RUPERT OF THE RHINE : THE PIRATE PRINCE
By George Edinger
Mr. Edinger's " romantic biography " of Rupert of the Rhine (Hutchinson, 18s.) is a well-written, popular bio- graphy . of the better sort. Prince Rupert was the son of the Elector of the Palatinate, whose brief reign over Bohemia, in the year before the Battle of the White Mountain, gave him the title in history of " the Winter King." But the Prince's career was determined rather by his maternal lineage. His mother, Queen Elisabeth, was a daughter of James I of England ; and he was therefore nephew of the first Charles and cousin of the second. He fought bravely on the royalist side in the. Civil War, retiring to France when the cause was lost, and returning with the Restoration in 1660. Oddly enough for one born in Bohemia, his principal passion was the sea. He made one voyage of discovery to the West Indies and another to the Hudson River, thereby ranking, as Lord Tweeds- muir says in his preface, " high among the makers of Canada " ; and on one occasion he commanded the English Fleet against the Dutch. The abundance of contemporary letters, and frequent references in the diarists of the period, have enabled Mr. Edinger to give Sufficient vividness to the story without resorting to actual fiction. But the book will appeal mainly to those whose taste F.'s in the direction of the his- torical novel. In the true romantic vein, Mr. Edinger glorifies his hero (as well as considerably exaggerating his historical importance), and heartily dannis his enemies. The year which Witnessed the defeat of the royalists is the " summer which saw merry England die:" Cromwell is a " cold sadist " ; and Pepys, who disliked Rupert and retails much. petty scandal about him, Cannot be mentioned without a sneer.
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