OF SELBORNE. 25 



LETTER VI. 



TO THE SAME. 



SHOULD I omit to describe with some exactness the 

 forest of Wolmer, of which three-fifths perhaps lie in 

 this parish, my account of Selborne would be very 

 imperfect: as it is a district abounding with many 

 curious productions, both animal and vegetable; and 

 has often afforded me much entertainment both as a 

 sportsman and as a naturalist. 



The royal forest of Wolmer is a tract of land of 

 about seven miles in length, by two and a half in 

 breadth, running nearly from north to south, and is 

 abutted on, to begin to the south, and so to proceed 

 eastward, by the parishes of Greatham, Lysse, Rogate, 

 and Trotton, in the county of Sussex ; by Bramshot, 

 Hedleigh, and Kingsley. This royalty consists entirely 

 of sand covered with heath and fern ; but is somewhat 

 diversified with hills and dales, without having one 

 standing tree in the whole extent. In the bottoms, 

 where the waters stagnate, are many bogs, which 

 formerly abounded with subterraneous trees ; though 

 Dr. Plot says positively 1 , that there never were any 

 fallen trees hidden in the mosses of the southern 

 counties. But he was mistaken ; for I myself have 

 seen cottages on the verge of this wild district, whose 

 timbers consisted of a black hard wood, looking like 

 oak, which the owners assured me they procured from 

 the bogs by probing the soil with spits, or some such 

 instruments ; but the peat is so much cut out, and the 

 moors have been so well examined, that none has 



1 See his History of Staffordshire. 



