16 FEBRUARY 1918, Page 17

A Dictionary of Similes. By F. J. Wilstack. (Harrap. 10er.

6d. net.)—Mr. Wilstack has made a hobby of collecting similes for the past quarter of a. century, and is, he says, the first to publish a classified dietionary of dunks • from English and other literatures.

His collection is large and well arranged, with an index of authors, and will doubtless be much used by writers aiming at the picturesque. Mr. Wilstack's fault is that he includes too many trivial and even foolish similes ; a large number of them, ascribed to- " Anon.," were not worth dragging from their obscurity. " Glorious as the sun," quoted from Beaumont and Fletcher, is so obvious that it must have been used by many men before them. Similes of this type abound in this all too comprehensive dictionary.