SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not hewn reserved for review in other forms.] The Three Friends. By A. G. Butler. (H. Frowde. 3s.)— This story, the author tells us, " hovers between fact and fiction," —i.e., as we take it, the characters are drawn from life, though possibly more or less composite, the incidents are imaginary, but strictly possible. Of course we are reminded of "Tom Brown." The time is a little later, the scene being laid in the days of Tait, who receives an appreciation not always paid him. And Fleming and Gordon, among the " three friends;' are of the kind of boy which Arnold made; O'Brien would have been much the same at any school period. The trio are carefully drawn. The tale reaches its climax when Fleming is put on the sick-list. The pathos is genuine. Is it not a slight anachronism when Matthew Arnold is made to say that he had seen A. H. Hallam ? Of course he might have seen him, but he was only eleven when Hallam died.
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