PLIK AND PLOK. 



EUGENE Luc is a writer, whose works must, in the eyes of the 

 French people, in the form, if not in the execution, bear the first 

 marks of genius and originality : that is to say, he has adventured 

 upon a path never before tried by any of his countrymen ; and made 

 the good continental folks, who had never seen the sea or a ship, 

 stare aghast at the wonders of that mighty element ; and he has 

 frozen them with horror at his wild tales of bloody and relentless 

 pirates rioting in slaughter and debauchery, whose deeds and cha- 

 racters are almost superhuman. Taking Cooper for his model, he 

 has attempted to do for the French what the latter has done for the 

 American marine; and has tried to interest the French public in 

 habits and characters with which it professes little sympathy. The 

 French have never shown a great aptitude for the sea, and we may 

 expect a proportionate degree of clumsiness of execution in the 

 works of an author who devotes his talents to the illustration of a 

 sea-faring life. However, it may not be altogether unamusing to 

 observe " how they manage those matters in France," and so we 

 shall take a glance at one of Luc's earliest productions in this line. It 

 bears the very singular title of " Plik and Plok," names of individuals 

 who are only mentioned incidently in the tales. But M. Luc is 

 well aware of the magic of a title. He can appreciate the wonder- 

 ful effects of a clap-trap, of a singular and picturesque combination 

 of letters, in rousing the attention of the readers of an advertisement, 

 and irritating the curiosity of the gentle lovers of romance, who 

 gloat over relations of blood and murder, and feel their nerves deli- 

 ciously stimulated by the circumstantial details of a shipwreck, or an 

 execution. Every bookmaker must know that a judiciously arranged 

 title-page is half the battle, and wraps up within its short compass 

 the chances of the success of a production, But to the matter in 

 hand El Gitano, the hero of the tale before us, is a wonderful 

 buccanneer, of the genus Cleveland and Red Rover, but of a more 

 vulgar and less lofty description of character. Gitano is the name 

 by which the descendants of the Moors are still distinguished in 

 Spain. Resembling our gipsies, they are a race distinct and pecu- 

 liar, and partake of all the remarkable characteristics of their African 

 progenitors. By the superstitious Spaniards they are held in abhor- 

 rence, and though the custom of burning a few of them on festival 

 days for the amusement and edification of good Christians has now 

 become obsolete, they are considered by all pious Catholics as the 

 chosen instruments of Satan upon earth, labouring assiduously in 

 his ministry until it shall please the king of terrors to reward their 

 services by taking them to himself. This circumstance has fur- 

 nished our author with a fine opportunity, which he has not neglected, 

 of bringing into strong relief the superstitious folly of the Spanish 

 people, and the malicious pranks resorted to by the Gitano to 

 heighten their belief in his connexion with the demon, and to play 



