This book was read 150 years ago. But the modern reader will also find in it adventurous stories of escapes from places of imprisonment of commanders and statesmen. Gaius Marius, Benvenuto Cellini, Maria Stuart, Hugo Grotius, Giuseppe Garibaldi - a small fraction of these names. The arrangement of the stories corresponds to the chronology of the historical events described. The book will be of interest to all history lovers.