The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-22 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE PIRATE AND THE THREE CUTTERS.
Longman. London, 1835.
This handsome volume is the production of Captain
Marryatt, and consists of a collection of highly amusing
incidents, all strung together, and forming two tales ;
one of which is entitled " The Pirate," and the other
" The Three Cutters." The best and longest of these
is the Pirate, which, though as a connected story it
has not much pretensions, yet from the variety of its
incidents, and the lively graphic manner in which they
are related, it cannot fail to be read with interest—more
especially at a seasen like the present, when all classes
are equally on the look out for amusement. Storms,
shipwrecks, strange adventures by land, and still
stranger by sea—these are the materials of which the
Pirate is composed ; and no one knows how to turn
them to better account than Captain Marryatt, who,
with much of the broad humour of Smollett,
combines not a little of the vivid descriptive
power of Cooper. The " Three Cutters" is a tale—
if tale it can be called—of a more quiet, domestic
character, extremely happy in its brief, desultory
sketches of sea character, and containing an admira-
ble description of Portsmouth, with the departure of
a revenue cutter, and the crew of which it is com-
posed, who are archly represented as seated in the
cabin, drinking gin-toddy, above proof, from an anker
" which they had forgotten to return to the Custom-
house when they made their last seizure." But the
great charm of the volume—though we are far from
wishing to disparage the literary portion of it—is
the embellishments with which it is illustrated. These
are not less than twenty in number, and are all en-
graved from drawings supplied by Clarkson Stanfield,
many of which are in the artist's best manner. We
have here storms at sea—calms at sea—fires at sea
—sand-banks, breakers, and ground-swells—in fact,
the " mighty deep" exhibited in all its various
phases, now slumbering " like an unweaned child"
in halcyon serenity, and now convulsed with hur-
ricane and tempest. The " Bay of Biscay" gives
a very spirited idea of that billowy locality—so
feared and hated by all landsmen who have a
proper regard for the integrity of their stomachs ;
and almost makes one sea-sick to look at it. The
swell is not brisk or changeable, but of that long,
rolling, undulating character, which never fails to turn
a " land-lubber's" face as yellow as a piece of parch-
ment. A wreck is in the fore ground, and a solitary
frigate in the far -distance just suffices to break the
dreary horror of the scene. " Cutting away the
Masts," is in Stanfield's most spirited manner. Old
Ocean is here raging with his utmost fury ; the clouds,
which hang like a heavy funeral pall, just above the
surface of the frantic billows, are full charged with
thunder; and by the flashes of forked lightning only,
are the crew of a labouring vessel enabled to ascer-
tain the nature of their situation, and adopt reme-
dies for their relief. The scene is impressive in
the extreme, and has been worthily engraved by
Willmore. " Abandoning the Circassian " is not
amiss, but there is too great ,an appearance of
sang hold in the countenances of the crew who
have just made their escape in the boats from the
devoted vessel. One female is standing up erect, and
apparently much at her ease, in
,the boat nearest the
ship, which could scarcely be the case at a period when
the sea is labouring with storm and tempest. But per-
haps the best picture in the whole series, is that of the
" Ship on Fire," which is replete with terrific gran-
deur. The crew, who are standing on the forecastle,
evidently without the remotest hope of escape, look
just like so many spectres in the well-known legend of
the " Flying Dutchman." The volume is further
embellished with a full-length portrait of the gallant
author, Captain Marryatt, who, judging from his like-
ness, we should suppose to be a man of much energy
and vivacity of temperament, and one, too, who is by
no means wanting in self-confidence—that first great
stimulus to exertion.