140 AUTUMNAL LEAVES. 



Keep, the place at which, it is said, Rufus feasted 

 the night before he. came to his tragic end in the 

 gloomy depths of the adjoining Canterton Glen. 

 To the right of Mai wood Ridge the serpentine form 

 of a forest road stands out vividly from the purple 

 ground of the open heathery upland crest over 

 which it winds its way. But between Bramble 

 Hill and Malwood Ridge lies an unbroken view of 

 wood, its summit bathed in autumnal splendour 

 splendour characterized not by the pervading, 

 though gorgeous, uniformity of colouring which 

 marks the later season, but by the endless variety 

 of leafy tinting that gives so inexpressible a 

 charm to the early mellowing of the forest. 

 Where the prospect is bounded, away to the south- 

 east, the Southampton Water gleams out from the 

 dark setting of the surrounding wooded landscape, 

 whilst the view between is one of wood-covered 

 upland and meadow a scene of pastoral beauty, 

 the yellow glow of cornfields strongly contrasting 

 with the sober verdancy of copse and hedgerow. 

 But the middle view from the hillside standpoint 

 has the greatest charm for the lover of sylvan 

 scenery. There the sweep of far-reaching forest 



