2 JANUARY 1915, Page 31

Admirers of the exotic talent of Mr. F. W. Bain

will welcome his latest fantasy, d Syrup of the Bees (Methuen and Co., Is. net), as an anodyne for their present anxieties. It is described, as usual, as a translation "from the original manuscript," and is prefaced by a brilliant, wayward, epi. grammatio introduction, disfigured, in our opinion, by some acidulated references to Christianity, and enriched by a wonderful description of a storm seen from a plateau over- looking a valley in Mysore.