The Royal Yacht Squadron. By Montague Guest and William B.
Boulton. (John Murray. 31s. 6d. net.)—The authors of this volume claim a very modest antiquity for the sport of yachting. They trace it back to Charles II., who in the days of his exile used to amuse himself with excursions in a sailing-boat, and when he came to his throne, received with pleasure from the Dutch East India Company the gift of a twenty-ton yacht. (He is recorded by Pepys as going to see it on August 15th, 1660, at 5 a.m.) The word is Dutch ; the thing itself is pretty nearly as old as civilisa- tion. Horac.e's aerate triremia, which for all its speed could not escape "black Care," was certainly a, yacht. For all practical purposes, however, our authors go back far enough. We need not follow the history which they give of the sport as it is seen in the records of its most famous representative. A great sport it is, and one that has had its share in Imperial development. In this volume, with its carefully compiled narrative and its admirable illustrations, all who desire may learn what is to be learnt about it.
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