16 NOVEMBER 1889, Page 42

Two Old Stories Retold. By Mona Noel Paton. Illustrated by

Hubert Paton. (Banks and Co., Edinburgh.)—The two "old stories" are "Beauty and the Beast" and "Jack the Giant- Killer," old favourites which one is always glad to meet again. They could hardly be expected to gain, and it is sufficient if they do not lose in Miss Paton's hands. Mr. Paton's sketches are vigorous and graceful as occasion demands ; but we are inclined to protest against the figure that he has given to the Beast. The Beast, according to the best traditions, was a bear ; the ferocious creature, something like a monstrously exaggerated cat, with claws that we do not know how to assign, could never have made himself tolerable to Beauty.