BROCKENHURST TO BURLET AND R1NGWOOD. 87 



Glen, away to tlie north, that suggested to 

 Scott the graphically-descriptive lines in c The 

 Poacher.' 



' Seek ye yon glades, where the proud Oak o'ertops 

 Wide-waving seas of Birch and Hazel copse, 

 Leaving between deserted isles of land, 

 Where stunted Heath is patch'd with ruddy sand; 

 And lonely on the waste the Yew is seen, 

 Or straggling Hollies spread a brighter green. 

 Here little worn, and winding dark and steep, 

 Our scarce-marked path descends yon dingle deep.' 



Since Scott wrote these lines the New Forest 

 has greatly diminished in splendour iron roads 

 and screeching engines have invaded its soli- 

 tudes ; c proud Oaks ' and ' seas of Birch ' and 

 many a c hazel copse ' have gone for ever, and 

 south of the railway a wide extent of enclosures 

 now fills the spaces once occupied by Oak and 

 Birch and Holly. The change in very recent 

 times is very great. We do not expect that un- 

 broken forest should extend from Brockenhurst 

 and Eingwood southwards to the sea ; nor that 

 the wolf and wild boar should, as of old, roam 

 over its woods. But many noble Oaks and 

 many a grand old Beech that, though contem- 



