14 MAY 1927, Page 40

YOUNG 'UN. By Hugh de Selincourt. (Methuen. 7s. 6d.)—This story

purports to be the autobiography of a youth of sixteen, recalling his nursery, dame school, and =youth " days. The period is some forty years ago. The boy's adventures and reflections are convincing enough, and the author has sustained the literary style of youth as successfully as we can imagine its being done. Yet his very cleverness defeats itself. If Mr. de Selincourt had condensed his material, and if he had not striven after the letter as well as the spirit of boyhood, the story would have been more satisfactory. Schoolboy style is amusing enough for a few chapters. But its continuance, especially in the absence of a connecting thread of incident, becomes a little wearisome.