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and provides for her children, but the divorce is final. The cause of the fairies' dislike of iron would be curious to trace. For their objection to the knowledge of their name being communicated some explanation is afforded. It is strange that the name should not seldom be Penelop, so spelt and so pronounced. In innumerable points what is told concerning them corresponds with what is gener- ally known. The manner in which to detect and get rid of a fairy changeling is the same over most parts of Britain, and the readiness of the " fair folk " to reward cleanliness and punish sluttishness is the same as it was in the time of Shakespeare. As a rule, in Wales fairies are not malevolent and scarcely mischievous. We seldom hear of any attempt to Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm,

or other forms of elfin persecution. Different ideas prevail concerning their language (though they generally speak that of the neighbourhood), their food, or their stature, since, though sometimes they are scarcely bigger than guinea-pigs, yet at others they marry mortals and have full-sized children. As to the animal shapes taken occasionally in Wales, as in other countries, much is said ; and there is a Manx monster, the Lioar Manninagh, who indulges in a culpable taste for the Manx women. We have marked for comment scores of particulars, but have no space to deal with such matters. As a collection of folk-lore stories the volume has abundant interest, and the information on subjects such as the folk-lore of wells, fairy ways and words, and the like, has great literary and scientific value. A knowledge, indeed, of the work will be of service to all who study English literature from the time of Chaucer to that of Shakespeare and Beaumont and on to Herrick, Sir John Mennis, and the Duchess of Newcastle.

Canada under British Rule, 1760-1900. By Sir John G. Bourinot, K.C.M.G. (Cambridge, Uni- versity Press.) Tins volume of Sir John George Bourinot is one of the best and the most serviceable of the "Cam- bridge Historical Series " to which it belongs. Clerk since 1880 of the House of Commons of Canada, and ex-president and honorary secretary of the Royal Society of Canada, Sir John has already contributed to the same series ' The Builders of Nova Scotia,' and to the " Story of the Nations " series ' Canada,' together with other works dealing with British North America. A descendant, as we presume from his name, of the French colonizers of the country, and a member, as we gather, of the Roman Catholic Church, he comes of a family that has participated in the making of the history he narrates, and is able to speak of the influence of wise legislation in conquering racial difficulties. An introduction deals with the French discovery and settlement oi Canada, until, in 1763, the Treaty of Paris " closed the interesting chapter of French dominion on the banks of the St. Lawrence and in the valleys ol the Ohio and the Mississippi." The foundation of Halifax put an end to the Acadian period of Nova fecotian settlement. Then followed the passage of the Quebec Act, allowing the free exercise of the Catholic religion one of the first of the wise measures which, while we have lost and been at war with the American colonies, have made Canada one of the most loyal portions of the Empire. A

deeply interesting chapter is, naturally, that which ,ells of the settlement in Canada of the United Empire Loyalists. Most interesting of all is the description of the processes which resulted in con- "ederation. With these things the average English- man is unfamiliar, and a perusal of this volume will enlarge the intellectual horizon of most -eaders. There are few pages in our history more lonourable and satisfactory than those which tell of our conquest of the sympathies and, we may add, the affections of a people alien in birth and different in religion. Mistakes have been made, md the colony has more than once been imperilled oy obstinate councillors and incompetent generals, the supply of whom seems inexhaustible. Sir John's record is wholly satisfactory, and he is able to end it in a blaze of triumph with the account of the share of Canadian troops in our South African struggle.

Madagascar, Mauritius, and the other East African Islands. By Prof. D. C. Keller. (Sonnenschein A; Co.)

A DOZEN years ago Prof. Keller, a devotee of natural science, visited the Seychelles, the Mascarenes, and Mauritius. The result of his observations is now included in a book which, apart from its more serious pretensions, forms an excellent and trust- worthy guide to the East African archipelago. He has been indebted to the labours of M. Alfred Grandidier, whose monumental work on Madagascar obtains full recognition at his hand. We are assured by the translator that no work is in existence which gives so complete and trustworthy an account of the islands studding the ocean to the east and south-east of Africa. This estimate we are prepared to accept. In geological, botanical, zoological, and ethnological respects the book seems all that can be desired. It is illustrated by coloured maps and very numerous illustrations, some of them from photographs by the author, others and these the best from the Revue Gdndrale des Sciences. Some photographs by other travellers have also been turned to account. In dealing with the his- tory of Madagascar the author is influenced by the anti-English sentiment which we have learnt to expect from books of German provenance. That English missionaries were responsible for the murder of King Radama II., which is more than hinted, we are not prepared to believe. That our Government, after leading the inhabitants to con- fide in it, was false to its trust, and declined to stir a finger in their behalf, is more easily to be credited. So distinct an animus is shown by our author that we should decline to take anything on his warranty. His book contains much that is interesting to the folk-lorist, and gives curious infor- mation concerning matters such as "Blood Brother- hood" and "Fady," which is the native name for taboo. Civilization seems to have exercised an unsatisfactory influence upon the Hovas, who have begun, like the Japs, to substitute English attire for native dress. We sympathize with the Malagasy rather than Prof. Keller when, with naive and unconscious self-revelation, he says, a propos of taboo, " When I was going to shoot the great lemur (Indris), called by the Malagasy babaKota, my guide seized my weapon with the cry, ' Fady.' And when in spite of this I brought the animal down [!], all hospitality, in the village where 1 lived was withdrawn from me." Consider- ing the inherent wantonness of the act and the