AUTUMN FROM BRAMBLE HILL. 139 



Behind us, northwards, the prospect is shut out by 

 trees which cover the hill top Oak, Beech and 

 Holly. Covering the hilly slope, running down 

 from our feet to the wooded valley below, there 

 spreads a clustering mass of Bracken gracefully 

 waving its still green tips above the lower pinnules 

 which glow in autumnal red. From between the 

 Bracken, as far as the eye can take in the im- 

 mediate foreground of the landscape, come the 

 purple flush of late blossoms of Heather and 

 flashes of gold from spreading shrubs of Dwarf 

 Furze, the green spines of which, revelling in their 

 autumnal verdancy, sparkle in the sunshine. 

 Following slowly down over the sweep of Brake, 

 Heather and Gorge, letting the eye repose for a 

 moment on the bosom of the woody depths in the 

 valley below, the emotion is one of keen delight 

 as the next moment it is lifted over the vast 

 expanse of green, rolling away wave after wave 

 now sinking into wooded hollows, now rising over 

 wooded uplands towards the sea. To the south 

 the distant forest view is hidden by the woods 

 which cover the heights of Malwood Ridge, where 

 trees darkly cluster around the site of Malwood 



