6. Byron's Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Wager. This
is one of those things which, fortunately, are getting much into fashion —a new edition of an old book. Admiral BYRON was, on his own account, a very celebrated man in his day ; and, in ours, his me- mory is revived as the grandfather of the greatest of modern poets. It is this circumstance which seems to have given rise to the pre- sent publication; as it is not only uniform with MURRAY'S edition of Lord BYRON'S Life and Works, but is ushered in with an ad- vertisement, in which a parallel is drawn between the characters of the grandfather and grandson, and the work of the sailor is de- scribed as deriving a portion of its value from its being illus- trative of the verses of the poet. Some striking incidents of the shipwreck in Don Juan are evidently borrowed -from this Narra- tive • and here, as in most instances, fiction derives its power from its being founded on reality. We are glad to see this admirable little work thus revived. Had the publishers given a slight map, or sketch, of the coast explored by the adventurers in the course of their wanderings, it would have accommodated the reader, who otherwise finds it somewhat difficult to follow their track.
Previous page
