36 SWALLOWS. 



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 destroyed 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, 

 assembling 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 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. 



LETTEE X. 



TO THE SAME. 



August 4, 1767. 



IT has been my misfortune never to have had any neighbours 

 whose studies have led them towards the pursuit of natural 

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

 industry and sharpen my attention, I have made but slender 

 progress in a kind of information to which I have been 

 attached from my childhood. 



* There are now no deer in either Holt or Woolmer Forest. ED. 



