22 FEBRUARY 1902, Page 25

The Foundered Galleon. By Weatherby Chesney. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—It

is really astonishing that any one should take the old, old story of treasure lost at sea as gravely as if it were a new invention, and solemnly write a novel on it. At the fitting out of what a fleet of vessels has the patient reader assisted, and how large a library of age-worn parchment has supplied data for the treasure-seekers to be found in fiction ! Mr. Chesney has introduced a little variety by making his vessel a convertible sous-marin, in which his adventurers explore some square miles of the floor of the ocean. But though the variations have a few

new methods—we have not forgotten Captain Nemo and the Nautilus' of Jules Verne, but forty years is beyond legal memory in fiction — the air is still the old one, for the reason. W3 suppose, that there is no new one left to play. People w'sis wish to read an "old friend with a new face" will enjoy The Foundered Galleon, and Mr. Chesney has honestly announced tho motive of the story in the title.