NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



29 



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. 



LETTER X. 



August 4///, 1767. 



IT has been my misfortune never to have had any neighbours 

 whose studies have led them towards the pursuit of natural know- 

 ledge ; so that, for want of a companion to quicken my industry 



THE SWALLOW. 



and sharpen my attention, I have made but slender progress in 

 a kind of information to which I have been attached from my 

 childhood. 



