26 DECEMBER 1908, Page 27

The Last Fight of the Revenge.' By Sir Walter Raleigh.

With an Introduction by Henry Newbolt and Illustrations by Frank Brangwyn. (Gibbings and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)—Here is the document which inspired Tennyson, and here we can see how he extracted the essential spirit of the narrative in the fashioning of his poem. Not that the modern version supersedes the original, for Raleigh's splendid prose still stirs the blood. Mr. Newbolt gives us many incidents in the career of the 'Revenge,' which seems to have been indeed aship with a history apart from her astonishing end. At one time she was commanded by Drake, and it is curious to be told that when the flying squadron was fitted out in 1896 the English Admiral hoisted his flag on the ' Revenge ' and that the Marines on board were under the command of Captain Drake. Of the Grenvilles, Mr. Howbeit says that they were "men of courage without discipline, of enthusiasm without reason, of will

without science turbulent, insensate, self-willed children of aristocracy." The descendants of the great Sir Richard naturally became Cavaliers in another generation.. The book before us is decorated by black-and-white drawings by Mr. Brangwyn of ..galleons, besides some colour reproductions of pictures by him, all of which have an Elizabethan vigour.