68 RIVERSIDE LETTERS IX 



studded all over with villages, farmsteads, 

 and gentlemen's houses and parks. The 

 western and north-western flanks of these 

 hills are by far the most beautiful in variety 

 of scenery. On this side, along the entire 

 range, huge downs jut out like promontories 

 into the plains below. The extremities of 

 these spurs are generally two or three miles 

 apart, but at their bases the little valleys 

 between them contract into most picturesque 

 secluded combes. In these, if any one wished 

 to live in seclusion "far from the madding 

 crowd," could be found most charming re- 

 treats of natural loveliness. In one of these 

 combes, " Swincombe," the old house is 

 situated, where were the pictures I went to 

 see. The tops of these jutting spurs are 

 more or less devoid of wood, though most 

 of them are dotted about with juniper bushes, 

 and some have on their summits isolated 

 clumps of trees which are in this part of the 

 country called " Cuckoo Pens." I suppose 

 pen means a hill or peak, but how cuckoo 



