5 DECEMBER 1914, Page 37

In a Cumberland Dale, by Percy Withers (Grant Richards, 5s.

net), is a thoroughly delightful book describing the daily life of a lover of Nature who built himself a cottage by the shores of Derwentwater, and learnt to appreciate alike the Blow, •pregnant speech of the dalesmen and the silence of the lonely hills. It is not too high praise to say that this volume deserves to stand on the same shelf with Thoreau, in whose spirit it was clearly conceived.