after Waterloo:
". . . Had I then ceased,
This deep had been unplumbed; had they but worked,
I had thrown three-fold the glow of Hannibal
Down History's dusky lanes! Is it too late?
Yea. Self-sought death would smoke but damply here!
. . .This is my burn-out hour." ( )