OF SELBORNE. 41 
harass them, in spite of the efforts of numerous 
keepers, and the severe penalties that have been 
put in force against them as often as they have been 
detected and rendered liable to the lash of the law. 
Neither fines nor imprisonment can deter them ; 
so impossible is it to extinguish the spirit of sport- 
ing, which seems to be inherent in human nature. 
General Howe turned out some German wild 
boars and sows in his forests, to the great terror of 
the neighbourhood, and at one time a wild bull or 
buffalo ; but the country rose upon them and de. 
stroyed them. 
A very large fall of timber, consisting of about 
one thousand oaks, has been cut this spring (viz., 
1784) in the Holt Forest; one fifth of which, it 
is said, belongs to the grantee, Lord Stawel. He 
lays claim also to the lop and top; but the poor of 
the parishes of Binsted and Frinsham, Bentley and 
Kingsley, assert that it belongs to them; and, as. 
sembling in a riotous manner, have actually taken 
it all away. One man, who keeps a team, has 
carried home for his share forty stacks of wood. 
Forty-five of these people his lordship has served 
with actions. These trees, which were very sound 
and in high perfection, were winter-cut, viz., in 
February and March, before the bark would run. 
In old times, the Holt was estimated to be eighteen 
miles, computed measure, from water-carriage, viz., 
from the town of Chertsey, on the Thames, but 
now it is not half that distance, since the Wey is 
made navigable up to the town of Godalming, in 
the county of Surrey. 
D2 
