DICK ROOK. 189 



when I first saw him ; but there was a certain de- 

 gree of melancholy evidently hanging about him, 

 and I fancied that he looked ill. As we proceeded, 

 the morning's mist disappeared, and the sun broke 

 out cheerfully. Dick hunted the dogs with great 

 skill, and now and then gave an opinion as to the 

 best places for finding game. We traversed a sort 

 of moor, or wild common, on our way to some 

 covers on the other side of it. We met here and 

 there with patches of heath or furze, from which 

 we occasionally started a hare or rabbit. Some- 

 times we surrounded a swamp, in which were 

 stunted willows growing, covered with moss hang- 

 ing down in flakes, the haunt of a solitary teal and 

 occasionally of snipes. Beyond the moor there 

 was a long range of abruptly rising ground, covered 

 with trees, and called in Sussex, a hanyer a name 

 which Gilbert White has rendered interesting to 

 every lover of country scenery. Before, however, 

 we could arrive at the hangers, we had to pass 

 along one of those deep lanes so peculiar to this 

 part of the country. The sides of these lanes are 

 formed to a considerable height of sandy rock, 

 upon which are scattered many beautiful and grace- 

 ful ferns. The wild strawberry, that pretty fra- 

 garia, whose fruit and blossom might be seen at 

 the same time, was in great profusion ; fox-gloves, 

 potentillas, violets, cistuses, primroses, and many 

 varieties of other wild plants, might also be found 



