That Mr Oscar Wilde is an 'æsthete' of course everybody knows, That he is a poet of remark. able sweetness, if somewhat of the fleshly school, all persons of culture know, 'That he is now the editor of a ladies' journal and is deeply concerned with matters of dress and fasbion is also no secret; but that he is a charming writer of fairy tales the present volume for the first time reveals. It is difficult to speak too highly of these tales. There are five of them, and each with a charm of its own, so that one can hardly decide which is best. The story of 'The Happy Prince' is the conception of a poet and the execution of an artist. Even still more poetical is 'The Nightingale and the Rose', a prose idyll with a most prosaic but truthful ending, 'The story of 'The Devoted Friend' is perhaps too much of a satire to be so well appreciated by young readers as it deserves, but it is very clever; while the story of 'The Remarkable Rocket' has a moral which the youngest who runs may read. The grace of Mr Oscar Wilde's narrative is not less conspicuous than the humour and shrewd sarcasm which sparkle through it. As a story-book this is most attractive in itself, but it is made still more so by the pencils of Walter Crane and Jacomb Hood, whose illustrations are exquisite. It is altogether the most delightful publication of the kind since last fairy tale season.