The Supernatural in Romantic Fiction. By Edmund Yardley. (Longmans.)—This little
volume is the outcome of much curious reading. " Enchanted Persons," " Metamorphoses," " Musical Illn- alone," "Jinn," "The Language of Animals," "Supernatural Ani- mals," are a few of the subjects which Mr. Yardley deals with. The best informed readers will probably find something new to them. Yet there are some omissions which we should not have expected. "The Spectre Hound in Man," one of the most weird and terrible of "supernatural animals," is not mentioned ; and though we hear some- thing about the Simorg, the Oriental imagery of which Southey makes so powerful a use in " The Curse of Kehama " and " Thalaba" is not adequately dealt with. But, of course, Mr. Yardley's limits have to be considered. One hundred and forty pages might be ex- panded to a very ample volume, and it is possible that the author might find it worth while to do it.
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