d'Aulnoy's inspirations. We might tolerate Cupid, but Proserpine and the Infernal Regions are too much out of keeping with the rest of the picture, and there is something altogether "lame and impotent" in the conclusion. The idea of the effect produced by Love, although "hidden in the hearts of the young people," upon the Fairy Magotine, is poetical enough, but it does not harmonize with the subject. Madame de Beaumont has a story entitled "Bellotte and Laidronette," names which I presume she must have taken from this tale. "Serpentin Vert" will be recognised perhaps by some of our readers as the foundation of my extravaganza, "The Island of Jewels." In the portrait of Madame d'Aulnoy, affixed to this volume, will be found a pictorial illustration of the bow of riband worn on the muff at that period, and mentioned at page 305.
La Princesse Carpillon.—A version of this story is to be found in "The Collection." It is one of the best in the book, but calls for no observation here.
La Grenouille Bienfaisante was omitted by the collectors, and I believe first appeared in English in the "Child's Fairy Library," with the usual abbreviations and alterations. It is very original in its plot, and amusingly extravagant in its details.
La Biche au Bois.—This charming story was likewise most unaccountably discarded by the collectors; but as "The Hind in the Forest," two or three English versions have appeared in other publications, and it has been more than once dramatized. My own version was entitled "The Prince of Happy Land, or the Fawn in the Forest;" "The Hind in the Wood," as I have here translated it, is nearer to the original. Its commencement slightly reminds us of the Princesse Printaniere, but the story is a much more agreeable one.
La Chatte Blanche.—The White Cat is one of the best known, and most popular of all Madame d'Aulnoy's stories, and few collections of Fairy Tales are to be found without a version of it. In the present translation, however, will be
