All readers of the Philistine persuasion will do well to avoid "The House of Pomegranates." To read it will simply rub them up the wrong way and upset them for days. Indeed, I do not know to whom I ought to recommend it. It is over the heads of the majority of children, and yet it is not, I imagine, intended for the mature. The stories are full of fancy and poetic thought, but it is possible to read between the lines and to find meanings which, if put into the text, would have spoiled the allegories. Mr. Wilde is far too wise to allow his morals to be obtrusive. The stories in the volume are four in number, and my favourites are "The Fisherman and His Soul" and "The Birthday of the Infanta." In the former are some masterly bits of description, and the moral of the tale (if the author will excuse me for mentioning that rococo word a second time)—namely, that it is far better to be under the guidance of love without a soul than to be soulful without love—is admirable. Of the illustrations I frankly confess I am not sufficiently "advanced" to speak. No doubt they are beautiful, but my eyes are holden and I cannot see.