The Lilac Fairy Book. Edited by Andrew Lang. (Longman and
Co. 6s.)-The material of this, the twelfth in the series of colours, is drawn from a wide range of sources, from Brittany, from Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, India, and other places. The Celtic lands are, it may be said, those which furnish the most and the best. But, indeed, it is difficult to choose. All are so deftly handled-Mr. Lang is careful to explain that his contribution is editorial only-that they cannot fail to please. Not the least of their charms is the not infrequent touch of humour, as when Maurice Connor-Maurice was King of the Munster pipers- marries a sea-woman, and his mother laments : " May be boiling and eating my own grandchild I'll be, with a bit of salt butter, and I not knowing it." Mr. H. J. Ford's pictures-eight of them in colours-are in excellent keeping with the subject. Mr. Lang complains of the modern fairy-story ; we, having suffered somewhat from it, agree. The fact is that the writer of to-day cannot reach the delightful irresponsibility of the old maker-Mr. Lang rightly discards the word " writer "-of these things. To be a third, or, still better, a seventh, son was all the virtue needed.
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