TO the fascinated reader of Parkman's narrative of the fall of Louisburg in 1745 this collection of contemporary journals may offer sharp contrast to the romantic tale that is found in the "Half Century of Conflict." The book is a compilation of ten accounts of the siege by different eye-witnesses, six of whom remain unknown to the present day. Written in the plain matter of fact fashion of the unimaginative colonial they simply set forth the events that took place in the one American expedition of the War of the Austrian Succession. One must not expect to find more than a straight chronicle of the invasion, and as such these journals are indeed adequate.

The most interesting narratives are those written by the six unknown privates who in their dry, yet at times humorous New England way, record the day by day progress of the siege as the weeks wore on. The first journal was kept by a man who was apparently on the inside of camp affairs which enabled him to write one of the best chronicles from an historical standpoint. The reader must remember that this expedition was undertaken with a distinct religious purpose, the colonists all feeling that they were carrying out the will of God and were making the world safe for the Protestants. It is not difficult to realize this from a casual glance at the diary, which hardly lets a week pass without some mention of their religious activities or a record of the Sunday services.

All the journals cover the same subject, the siege of the citadel, but some record different events in the siege, or do not begin at the same dates. Merely a notation of the happenings of the war, little in the way of a story book may be expected from the diaries; but to the student of colonial history they afford a wealth of material in factual form. Deaths seem to occupy large portions of each day's entries and it is interesting to note that many of the wounds resulted from explosions of the colonists' own cannon, so inexperienced were the militia in handling heavy field pieces. Thanks to the assiduousness of the New England diarists the student of Cape Breton meteorology will find in these journals, a wealth of information on the wind, weather, and rainfall for the duration of the war.

A complete appendix contains a portion of the correspondence of Peter Warren, naval leader of the affair, whose reports must prove invaluable to the scholar, as will the complete lists of the vessels used and taken in the encounter. One of the most interesting features is a contemporary account of the expedition which appeared week by week in The New York Weekly Post-Boy, one of the few newspapers of the day. For the genealogically minded who are eager to trace the prowess of their ancestors in this greatest of colonial expeditions, the editor has most kindly included a complete index of the names of those who participated.

In compiling these journals Mr. de Forest has brought forth one of the few books of actual facts on the taking of Louisburg that has ever been printed. It has no embellishments to put it in the class of a popular history, it contains no plot, but it gives to those interested in this aspect of colonial history an authentic, fascinating, and original chronicle.