The Express.
London, England, 1858-12-02 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Brie : or, Little by Little. A late of Roslyn School.
By F. W. Estuxin, Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge. Edinburgh: A. and C. Black. DM.
Then are few people who have not II primal
the pleasure of readinginserrative with dee some§
or actors in which have been themselves
acquainted. For them most commonplace de-
scrtptiooe, the moat trivial occurrences have a vivid
Interest, increasing in private= to the minutenme
of the detail and the resibility of separating the
reel fume the imaginary. Who has not been bored
by the ceavertation of a pair of ardent tourists cam-
• notes on this cathedral and that picture gal-
lery, and fighting over again their auras with ex-
tortionate hotel-keepers and vexatious policemen.
To the unmerited listener it is supremely dull; to
the interlocutors it is an unexhausted mine of in-
terest. We believe that it is on this principle alone
that the partiality of Englishmen for tales of school
life is to be explained. We have all been at school.
We shill never forget, to ear dying day, its early
&Acuities, its later triumphs, its passional friend-
ships, the gloom of its clouds and the brightness of
ite suashin. It is the maw with aIL “ Boys will
be boys," we ay. that is, their motives of action are
few. simple and easily calculated, while the fteIITVIN
and finer.. anddeccrum, and prudence of WWI,
years have not yet been generated or stimulated by
the manifold et active life. Every type
of school-boy is famiher to us. There is no ram
for marl' or acentric creations. Whatever the
scary, if it be but moderately well told, it sea us
en familiar greeted. The mere simple and ordinary
its iocidente, the mom heartily do we espy them.
Med therefore, thank we know what trials the hese
will be pat through, what chapter the fight will
come tit, bow the belly will be ate*, sibeemital,
how the prizes will be awarded or the oily
iseepisies cleared aik yet we he mere
think the story &Mises is hand then
we should blame the earaving of oar
Wel oohed that hangs ono our study chimney-
pine, far sot repel meting it with a dome and Corin-
thian patio,. Fent/tars may pity our taste, and
regard it as a imam neosatnedry ; bat as long es
English boys are baraght up in the wholesome in-
vireatieg atmesphen of a public school, so leas
will Eogalimes Estight in tales that toll up ad
tam I. their nemisey.
Itrie, however, is sot so mesh addressed le sou as
to boys. It is an earnest and affectionate warning
to them wise the danger. sad temptations w
gesempase Ur men attractive side of school lib,
hem on who madman& sod sympathises with
thee, whims M eibeemes. The ben starts in Itcalys
Stied with all the absolve, that • good head
end a geed Mats a bestheime bee sad a rigorous
belly, can give to a sebeelboy. "Little by little "
his pepwlesity sand dente One, lead him to raja
and disease. Be is te gene eaglet the victim
et
eskaneate eolaiidnees, and so far we
Welk Kr. Farrar has weakened the moral
at hie tale. The mistaken severity of a swear
asei the ueaeherous mechinations of • sshed-
bdlaw
have asemiderable share in driving him ban
the path of virtue. Hie enseeptible bean seam him
the slave of an attreethe little tonal who beams
kis tutor in erime—asevamel, we imagine, of the
adisuy phrasing,* be sash atteshiments, and so hie
UMW MIMS to have thought.
-

" Wldswor yes de, wwlrr (11 was the bet time So
Mt yeses dot W.ire halsilla hima " sad h•
trlemod • little), " whoever yea d• tor. Nos
will yes ; bum teuminlor Min • lea theloo44ll !rimier
sod man ateurad Grim ht mM desallbrliesi• i Uts

"7 of ~.;b.rsaad .bme yew Thilimeee se its ;ay of
Cbrist's little car to perleh.
.• I wasn't the beseptor, howtir," - Brie, dill

" Men yea awe bantassil. sad Ow as alga. Bib m ire
Whilaws, I grave kw pa and MS may. My istsrest
la Foe is as kw wens, them* ay sMsdis he yes easel
le the saws Yes may ga."
*.over Maid alleatied, sad, ass Yew WIMP • van : is
MI ant ease me Moe bin ISIS ads " tbratit=
sway, bat • ahem plonswe road Ma he
she football a the slity-grawf end, bd staadal, be bard
Mr. Be. hal hard It, sal swismarai that It was meat
far We boy whom he led )ant be. rebakiag. " Ai, aria
oh," be Mamba, " I haw are Meads mai."
Eric sod his young Mead at length commit them-
selves by coming into pavers intoxicated, and next
swain; Bad thinnest's. is a disagreeable position :
The sarknos rasters reed out to their forms • notice tree
Dr. It mimed', that the whole sisal was to watt et tea is
the gnat seiesbreets. The althea of the awsniona we
ratty Grady %stemmed ; rat It. boys had sty doubt that
hol witness* the thtialdeg es Saturday alght. MW
alatulit in. red w tha sabloot se yet ; sad every
awn( these 11111 bays Mat ha hat hie eh toe
hew Wes Illssowsel. sod be dlashl bo called eat far
wine paths sal Iran
The hear wised. CillbrilliLys lissaghtg into the grail
sebnelwiss, wet Mei Mama eseselleg to their nsprotire
1t.... no swan is eels age sod paws, were all seated
es a mall seatieleselar hark at Yrawr sad of the wow,
and Is the wain al to,. .at De.
Its sewn wee sped 0111111 awl on autialve ebrattwer
might hew tad bas the sous/ et the boys yokes in dry
awwwed which of thew were Abased with • troubled ear

