88 AUTUMNAL LEAVES. 



poraries of the Conqueror, might and should 

 have been preserved intact trees whose very- 

 antiquity and hoariness, so to speak, should have 

 protected them have been recklessly, ruthlessly 

 destroyed. 



But gone as is much of the ancient splendour 

 of the primeval woods of this grand old forest, 

 there yet remain remnants of loveliness precious 

 to the teeming population of our busy island and 

 ill the more to be loved and prized because they 

 are the finest of the remains of sylvan England 

 and are justly admired for their beauty, their 

 antiquity and their utility their utility, that is 

 to say, as objects of beauty. 



It is c the gloaming ' as we reach Burley, pass- 

 ing down into the leafy hollow in which the little 

 village is situated. Its straggling houses are 

 almost hidden from view scattered as they seem 

 to be about its undulating, tree-covered meadows, 

 and buried under the shadows of abounding 

 greenery. Here, as elsewhere, cultivation has 

 encroached upon the forest, meadows and ( merry 

 (merise) orchards ' being almost mixed with the 

 Oak and Beech and Holly of the woodland wild. 



