Sea Puritans. By Frank T. Bullen. (Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.)—Although
the date of this story is also the seventeenth century, its atmosphere of sea breezes and Puritanism is very different from that of the lurid tale of witchcraft which we have noticed above. The beginning of the book, while Blake, who is the most interesting person in the story, still commands a land force, is a little constrained, and we feel that Mr. Bullen is not working in the medium which suits him best. But when the scene shifts to blue water, and Blake becomes " General at sea,', matters improve very greatly, and any one who wishes to obtain information as to Cromwell's fleet in an easy and pleasant form cannot do better than read Sea Puritans. Tho book really embraces the whole career of Blake, and ends with his burial —the first of the great men of action—in Westminster Abbey. So few people remember the part played by sea-power in Cromwell's policy that it is as well that novelists like Mr. Bullen should remind us of the facts. England was no more safe without it then than she would be safe without it now.
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