si4bS gems sod lwiehleas hash.
" E: to WWWns 11•11 Cherie Ware Weed hrward."
its boys sheyei. Tian b ghee In the Mb. where ha
vas sitting with Ms bud pegged al his bark Ins rem awl
env/aced; sod Witdasy Item Ilks lam ad et metes.,
when. the Twain boys sek rate( up, mass sad redet
hie d s. Bab of lien fled Witt syse on sbe
whence they atm sees wind them ; end la the &Air ram
of their haggard vies, yen mai semssiy lam maiimited lb.
jsyoue bigh-miartisd Meal, when. Mlle ad stset hsd
ales rung so merrily deungh the glogi and wets
as echoes of the rods' dog the ahew eye wee on
Mew, sad they Win asseelese at A, theses emit net
men—pelehMy emselews et it, ft time they whim; the very
to lawn Mem& heir het he the mement and mei-
tha shims. Osusgsmiseship in dam lememed
the inalloties; W *b. el thsMm_ elem lie metal hem
bee km unity amithb te he Wyk, wawa d lis gssislem
bet thee they, se Miasma In Otitk ape end mils& In Ins
mensal, sisal Mai bereft* Ithwihhig thommlts et
It Ilea wad, ear subs, Isewhd, Milne their Mesta sat wee-
vim Withd keenly tar the wherry tb.y Mt.
After getting off better than he deserves from the
consequences of this and other real offences, Brie
falls a victim to an uojust anspiedsee, sod has to area
away. Through terrible hardstdpshe reaches home
stricken with consumption, and during tbaslow pro-
geese of the disease be bee time to repeat, and makes
an edifying end.
We are by no mesas sure that Eric will be ea
popu.ar with the readers of his life as wears assured
Le was with his schoolfellows. We have no patience
with 'elfish, gifted people before whom every one ;.1
expecid to bow down. However it may be in real
life, in notice at least we expect to ere them brought
to a bad mad, and Dot to be told in a complimentary
cyst mrd...er that we may think ourselves lucky tf
we •meet and converse with Wm in a holier and
happier world." Bat es Wildney, the tempter, with
his " dark eyes" and "dark hair," Wows as re-
&potable se be is goad looking, perhaps it would
have been tee hard to iodise the extreme penalty on
hi. friend.

It has Irate objected to " Eric " that it wants the
vivid local colouriog which gives so much interest to
&mottor book of the sass class which has obtained a
wide popalarity. Although Roslyn is a fictitious
same, yet no one who has once seen Ellen Bay, or
ttc Stack or Avon Glen, or Star Haven will fail to
reser/hies them from the picturesque descriptions of
Mr. Farrar. As little woutd say one who knew
Reelyn School in days goes by, complain of the un-
substantial nature of the incidents and chimaera '
To our mind " Eric" is all the more agreeable for
bring free from the ceaseless brag and shop which
sifiaided all bst Rugby men in " Tom Brown."
As a story " Erie' has the important quality of
brier iseerestleg. No eise who beeps it Is likely
to leave it seem/died. It is written with the highest
aims. and breathes throu•ghout a sable and pure mo-
rality. We Imre little doubt that its lassoes will
be what the nether wealit wieb men the elan te
whom its addressed.

RI ILAING Or Ti LAMS CITT.—PILSINTA-
TlOl. to Cat 1•111 —AI Oadminribruse
uss rimilsesei (Widassial) Ihissil abatis, ifs
*balms& se ifs Ilenssis
or of Wm today' pld toolok to
Diasoa D. U.
Sistitt ibs dis pia Loam
City. whirla was doissisdfy Ito al of • Do lissilos Amy
s• • Topes Dow Livery.* M llostrolls oust.
parr, aof wins, wltli ins esam.bik igen snot no
taiti; Moo tbo Wavle. trootpooli 'Awwrd to
D. I Jobootts, too Nr owl sod tote*. oohs • .4441
J• psismorprs (rtl root.) of Do Lines
City, arstrnist by en, Asp* ISO, M. 31 lon. 32 W."
to oOS.SI Jr osisi Mr. Writs hlefly ifisi,••l
nainct Jam as. who Imlay roma Asia&