Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific

Prefatory Note Masterman Ready is the first, the most famous, and certainly the best of the short series of stories for children which Marryat began, comparatively late in life, under the impression that his former productions, like all novels, had had their day, and for the present, at least, would sell no more. He anticipated, and secured, a little income from these juveniles. In his preface, printed below, he expounds the origin of the tale ;and no one will be inclined to dispute the advance in correctness on The Swiss Family Robinson, to which he lays claim. Indeed the treatment of a well-worn subject is surprisingly fresh and convincing. The hypercritical reader may cavil at the thoughtfulness of the seawaves in washing ashore the very articles required for comfort, and no one can fail to resent the excess of righteousness in old Ready; but these are small blemishes in a work so really interesting and so admirably executed. It is exactly suited for children, abounding in detail, simple in conception, and pathetic without being melancholy. The style of direct narration is perfectly clear and attractive, without foolish condescension. Were there no external evidence of the fact, we could be confident from a study of this volume, that Marryat loved children and understood them. The death of Ready, through Tommy sselfishness, is artistically inevitable, and told without sentimentality. For ourselves, however, we confess to finding that greedy boys naughtiness in most cases peculiarly unattractive and scarcely amusing.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don\'t occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books\' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writing
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