PRINCE CHARLIE'S BLUFF

Believe me, sir, your time will not be idly spent when reading this true chronicle of how the French turned the English at Quebec and drove the redcoats southward to Boston and New York. . . . The gambit of this steamingly fresh entertainment is ""what if"" the French had won the battle of Quebec and Bonnie Prince Charlie had come to Virginia as regent, stopped the French at Fredericksburg from crossing the Ohio, and had concluded a peace with the French and the Indians. Damned Tom Paine and dastardly Patrick Henry try to assassinate Prince Charles, but they're foiled by George Washington. But this contretemps gathers the people behind Charles and his princess. Charles is the regent of Virginia (in real life Charles never set foot on the New World). At last, the Duke of Cumberland, former victor at the battle of Culloden, is defeated by Charles at the battle of Annapolis. What's important is the ringing tone of all this swash, with characters like red-hot horseshoes, all shape and heat and style. High class stuff.