His plan is not bad, but he fails utterly in his execution.

The style is detestable.

If he had written in the style of a plain seaman, and told a simple unvarnished tale, it would have been all right.

In order to carry out properly such a plan as this the writer should take Defoe as his model, or, still better, Dean Swift.

Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe show what can be done in this way, and form a standard by which all other attempts must be judged.