The Country round Lyndhurst. 89 



That there are defects in the church its greatest admirers 

 would admit the poorness of the roof, the harshness produced 

 by the introduction of so much white, as also the bad colour of 

 the bricks, and a heaviness which hangs over the clerestory 

 windows of the nave. But, on the whole, it stands as a proof 

 I of the great advance during the last ten years of Art, as a 

 cheering sign, too, that, amidst all the failures of Government, 

 some taste and zeal are to be found amongst private persons. 



There is nothing else of interest in the village. Once here 

 busy scenes must have taken place, when the King came to 

 hunt with his retinue of nobles ; when down the street poured 

 the train of bow-bearers, and foresters, and keepers, clad in 

 doublets of Lincoln green, holding the dogs in leash. Then 

 the woods rang with the notes of the bugle, and the twang of the 

 bow-string sounded as the bolt, or the good English yard-shaft, 

 brought down the quarry. Here, too, in the Civil War, were 

 quartered grim Puritan soldiers, and prayers took the place 

 of feasts.* Now, all is quiet. Nothing is to be seen but 

 the Forest inviting us into its green glades. 



The people of Lyndhurst ought, I always think, to be 

 the happiest and most contented in England, for they possess a 

 wider park and nobler trees than even Royalty. You cannot 

 leave the place in any direction without going through the 

 Forest. To the east lie the great woods of Denny and Ashurst ; 

 and to the north rise Outwalk and Emery Down, looking across 

 the vale to Minestead, and below them Kitt's Hill, and the woods 

 stretching away towards Alum Green. On the extreme west 

 Mark Ash, and Gibb's Hill, and Boldrewood, rise towering one 

 after the other ; whilst to the south stretch Gretnam and the 



* Herbert's Memoirs of Charles /., p. 95. 



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