The " true and surprising adventure, shipwreck and distresses "
of Capitaine en Seconde Pierre Viaud, -mainly transcribed by Mr. Metcalfe from original letters : " I have ventured , to transcribe ...- . somewhat largely, so that those who might be inclined to dip into what one gathers was something of a best seller, one hundred and fifty years ago, may not be deterred from continuing to read by the some- what weighty solemnity of the original text." As for the " somewhat weighty solemnity " of the modern text (Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 7s. 6d.)—well, after all, it has to carry accounts of cannibalism, lingering death, hunger, thirst, Com- bats with bears and erneodiles-r-not to mention-the:strain put upon the noble Captain by the presence, throughout all his distresses as a castaway, of Madame La Couture—"an attractive and (as I could not well help observing) graceffilly- formed woman." On the whole, it makes up an entertaining book.
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