28 



NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



At present the deer of the Holt are much thinned and reduced 

 by the night hunters, who perpetually 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 

 imprisonments can deter them ; so impossible is it to extinguish 

 the spirit of sporting which seems to be inherent in human nature. 



General Howe turned out some German wild boars and sows 



WILD BOAR. 



in his rorests, to the great terror of the neighbourhood, and, at 

 one time, a wild bull or buffalo ; but the country rose upon them 

 and destroyed 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 Stawell. 

 He lays claim also to the lop and top ; but the poor of the 

 parishes of Binsted and Frmsham, Bentley and Kingsley, assert 

 that it belongs to them, and assembling in a riotous manner, 

 have actually taken it all away. One man, who keeps a team, 



