MANOR OF SELBORNE. 23 



LETTER V. 



TO THE SAME. 



AMONG 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 water-courses 

 than roads ; and are bedded with naked rag for fur- 

 longs together. In many places they are reduced 

 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 icicles, 

 hanging in all the fanciful shapes of frost-work. 

 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 delight the naturalist with their 

 various botany, and particularly with their curious 

 filices, with which they abound. 



The manor of Selborne, were it strictly looked 

 after, with all its kindly aspects, and all its sloping 

 coverts, 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 enclosures ; 

 after harvest some few land-rails are seen. 



The parish of Selborne, by taking in so much of 

 the forest, is a vast district. Those who tread the 



