Frank Fairlegh

Nearly fifteen and anxious to be treated as a young gentleman, Frank Fairlegh leaves home to study with a private tutor. His parents send him off with advice about conduct, money, religion and warm clothing, but the stagecoach ride soon gives him more immediate worries. Frank tells his own story with a comic eye for discomfort and awkward encounters. After changing coaches in London, he reaches Helmstone, where the Rev. Dr. Mildman receives a small group of pupils.

Frank E. Smedley's novel places boys and young men within the manners and expectations of England's upper class. Its humour comes through lively conversation, personal embarrassment and the gap between youthful dignity and practical experience. A later excerpt gives Mr. Frampton's account of a tiger hunt in India, mixing alarm with his familiar grumbling manner. Readers interested in older British comic fiction will find a talkative narrator and a world of tutors, coaches and sporting anecdotes.