When a book is called _The Sea Captain_ (METHUEN) I do not think that the hero ought to be the driest of dry-bobs for nearly a quarter of it. If, however, Mr. H. C. BAILEY is a slow starter he knows how to make the pace when he once gets going; indeed, he travels so fast and so far that merely to follow him in fancy is a breathless business. When I have told you that _Diccon_ belonged to the spacious times of ELIZABETH, I need hardly add that his methods of winning fame and fortune on the sea were as rough as they were ready. Mercifully he had a steady head and a very strong back, or something must have given way under the strain that his creator puts upon him. No hero in modern fiction has jumped so frequently from the frying-pan into the fire with so little injury to himself. But if I cannot altogether believe in _Diccon_ I admit an affection for him. He was as loyal a lover and friend as could be found in the Elizabethan or any other age, and although he treated troublesome men without mercy his behaviour to women was marked by the extreme of propriety; so, though you may insist that he was merely a pirate, I shall still go on calling him a gentleman-adventurer, and leave him at that. * * * * * [Illustration: OUR CURIO CRANKS. THE MAN WHO COLLECTS THE CHALK USED BY FAMOUS BILLIARD-PLAYERS.] * * * * * _The Barbados Standard_ on an approaching Royal visit:-- "The visit it is understood is fixed to begin on April 29 and to last until April 25. The visit is probably unprecedented." It is.