_Pot-Pourri Mixed by Two_ (SMITH, ELDER) is a book to live with, but not to be read at a sitting. After spending some hours with Mrs. C. W. EARLE and Miss ETHEL CASE I found that my critical palate was unequal to the demands of so liberal and varied a banquet; and when I had finished a poem by Mr. MASEFIELD, and found that it was followed by a recipe for cucumber soup, I wanted badly to laugh out loud. My advice, therefore, to readers is to take a snack from time to time, but not to make a square meal of it. While dissenting from some of Mrs. EARLE'S opinions--I do not, for instance, think that the paper she mentions is "the best of all evening papers"--there is no getting away from her sincerity or from a certain indefinable charm which prevents her from causing irritation even when she is proclaiming her very pronounced views. Miss CASE, the other mixer, supplies some really valuable hints on gardens. These are drawn from her practical experience and are given succinctly enough. The only fault to be found with her is that in her efforts to be a pot-pourrist she occasionally finds it easier to mix than to blend. With each chapter we are furnished with various recipes which should, at any rate, gladden the heart of all vegetarians. Even I, whom Mrs. EARLE possibly would think a heretic, am prepared to take my chance with salsify scallops, walnut pie and hominy cutlets. * * * * * _The Magic Tale of Harvanger and Yolande_ (MILLS AND BOON) is set forth by a new scrivener, to wit, one G. P. BAKER, in more than ordinarily flamboyant Wardour Street English. _Harvanger_, a Shepherd, hies forth on his Quest for the Best Thing in the World. It turneth out in sooth to be LOVE and _Yolande_. Perhaps Mr. BAKER, an easy prey to the magic of jolly old words, has let himself do a little too much embroidery to the square inch of happening. There are indeed some good fights, though, by reason of this excess of embroidery, they are a little vague and difficult to follow. It is very well to have orgulous messires and men of courteoisie, with cotehardie of crocus or hose of purpure (showing how History repeateth herself), gearing and graithing for battle, mounted on coal-black destriers and generally behaving right this, that and the other withal; but when _Yolande_, asking _Harvanger_ what will happen to her when he is away, receiveth for answer, "Truly I fear that thou wilt be very dull"; or when _Bernlak_, the fighter, says of a dead man, "I took over such effects as he left" (very much after the manner of my solicitor), one can't help feeling a little let down. Of such indeed are the perils of the Higher Tushery. They should not, however, be allowed to prejudice the consideration of a painstaking narrative which may well delight the confirmed romantic. * * * * * Illustration: ANOTHER LONG-FELT WANT SUPPLIED. A CIGAR-HOLDER FOR THE USE OF DIVERS. * * * * *