A MEN DIP VALLEY. 
15 
from what Mrs. Brightwen modestly calls her “ rough sketches,”' 
by Mr. Theo. Carreras. They appear to us more pleasing than 
those in the earlier volume ; we regret that our space does not 
allow us to avail ourselves of the kind permission to give one or 
two of them here, and that the author demurs to the reproduc- 
tion of the portrait which most fittingly faces the title page. 
We hope it will not be long before Move about Wild Nature 
appears in as cheap a form as its predecessor. No better 
shilling book exists for distribution as prizes in schools of alf 
kinds ; and if it were possible to produce an edition at a 
slightly higher cost bound in cloth, we think its circulation 
would be even more extensive. 
A MENDIP VALLEY.* 
Such is the title of a book which has been on our table for nearly six months, 
and which it has been a source of regret to us that we have not been able to notice 
earlier. Our regret, however, has been somewhat temjiered by the fact that Mr. 
Theodore Compton’s work has deservedly attracted the notice of the press, 
generally, and indeed by this time there are probably few Selbornians who have 
not at least heard of it. 
It is the story of a residence of more than thirty years duration in a quiet little 
village hidden away in a valley among the Mendip Hills. It is “ purely rural ” — 
“we can boast of no forest scenery,” says Mr. Compton; no ancient trees save 
the churchyard yew link together the various ages through which it has passed, 
'there are hundreds of places, we do not doubt, which present to the seeing eye 
fully as much interest as Winscombe, just as there were Selbornians before Gilbert 
White immortalised the Hampshire village of that name. Just a year ago, indeed, 
we reviewed in these pages the forty years’ history of another parish ; and if Mr. 
Compton has not produced a book quite as fascinating as Dr. Atkinson’s Moor- 
land rUlage, it must be admitted that his subject, charming as it is, is not as rich 
in historical associations as Danby-in-Cleveland. 
Such a volume could only be written by one who, in addition to the advantage 
of long residence in one locality, is possessed of a heart in sympathy with place and 
people, with the birds that fly and the flowers that blow. The note of sympathy, 
indeed, is heard in every page of Mr. Compton’s book. He is perhaps most at 
home with the birds. “ 1 have been a lover of birds all my life,” he tells us, 
“and from my youth till now have delighted in painting their beautiful forms 
and feathers, and have vainly tried to sketch the inimitable grace of their move- 
ments ; but I never desired to end their happy lives.” Not among those to whom 
the shooting of a rare bird is the natural sequence of its appearance .shall we 
find the gentle dweller in the Mendip Valley. Our readers will remember the 
appreciative “Note on Thomas Bewick” from his pen which appeared in 
Natuue Notes this time last year, and how the master artist of birds “ said he 
loved birds too well to kill them ; he had only shot one in all his life, and of that 
shot he had often repented.” Sketches of bird-life such as the following (which 
in the volume is accompanied by an admirable illustration) abound : — “The Grey 
Flycatcher is a familiar garden acquaintance, building in the trellis over the 
window ; the male perching on the back of a garden chair, while the other is 
sitting. Wishing to take his likeness, I stuck a walking stick into the ground a 
few yards from the window ; an arrangement that seemed to please him very 
well. There he perched all day, and every day, watching lor insects ; every now 
- A Mendip Valley^ its Inhabitants and Sttrroundings^ being an enlarged and illustrated 
edition of Winscombe Sketches, by Theodore Cgmpton. London ; Stanford. Demy 8vo pp. 2S8- 
Price los. 6d. 
