THE TEMPLES OF THE HHXS 265 



aspect of the downs, as wc know them, was first im- 

 parted and is maintained in thcin I)\- the shcej) — the 

 thousands on thousands of busy close-nibbhng moutlis 

 kccpin},' the grass and herbage close down to the ground, 

 and kilhng year by year every forest seedhng. And 

 how wonderful they are — that great sea of vast pale 

 green billowy hills, extending bare against the wide sky 

 to the horizon, clothed with that elastic fragrant turf 

 which it is a joy to walk on, and has nothing like it 

 in the world ! 



It must have been in quite recent times, probably dur- 

 ing the last half of the eighteenth century, that the idea 

 first came into the mind of the landowner here and there 

 that a grove on tlie top of a high bare chalk down 

 would have a noble appearance, and form a striking 

 landmark for all tiie country round. Tlie result is our 

 hill-top clumps: and one would have imagined that the 

 effect would be altogether bad ; for how could a tall 

 dark grove on a hill in a country of such an aspect, 

 of smooth rounded pale-green downs, be anything but 

 inharmonious? Either it is not so, or long custom has 

 reconciled us to this ornament invented by man, and 

 has even made it pleasing to the eye. Association comes 

 in, too: I notice that the clumps which please me best 

 are those which are most temple-like in their forms. 

 Thus, a grove of trees of various kinds growing in a 

 dense mass, as in the case of the famous Chanctonbury 

 Ring on the South Dow^ns, gives me no pleasure at al? : 

 while a grove of Scotch firs, the trunks sufficiently far 

 apart as to appear like pillars upholding the dark dense 



