7 APRIL 1849, Page 18

Exmoor, or the Footsteps of St. Hubert in the West,

is better in design than in execution. Mr. Herbert Byng Hall's expressed object is to call the attention of foreign tourists to the fact that scenery as beautiful and as wild as can be found abroad exists in this country within a short -day's journey from London. Such, no doubt, is the case, amid the moors and woods and hills of Devonshire, and the adjoining counties, or in Wales. A good descriptive account of this region, ombining the adven- tures and observations of the tourist with practical directions for those who followed in his footsteps, would be a pleasant and useful book. Ex- moor has little of either quality. It is a medley of description, sporting narratives, small adventures of the author, and traditions or tales he has picked up, or invented, during a tour through a portion of Devonshire. Such things are good enough if well done ; but this is not the case with Mr. Hall's work. It is narrow in subject, poor and wordy in style, with something of the sporting writer's taste and slang without the vigour that should accompany them. In proportion to his 440 pages, too, the district he goes over is singularly limited.