26 NOVEMBER 1864, Page 24

The White Wife. With other Stories. By Cuthbert Bede. (Sampson

Low, Son, and Marston.)—These stories, "supernatural, legendary, and romantic," have been collected by the author from the inhabitants of that singular promontory of Argyllshire known as the Mull of Cantyre. The tales are all published for the first time, and were mostly derived from Gaelic-speaking peasants. The traditions of the district about the Dukes of Argyll and the local ministers are better than the longer stories, but we must remember that the author is only a gleaner in a field which Mr. J. F. Campbell had previously reaped in his "Popular Stories of the Western Highlands." The wonder is how so interesting a contribution to folk-lore has, under the circumstances, been com- piled. The very humorous illustrations are the author's own. Print and paper are equally unexceptionable.