OF SELBORNE. 25 
LETTER V. 
Amone the singularities of this place, the two 
rocky hollow lanes, the one to Alton and the other 
to the forest, deserve our attention. ‘These roads, 
running through the malm lands, are, by the traffic 
of ages and the fretting of water, worn down through 
the first stratum of our freestone, and partly through 
the second, so that they look more like watercour- 
ses than roads, and are bedded with naked rag for 
furlongs together. In many places they are redu- 
ced sixteen or eighteen feet beneath the level of 
the fields, and after floods and in frosts exhibit very 
grotesque and wild appearances, from the tangled 
roots that are twisted among the strata, and from 
the torrents rushing down their broken sides, and 
especially when those cascades are frozen into ici- 
cles, hanging in all the fanciful shapes of frostwork. 
These rugged, gloomy scenes affright the ladies 
when they peep down into them from the paths 
above, and make timid horsemen shudder while 
they ride along them; but they delight the natu- 
ralist with their various botany, and particularly 
with their curious filices, with which they abound. 
The manor of Selborne, was it strictly looked 
after, with all its kindly aspects and all its sloping 
coyerts, would swarm with game; even now, hares, 
partridges, and pheasants abound, and in old days 
woodcocks were as plentiful. There are few quails, 
because they more affect open fields than enclo- 
sures. After harvest, some few landrails are seen. 
The parish of Selborne, by taking in so much of 
the forest, is a vast district. Those who tread the 
C 
