This consists of four stories---'The Young King', 'The Birthday of the Infanta', 'The Fisherman and his Soul, and 'The Star Child'. They are each distinguished by the delicate grace which the author is capable of imparting to works of romance, and are extremely fascinating. 'The Young King' shows how that monarch, a lad of but sixteen, had, on succeeding to the throne of his father, a strange and secret yearning for the beautiful. One day he feels peculiarly drowsy. 'Outside he could see the huge dome of the cathedral, looming like a bubble over the shadowy houses, and the weary sentinels pacing up and down on the misty terrace by the river. Far away in an orchard a nightingale was singing. A faint perfume of jasmin [sic] came through the open window. He brushed his brown curls back from his forehead, and, taking up a lute, let his fingers stray across the chords. His heavy eyelids drooped, and a strange languor came over him. Never before had he felt so keenly or with such exquisite joy the magic and the mystery of beautiful things'. He now has three dreams and in these dreams he is shown how the beautiful jewels and dresses he so much admires are produced---the men who lose their lives in diving for pearls, the poor labourers, young and old, who toil at weaving. And the young king's eyes are marvellously opened, and he refuses the bright things he would otherwise have joyously accepted. It is a beautifully told allegory, and the same may be said of the other contents of the volume. The design and decoration of the book are by C. Ricketts and C. H. Shannon.