_From a Common Room Window_ (OWEN) will be a slight refreshment to those who are weary of realistic studies of schoolmasters and schoolboys. "ORBILIUS," during what I take to have been a long career as a teacher, has not allowed his sense of humour to wither within him. In a note to his slender volume of sketches he says, "School-life is largely a comedy. When a schoolmaster ceases to recognise this it is time for him to 'bundle and go.'" He has been in the main a keen and sympathetic observer, and though his remarks upon headmasters are a little severe--personally I should hate to be called "a meticulous pedagogue"--I do not think that a little criticism of these potentates will do them the smallest harm. In "The Castigator" "ORBILIUS" gives a laughable sketch. The inventor of a flogging machine is soundly beaten by his own instrument, and he would be a sombre man indeed who could read it without a desire to witness such a chastening performance. By no means the least merit of this book is that it contains no new theories about education. * * * * *