Pirates. Edited by Lovat Fraser. (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 3s.
fidt net.)—This is no new or faked romance of the Jolly Roger, but a reprint of twelve biographies from The History emd Lives of All the Most Notorious Pirates and their Crews, a pirated and shortened edition of Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates, first published in 1724, translated into German in 1728, and still used perhaps as a manual for submarine commanders. The Lives have been selected by, Mr. Lovat Fraser, who has also modernized the spelling. The most famous of the company is Captain Kidd. All of them had short careers, if merry ones ; but these simple, direct narratives do not tell of much merriment. All ended fittingly except Captain England, of whom and his crew it is said that they surrendered to the Governor of Porto Bello, "where they now live upon their Spoils." It is encouraging to those who would seek an alliance with respectability to learn that Captain Teach, alias Blackbeard, was in league with the Governor of North Carolina. There are eight portraits of these celebrities repro- duced from the old woodcuts. They have plenty of character, but hardly individual character. Captain Lowe certainly is not marked especially as the nastily cruel ruffian that the text describes. Major Stede Bonnet alone, with a Bourbon type of profile, lived up to his external appearance, being an amateur who, in Blackboard's opinion, did not know his business. Mr. Fraser's foreword is sympathetic, but when writing apparently of one of his rascals, John Glow, he drags in the name of a respectable musician and fellow-countryman.
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