78 



WOOD SORREL. 



HOSE who delight to moraHse 

 beside clear streamlets, leaping 

 and sparkling from among the 

 sheltering embrace of woods, may visit the 

 vale of Dudcombe, contiguous to the old road 

 from Stroud to Cheltenham, beside the an- 

 cient moss-grown fence of Panslodge Wood. 

 I have seen many lovely spots ; with their 

 glens, and familiar walks ; but none more 

 deserving of remembrance than the vale of 

 Dudcombe, embosomed amid hills and shady 

 coverts, among which an ample streamlet, 

 goes sounding on its way. Dudcombe was a 

 battle-place in years that are gone. There, 

 tradition says, the fierce Danes and Saxons 

 had many deadly conflicts, when struggling 

 to possess or to retain the ample hunting- 



