The Thing that Hath Been; or, A Young Man's Mistakes,
by A. H. Gilkes (Longman), is a very remarkable story of a most uncom- mon kind. The author, who does not require to describe himself as " Master of Dulwich College " to show that he is familiar with the men and methods of an English public school, has invented one of those unpractical, but almost demi-godly, young men, whom one is apt to identify exclusively with the works of Victor Hugo and Mr. George Macdonald. John Martin, the "young man " whose " mistakes" are here recorded, but whose one fault is that he both preaches and practises a somewhat uncouth righteousness, is a study in • heredity, as well as in personal con- scientiousness. He derives that moral strength which in everyday life becomes—or at all events seems—impracticability, from an uncompromising mother. His introduction as a teacher into an -ordinary public school is of necessity attended with danger and difficulty, and as it is quite clear from the first that he cannot work in harness, his dismissal from his post is inevitable, although it is greatly to be regretted that Dr. Pinches should have invoked 'the aid of the odium theologicum for the accomplishment of this end. Tho quarrels between teachers that form one of the less pleasing features of school-life are set forth with almost malicious fullness, and the differences in character between them are emphasised, especially by such a contrast as that between the quasi- ;aristocratic but yet courageous Macnamara, and the effeminate Glynde. Mr. Gilkes does not write like a practised novelist, but this volume shows that he is quite capable some day of producing a good story as well as a most able, if not convincing, pamphlet in disguise.
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