arrack, which is a fragment of the sixteenth century, out of its
place, nor 'Don' Ribiera and his sons, nor the bishop, nor anybody else
in that ill-fated ship, nor the stilted, transpontine style of their
conversation. Francisco and his bible are no more credible than the
carrack and the bishop. Francisco's brother and his love affairs are not
more credible, though they are decidedly more tolerable. The daughters
of Spanish Governors who carry on flirtations on the sea-shore with the
captains of English men-of-war, who are carried off by pirates and
rescued in the nick of time, whose papas not only consent to their
marriage with the heretical object of their affections but send boxes
full of gold doubloons, together with their blessing, are so much better
than life that we need not quarrel when invited to meet any number of
them. The sea adventures in Marryat are always good, and so are the
fights. The storms and wrecks, the rafts and wonderful escapes, the
defences of houses, and the escapes of pirates and smugglers from under
the very guns of His Majesty's frigates, are as welcome as, and are much
more credible than, the lovely daughters of benevolent Spanish
governors. Of them there is no want, and for their sake the _Pirate_
can be read; but it is not what Marryat might have made it if he had
written it in the spirit in which he was to write _Snarley-Yow_.

In _The Three Cutters_ Marryat allowed himself to take a little holiday
in company with another kind of sea malefactor whom he knew intimately
well. He had already played with the smuggler in _The King's Own_. In
this little story he reintroduces us to M'Elvina, somewhat disguised,
and in altered circumstances, but essentially the same.

_The Three Cutters_ may be supposed to have been written to fill out the
volume containing _The Pirate_ and those twenty engravings from drawings
by Clarkson Stanfield, which still make the first edition a desirable
possession. This function, whether it was originally designed or not, is
very agreeably fulfilled by the history of the _Arrow_, the _Active_,
and _Happy-go-lucky_. Although he wrote very few of them, Marryat had a
happy hand with a short story. _The S. W. and by W. and 1/4 W. Wind_ and
_Moonshine_ are very happy examples of the magazine story. _The Three
Cutters_ is somewhat longer than either, but the difference in bulk is
due less to any greater amount of pure story there is than to the care
with which Marryat int