F, I. Harvey Darton's edition of The Surprising Adven- tures
of Baron Miinchausen (Navarre Society, 12s. 6d.) reminds us that there once existed an actual man called Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Baron von Manchausen. This worthy was a German mercenary soldier and served during the eighteenth century for the Russians against the Turks. His campaigning and other experiences; which he wag fond of relating but prudently refrained from committing to paper, gave Min- -a reputation-as-a bit of a liar, and this reputation fired Rudolf ErichIlaspe, a German *lib had to leave-his country for his eountry'S gdod•L--sornething of a man of letters and a savant and. a Very great deal of a rogue—to write in English a series of tallatories by way of a skit on the real Baron's real expe- riences. Ra:spe's work first appeared in 1785, and was con- tinued- by unknown hack writers and enlarged to the form in which we now know the epic. Make-believe can still amuse, and for the right mood there is still a tickle in this gorgeous liar's yarns—of the "greyhound who run off her legs and shortened herself down into a -useful terrier (Marryat puts a modification of -this yarn in the mouth of his own prizelliar, Captain Kearney) ; - or of the six brace of live partridges found in a captured shirr s stomach, one which was sitting on four eggs, while three. others' continued to lay throughout the voyage and supplied-the ship with game. . A reproduction in this volume of the original illustrations adds greatly to its
attraction. • * ** - .* * •
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