Prince Vance. By Eleanor Bates and Arlo Bates. (Walter Smith
and Innes.)—This "Story of a Prince with a Court in his Box" is a pretty and ingenious fairy-tale. Prince Vance, a spoilt and selfish lad, by a secret learnt of a wicked magician, reduces the King and Queen, his father and mother, and their whole Court to a miniature size. The Commander-in-Chief, who by accident escapes the working of the spell, usurps the throne, and turns the Prince out of doors, and he trudges off with the "Court in his box," just as an Italian boy might carry so many white mice. Thus he has to care perforce for others, and learns by degrees the virtues in which he is wanting. There is, therefore, a moral, it will be seen ; but it is not thrust on the reader,—on the contrary, it is artfully concealed in an abundance of fun and extravagance. Of course, all ends well. The usurper is led by his own greediness to apply the spell to himself, and is eaten by the palace cat. The illustrations by Mr. Frank Meyrick are very good.
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