Who was Philip? a Tale of Public School-life, by Rev.
H. C. Adams, M.A., with eight illustrations (Griffith, Farran, and Co.), is another boys' book, not likely to attract so many readers, either from the interest attaching to the hero of the tale, or the general and intrinsic merits of the book. In the first place, it runs on into steady four hundred pages, which of itself would be sufficient to give rise to impatient and careless remarks as to " Who was Philip ?" even if he were a more interesting character. As it is, the book is too
long and spun-out in all respects, and contains a great deal of " skip." The boys' conversations often run into speechifying, which in real life would be stopped by the familiar " Shut up !" The author, how- ever, is evidently well acquainted with school life; and there are some good scenes, as the paper-chase in chapter 9.
Previous page
