The Earth - Fiend : a Ballad. Made and Etched by William
Strong. (Elkin Matthews.)—A Scottish peasant cultivates a piece of land, but finds that nothing prospers on it. By the advice of a wise woman, he watches for and captures the mis- chievous earth-fiend by whose ill-doings all the misfortunes had been brought about. Now everything goes well, till, in an un- lucky moment., the creature finds its human master off his guard and murders him. This doleful story is told in dialect with not a little force, and illustrated by etchings of widely various merit. What could be more unlovely than the two figures, meant, we suppose, to represent a young and happy couple, which are shown by the fireAde in the illustration that faces p. 2? And why is the winged boy with the scythe, in the picture which follows the frontispiece, left-handed ? On the other hand, the children, opposite to p. 18, are good.
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