18 DECEMBER 1886, Page 25

Prince Peerless. By the Hon. Margaret Collier. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—Fairy-stories,

as we have had occasion to remark more than once, are not easy to write, are, indeed, as hard in their way as epics in non-heroic times. The simplicity of the genuine folk-tale is absent, and the writer cannot help showing the consciousness of effort. These have some fancy and a touch of humour ; but we must own ourselves to be out of sympathy with this kind of literature, unless we can get a Titania and a Bottom.