NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE II 



NOTES 



1 There may probably be also in the chalk itself that is burnt for lime a 

 proportion of sand : for few chalks are so pure as to have none. G. W. 



2 To surbed stone is to set it edgewise, contrary to the posture it had in 

 the quarry, says Dr. Plot, " Oxfordshire," p. 77. But sur bedding does not 

 succeed in our dry walls ; neither do we use it so in ovens, though he says 

 it is best for Teynton stone. G. W. 



8 " Firestone is full of salts, and has no sulphur : must be close-grained, 

 and have no interstices. Nothing supports fire like salts ; saltstone per- 

 ishes exposed to wet and frost." PLOT'S Staff., p. 152. G. W. 



LETTER V 



AMONG the singularities of this place the two rocky hollow 

 lanes, the one to Alton, and the other to the forest, deserve 

 our attention. These roads, running through the malm lands, 

 are, by the traffic of ages, and the fretting of water, worn 

 down through the first stratum of our freestone, and partly 

 through the second ; so that they look more like water-courses 

 than roads ; and are bedded with naked rag for furlongs to- 

 gether. In many places they are reduced sixteen or eighteen 

 feet beneath the level of the fields ; and after floods, and in 

 frosts, exhibit very grotesque and wild appearances, from the 

 tangled roots that are twisted among the strata, and from the 

 torrents rushing down their broken sides ; and especially when 

 those cascades are frozen into icicles, hanging in all the fanci- 

 ful shapes of frost-work. These rugged gloomy scenes affright 

 the ladies when they peep down into them from the paths above, 

 and make timid horsemen shudder while they ride along them ; 

 but delight the naturalist with their various botany, and partic- 

 ularly with their curious filices with which they abound. 



The manor of Selborne, was it strictly looked after, with all 

 its kindly aspects, and all its sloping coverts, would swarm 

 with game ; even now hares, partridges, and pheasants abound ; 

 and in old days woodcocks were as plentiful. There are few 

 quails, because they more affect open fields than enclosures ; 

 after harvest some few landrails are seen. 



The parish of Selborne, by taking in so much of the forest, 



