FIRST YEARS OF SUCCESS. 133 



peeping out of the fern everywhere, and once 

 perhaps catching a glimpse of a shy, beautiful 

 milk-white doe. . . . Still onward, into a gravel 

 carriage-road now, returning by degrees to 

 civilization, and here with happy judgment 

 the hand of man has aided nature. Far as 

 the eye can see extends an avenue of beech, 

 passing right through the forest. The tall 

 smooth trunks rise up to a great height, and 

 then branch overhead, looking like the roof of 

 a Gothic cathedral. The growth is so regular 

 and so perfect that the comparison springs un- 

 bidden to the lip, and here, if anywhere, that 

 order of architecture might have taken its' in- 

 spiration. There is a continuous Gothic arch of 

 green for miles, beneath which one may drive or 

 walk as in the aisles of a forest-abbey.- But 

 it is impossible to even mention all the beauties 

 of this place within so short a space. It must 

 suffice to say that the visitor may walk, for 

 whole days in this great wood, and never pass 

 the same spot twice. No gates or jealous walls 

 will bar his progress. As the fancy seizes him 

 so he may wander. If he has a taste for 

 archaeological studies, especially the pre- 



