OF SELBORNE. 35 
tion are to be found for years. These conflagra- 
tions, as they take place usually with a northeast or 
east wind, much annoy this village with their smoke, 
and often alarm the country ; and once in particu- 
lar I remember, that a gentleman who lives beyond 
Andover, coming to my house, when he got on the 
Downs between that town and Winchester, at twen- 
ty-five miles’ distance, was surprised much with 
smoke and a hot smell of fire, and concluded that 
Alresford was in flames; but, when he came to that 
town, he then had apprehensions for the next vil- 
lage, and so on to the end of his journey. 
On two of the most conspicuous eminences of 
this forest stand two arbours or bowers, made of 
the boughs of oaks, the one called Waldon Lodge, 
the other Brimstone Lodge: these the keepers re- 
new annually on the feast of St. Barnabas, taking 
the old materials for a perquisite. The farm called 
Blackmoor, in this parish, is obliged to find the 
posts and brushwood for the former, while the 
farms at Greatham, in rotation, furnish for the 
latter, and are all enjoined to cut and deliver the 
materials at the spot. This custom I mention be- 
cause I look upon it to be of very remote antiquity. 
LETTER VIII. 
On the verge of the forest, as it is now circum- 
scribed, are three considerable lakes : two in Oak- 
hanger, of which I have nothing particular to say, 
and one called Bin’s or Bean’s Pond, which is wor- 
thy the attention of a naturalist or a sportsman ; 
for, being crowded at the upper end with willows 
