6 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



ancestry for anyone, though not, certainly, 

 " showy." Eichard JefFeries was a veritable 

 son of the soil : not descended from those who 

 have nothing to show but long centuries of 

 servitude, but with a long line behind him of 

 independent farmers occupying their own 

 land. Field and forest lore were therefore his 

 by right of inheritance. 



As for the country round about Coate, I 

 suppose there is no district in the world that 

 has been more minutely examined, explored, 

 and described. Jefferies knew every inch of 

 ground, every tree, every hedge. The land 

 which lies in a circle of ten miles' radius, the 

 centre of which is Coate Farm-house, belongs 

 to the writings of Jefferies. He lived else- 

 where, but mostly he wrote of Coate. The 

 " Gamekeeper at Home," the " Amateur 

 Poacher," " Wild Life in a Southern County," 

 " Round about a Great Estate," " Hodge and 

 his Masters," are all written of this small bit 

 of Wiltshire. Nay, in " Wood Magic," in 

 " Amaryllis at the Fair," in " Green Feme 

 Farm," and in "Bevis," we are still either at 

 Coate Farm itself or on the hills around. 



