54 RED DEER. 



image, but was drawn along by the irregular 

 motion, forming a green surface. Eed rocks 

 beneath the water, and dark places where it 

 was deeper, added a brown hue. The beau- 

 tiful brook ran strong and swift in all the 

 vigour of youth, caring nothing for the 

 stones over which it leaped. By its side 

 oak trees stood, the glance passed for a long- 

 way between the trunks, and the ground 

 was thickly grown with fern and foxglove. 

 The hillside in places overhung, and large 

 roots descended like pillars to support it. 



On either hand the steep slopes of the 

 valley were wooded to the top, and yonder 

 the round green summit of the Ball appeared 

 above the tn The height could be esti- 



mated by the diminution in the apparent 

 size of the oaks. At such a stream Rosalind 

 might have slaked her thirst and found her 

 name carved close by in the soft bark of a 

 mountain-ash ; it is a spot where the in- 

 fluence of Shakespeare is unconsciously felt. 

 The interest the scene itself arouses is so 



