beautiful story. Externally, it has the appearance of an ordinary
novel, and the opening pages do not lead us to expect anything different, as they record a quite ordinary experience in the life of a lonely, middle-aged woman ; but very quickly it develops into a strange fairy romance, in which the heroine is transported to some distant star, where, in strange surroundings, she finds the lover who has long been lost to her on earth. There is both fancy and imagination in the book, and, as has been said, some portions of it are very beautiful ; but it does not lend itself readily to brief description, and perhaps we shall give the best idea of its nature by saying that it reminds us more strongly of Mr. George MacDonald's " Phantast,es " than of any other predecessor. Like Phantastes," it seems to have a veiled ethical or spiritual purpose ; but it is not allowed to dominate unduly the course of a very fascinating story.
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