25 OCTOBER 1890, Page 24

Phil : a Story of School - Life. By Alfred Harper. (Digby

and Long.)—There is a fair amount of incident in Phil, though it is

-scarcely up to the average of school-tales. The author does not seem to us to know much about schoolboys. We maintain that such knowledge is more necessary to the production of a good story than a string of incidents. And if this is not recognised, we expect to find a hackneyed treatment of the subject and a liberal use of stock phrases. The language which "Alfred Harper " puts into boys' mouths would stamp them instantly as prigs, and, as with the boy in the story who lisps, their fate would not be a pleasant one.