'Mr. MILNER, in a veritably charming book, gives a delightfully sympathetic account of a rustic life, informed with mental culture and with natural powers of observation, which have been strengthened by close familiarity with the poets who drew their inspiration from the book of nature. The garden in which Mr. MILNER'S cheerful and healthy year-book was written possesses, we are told, no especial advantages either of soil or of climate; but it is large and old, extending over several acres, and having considerable variety in the shape of wood and water, orchard and lawn, dingle and meadow. Excursions beyond its pale, into the adjacent country, are brought within the scope of the Author's plan; and in his treatment of the scenes and objects encountered by the way, he proves himself a naturalist at heart, endowed with the patient, loving spirit of ceaseless inquiry and earnest reflection.' DAILY TELEGRAPH.

'Mr. MILNER's notes for a year are the fruits of a life of observation. His style is fresh and graceful, and the keenness of his sensibilities and his love of the country are exhibited on every page. Many men can discourse eloquently enough of country sights and sounds; Mr. MILNER is also impressive from the minute accuracy of his knowledge. He describes a summer sunset or a winter storm like a poet, but also like a matter-of-fact observer. As he notes day by day the bursting of the buds in spring or the turning of the tints towards the fall of the leaf; as he watches for the arrival of the birds of passage and follows them in the process of their mating and nesting, he proves to us once more that nature has charms in her least genial aspects-even in blustering March or raw November. But what is perhaps most characteristic in his fascinating volume is the use he has made of the best English poetry. We were going to say that it is studded with gems from the poets; but, as Mr. MILNER says, adornment by gems infers the introduction of extraneous objects. Living in fellowship with the poets, he finds poetical associations and memories in every natural object he admires; and he has interwoven his quotations in the fabric of his work like the feathers and mosses in the nest of the chaffinch or those delicate webs of gossamer that are spun through the meadow-grass of a morning. We have an almost exhaustive répertoire of rural poetic allusions the index to it fills more than five pages-from the days of CHAUCER to our own.' ST. JAMES'S Gazette.

'This volume is addressed and ought to be dedicated to real lovers of the country, nor do we know that we have ever read a more fascinating book of the kind. City-bred folks, though they can hardly fail to be pleased with the charm of its style, will scarcely appreciate its more delicate beauties. We cannot say that Mr. MILNER makes much of little, for there is no nobler subject than nature, and in the infinite variety of nature's works none are unworthy of minute attention. This very volume is proof to the contrary. But it needs something of a regular rural apprenticeship to understand the depth and tenderness of the associations that may be awakened by some apparently insignifibe agreeably excited in blustering storm or blindcant flower; to enter into the feelings which can ing sleet; to follow with interest the sympathetic descriptions of land, sea, and sky in all aspects of the weather; and to realise in short that an uneventful country existence may be full of events and sensations though it seems dull and monotonous. But there are few lovers of the country, we fancy, however much they may pride themselves on their knowledge of things rural, who will not acknowledge Mr. MILNER for their master. His has been a life of close observation which has ripened with habit almost into intuition, and so he has accumulated the miscellaneous stores of information which make him the most intelligent and trustworthy of guides, as he is the most agreeable of instructors. He is an enthusiastic gardener, though he has studied his gardening in the school of nature rather than under professional experts, a good naturalist, a practical botanist; and he has the genius of an artist, as we see in the pictures after nature that are scattered everywhere over his pages. Few men know better how to translate into words, each of which has its definite meaning, his clear impressions of natural objects as he has viewed them through different atmospheric effects. above all, what gives its most distinctive character to his volume, is the range of his acquaintance with the English poets. He presses them all into his service, or rather borrows their brightest ideas, never without acknowledgment, with the flattering freedom of an intimate friend.

But,

We see lists of volumes every day advertised as suitable for the holiday season; but to those who are contemplating tours in the country we can recommend no volume more heartily than these simple and beautiful Country Pleasures.' SATURDAY REVIEW.