18 DECEMBER 1886, Page 24

Under the Water. By Maurice Noel. (3.11. Arrowsmith, Bristol.) —The

idea of this "story for children" is evidently suggested by Kingsley's "Water Babies." Constance and Randolph, in trying to catch some fish with their hands, go very near to being drowned. Happily, they are pulled out in time by a miller's man. But the time of their immersion has been as full of experiences as was that of the Eastern King when he dipped his head at the dervish's bidding into the bowl of water. All sorts of water creatures talk to them and tell them stories, the "passionate larva," for instance, and the "sor- rowful loach." There is some pretty, fanciful writing ; the pictures, too, are decidedly good, while the get-up of the volume is pleasing and graceful.