28 JANUARY 1905, Page 37

The Blue Moon. By Laurence Housman. (John Murray. 68.) —Mr.

Housman has written a very graceful collection of fairy. tales, which deserve to be classed as fiction, since in each case the conception is elaborated into a proper story and brought to a proper climax, and not left a mere fantasy in the air. Such a tale as "A Capful of Moonshine" is an admirable type of a well- wrought fairy drama. The manner is rather Andersen's than Grimm's, since almost all have a trace of the moral apologise ; but " White Birch" is written in the purest spirit of orthodoxy. There are two Far-Eastern tales, which seem to us to be very prettily done; but our favourites, if' we must choose, would be "The Blue Moon," a good instance of the romance which can be dzSNVII from a current metaphor, and " The Moon-Stroke," which is undiluted Andersen. To all who like delicately woven tales with a moral lesson intertwined somewhere in the web we can recommend this little collection.