WOLMER FOREST. 



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 vege- 

 table ; 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," that 



* See his " History of Staffordshire." 



