CURRENT LITERATURE.
St. Winifrects ; or, the World of School. (A. and C. Black.)—It must be an unusually difficult thing to give a faithful delineation of life at a public school, if we may judge from the results of the numerous * A Prodigal Son. By Dutton Cook, author of" Paul Foster's Daughter." Three vols. Hurst and Blacken.
attempts which have recently been made to accomplish the task. The author of" Tom Brown's School Days" is the only writer we know of who has succeeded in doing this in anything like a creditable manner. All the other books on this subject with which we are acquainted belong to a class of which Mr. Farrar's "Eric" may be taken as the type, which present to our contemplation a number of ideal youths, charming crea- tures, doubtless, in the abstract, but not in the least admirable when regarded as representations of the ordinary English schoolboy. The author bf "St. Winifred's" has moulded his story strictly upon Mr. Farrar's model. His boys are all either violently good or violently bad, or, not unfrequently, first one and then the other ; they are in the habit of saying " Tush ! " to one another, and quoting and writing poetry ; the good boys jump enormous heights, and are accustomed to set them- selves in opposition to much bigger bad boys with a boldness and im- punity, the combination of which is a phenomenon we never met with in our school experience. The author is careful to tell us that "St. Winifred's" is not meant for any particular establishment ; but no one who is at all acquainted with our large schools will have any difficulty in selecting that to which it bears the closest resemblance. Barring a little occasional affectation, the story is not badly written. All who like "Eric" will probably like "St. Winifred's" too ; while those who are dissatisfied with Mr. Farrar's work will have no difficulty in extending their sentiments to the production of his imitator.
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