Alas! this little book mentions no Poll of Portsmouth, nor does it favour us with a "Yeo, heave, oh!" nor is there so very much "cut and thrust" about it. It was written in that uninspiring day when Pirates were a very real nuisance to such law-abiding folk as you and I; but it has the merit of being written, if not by a Pirate, at least by one who came into actual contact with them. I am not at all sure that "merit" is the right word to use in this instance, for to be a Pirate does not necessarily ensure you making a good author. Indeed, it might almost be considered as a ban to the fine literary technique of an Addison or a Temple. It has, however, the virtue of being in close touch with some of the happenings chronicled. Not that our author saw above a tithe of what he records--had he done so he would have been "set a-sun-drying" at Execution Dock long before he had had the opportunity of putting pen to paper; but, as far as posterity was concerned, he was lucky in his friend William Ingram--evidently a fellow of good memory and a ready tongue--"who," as our author states in his Preface, "was a Pirate under Anstis, Roberts, and many others," and who eventually was hanged in good piratical company on the 11th of June, 1714. The actual history of the little book, the major part of which is here reprinted, is as follows: Its full title is "The History and Lives of all the most Notorious Pirates and their Crews," and the fifth edition, from which our text is taken, was printed in 1735. A reproduction of the original title-page is given overleaf. As a matter of fact, the title is misleading. How could a book that makes no mention of Morgan or Lollonois be a history of _all_ the most notorious Pirates? It deals with the last few years of the seventeenth century and the first quarter of the eighteenth, a period that might with justice be called "The Decline and Fall of Piracy," for after 1730 Piracy became but a mean broken-backed affair that bordered perilously on mere sea-pilfering. [Illustration: THE HISTORY _and_ LIVES Of all the most Notorious PIRATES, AND THEIR CREWS; From Capt. AVERY, who first settled at _Madagascar_, to Captain _John Gow_, and _James Williams_, his Lieutenant, _&c._ who were hang'd at _Execution Dock_, _June_ 11, 1725, for Piracy and Murther; and afterwards hang'd in Chains between _Blackwall_ and _Deptford_. And in this Edition continued down to the present Year 1735. Giving a more full and true Account than any yet Publish'd, of all their Murthers, Piracies, Maroonings, Places of Refuge, and Ways of Living. The Fifth Edition. Adorned with Twenty Beautiful CUTS, being the Representation of each Pirate. To which is prefixed, _An Abstract of the Laws against Piracy_. LONDON: Printed for _A. Bettesworth_ and _C. Hitch_, at the _Red Lyon_ in _Pater-noster-Row_; _R. Ware_, at the _Sun_ and _Bible_ in _Amen-Corner_; and _J. Hodges_, at the _Looking-glass_ on _London-bridge_. 1735.]