17 OCTOBER 1908, Page 26

Hill Rise. By W. B. Maxwell. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—Mr.

Maxwell knows how to tell a story, and therefore the faults of his somewhat limited outlook may be forgiven him. There are one or two curious social solecisms in the book, as, for instance, in chap. 12, when an under-footman intervenes vivaciously in the conversation, not only in the presence of the son of the house and a guest, but also in that of his own revered butler. Mr. Maxwell should have taken as his motto the words of Duke Senior in As You Like It," Sweet are the uses of adversity," the whole story being meant to point out how much better off and happier people are when they have no money than when they have a great deal. In so far as he considers that an idle young man is much the happier for losing his possessions and taking to hard work, we need not say that we are cordially of Mr. Maxwell's opinion. But whether Sir John Vincent was the happier for losing all his money while continuing idle may be doubted. Life with nothing to do in a very small villa is assuredly one degree worse than in a largo house with a considerable number of affairs to arrange. The descriptions of society in a small town in Surrey —some of the resemblances between Medford and the town of Guildford are striking—and the appearances of the Town Councillors, &c., are lifelike and convincing. The book, if not well, is at any rate fluently, written, and the moral is quite superexcellent, for which in these days the reader may be devoutly thankful.