4 JANUARY 1868, Page 29

The Family: its Duties, Joys, and Sorrows. By Count A.

de Gasparin. (Jackson, Walford, and Hodder.)—For an English public we fear that the tone of this book will seem too French, too gushing, too revolu- tionary. When Count Gasparin argues that separation from parents is too painful for young children, and that the mental efforts imposed by schools are too severe, we see that ho is writing for those who are not ashamed to show their natural susceptibilities, and to whom a school means a place of learning. It would, no doubt, be well if English people were not ashamed of feeling, and did not think that hardening renders hardy. But everybody knows that English boys are not sent to school in order that they may learn. One of the best touches in the Caxton is the satisfaction expressed by Mr. Caxton when Pisistratus is wholly cured of his love of books by going to school. Some of us think that the change of life is made at too early a period, and that boys might with advantage remain children a little longer. What Count Gasparin says about the necessity of frankness and confidence between parents and children seems to us extremely wise, and there are many other passages in his book with which we agree to the full. In his eyes romps are an article of faith, he tells us, and this sentence alone entitles him to rank as an authority.