The Gentleman

Napoleon waits at Boulogne with an army and no way across, and the fate of the Channel turns on a frigate, a boy, and a Frenchman of terrifying courtesy known as the Gentleman. Ollivant's army career ended when a riding fall left him bedridden for years, and he wrote Bob, Son of Battle flat on his back; this sea romance has the same quality — the villain is the most attractive person in it, and knows it. Sixty plates of naval actions, calm seas and coastal scenes by painters including Willem van de Velde the Younger and Charles Brooking carry the story's salt air and menace from 1724 to 1912.