38 SWALLOWS. 



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 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 ac- 

 tions. 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 navi- 

 gable up to the town of Godalming, in the county of 

 Surrey. 



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