This work is supposed by eminent critics to be his chef d'œuvre. The original edition, it will be recollected, (although not containing, like the present, any of the later efforts of his pen), was pronounced by the London Reviewers to be "the most extraordinary work of fiction that has for many years issued from the press."
"Mr. Ritchie is by far our best writer of romantic and imaginary Tales," was the dictum of the Literary Gazette on another occasion; and the Atlas pronounces him to be "the Scott of the short, picturesque, bold, and dramatic story."
"The power of fascinating the reader, of chaining him down, as it were, while his fancy is tormented by terrible imaginings, is the principal characteristic of Mr. Ritchie's fiction."—London Weekly Review.
"This Scott of Tale-writers."—National Standard.
THE BENGALEE;
Or, SKETCHES OF SOCIETY AND MANNERS IN THE EAST; including Satires in India, &c. &c. By an Officer in the Bengal Army. Post 8vo. Price 10s. 6d. boards.
"It is impossible to speak too highly of this elegant and unpretending publication. The object of the Author is to present a picture of society and manners in the East Indies; and we do not remember to have met with any book of which the plan is more ably executed, or in which instruction and entertainment are more agreeably combined."—Oriental Herald.
"The work before us, we hesitate not to affirm, is one of the best—if not the very best—of the kind we have met with for many years. It is most pleasantly written, and contains a felicitous admixture of the serious with the humorous. It is one of the very few books of modern production which the general reader will go through from beginning to end without feeling himself thereby subjected to a species of mental drudgery. It will be read with delight by all acquainted with the English language; but as most of the articles have a reference to circumstances connected with India, it will possess peculiar attraction to those who have been in the East."—London Weekly Review.
THE ADVENTURES OF NAUFRAGUS,
Written by Himself; giving a faithful Account of his Voyages, Shipwreck, and Travels, from his first outset as a Midshipman in the East India Company's Service, till he became a Commander in the Indian Seas; including a general description of India, of the Hindoo Superstitions, Idolatry, and Sacrifices of the Suttee, or Immolation of Hindoo Widows, &c. &c. Second edition, 8vo. Price 9s. boards.
"From the extraordinary nature of the adventures described in the volume under this name, and the extreme youth of the author, we formed an opinion that the work was a collection of facts and observations which had occurred to various persons, and were strung together, for the sake of uniformity, as having happened to a single individual. In this, however, we learn that we have been mistaken; for we have received a letter from Naufragus himself, affording us not only most satisfactory evidence of his identity, but such convincing reasons to rely upon the authenticity of his narrative, that we can no longer entertain a doubt upon the subject, and we have only to say, that the certainty of its reality adds greatly to the interest of his eventful story."—Literary Gazette.
"If you wish for a pleasant travelling companion, or a friend to beguile a lonely or a tedious hour—if you have any desire to view an interesting, we might truly say, a wonderful picture of real life, read the Adventures of Naufragus."—Scotsman.
THE LAST OF THE PLANTAGENETS.
An Historical Narrative, illustrating some of the Public Events and the Ecclesiastical and Domestic Manners of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. Second Edition, Demy 8vo. 12s. boards.