30 MAY 1896, Page 22

From a New England Hillside. By William Potts. (Macmillan and

Co.)—This is a volume of pleasant little essays. Their first object is to describe Nature in New England, taking in the course of a year from autumn to autumn. Now and then the writer diverges to speculate or moralise on some matter of social interest. Perhaps he knows more about Nature than about man. He says, for instance, with the air of one who has made a dis- covery of great practical value, "I am sure that if the age at marriage could be raised by ten years among the very poor and the people of moderate means, and the number of children here- after born decreased by one-half, there would no longer be any necessity for poverty." There is about as much virtue in that "if" as those two letters have ever contained.