268 THE COVERTS 



houses embosomed like the hall ; and the mill lying 

 low in the vale among the beds of willow and alder. 

 Even in the copses of the grassy shires and of the 

 Home Counties you may wander away into a world of 

 romance. We know nothing wilder on the Scotch 

 border or in the Yorkshire dales than some of the 

 valleys in West Kent, although it is true they are on 

 a smaller scale, and the grandeur is Lilliputian. But 

 there are dells with as steep a dip as the Derncleugh of 

 " Guy Mannering," with the brook brawling unseen 

 under matted foliage in the bottom, and but scanty 

 room for a gun on either side ; while the man in the 

 middle, as he threads his devious way, can seldom bring 

 the weapon swiftly to his shoulder. But elsewhere and 

 anywhere there may be idyllic surprises in store for 

 you. You come on the meandering streamlet that has 

 hollowed out its banks, under dense canopies of the 

 bramble and wild rose intertwined with the clematis 

 and clinging honeysuckle, where in a gloom that may 

 be said to be visible at noonday you may hear the 

 sullen plunge of the otter, or listen to the frequent 

 plashing of the water-voles as they dive to the vibration 

 of the foot-tread. Or after warning from the faint 

 earth-smell floating in the air, you come out upon the 

 swampy precincts of the sedgy pool, where the water- 

 hens have their favourite nesting-places in the reeds and 

 the pike are said to grow to portentous dimensions. 

 In the New Forest, though horribly spoiled by prosaic 

 plantation, you have still the old forest scenery on a 

 noble scale. There are farmhouses almost as solitary, 



