6 MARCH 1897, Page 26

A Book of Old English Ballads. (Macmillan and Co.) — In an

introduction to this collection Mr. Mabie rightly gives as the characteristic of ballad poetry, the quality of giving the story pure and simple ; the moralising being left to the hearers. The present collection of twenty-six ballads is a representative one,

though some of the best, "Annie of Lochroyan," for instancy, are not included. The illustrations by Mr. G. Wharton Edwards are distinctly good, the primitive style adopted being much more in harmony with the ballades than a realistic one would have been.