26 MAY 1928, Page 29

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The keynote of Mr. G. Willoughby Meade's fascinating Chinese Ghouls and Goblins (Constable, 24s.) is to be found in this saving of Confucius : " How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them." One long chapter describes the spirits of inanimate objects and tells of a ghost that entered into a piece of rotten wood, and of a changeling that was a baby by day and a broomstick by night. The book is rich in legend and anecdote, but some of the tales are all too short, and one longs to know more of the Emperor who had eight different-coloured eyebrows.

A book to have and to hold ! •